3 ms·

Actually, the situation is pretty bad for developers. Making a client for all major platforms (iOS, Android, blackberry and now wp7) is difficult. Every client

by jan_g 16y ago

Actually, the situation is pretty bad for developers. Making a client for all major platforms (iOS, Android, blackberry and now wp7) is difficult. Every client must be built from ground up. Different languages, different tools. Not bad in the sense of plurality and choice, of course, and I love learning new stuff. But it is difficult and time-consuming.

emehrkay 16y ago
Well too bad MS once again is lacking on the browser side. Devs cannot even target WP7 on the browser, I will not develop non-HTML5 mobile sites. Fuck that, WP7 phone users will not be able to use my sites.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  "Take care of the customer, or someone else will!"
DeusExMachina 16y ago
Moreover for little startups or single developers might be impossible. I was a Mac developer and now I am an iPhone developer because I already knew and liked the language and the frameworks. For the project I'm working on right now I have to develop an iPhone app and an iPad one, plus a server to handle data, a Mac app to create the particular content we need and a Mac client to upload and handle the data on the server. I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) and in no way I can learn/program on another platform right now, especially because our app will be animation intensive and there is no easy way of doing this at least on Android. In the future, if we are successful, we might move to other platforms as well, but for now I will just leverage the platforms I know.
- rkwz 16y ago
  >>I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) [Offtopic] Can you tell me how you keep both a day job as well as develop for iPhone, iPad and Mac? My mind always shunned the idea of working like this thinking that I'd burnout juggling so many responsibilities! Also, how do you balance your life with this much work?
  - DeusExMachina 16y ago
    And a server app written in Clojure ;) The risk of burnout is indeed there, a couple of months ago I posted an Ask HN on it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1545774 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1545774 Anyway I can tell you how I manage right now. First, I try to waste as less time as possible. I'm 20 minutes biking from work, and usually 15 minutes from anywhere else. Biking saves me a lot of commuting time, because I don't have to rely on public transportation. I start working at 9, but I wake up at 6. So each morning I get a couple of hours to work on my project. This implies of course that I have to go to sleep early in the evening, so I usually go to bed at 10 to have the sufficient amount of sleep, which is crucial to stay productive. I'm now in the proceeds to buy a house (with a mortgage). The main reasons to buy a house still apply, but I have some more: living in my own house will mean I will not have to deal with a landlord, and this will give me some more time. Moreover living alone (now I have flatmates), I will pay someone to clean the house instead of doing it myself. I value my time more than the money cleaners ask. Washing machine for clothes, dishwasher for dishes and I don't iron clothes at all (if you learn how to hang them it's almost useless). And there are the weekends, of course. To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out. I hope this helps.
    - rkwz 16y ago
      Thanks for the reply! We have so many things in common right from the commute (I use a bike too) to the sleep schedule (I wake up at 5 though ;) But there's where it ends - Unlike you, I waste a lot of my time. It seems that you work only 1 or 2 hours on your side project- Is it all that's needed? (sorry for omitting your server app!) To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out. Thank you very much for sharing this gem!
revorad 16y ago
So, is this the desktop story all over again?

by jan_g 16y ago

emehrkay 16y ago

Well too bad MS once again is lacking on the browser side. Devs cannot even target WP7 on the browser, I will not develop non-HTML5 mobile sites. Fuck that, WP7 phone users will not be able to use my sites.

stcredzero 16y ago
"Take care of the customer, or someone else will!"

DeusExMachina 16y ago

Moreover for little startups or single developers might be impossible. I was a Mac developer and now I am an iPhone developer because I already knew and liked the language and the frameworks. For the project I'm working on right now I have to develop an iPhone app and an iPad one, plus a server to handle data, a Mac app to create the particular content we need and a Mac client to upload and handle the data on the server. I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) and in no way I can learn/program on another platform right now, especially because our app will be animation intensive and there is no easy way of doing this at least on Android. In the future, if we are successful, we might move to other platforms as well, but for now I will just leverage the platforms I know.

rkwz 16y ago
>>I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) [Offtopic] Can you tell me how you keep both a day job as well as develop for iPhone, iPad and Mac? My mind always shunned the idea of working like this thinking that I'd burnout juggling so many responsibilities! Also, how do you balance your life with this much work?
- DeusExMachina 16y ago
  And a server app written in Clojure ;) The risk of burnout is indeed there, a couple of months ago I posted an Ask HN on it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1545774 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1545774 Anyway I can tell you how I manage right now. First, I try to waste as less time as possible. I'm 20 minutes biking from work, and usually 15 minutes from anywhere else. Biking saves me a lot of commuting time, because I don't have to rely on public transportation. I start working at 9, but I wake up at 6. So each morning I get a couple of hours to work on my project. This implies of course that I have to go to sleep early in the evening, so I usually go to bed at 10 to have the sufficient amount of sleep, which is crucial to stay productive. I'm now in the proceeds to buy a house (with a mortgage). The main reasons to buy a house still apply, but I have some more: living in my own house will mean I will not have to deal with a landlord, and this will give me some more time. Moreover living alone (now I have flatmates), I will pay someone to clean the house instead of doing it myself. I value my time more than the money cleaners ask. Washing machine for clothes, dishwasher for dishes and I don't iron clothes at all (if you learn how to hang them it's almost useless). And there are the weekends, of course. To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out. I hope this helps.
  - rkwz 16y ago
    Thanks for the reply! We have so many things in common right from the commute (I use a bike too) to the sleep schedule (I wake up at 5 though ;) But there's where it ends - Unlike you, I waste a lot of my time. It seems that you work only 1 or 2 hours on your side project- Is it all that's needed? (sorry for omitting your server app!) To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out. Thank you very much for sharing this gem!

revorad 16y ago

So, is this the desktop story all over again?