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I agree with RandallBrown, get something out there and show the world that you can finish an app. It'll be good experience too. As for getting noticed, if you
by jlturner 14y ago
I agree with RandallBrown, get something out there and show the world that you can finish an app. It'll be good experience too.
As for getting noticed, if you get you get fast at developing, I'd recommend participating in a hackathon and developing a simple, but useful, app with a random team. It's a great networking opportunity, and I still get startups and recruiters trying to hire me from my last hackathon (over a year ago now) in New York (I wasn't event looking for work).
My main experiences in building my first apps were:
1. Novel UI is usually not very intuitive, using what Apple gives you will take you far. People know how to use the basic UI elements, trying to teach users new behavior is hard (learned this the hard way).
2. Managing data will be messy if you don't use Core Data. I highly recommend going back to Stanford's iTunes U course and watching the one (two maybe?) on Core Data (and watch the Grand Central Dispatch one too if you're unfamiliar with it). Believe me, Core Data is awesome and once you learn to tame it you will learn to love it. Far better than rolling your own data storage/management.
3. Getting people to use your app is hard - make something useful. People download plenty of apps, but only open a handful of them. Don't bank on being another Instagram (there are plenty of clones), but make something really useful. TurboScan is a good example of this. Their UI is rather horrid, but its really good at doing what its meant to do. Its an app that is truly useful, and has made it to my (and my closest friends and family's) first screen. I probably use it 1-3 times a day because its actually very useful.
Good luck with your iOS adventures, love to see what you'd produce.
- tagabek 14y agoThanks for the incredibly helpful advice! I definitely want to participate in a hackathon within the next couple of years. The experience seems grueling but extremely rewarding (for most people). 1. It seems like a good idea is to keep functionality more or less the same, but maybe amp up the design aspect of the view. 2. BNR's book has an entire chapter dedicated to Core Data, but I will definitely check out the lectures on that subject (I may even go through the entire course if I feel the need). 3. This is a subject that I have witnessed many developers struggle with. The idea of creating something that people will WANT to use is something that excites me more than anything. I realize that I should focus on building concrete features before I attempt to make a plethora of them. I want to plan out my future apps before actually coding any of them. I want to teach myself to develop professionally, right from the beginning. I really appreciate these tips, as I know I will be checking this thread again when I really start my own projects. Thank you! I cannot wait work on amazing projects someday!