“I would like to solve the insoluble...”

Fable has left a mark on iGO My way in many details. For three years now he has been working at Nav N Go, where his first task was the ongoing development of the GPS navigation software. Not only the world-famous software, but also several first places in programming contests in several countries prove his accomplishments.

You have come a long way to get to Nav N Go...

Yes, you are right. I had countless jobs before this, generally I would stay for two years. At most of the companies, we worked on very spectacular projects. For example, I am proud of the free correspondence system that I programmed, the Drót carrier pigeon, which has been used tremendously, there were around 30 thousand users. Later, I worked for a games development firm, where I programmed popular games...

Is it important to you that the users value your work? That they use it a lot?

It is rewarding to take part in the development of popular, famous programs. A heartwarming feeling when you see on TV and on billboards the things you spend your time on. It feels like I am leaving my mark on the world. As much as my time permits, I also read feedback on forums.

How interesting is it that things in use today are connected with your name?

Such as the engine of the T-Com (Matáv) repair center, or some other services, which operates on my program. It is not all that spectacular, but was very exciting for me.

When did you get involved with navigation?

Once I heard about highway navigation contests, where you have to find various points within a region in the shortest possible time. Right away it occurred to me how good it would be to write a GPS-based route optimizing program that would show on a laptop where you should go. The second thing that occupied me was the development for PDA. I won a device in a programming contest, but I couldn’t make much use of it. The game programs on it were quite poor, I thought it would be possible to do better. Already then I knew that I wanted to continue working along these PDA lines.

How did you decision turn into action?

A series of lucky chances led to Nav N Go. First, in a programming contest my attention was drawn to the PDAmill Company, which at the time was a six-person firm developing games for PDAs. This in itself sounded good, but the final push came when I heard from a totally different source about the startup Nav N Go Company, which had begun to work together with the just mentioned PDAmill on a PDA GPS solution. That was precisely what I also wanted.

Did this new direction bring a major change in your life?

Any such change means a 180-degree turnaround, but absolutely in a positive direction. In the past years, I had familiarized myself with a lot of areas of programming, and always the discovery of totally new things drove me forward. Thinking back, I am very proud that I always had the courage to take up unfamiliar things, to seek out challenges. Without this, I would not have been able to realize my ideas.

And you would not have been able to share in such a success now...

In the initial stage of the iGO My way software we didn’t think the acclaim would be so great. Of course, even then we saw the potential success, but we thought it would be more of a strong product on the local markets. And now already all kinds of major companies from every region of the world are coming to us.

Did you discover during the process what you could bring forth from the software?

Yes, basically. We never looked at the competition, we didn’t begin the development by fundamentally studying the market. We simply tried to find the best possible solution to the problems which came up. Success came to us almost step by step, we were not sure about our present market position, or the offering of other companies. We were “writing code” in our own little world, and this is what came of it.

I think this “writing code” contains a tremendous amount of work...

Of course. It might seem strange to others that we don’t think of it as work, although it is really true that sometimes we sit in front of our computer from morning to evening. We simply see the challenge in it, we are solving problems which often seem impossible.

What did you program in iGO My way?

I had a hand in very many things, there is almost no part where I have not left a mark. My main area was the pathfinding algorithm and the guidance, in other words, what the software shows and says turn by turn. I also did the displaying of the road names.

Your ability has also been recognized in major contests. Which prize are you most proud of?

It changes with the time. In high school, I took first place in a programming contest, that was important to me. I also have good experiences with contests during college, for example, the 24-hour programming contest, where we entered in a three-person team, and for four years we were always the first place. We were also many times at the ACM Central European competition, where our best effort was 4th place.

According to them, programming is also your main activity in your free time?

Basically yes, but then I am not programming what I have to, but rather what I want to. When I came to Nav N Go, I still had a lot of time for that, I also wrote several games for myself, which I then gave away free to users as downloaded software. Of course, I myself like to play, and my tastes change with the times. I used to regularly play EverQuest, and then World of Warcraft. Through the net a society was formed, with U.S. and European members, we did a lot of forums with them, after the game we would exchange ideas there. We finally got on such good terms that even today we keep up the contact, and often get together for personal meetings.

You said you did not stay with many jobs longer than two years. Yet here you are working at Nav N Go for 3 years. What is it that keeps you here?

The fact that I am able to work here in a field that absolutely suits my interest, that I can realize my ideas, and that they appreciate all of this. The company’s flexibility means a lot to me: it doesn’t look at when I come to work, the key thing is that I get the job done. I get continual feedback on whether I am doing useful work; after all, the iGO My way software is already being used throughout Europe... And of course, not least of all, the work takes place in exceptionally good company, a good atmosphere, so it is not really all that much work...