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Boulder County Poised to be Next Java Hotbed | |
By: Sam Grothe
January 1999
BOULDER -- If the next big craze in animated video games is three-dimensional pictures made with Java computer programming, then some of the credit belongs to Robert Bergman.
Bergman, a Java computer programmer for Avitek, created Spacelets, a video game that looks like a hybrid of Tank Command on steroids meets Asteroids at Area 51. And like nearly all great cyber-like inventions of its kind, the video game is little more than the by-product of a fluke gone gold.
"It was written in a couple of short bursts for a couple of presentations I was doing," said Bergman.
Bergman said he got the idea to develop a three-dimensional game in Java code from a friend of his who suggested he rewrite a similar two-dimensional video game developed in Korea called Rova.
"I was basically looking for an excuse to write Java in 3-D," he said. "The fact that it made it to completion is a pretty big accomplishment."
So when the Boulder Java Users Group met recently, Bergman gave the star presentation. The game also appeared at the premiere of Avitek's Java Technology Harvest and the grand opening of the company's authorized Java Center.
"For the grand opening of the Avitek Authorized Java Center, we decided to organize a mini-Java conference, so area high-tech professionals could share ideas and learn more about Java technology," said Tim Miller, Avitek's president and chief executive officer. "The response we received from customers and business partners was so overwhelmingly positive that we created the Java Technology Harvest concept and now plan to hold the event on an annual basis."
Miller, like others in the fast-growing software industry, believes Java is eclipsing all other forms of software programming languages for developing future applications.
"Java is unprecedented in technology space right now," Miller said. "We don't really reinvent the wheel with Java, we solve new problems."
There aren't many holes in the theory that Java is the next big thing as far as software programming goes, since it's already used quite a bit. The only reason it hasn't surpassed C++ programming yet, which analysts predict will happen by 2000, is basically because Java is only three-and-a-half years old.
Sun Microsystem's alpha version of Java was released in mid-1995, after a group of tenacious engineers began taking apart consumer products and computers to figure out a way to get their central processing units to communicate and pass data-objects back and forth in a coherent manner, even though they might work on different platforms.
Java allows programmers to build application programs using things like Java Applets, a small program embedded within a Web page, or JavaScript, which is the scripting language developed by Netscape. JavaScript actually can be viewed directly in HTML documents by viewing the source code on Web pages.
Currently, there are an estimated 750,000 programmers now working in Java, according to Software Magazine. And, according to a study conducted by the Business Research Group, there are more software developers using Java to create Internet applications than C++, C, and Basic combined.
In fact, some of those in the Java programming industry believe Boulder has what it takes to be a Java hotbed, or an area thriving with Java software start-up companies. Firms here already play the recruiting game, upping the ante of incentives so they can capture young talented programmers by saying they have the best corporate culture.
BEA Systems Senior Account Executive Don Hazell has so far covered seven states during his years in the software industry and says he knows a hot spot when he sees one.
"I've covered the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest and Western regions, and outside of California. The (Denver/Boulder) area is as strong as any area west of the Mississippi," he says.
Avitek took a gamble on Java, once it saw that object-oriented and Internet technologies are becoming more important to businesses, said Ryan Martens, the company's vice president of marketing.
"Couple Boulder's start-up community with Denver's strength in telecommunications, and you have one of the fastest-growing Java development communities in the country," Martens said.
Another factor that helps establish Boulder as a hotbed for Java start-ups is the sheer number of companies and the fact that some are right now looking for programmers.
Besides Avitek, some of the surrounding area Java-related start-ups include SCM Labs, the Electronic Commerce Associates, and the Root Group, all of Boulder; and BEA Systems (formerly WebLogic of Golden and San Francisco), and Object Design of Denver.
However, the biggest boon of all may come from Sun Microsystems, known to many as the grandfather of Java. Sun is opening a Java Center in Broomfield this month, says Prentiss Donohue, a Sun public relations representative. Both Sun and Avitek have plans to hire Java programmers.
As it stands, Avitek is 25 full-time employees strong and is calling for another 75 employees by the end of 1999. Avitek also recently signed a new three-year office lease, expanding its floor space from 5,100 to 11,300 square feet.
Sun isn't releasing many details about its new Java Center. Sun's employment search engine on its Internet site (www.sun.com), however, lists positions available for management, project leads and Java architects to fill positions for its Java development application area at its Colorado headquarters in Broomfield.
Not everyone supports the claim that Boulder is the next Java hotbed.
"I'd almost be more inclined to refute that argument," said Tim Enwald, a senior partner of the Electronic Commerce Association. "For Boulder to become a hotbed for Java developers you have to have a large software sector in (Boulder)."
Enwald said if a Sun Java Center opens at Interlocken it will show significant strides toward the potential growth of the local Java development industry. But, he said, "it wouldn't be as prolific as an Austin, Seattle or Silicon Valley."
One key component to keeping the working environment synergistic at Avitek is to make sure the company's built up with team players and not showboat geniuses recruited from prestigious Ivy League colleges.
"They simply don't play well with the other children," Miller said. "(Avitek's) not hiring superstars or prima donnas. We haven't really lost anyone, and we've been able to attract everyone we've wanted. Over half our company is made up of CU graduates."
According to Miller, local senior managers at software start-ups can expect to earn about $120,000 annually or about $40,000 less the national average; yet local project leads earn about $8,000 more than the national average; while technical gurus or subject matter experts can expect to earn around $90,000 a year.
"We're in line with these (figures)," he adds.
Avitek's biggest sales pitch to employees: Everyone gets stock options and the company strictly enforces a 40-hour work week to keep the burnout factor to a minimum.
"My first concern is how to keep the corporate culture fun," said Miller. "But I have people who, if I'd let them, they would work day-in, day-out, around the clock."
Avitek's corporate culture suits Bergman and his co-workers just fine.
"There's certainly nice diversions when you need them," Bergman said. "Avitek is great for that, it's fun and casual. Everyone goes to play foosball when they get a chance to take a break."
In terms of the future of Java technology Bergman says, "It lends itself to short-term projects, and real-world, real-time, work."
As for Bergman's own endeavors with three-dimensional video games, he says he'll probably make Spacelets a public source code so other technical computer people can play with it. Plus, Bergman says he was so inspired from building Spacelets that he has started work on another video game.
"It will be done with more care and should also become publicly available," he said, noting "because of the way Java 3-D is architected, it has a lot of potential ... (and) as Java matures, it's not an unrealistic goal to write video games in Java."
© Reprinted with permission by the Boulder County Business Report, all rights reserved.
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