Thank You
I would like to thank you for visiting my page. You could be anywhere else on the interwebs, but you are here… and I appreciate it.
Who is Crutch?
Well, that I an easy one. My full name is Adrian Crutchfield, but growing up my friends liked to refer to me as ‘Crutch’ and I just ran with it. I’ve followed technology since I was very young and I always wanted to challenge my self by venturing outside of the ‘norm’. When most kids were running Microsoft Window 3.1, I was running IBM OS/2 Warp 3.0. When Window 95 was launched, I was learning how to compile code from source in Redhat Linux 9.0. I could go on and on… but lets focus on what most likely brought you here today.
Do you even code bro?
Well, yes. I am a self taught software developer. I have always tinkered with code in my early adulthood years, but never actually wrote any code from scratch. This all changed when I got involved in the the Embedded Linux community. I found my self actively contributing to an OSS project by the name of pdaXrom. This project has pretty much fizzled out, but you can still find some remnants if the dig deep into the archives of the web.
Fast forward a couple of years, while taking a walk I came up with an app idea. I dreamt about how rich I was going to become, but at the time I had no clue how to bring this million dollar idea to life or where to even start. I downloaded Xcode, watched dozens of YouTube tutorials and read TONS of documentation to establish a general understanding of Objective-C. Having already understood the core concepts of programming, learning this new language brought a good bit of “yep, that makes sense!” moments, as well as a good bit of “ugh’s” .
About a year or so later I had determined that software development was ‘my calling’ and I began, in parallel with developing my million dollar app, started searching for freelance work as a Jr. iOS developer. Thru a co-worker I was able to establish a relationship with, what later became, a client that was looking to build a grief journal app for kids. He proposed his idea… we worked the numbers… and days later I secured my first client. This is where this developer thing became real.
This project brought on a two new frameworks I haven’t had any experience with as a novice app developer, Core Data and AVFoundation. All of the late nights and, what felt like, never ending runtime errors experienced during the implementation of this project prepared me for my next undertaking… my first enterprise client.
I was approached by a client that was looking to replace their companies pencil/paper form driven process with a custom iPad app. They had an app that was built by an offshore firm, but didn’t quite meet their expectations. The laid out their requirements and I pressed forward. This client had an offline requirement, so my Core Data definitely experience came in handy. After a couple of months of development, Reliable was being deployed out to 100+ iPads used by case workers servicing clients throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
So, what are you doing today?
After many years of perfecting my craft, I’ve grown into an established iOS developer I am today with a handful of apps in the Apple App Store and as well as internally deployed Enterprise Apps used by hundreds of users daily. I currently work full-time and a Senior Mobile Developer, as well as still supporting clients thru my company (Redux-Labs, LLC).