Computer Setup

Mobile development. You poor, poor bastard. My prayers are with you and your sanity.

Haha I love mobile development. I've been doing web development for 8 years so mobile is a nice change of pace.

I've been doing web stuff for a long time too. I looked into mobile development, and promptly felt the urge to rip my hair out. Best of luck. It's not for me, certainly, but someone has to write that stuff :)

Hah try doing some, I did. It started with a project using HTML5/Javascript and a few months later I had moved into native java (android app). I loved it.

I'm... not a very big fan of Java, you see.

Java is okay but I've been using lua and corona sdk lately to program my apps and man is it amazing. It re-lit my passion for programming.

I'm not surprised you lost that passion in the first place over Java.

Currently trying to master hibernate.

Could you offer any wisdom on a place to start? I am currently in high school and I am taking an APCS course that covers the basics of java. After this class, I would love to move into mobile development work to broaden my portfolio and test these waters but I am not sure which language, style, compiler, methods and focus I should have.

Knowing and basics of Java will make for an easy jump into android development as it's java. You can download the android sdk which is free to download and start messing around with it. There are a lot of samples out there that you can download, setup and run on your android device. From there you can dig into their source code and start trying to understand it. Also unlike what most people think you don't have to be an expert to build an app. You can go at it piece by piece. First do some googling and learn how to setup a background image and then do some googling on how to place a character on the screen...before you know it you can put together a complete app.

Get the android SDK, write apps, use emulator. Follow tutorials for anything you want to do the website has some basic ones on it.

I just learned lua to make something in love2d. How well does it run on android? I've done android in java, and lua would be more fun, I just don't want to pay a huge performance tax :-)

I see you do mainly ruby .. you can still do iOS dev with RubyMotion.

And I can use Python or Scala for Android, but everything runs in their super awesome VM. Nah...

I've been learning with mobile development - I really like it. Too bad the bubble will probably pop by the time I graduate from college.

With the way the trend is going I think you're going to be ok. Everything is still going mobile I beleive there is still a lot of room for growth.

I agree with this. I'm seeing a new boom in the smart phone market, not from kids but from adults. I can't tell you how many adults I've seen go from "I just want a phone that makes calls" to spending hours playing games on their new smart phones.

Don't forget everything is going web too - web'll merge with mobile and the HTML5 and CSS3 devs will be laughing.

No way man. I'm a mobile developer, and there's an insane amount of growth. Not only that but we haven't quite reached wearable iDevices etc.So, that's a whole new market.

I consider mobile and tablet dev the same thing, and there is a HUGE growing market for it. Mobiles and tablets are fast rivaling traffic levels for PCs and there is no sign of that slowing down. There is a HUGE need to optimize interfaces for mobile and tablet devices and there is bucket loads of money for those who are good and efficient at it.

I'll take my corporate gig with 70k/year salary, 4 weeks vacation, benefits, and job security every single time over freelancing.

If you're lucky enough to land a job like that, by all means, go ahead. Some of us don't have the choice.

Believe it or not the job I quit I made more then that. I only had half the pto though.

Did you not enjoy the job you were doing?

I loved it and loved the people. But my old salary is peanuts compared to my self employed income.

So you've gone from 70k+ a year into freelance that pays more than that on average per year?

I'm not really freelancing. I create applications for cell phones. I upload them to the various app stores and get paid for ad impressions. So every time someone plays my apps I get paid a little bit more. 70k+ a year I used to think was a lot of money. Now 70k seems so little.

Depends what your responsibilities are, I have zero... so $10,000 a year is even more than i need in reality, unless I want to buy useless crap and go away over 3 times a year.

This. Very much this. I've been trying to get in to learning programming so I could start working from home instead of going in. I figured if I could stay at home, I'd save money from going in to work and dealing with the bullshit.

You might have a rough time starting out but don't let that get you down. Keep your eye on the prize and you will get there. You will fail from time to time, use that as motivation though. Just the fact that you have thought about breaking away from the 9-5 job puts you leaps ahead of most people. Let that feeling fuel you until you're cashing checks and laughing at everyone who told you it can't be done.

What else is that I've put extra time trying to get training in other fields of IT with the hopes of moving around in the place I work, but I haven't seen a single return on my investment. I'd get a job somewhere else, but I'd have to take a pay cut to get to where I want to be, and I can't afford to take that risk for my family. Unfortunately, I have to keep shoveling the shit in to my mouth before I can finally get out.

IMO, the extra effort that you put in should go towards something where the money should grow with you having to put extra hours. OP, has is right. He invests time in creating apps that makes money for him. He doesnt work for money his apps does. You are better of spending your extra time learning programming if thats what you like, rather than an hourly contract management job. Like OP said, programming is not easy you will be frustrated a lot but dont give up. You investment into learning might not pay right away but it will pay well later.

How old are you, btw? I agree 70k is peanuts and I make 100K+ and that's way less to where I want to be.

