MyJourneys - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Yes, about 5 years ago I completed an apprenticeship as a Software Developer. Today I work as a Software Developer for an international company. Additionally, I founded a small software business.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

I think the challenging aspects are the design, the different platforms and their versions. You need a lot of devices to test the different behaviors. With the help of Xamarin it is possible to create platform independent code. This is a great help but it also brings with it some challenges and restrictions.

_{Dominik Amann}

My name is Dominik Amann. I am 25 year old and from Bad Waldsee, a small town in Germany. My hobbies are sports, developing and traveling. When I was twelve, I started developing my first program. I was fascinated about the possibilities. Later after school, I decided to do a software developer apprenticeship. Since then, I am working as a Software Developer and Requirements Engineer for an international finance company. In 2017, I founded a small one-man company named "RedQuip". MyJourneys is its newest project. On top of that, I study IT Project Management and Human Resource Management in my little free time.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

"OneNote" - A perfect app to challenge his daily to-do's. "Audible" - Pretty cool to hear books on the road. "Threema" - My favorite messenger.

How long have you been working on this app?

For the current version I needed at least eighty hours. But there are still a lot of tasks to do.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

While developing I had the following user needs in mind: - I want to write down my thoughts while traveling - I want to get back "past trips" into my memories - I need an overview over all my journeys - I want to know when and where I was on a trip - I want to snapshot places (GPS) and awesome views (photos).

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

I think the biggest advantage is that the app saves its data locally. So the user does not share his private thoughts with others or a company. Because of this it is possible to use the app without a mobile network. This is helpful if the user doesn't want to get messenger/news-notification whilst on his trips. "MyJourneys" is only for trips and not for the daily stuff. So the user gets a perfect view about his journeys without any distractions.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

The next steps are implementing a backup function and the possibility for users to share journeys locally with their travel-mates. The goal is to continuously add new features and improve the app.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

It would be awesome if they would try the app. If they are happy with it, would be great if they share the app with their travel community and send me some ideas for further improvements.