TechBirmingham thrives through its immensely talented and diverse group of member companies. Meet our Member Companies is an ongoing Q&A series highlighting this group of movers, shakers and makers in Bham’s tech industry.
Meet Mike Combs, President at Domani Software, a relatively new software company, as well as a new member of TechBirmingham. Mike is originally from Hemet CA and has lived in Birmingham for 5 years. Read on to get to know more about his company and the great things they are doing in Birmingham and beyond.
Hi Mike! Let’s get started — Tell us more about Domani Software.
On a given day our people are working on three or four different projects at once. Each member of the team has a different specialization which allows us to work simultaneously on projects in different stages of their life cycle. One person is working on UI design for a web interface while another writes a PHP back end for a corporate asset tracking system, while yet another is building the game engine for our next app.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about your field?
I think there’s a perception that all software development companies are in fierce competition with each other. I find that software comes from ideas, and there are more worthy ideas out there than all the developers in the world could hope to capture and capitalize on. Part of my hopes in joining TechBirmingham are to meet companies like ours and learn from them. Perhaps work together for all of our benefits.
What exciting news or product/service announcements does your company have on the horizon?
We released an anti-abduction app named Phone Beacon for the Android platform. It gives the user a way to call for help and send their location in a hands-free way. When you’re in a dangerous situation you may not be able to pull out your phone and send out a text or call with shaky hands. Phone Beacon sends a text to a friend with your location every five minutes until it is turned off with the user’s password. Here’s an article about it!
How do you feel about Bham’s tech scene?
I think the biggest strength of the Birmingham tech scene is the energy that is put into it by so many members. The focus and effort going into all of these events bodes well for the city’s future as a technology center. Coming from working in enterprise-level companies, I think the biggest challenge has is reaching all of the talent that can be found in the many large IT houses located around the Birmingham/Hoover area. If I could change anything, it would be to move more of the seminars and events from being 1.5 hours at lunch time to being after work. That way more people who work on banker’s hours could participate.
Anything else about you or your company you want us to share?
We began as a mobile app company but branched out into custom software development for companies. Our mission is to empower people to build their better tomorrow. We are ready to work with anyone who has a system they want built from scratch or updated from a clunky older build.
Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing, Mike!
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