I turn 27 on Sunday.

As a fellow 5/5'er - happy early birthday :)

Damn dude.. I was at least hoping that you are older so that I can tell myself that I can do something like what you did at your age.. :P Happy Early Birthday, I turn 28 in 2 weeks. I agree, its important not to underestimate ourselves. You must be a good motivator for friends.

Ha, 4 weeks vacation?! In the UK we get 28 days paid vacation minimum by law (works out to 5.6 weeks).

That's 20 days + 8 days statutory holidays, which include Xmas, easter and other bank holidays.

And free healthcare. Mmmmm, socialism.

Hardly, something being state run doesn't instantly equate to socialism.

They're more socialist ideas than the US has, though.

Lots of things in the US are run by the state, the postal service, the police, the fire service etc etc, we just happen to have healthcare run by the state too.

Heh, good ol' US of Socialism. Those poor Commie bastards with their postal service and emergency responders.

When I 'the state' I mean it in the non US way of saying country.

Its not free either. That slice the government takes out of your pay each month. Thats your health care being payed.

Everyone knows what we mean when we say free dude, it means free at the point of use.

Yep you dont pay a thing when you need care. You are just constantly payong for it. Free is the wrong term. Unless your unemployed then yes its free. Its like when people say I own my house. No you dont the bank does untill its repaid. You stop paying its the banks. Obvious yea, but it just niggles me when common knowledge like the Nhs is free when its not. Im pro Nhs btw. :)

It's an odd affair. YAY, FREE HEALTH CARE, ^{I hope I never use it.}

You wouldn't want to take control of your own financial future? I agree, however, some people should stay in corporate gigs. After all, we need somebody taking out the trash.

Sweet setup. Good luck with your new venture. Don't let the timid types hold you back .. need more types like you who are willing to take risks.

Good luck with your company!

Nice fish tank. Any pics? :)

The QA station was my favorite.

Very nice and it takes some guts to quit a well paying job (I'm sure your web dev job paid pretty decent, web developer here as well). What goes into making such a decision? Are you experience with mobile development? Are you going to be consulting for other companies? Whats your family scenario and how many saving months did you need? Sorry to hijack your gaming setup thread for these questions.

My web dev job was paying quite well. Most people would think I'm crazy for jumping ship. I've been doing mobile development on the side since 2007 when I started making blackberry apps. I've since branched out to newer devices. Over the past 6 months it's really started to take off so I eventually decided it would be much better to focus on it full time rather then part time. As for family, it's just my wife and me. As for savings if the whole mobile dev were to dry up and not produce a cent I would have made enough this month to live comfortably for while.

Very nice. I'm looking to jump ships to mobile dev as well. I have very little experience with mobile dev itself but I'm confident that I can pick up IOS fairly quickly. I'm not in a position to quick my current job (not money reasons) and would like to do it part time, so do you have any suggestions for someone like me?

Look into using a framework like Corona SDK. I went with native code for way too long and you end up doing a lot more work then you have to. Not only that but you write the code once and you can push it out to iOS, Android, amazon etc. You increase your chance of being seen.

Very interesting. I always thought native app is the way to go. So I assume the Corona SDK is geared towards Enterprise app development. Like creating apps for businesses that supports multiple platforms. Thanks you for the information. I hate to hijack your gaming setup thread. Good luck with you en devours, I will PM if you dont mind.

I was the same way...I would turn my nose up to people who used anything but native code. But then I opened my eyes and realized they can write apps 100x faster then I can using native code. Things that would take 100 lines of code now take 5. Corona isn't geared towards everyone really. From little indie developers to large companies. They offer a free version of their SDK so you can build away without risking a dime of your money.

What kind of apps do you write?

Mostly android games, but recently I've been getting into writing apps for iOS.

I am looking to start doing mobile dev as well. Which IDE are you using with Corona?

I was using notepad++ but then I switched to sublime text 2

Thank you! I've heard a lot of good things about Sublime Text 2. I'll check it out.

Sublime Text 2 is great. Its pretty basic out of the box but there are so many plugins available for it. If you think, 'oh I wish it could do this...' theres likely a plugin that will make it do that.

I will need to have a look into Corona, I am currently using Phonegap as HTML and JScript was something I knew, so phonegap + jQMobi/jQUi seemed like a great way for me to go. Is Corona its own language or is it written in an existing one?

You have to use what you know, nothing wrong with that. If anything after getting an app or two out it will motivate you to keep going and may learning a new language. Corona uses lua which is similar to javascript in a lot of ways. It's a very readable language so picking it up is rather quick I thought. Not to mention that on youtube people have videos where they build full games and walk you through every step.

