It's an interesting period. On one hand, even though the complexity of the app has grown a lot, so have the tools and libraries which are available. Another im

It's an interesting period. On one hand, even though the complexity of the app has grown a lot, so have the tools and libraries which are available. Another important aspect of doing it alone is the ability to market your software. If you're not interested in that too much and don't have a spouse or friend who can take care of promoting, selling, customer support, etc, then it's difficult to make a living with it. And of course, the competition is fierce and getting stronger every day. Kids are growing up with computers and devices and they write code. I've just spent 30 minutes playing a 10-year old's game (John Carmak's son, btw :) ). Then there's always the 'open source' way - you start solo and then people join you. My life as a solo programmer has been in ups and downs - making money while working full time as a programmer and then going solo and spending all my savings on experimental projects which so far haven't been commercially successful. Now I have to take a job again and be a 'team player'...