derrick SINES
Senior Software Engineer Riptide Software | riptidesoftware . com
greg ROSS- MUNRO
CEO Sourcetoad | sourcetoad . com
There are unique defining moments that leave a lasting imprint and have been known to drive the brightest minds to pursue a certain field of study . That was the case with Derrick Sines , senior software engineer at Riptide Software .
“ There was the potential Y2K issue and also the dot com boom was going on ,” Derrick said . “ I was interested in computer science and computer-related fields because I anticipated that upon graduation there would be a lot of opportunities and challenges with that .”
He was of course referring to the Year 2000 bug in which coding of computers and systems was projected to cause havoc around the world . While developers were able to get ahead of the issue , it was that buzz that inspired Derrick to pursue the computer science field .
Interviewing with a large defense contractor gave him an opportunity to blend that pursuit with a lifelong interest in the military . “ I was impressed with the company and that ’ s what ( ultimately ) got me into the defense industry ,” Derrick shared .
Having worked for Riptide Software for 11 years , Derrick has been applying his skills on Department of Defense-related projects and using some of those software skills and hardware to improve live training ranges .
“ Every day I come in and work with different technology stacks . I ’ m working with hardware one day and the next day I ’ m dealing with software , all the way up to user interfaces , and design and development of that , down to low-level firmware programming . I enjoy that variety and I also work with a great group of people here .”
Living in Johannesburg at 8 years old , Greg Ross-Munro , CEO of Sourcetoad , built things with his grandfather , who taught him how to code .
As a teenager , Greg and a friend built a car racing game that they sold on 5.25 ” floppy discs for a couple of dollars . His talent for software development blossomed from there .
Five years later , Greg and his family moved to the United States , where he attended the University of South Florida . He built , and then sold , a startup software engineering firm before he was presented with a job opportunity at an investment bank .
Greg ’ s boss at the time sensed his entrepreneurial spirit and encouraged him to start what is now Sourcetoad . Sourcetoad began as a consulting firm , but the path of the company changed into so much more when a client asked them to build a smart TV interface for their cruise ships .
“ For the last 3 years , we ’ ve been really focusing on the cruise industry . We ’ ve built a lot of unique software for a unique industry that has interesting challenges . It ’ s been a lot of fun ,” Greg shared . Outside of that industry , Sourcetoad ’ s software framework has a variety of applications , from truck fleet management to monitoring air conditioning units across an entire school district .
But the best parts of Greg ’ s job are focused on his team and his Florida location . “ Everybody is really good at what they do . As a matter of fact , everybody is significantly better at their job than what I could do in the same position ,” he said , adding , “ I think the thing that [ also ] keeps me here , at least in the Tampa Bay area , is because it ’ s a really beautiful place to live .”
22 Visit youtube . com / facesoftechnology to see short videos on these people and learn more about others in the region .