About Me

[mar.kɪs kɚrt] He/him.

Hi there! I'm a software developer in Bear, Delaware that specializes in apps for the Apple ecosystem and indie games. I often work as a contractor to help businesses build and maintain apps for iPhone and iPad, but I also work on some apps of my own. I contribute to other open-source apps for Apple's ecosystem and the greater domain of Swift. Apple platforms aside, I like to dabble with the Playdate game console and create games for it! I occasionally play around with other technologies in Linux as well (I use Fedora on a Surface Pro 9 btw).

If you want to see the apps and games I've created over the years, you might want to consider looking through my portfolio. You might find something you'd like to try yourself!

Visit portfolio

Oh, and this should go without saying, but:

• I believe in respecting everyone for who they are, regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, ability, or socio-economic status. This includes (but is not limited to):
  • Palestinians have a right to exist and shouldn't be victims of a genocide.
  • Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️
  • People that have disabilities should be able to interact with society as much as a regular abled-person can (especially on technological fronts).
  • Marginalized groups are at a disadvantage and large systemic changes need to occur to make things more equitable for them.
• I believe in having a strong and healthy democracy and oppose fascism.
• I believe that we should protect free speech but also moderate and condemn hate speech (see my earlier points).
• I find that generative AI, in its current form, to be incredibly dangerous and refuse to touch it with a ten-foot pole unless serious steps are taken to address the various ethical and environmental concerns.
  • I do not use generative AI in any of my works and will always support human creators wherever possible.
• I believe in creating software and solutions that aims to solve problems and approach things pragmatically.
  • I focus on apps in the Apple ecosystem because I find the tooling to work best for me there. Likewise, I find Apple's platforms to work the best for me, even though I also use Fedora on the side.
  • I am not a zealot for free and open-source software. While I do believe in the power and premise of open-source software, I will not unequivocally reject all proprietary software.
  • I believe that open ecosystems and closed ecosystems can co-exist, and there are merits to both approaches. Moreover, I believe in having a choice between using either open or closed ecosystems.
• I believe that privacy should be a fundamental human right and build my apps and games with that in mind.
  • I find value in creating offline-first, privacy-centric app experiences and will strive to make that a goal/priority wherever possible (file over app, baby!).
• I do not believe in being competitive with others. Collaboration over competition any day.
• While I don't consider myself an anti-corporate anti-capitalist, I do believe that capitalism as it currently exists in the United States can be better regulated to ensure a fair balance between consumers and producers.
  • Even though I'm a software developer, I will try to prioritize the consumer and think about issues from that lens instead of that of an enthusiast. Call me the tech "anti-enthusiast", if you will.
• I believe that we've focused far too much on optimizing everything to a fault, and we need to allow for complexity and nuance in life.
  • Discussions shouldn't be seen as black and white conversations, but rather opportunities to explore and broaden horizons. There needs to be less of an emphasis on scoring internet points, and more on understanding each other.
  • There is plenty of room for criticism and scrutiny, but I believe such criticism should be made constructively, and there should be plenty balance between approval and criticism in order to foster healthy discussions.
• I believe that we need to better strengthen education and foster environments of critical thinking and problem solving skills to better our world.
• I believe there's a time and place to make assertions, and it shouldn't necessarily be every time an opinion is expressed. Opinions are subjective, and they shouldn't be taken as fact without context or a healthy dose of questioning.

I'm sure that you might not agree on everything I've said here, and that's fine. Just don't be a dick about it. If you want more in-depth analyses and opinions, feel free to check out the Opinion tag on this website.