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Developer Diaries


Quarterbacking the Dolphin's IT Team

Alex Grosholz

Employer: The Miami Dolphins

Job: Lead application developer

DDJ: Alex, what do you do as lead application developer for an NFL team?

AG: I kind of oversee all our internal applications. Like we have a scouting system, so we investigate players on the field, but we also need to know all their statistical backgrounds—pretty much anything you can think of [about] a player to try and give us a competitive advantage.

DDJ: How many developers work for the Dolphins?

AG: We have a small development team—three to four onsite developers.

DDJ: What kind of tools do you use? Are you Windows-based?

AG: Yeah, we are a Microsoft shop, so we have Visual Studio and all that. Everybody seems to have their prejudices when it comes to development tools and environments, but I think [you should use] the tool that you feel comfortable with to get the job done. I personally actually really like ColdFusion. It's easy to program. If you need to bring somebody in, they can pick it up right away.

DDJ: What's hard about your job?

AG: I always hear developers say that they're under tight deadlines, but most developers have deadlines that, you know, you can always kind of push them off. But we have a draft day. I have to make sure those systems are up ready and make us able to make our decisions on point, right at a certain time, right at a certain date. It makes our jobs a little more difficult.


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