Roman Nurik - "our man" in Honeycomb

“We have fourteen minutes before the start!” ©)) Roman Nurik - in the center.

It was difficult to stand out among the "stars" of Google on Google Developer`s Day-2010 in Moscow. But Roman Nurik did not get lost - one of the most powerful reports was made by a guy who was born in Odessa in 1986. We have already heard about him (and wrote), and this fall for the first time managed to meet in real life. The interview was recorded in November, then the work of Roman in the Android 3.0 project was more mysterious than Baikonur. That's why I kept this text until the release of Honeycomb. I am sure that the thoughts of the interview did not lose relevance. For example, in the context of HTC Android Developer`s Contest 2.0 .

Roman, is it weak to record this interview in Russian?
OK, I will try, but I count on your help! And I apologize in advance - in difficult moments I will switch to English. In the family (with mom and dad) we speak Russian. But now I live and work in San Francisco. There, all friends, all English-speaking environment ... in general, the lack of practice affects.
')
After several publications, people already know that you are from Ukraine. Can you give more details?
I was born in Odessa in 1986. When I was three years old, my parents and I went to the States. At first they lived in New York, in Brooklyn. Then they moved to Long Island. Then - study in Boston. I have been working at Google for two years now and living in San Francisco.

We will return to the User Interface, but for now tell: when and how did you decide to become a programmer?
It's long and early.) My father is not affiliated with IT, He works in car service. But he always loved computers and welcomed my interest in them. In general, my father helped me study computer from my childhood. I'm not sure that I immediately understood that this is “the work of my life”, but ... at ten I started trying to program, at 13 I began to learn C ++. At 15-16 years old I came to the conclusion that I would study programming systematically. By the age of 17, I was seriously engaged in web design. I already understood how tightly connected web design and user interface are. Loved the math. Without it, programming is nowhere.

You're all on the UI moving out, tell first about the student years.
The question of choosing a specialty has not been discussed. It is clear that it should have been information technology. But, by the way, at the university I studied not only IT, but also marketing. You will be surprised, but the main thing that I learned at the university is how to work with people, how to work in a team, what a team spirit is. In childhood and teenagers I got used to programming individually. A student began to master the "team game." Most of the projects in both of my faculties were group. In modern education, group work is considered a very important skill. Oddly enough, but in the field of programming, I learned not so much. There are two explanations for this:
1. I managed to read and learn a lot during my school years.
2. In programming, self-education is very important, so I learned a lot on my own.

And how did you end up on Google?
One day (it was in 2007), a good friend of mine saw a Google vacancy among the ads and declared that I should immediately send my resume to Google. So I sent!
The vacancy was very interesting: API Support Engineer. I remember that of these three words I liked the most two: “API” and “Engineer”!) I already worked a lot with PHP, the Google Maps API, and I really liked that this is a large amount of data that a large company - Google - open to all. In general, I fired up and sent the documents.
Obviously, my resume suited everyone and they sent me a small written test. I coped with the writing task quickly. Then there was a telephone interview, and then I flew to San Francisco, where everything was decided. They understood my passion for IT. I already had experience. In general, I am lucky - I was suitable for a vacancy, and the vacancy came up to me. Everything went well.

What exactly are you doing at Google?
In short: Android, User Interface, Design.
My main job right now is communication with Android developers. In addition, I am working on my own Android applications. Naturally, I am in contact with the developers of the Android operating system and sometimes connect in matters that relate to the User Interface.
As a child I drew a lot, then I became interested in Photoshop. I work in it for a long time and a lot. I think that I spent in tens of thousands of hours in Photoshop. These skills are very useful when working with the interface. In general, the combination of programming, working on the user interface and web design is an excellent combination of tasks for me.

We love and appreciate your design work: themes for Google Chrome and GMail, the GTUG logo. I like the combination of lightness and minimalism with logic and functionality ...
Thank. Yes, I attach importance to this. I try to make it easy, convenient, and at the same time ... not visually loaded.

How do you assess the overall situation with the Android operating system today?
Most of all I appreciate in Android open access. This distinguishes Android from other operating systems and makes Android “similar to WEB”, i.e. organic for ideology WEB. I think this is a winning strategy. Openness gives a lot of real benefits for developers. When someone asks me: “How does that work, and how does it work?” - I always say: “You don’t need to invent anything. Look at the code, because everything is visible there! ”

The User Interface that you do is (in my opinion) the most important and relevant for Android at this stage. How do you evaluate the role of UI development for Android at this stage?
Mmm ... I'm better in English.
I think that soon you will see that Android pays considerable attention to improving the user interface. In different countries, developers are making a lot of effort to improve the UI. Not only we, who provide contact with developers, but also top managers and, above all, developers of the Android platform. We all attach great importance to the user experience, and, accordingly, the user interface, so these are not the events that will pass unnoticed. In the past, many critical opinions have been expressed that Android is not perfect and its interface is not very beautiful. But I am convinced that a lot of effort will be made to change the situation, and I believe that we will change it. Yes, we know that developers have problems with customization from different manufacturers. I hope that these problems will soon be minimized. After all, the problems of Android are not only the problems of Google, they are questions of the legal system in general, questions of manufacturers and many other people. But I think that we will not sacrifice openness in favor of ease of development. After all, it is very important that Android is an open platform not only for developers, but also for manufacturers and all the rest! Therefore, we must be sure that everyone is happy and content. Therefore, we are trying to make the platform as convenient as possible for developers. But at the same time, we will by no means sacrifice openness. This is one of the basic principles.

OK, in the next versions of the Android UI will be significantly improved. This circumstance, as well as the patterns introduced for developers in the spring, will not make it impossible to use applications developed before this innovation?
( Again in English ) As you understand, I cannot now discuss future versions of Android. Patterns will maintain backward compatibility. Why do we create patterns? Because they help users. Users using these applications have certain expectations about how applications will work. After all, when things look similar and function in a familiar pattern, they are much easier to use. If you rely on patterns in newer versions of Android, you will not need to reinstall the application developed for previous versions. The Android team firmly adheres to the principle of backward compatibility. Therefore, if Android 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 appears, and at least 5.0 or any other, your application for Android 1.6 or 2.1 will continue to function fully. Yes, your application will work regardless of whether it uses our patterns. But how effective? This issue is still being addressed. It is important that the patterns reflect our common position. This is really our vision and global policy, and not just an opinion about one particular device. This is undoubtedly our global vision for interactive design.

What are your impressions of Moscow hakatons?
It was very interesting, despite the mutual language difficulties that both sides coped with honor.
The projects made an impression and convinced that the authors are really able to cope with the task. I liked the presentation of the Kiev project SaveMe.
It's great that this program is both a Chrome extention and an Android application. Everyone liked it and the SaveMe victory is absolutely natural.

Thank. I hope that the success of Kiev will be a good motivation for our joint efforts to conduct Google-events now in Kiev.

Vladimir Ivanov, Kyiv GTUG Center