MyMac.com Spotlight: Matt Hovey

Who are the people behind the technology that we love so much? We know the products, the websites, the online personalities but we want to learn more! 

Every week here at MyMac.com, we will spotlight a company, developer or person that supports Apple users by creating solutions or entertainment for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and other platforms we all use and love by asking them to answer seven questions.

This week, we turn our attention to Matt Hovey of Weird Kid Software

1 – How did you get your start in technology?

As a kid growing up in the 70’s, my interest in technology was more of an interest in science. I had a telescope and learned about the planets and stars. I made electrical circuits with spare batteries, broken radios and my erector set. It was 1980 or so when I first saw a real home computer at a friends house — a Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80. My friend had written a very simple dog race program, and I was amazed, dumbfounded, and completely convinced that this was what I was going to do with my life. I asked my parents to sign me up for a BASIC programming class that the school district was offering in the summer. I learned Applesoft BASIC on an Apple II+, and the rest is history.

2 – What is your favorite computer of all time?

Probably the Macintosh Centris 660AV. It was the first computer that I was able to connect to my guitar and MIDI equipment and do CD-quality, digital multi-track recording right out of the box. 

3 – Tell us about your latest product

I haven’t released a new product in a while, but I have some ideas ready for when I get the time. My latest release was an update to Emailchemy last week, where I added the ability to output Outlook for Mac OLM files. That was a fun project because I wasn’t aware of any other non-Microsoft tool that could write OLM files yet, and I like to be — or at least like to think I am — the first to get something working.

4 – What was your first job?

I was 12 years old, the minimum age for a paperboy for the Detroit Free Press, so I asked my dad to help get me a paper route (he knew the local distributer). I had to get up at 4:30 every morning to deliver the paper to my customers before they left for work. I did that for almost 2 years (at least 2 winters) before quitting and swearing that I’d never, ever have a job that required me to get up so early ever again.  My first “real” job after college was a developer position with a somewhat notorious consulting firm that specialized in custom, fixed-price, 3-tier applications.

5 – What advice would you give to younger people just getting into technology?

Explore and build whatever makes you happy, but when you get stuck, step back, take a breath and learn the fundamentals and theory. It will make your world bigger, help you get unstuck and open your eyes to even more possibilities. 

6 – Who was your inspiration? 

My grandfather. He was an immigrant from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). When he came to America, he bought a farm, built a house, and became known as a tinker/mechanic/inventor building all kinds of crazy contraptions out of discarded technology of the day (tractor and bicycle parts) that actually worked. 

7 – Where can people follow you online, and what is your website?

I don’t post very often, but I have a blog at matthovey.com and I can be followed on Twitter at @matthovey