Awesome, will have a look at it. Really need to get myself a better environment for coding though :\ what I have now is fine, but having one screen be a 15" laptop screen out of the two I use is slightly annoying

Take a look at Titanium too if you're comfortable with Javascript, because it's all Javascript (not HTML + Javascript). I did a lot of research based on my own requirements, which were basically "I need something that won't take me ages to program, and that will look really good and run smoothly." Instantly crossed out PhoneGap, found Titanium amongst a few others and Titanium seemed to be the best fit. Would definitely recommend it for anyone who doesn't necessarily have the time to learn a proprietary language like Obj-C, or anyone who has some knowledge of Javascript beyond DOM manipulation.

If I may... have you ever used any other SDK for mobile dev? For example, phonegap or titanium? If yes, how do you compare them to Corona SDK?

I've used Titanium - currently developing an app in it. Can't see it being a great platform for creating games (maybe I'm wrong) but it's really great for data-driven app development. Tons of support from the community, and if you know your way around Javascript it should be very easy to pick up. Also, any JS framework that doesn't require the DOM will work with it, which is a huge bonus. Smooth a silk too, none of that laggy crap you get with PhoneGap.

I've used phonegap before and it's really quite bad compared to corona. It's really sluggish and doesn't have things like physics built into it.

(Sorry for hijacking this question, but felt the need to answer it)

Thanks for taking time to tell me about your experience. Its great to see passion driving the decisions. Lot of times its easy to hold back on family and financial circumstances but there is no better time than now to do what you like. Ppl like you and OP are great motivations. I hope that you gain success in what you are doing.

Good luck mate! I am about to do the same but with a different service!

I wish I was you.

"It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because... All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are." - Mark Cuban

That quote is bad ass

Looks like a pretty new tank, it looks lovely. We just put a 175gal (150 display/25 sump) RedSea Maxx 650 in our office, in the pearl white. Do you do all the maintenance on yours? I do all the work on my office tank, which is honestly more rewarding than it is burdensome.

That's a nice tank as well. The readsea tanks are pretty high quality. Our display is 180 and we also have a 60g settling tank and 29g sump. I do all the work myself. I think it's one of the most rewarding things honestly. When you have a nice looking coral that starts to split and turn into 2 corals, it's just awesome. Plus with the amount of money I have into the equipment it picks up the slack on days when I forget to do something. :)

Are you hiring? I will work for free!

I'm always hiring free labor. When can you start? :D

I can pm you with more info about myself, are u by any chance in the bay area?

For Android OS? Do you have already some apps?

Nice marine tank! you should send it over to r/aquariums!

Would like to see a full shot of the office and the fish tank!

You seem to have made great success if you're making over 70k, what apps have you developed that are bringing in so much money?

I have quite a few apps that have over 100,000 downloads. Most of my apps are games which draw a bunch of downloads rather quickly. I also went after casino based apps as in my years of doing realized that people love to gamble...even if it's fake money. I'm starting to branch out now though and test other areas of the game market, like physics based games as well as "cute" games.

Oh man, that's so cool! What kind of mobile development company is it?

Where'd you get your desk (table) top from?

It's a kitchen counter that we bought from ikea. I took a table saw to it and cut it to the size I wanted. I then bought some heavy duty l brackets and bracketed it to the wall. I couldn't find any desks I liked so we made our own

I didn't feel like it was in show worthy shape yet. A lot of messy wires and cables that I need to clean up. I went ahead and submitted it though as is.

Could you name your apps?

As someone learning to program is it harder or easier to program for mobile than for PC? I am very early in learning, I have just started to write small applications (Phyton on PC)

Once you know one language it's really not that hard to learn others. I started with php and branched out from there. I wouldn't say one is any harder then the other tough, just different.

Woah woah woah, is that...VISTA?

I would take Vista over windows 8 anyday. Fortunately it's neither of them....it's Windows 7

Cool setup I wish you the best of luck!

Btw what sort of apps did you create I'll check them out!

What's your company's name? I love mobile games and am always looking for more...

Congrats man, I really wish I could do this in my own life.

What is the smell like? Bad?

Hey! If you're looking for graduate developers in the UK, I'll be available after exams :D

I'm kinda interested in a list of all the devices you own, and which ones you like the best (comfortable, easy to develop for, easy to use, fancy looking, etc). Also, is that an HTC Evo 3D there? I'm on one of those right now! I love it except HTC Sense's Bluetooth fuckery.

Close ups of the tank! Close ups of the tank!

Firefox is much better these days

I'm confused why you felt the need to tell everyone you quit your job? Just curious lol

Probably really proud/excited about it!

This is eerily similar to my girlfriend's boss's office. The fishtank is set up exactly the same and in the same position.

You'll be back to looking for a corporate job in 8 months.

The guy said he's been doing this on the side for years, and he made enough doing it this month to live comfortably for years... Why would be be back to doing anything corporate ever?

Why do you say that? I worked for an animation & interactive company for over 10 years. When they folded I went into business for myself. The hours are better. The pay is significantly better. And you don't have to deal with all of the usual agency management BS.

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