Mike DiGiovanni
Award Winning Android Engineer
About Mike
- Award-winning Android developer and game creator with a passion for pushing the boundaries of technology. Honored with awards from by SxSW, Cannes Lions, and Intel for innovation in digital craft and interactive experiences. Android applications selected as feature applications multiple times.
- Open-source contributor to a variety of projects in the Android, iOS, and AI realms, including Pinball Maps, Open Artemis, InvokeAI, and Sidekick.
- Expert in developing software for emerging platforms, including wearables, AR/VR, and large-format touchscreens. Mike made it possible to take a picture with a wink using Google Glass.
- Skilled reverse engineer—established a modding community for Fire Pro Wrestling, developed multiplayer to Slime Rancher, and pioneered innovative software for Google Glass.
Work Experience
Wayfair
,
Remote
eCommerce
Staff Engineer
07/2020 – 03/2025
- Worked on the Wayfair app for Android across the Platform Architects, Shop, Growth, and Mobile Architects Working Group teams. Led teams of 2-5 Android developers while also providing support for other teams.
- Revamped our internal analytics SDK, delivering a substantially improved version with architectural enhancements. Replaced manual data input with automated tracking, eliminating developer fatigue and ensuring data accuracy with a single source of truth. Additional architectural improvements resulting in a 90% reduction in time between event generation and sending, as well as a 30% increase in event delivery.
- Developed a Swift UI desktop app to allow developers to monitor tracking from Android and iOS apps in real-time, saving hundreds of developer hours, decreasing tracking bugs in production, and increasing deployment speed for tracking changes.
- Discovered, documented, and fixed bugs related to push notification display rate and appearance, resulting in a 45% delivery rate increase, and 20% increase in click-through rates for sent notifications.
- Re-architected the 'View in Room' AR experience to improve performance, usability, and reduce crashes.
- Mentored junior developers to improve their skills and knowledge, contributing to their promotions.
- Proposed and implemented interview process improvements to save interviewer time and provide a standard baseline to apply to each candidate.
- Proposed and implemented developer experience improvements, addressing pain points that were costing developers hours of time per week.
Isobar
,
NY
Digital Marketing Agency
Mobile Architect
12/2010 – 12/2014 | 11/2015 – 07/2020
- Architected and built Android applications with distributed teams, including mobile apps, system-level apps, custom Android operating systems, wearables, and set-top-box hardware. Multiple apps featured in the Play Store.
- Managed, mentored, and interviewed developers in mobile, Unity, and innovation disciplines.
- Developed functional prototypes and technical approaches for pitches.
- Developed for cutting-edge Android devices, including wearables, the Android Things platform, and Project ARA.
Augmate
,
NY
Wearables Device Management
Wearables Architect
12/2014 – 11/2015
- Led a team of Android developers creating device management software for smart glasses, smartwatches, and phones.
- Developed a bespoke Android application for flashing wearable firmware in the field using a standard Android phone.
Barnes & Noble.com
,
NY
Technology Bookseller
Lead Android Developer
03/2010 – 12/2010
- Architected and led the Android development team as part of the greenfield development of the Nook eReader application on cell phones and tablets.
- Developed a library loading technique to resolve an Android platform bug that prevented updating pre-installed native libraries.
Department of the Army
,
Fort Monmouth, NJ
DoD
Computer Scientist
082007 – 03/2010
- Led development for night vision goggle heads-up display systems used in helicopter platforms, contributing to embedded systems and a ruggedized PC-based hardware/software test tool.
AIG
,
NJ
Insurance Company
Java Developer
07/2000 – 06/2007
- Developed internal Java software for desktop and servers, enabling agents to create new proposals and process renewals, saving significant time per employee compared to existing systems.
Work Experience
Open Source & Personal Projects
,
NJ
Software Developer
Always – Present
- Collaborated with developers of various skill levels on multiple
game projects over several months. Contributed to game mechanics,
UI, and optimization across different projects:
• Cleansing Roots: UI scaling, stair collider fixes, skybox improvements, end-game explosion effects, debug cheats, pause functionality, and enemy targeting behavior.
• Comet Kicker: Implemented color selection, high-score freeze fix, device detection improvements, high refresh rate physics adjustments, spawn timer balancing, collectible duration fixes, movement consistency improvements, and spawn frequency tuning.
• Taikong (Unity on-rails shooter): Provided code optimizations and developed a settings menu.
• Sokoran (Godot puzzle game): Enhanced cursor interactions and fixed various bugs, including red dice behavior, missed click handling, and character position removal issues. - Continuous development of various personal projects with Android, iOS, Web, and Unity, Development across a wide range of technlogies including AI, VR, AR, RSS. Projects include a storage management app, a pinball score tracker using AI, a mixed reality fitness game, browser plugins, pinball tournament scoreboard, a gift card management app, and many more that I'm excited to talk about.
- Developed Galactic Grab, a Unity game for the Infinity Game Table, a 32" touch screen gaming table.
- Contributed to Pinball Maps, a React Native project for Android and iOS. Developing new features, refactors to make the app more resilient. Updated documentation for contributors.
- Contributed to Open Artemis, a Swift project for macOS and iOS, a privacy-focused Reddit client. Implemented bug fixes and features to improve opening links from external sources.
- Contributed to Sidekick, a Swift project for macOS, a local LLM toolbox. Contributed pull requests to improve developer document, scripts to make developer setup easier, and improve UX.
- Contributed to Invoke AI, a gen AI tool for generating images, written in React. Developed bug fixes for mobile devices.
- Developed a mod development framework for the Unity-based game, Fire Pro World – Expanded to support many Unity games, including SUPERHOT and Slime Rancher. Developed numberous match types and extra features as mods for Fire Pro World. Developed a local co-op mod for Slime Rancher.
- Created VR Lightgun Arcade in Unity, including a custom MAME build and reverse engineering Arcade ROMs to go beyond pure emulation.
- Wearable computing expert with a focus on at-a-glance information. Has worked on software for Google Glass, Android Wear, Pebble, WimmOne, MetaWatch, and Sony Smart Watch. Google Glass software received a lot of press and recognitions.
- Independently developed and distributed several Android software apps with over 500,000 combined users. Published applications to the Play Store, Blackberry App World, and Windows Store. Been involved in mobile development for personal usage since 2006, and have worked on personal software for the Sidekick and Windows Mobile devices as well.
Notable Projects
Wayfair App Android
Barnes & Noble Nook app Android
Nook Color 1 – eReader Software Android Platform Software
Comedy Central App Android
Pinball Maps React Native, Android, iOS
Open Artemis iOS
Foot Locker AR – The Hunt iOS and Android Augmented Reality App
Royal Caribbean AR iOS and Android Augmented Reality App
Wyndham VR Experiential Virtual Reality
Aeronaut VR Virtual Reality Experience
VR Lightgun Arcade Virtual Reality Game
PWGR Unity Mod Framework Unity Modding Tools
Galactic Grab Unity Game
Winky Wearable Software
Education
M.S. & B.S. Software Engineering
Recognitions and Awards
Featured application in the Play Store for Wayfair Google
Interactive Innovation Award Finalist SxSW
Invent Something Different, Isobar Value Award Isobar
Cannes Lion Digital Craft Ascential
Creativity Top 50 Creativity Magazine
Project Isaac Bronze Award Ad Week
Intel Software Innovator Intel
Featured application in the Android Market for dgAlert Google
Featured application in the Play Store for Comedy Central Google
Speaking Engagements