Meet the Team: Doug Hoppes, Senior Software Engineer
Name: Doug Hoppes
Position: Senior Software Engineer
How long have you been working at MBF Bioscience? 8 years
What do you do? I’m a senior software developer. Although I’ve worked on most of our software packages as a generic features developer, my specialty is user-interface design. I figure out ways to simplify a complex process into some basic procedures (i.e. Workflow systems, etc.).
What do you love about your job? I’ve worked as a software consultant for many large commercial and military companies, and I can easily say that this is the best place I’ve ever worked. The atmosphere is extremely friendly and casual. I love the fact that the president of the company makes an effort to go around the office to say “good morning” to everybody.
As a software developer, I’m always looking for new challenges and problems to solve. Since my specialty is user-interface design, I also get to work with in-house or external clients to figure out how to best solve their issues. That interaction with the client is definitely one of my favorite parts of the job.
How do you spend your free time? When I’m not at work, I spend a lot of time painting. Displaying my artwork at galleries and selling my paintings at art fairs requires that I work extra hard in my free time. The time I spend painting lets me explore my creative side and play out various image possibilities in my head. This correlates well with my job at MBF Bioscience. The trick to creating and selling paintings is to create a visual image that a viewer can immediately understand and interpret. This, for me, is the same as user-interface design. You can see my paintings at DougHoppesStudio.com
What was the last vacation you took? I took a workshop called the Illustration Masters Class in Amherst, Massachusetts. Top illustrators who work in film or publishing led the workshop. Such people as Iain McCaig (designer for a lot of the primary characters in the Star Wars Prequels), Irene Gallo (Art Director for Tor.com), Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Greg Manchess, Scott Fischer, Dan Dos Santos, Rebecca Guay, etc. helped us work on painting compositions, story-telling techniques, business side of book/film illustration, etc. We started working in the studio at 7 a.m. and didn’t leave the studio until 2 or 3 a.m. We also attended two to three lectures per day. With only three to four hours of sleep each night, I was exhausted by the end of the week, but I learned an incredible amount. I can’t wait to attend next year!
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