A huge thank you to Mitch Denny for his contributions on this blog.

In this first post I will introduce myself, in case you have been fortunate enough to have avoided me in the last few years (or just hiding under a rock)

My name is Neil Roodyn but for various reasons (some of them Frank’s doing) I am known as Dr. Neil. I think the inability to spell or pronounce my surname is a contributing factor. The fact I have PhD in Software Architectures for Real Times systems also helps.

So who is Dr. Neil?

I am a software guy. I have counted binary on my fingers from the age of 8 because who wants to count to 10 on their fingers when you can count to 1023 on your fingers!

I have built software for IBM mainframes, AS400s, PCs, phones and a host of other embedded devices. To me the thrill is in the software. I am not religious about platforms or tools. In fact the more tools I can master the better.

In the 90’s, before and during the first tech boom, I founded and ran several of my own software companies. These companies built financial software, web based solutions, rich client Windows applications and even branched into the field of intelligent agents.

For the last 6 years I have made it my mission to “Increase the Value of Your Software Business”. I believe that as an industry we have a terrible reputation. I know we can do better. I have been working with a number of companies (ranging from 1 man startups through to big corporations) to help them understand how they can build a better more valuable business.

The 1’s and 0’s are still running through my veins and I am constantly dabbling in the next new thing. In last few years I have helped lead the push to Agile development practices, .NET, Windows Mobile, Tablet PC, UMPC and most recently Windows Live Services.

I write for several magazines including CoDe Magazine and International Developer. I have also written 3 books, the last book was eXtreme .NET, which aimed to introduce extreme programming techniques to .NET developers.

Last year I created ViaVirtualEarth.com to help developers put maps in their apps. I also maintain my own web site, blog and podcast.

So to answer Mitch’s questions:

I am not from Canberra, I am currently hanging out in Sydney. You can find out where I have been this year by looking at the ‘Where was Dr. Neil?’ web page.

I am a Windows Live Developer MVP and also Microsoft Regional Director for Australia

I don’t work for Readify, I work for many customers around the world and some of that work involves working for you (if you are involved in the software industry)

In the coming posts you may expect the usual ‘blah blah blah’ on the other hand I will try to do things my own way and make life a bit more interesting.