Liquid Media's Apps

About Me

Paul Doerwald is Chancellor of Liquid Media, a boutique Software-as-a-Service application development company located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. He and his team program in the JavaScript and Ruby languages, and the Ember.js and Ruby on Rails frameworks. Liquid Media has been in business for over sixteen years, and has clients throughout Canada and the United States. Liquid Media’s customers include major media companies such as Bell Media (formerly CTV Globemedia), sizeable non-profits including the Land Trust Alliance and the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, as well as a number of innovative startups.

As a programmer, Paul’s guiding principle is “simplicity and elegance”. In technology, the principle reveals itself in writing as little code as possible and making it easy to change. Comments are used liberally when necessary, but ideally the code will speak for itself. On the design side, Paul prefers minimalist designs that communicate clearly, without using too many words. He believes software should be intuitive; usable without the need for online help and manuals. Paul wants his software to be fun — not fun like a game, but fun like the rewarding feeling of getting your work done on time with no hassle.

When working with his clients, Paul strives to serve their best interests. When a simpler (and less expensive) option is possible, he always suggests it. When he makes a mistake, he admits it immediately, accepts the consequences, and finds a way to fix the problem. He believes in long-term business relationships; some of Liquid Media’s clients have been customers for over a decade, and he is fortunate to now count many of them as friends.

Paul completed his first degree, an Honours Bachelors of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1999. A decade later in 2010 he completed a Masters of Software Engineering (with distinction) from the University of Oxford. His dissertation, “Software Project Communication: Towards Agile Documentation”, examines how a developer (or team of developers) should best document a software project so that it is easily transferrable to a new developer or team. Putting his dissertation into practice, Paul strives to make himself completely replaceable, to help ensure that his clients’ business outlives his involvement.

When he’s not working, Paul enjoys traveling, cooking, fine wine, good food, running, hiking, downhill skiing, and most importantly, spending time with his family.