Robert Wiebe is a 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, where he developed an international reputation as a Tandem NonStop systems expert, consulting, writing articles and giving presentations at conferences worldwide.
A niche technology, Tandem NonStop systems were the frontrunner in Highly Reliable computer systems. These are systems designed to ensure continuous and fault-free operation, essential in environments where failures can have severe consequences, such as in aerospace, telecommunications and finance. These systems incorporate a number of design features to achieve reliability such as redundancy, fault tolerance, high availability, and robust error handling.
As well as his Tandem expertise, he has extensive experience working on other Operating Systems such as Unix, macOS, iOS, Android and Windows, as well as experience working with development Frameworks, most notably the Unity game engine. He is also the author of both books and video courses on a wide range of Software Development topics including developing apps for iOS, Mac and coding with Unity.
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. His early employers included Denison Mines, Pemberton Securities and SHL Systemhouse. After settling in the Vancouver area, Robert worked for Motorola as a Senior Systems Architect developing two-way wireless data communications systems, and Infowave Software as the Software Development Manager for their Imaging Division.
After working for other people’s companies, he founded his own companies, Mireth Technology and BurningThumb Studios, which are his primary interests today. As a developer for Mireth Technology, he has concentrated on writing privacy apps as well as music and video apps for the Mac, starting with utilities for Mac OS 7 and keeping current with the latest Mac OS (macOS). His other company, BurningThumb Studios, also produces apps for Mac as well as producing apps for other platforms – iOS, Android – and games using the Unity 3D game engine development environment. In addition to writing software, he has given courses, authored books for Packt Publishing and instructional video series for O’Reilly Media on topics including Mac OS X software development and game development using the Unity 3D game engine.
Robert’s other interests include his vintage computer collection which includes many pre-IBM PC era microcomputers from the 1970s as well as Apple Macintosh computers starting with the SE/30 running Mac OS 7 from the 1980s. Robert spends his downtime training in the martial arts, where he has attained a purple belt in Jeet Kune Do as well as a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). In addition, he has experience instructing Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino martial arts under the guidelines set by the Progressive Fighting Systems.