Robert Wiebe is an accomplished software engineer, author, technical engineer and consultant with over 40 years of Information Technology (IT) experience.
He has worked in a number of industries including mining, finance, policing and telecommunications, as well as being an entrepreneur founding a number of software companies.
Robert’s career is distinguished by his expertise in fault-tolerant software development, his extensive software development experience which has honed his skills for both developing and delivering projects on a number of operating systems and his commitment to delivering quality, well-designed and feature-rich apps that are well tested and easy to use.
Expertise in Software Development for Fault-Tolerant, High-Reliability Technologies
He started his career working with Tandem NonStop systems—a platform engineered for continuous availability and resilience. Designed with parallel processing, redundant hardware, and mirrored data storage, Tandem NonStop ensures uninterrupted operation, making it a cornerstone for industries requiring zero downtime.
Robert’s expertise in this domain began at Denison Mines in 1983, where he worked on the Financial Systems, and evolved with his position as Manager of Technical Services at a brokerage firm and as a Senior Technical Analyst where he managed a Tandem-based national network system. In his down time, he established the SHL Tandem Special Interest Group to advance fault-tolerant practices for enterprise applications. At Motorola, Inc., Mr. Wiebe served as Product Architect and System Architect, designing fault-tolerant architectures for wireless packet switches and two-way wireless data infrastructure and where he developed an international reputation as a Tandem NonStop systems expert. His role extended to writing technical articles as well as representing Motorola at standards bodies, influencing industry benchmarks for dependable systems.
Technical Proficiency, Methodologies, Educational Products
His technical expertise spans many operating systems (Android, iOS, macOS, Unix, HP NonStop, Windows), numerous programming languages (C/C++/C#, Java, Swift, TAL, Assemblers), as well as development frameworks, like Unity 3D. He excels in waterfall methodologies for high-reliability projects and extreme programming for rapid, dependable deployment. His leadership training (e.g., Project Management, Building High Performance Teams) complements his technical skills.
His proficiency in Unity has been showcased in his educational products, including workshops, and a series of video courses for O’Reilly Media (Unity VR Development, Learning Unity 3D, Advanced Unity 3D Game Development). In addition he is the author of two books: Unity iOS Essentials, ISBN: 1849691827 and Mac Application Development by Example, ISBN: 184969382X.
Commitment to Quality
After working for other people’s companies, he founded his own companies, Mireth Technology and BurningThumb Studios, which are his primary interests today. His commitment to delivering quality, well-designed and feature-rich apps that are rigorously tested and easy to use is evident in all of his products.
As a developer for Mireth Technology, he has concentrated on writing privacy apps as well as music and video apps for the Mac, evolving from utilities for Mac OS 7 to solutions compatible with the latest macOS versions.
His cross-platform development for BurningThumb Studios includes Android, iOS, and Mac apps. At BurningThumb Studios, he developed Video Kiosk, a 4.5-star-rated Android digital display app available on Google Play. This digital signage solution demonstrates his ability to deliver reliable, user-focused software for continuous-use scenarios, reflecting the fault-tolerant principles honed earlier in his career.
His Android expertise extends to game development using the Unity 3D engine. Through BurningThumb Studios, he has produced mobile games for Android, iOS, Mac and Fire TV, balancing performance and innovation.
Other Interests
Born in 1961, Robert wrote his first App in 1979, as a high school student, using 6502 assembler code on an Ohio Scientific C2-4P computer with 8k RAM. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University in 1984. In keeping with his early interest in micro-computers, he has a vintage computer collection which includes many pre-IBM PC era microcomputers as well as Apple Macintosh computers starting with the SE/30 running Mac OS 7.
Robert’s other interests include his vintage computer collection which includes many pre-IBM PC era microcomputers as well as Apple Macintosh computers starting with the SE/30 running Mac OS 7. He spends his downtime training in the martial arts, where he has attained a brown belt in Jeet Kune Do and has had experience instructing Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino martial arts under the guidelines set by Progressive Fighting Systems. In 2024, he was awarded his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).