Is learning to program iphone worth it?

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

i thought to study iphone programming. but here in Israel, there is a demand for contractors mostly.
Do you think it is worth for me to learn iphone. please tell me what do you think

[Mark Spritzler]

Well, it depends on what you want to do.

Personally, I am not driven by what is the most popular job openings at the time. There are platforms and languages that I want to work in, they will give me the most fun and enjoyment and that is what drives me. If there are 20 jobs in language A and 5 in B, but I like B better, then I will program and learn B.

So, is it worth learning mobile development and using iPhone iOS and objective-c to code, then go and learn to program iPhone.

Mark

[Heilien Tsui]

If you have spare time, there is no harm learning

I am a beginner for iOS app

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Heilien Tsui wrote:If you have spare time, there is no harm learning

I am a beginner for iOS app

i also wanted to know if it is worthwhile in terms of the money earned....
since i will be working as a freelance, i fear to have unstable streams of income or be totally unemployed

[Bert Bates]

Hey Dmitri,

I'm guessing that you like being a programmer. It seems perfectly reasonable that you'd be interested in whether you could get work as an iPhone developer!

With that said, my guess is that there's no one answer. It might be that there are a lot of companies close to where you live that are doing such work, it might be that there aren't. The other approach, which is somewhat unique to the mobile market, is that if you have your own idea for a "killer mobile app", you don't need a company. You can create the app yourself and submit it to Apple, and with luck get it into the App store.

hth,

Bert

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Bert Bates wrote:Hey Dmitri,

I'm guessing that you like being a programmer. It seems perfectly reasonable that you'd be interested in whether you could get work as an iPhone developer!

With that said, my guess is that there's no one answer. It might be that there are a lot of companies close to where you live that are doing such work, it might be that there aren't. The other approach, which is somewhat unique to the mobile market, is that if you have your own idea for a "killer mobile app", you don't need a company. You can create the app yourself and submit it to Apple, and with luck get it into the App store.

hth,

Bert

Bert, could you specify more about how i start to look for clients..
suppose if i know how to program, where do i start to look..?
do i google? how do i make contacts

[Hussein Baghdadi]

This is another issue Dimitri,
I suggest that you do some iPhone applications and submit it to the AppStore in order to make some credits for you and to convince potential employers and clients.
How to make contacts?
Via friends, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter for example.

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

John Todd wrote:This is another issue Dimitri,
I suggest that you do some iPhone applications and submit it to the AppStore in order to make some credits for you and to convince potential employers and clients.
How to make contacts?
Via friends, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter for example.

Alright john.
i hope paying for the course will prove to be useful money and time- wise

How difficult is it to make applications for the iphoneStore?

[Mark Spritzler]

Dimitri, if you are getting into programming for money, you won't be any good and you will be chasing the latest over and over again.

If you love programming then you program in what interests you and then you get jobs. Web development is always in demand, iPhone OS coding is tough, you really need to be a programmers programmer.

Not just trying to do it because you hear you might make lots of money. Trust me, any hiring manager will see this and not want to hire someone like that.

Mark

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Mark Spritzler wrote:Dimitri, if you are getting into programming for money, you won't be any good and you will be chasing the latest over and over again.

If you love programming then you program in what interests you and then you get jobs. Web development is always in demand, iPhone OS coding is tough, you really need to be a programmers programmer.

Not just trying to do it because you hear you might make lots of money. Trust me, any hiring manager will see this and not want to hire someone like that.

Mark

but i am into programming already. i learn java +.Net simultaneously. i thought that the iphone addition could be nice

[Paul Michael]

Hi Dmitri! Don't believe what Apple tells you about making money in the App Store. It's not as easy as it sounds. ;) I myself registered for the paid iPhone developer program last year and was not able to publish any single app. It's not enough to have a killer app idea, execution is the key. You're app must be able to stand out above the multitude of apps already deployed in the app store.

My suggestion is don't register for the paid program unless you are almost ready to deploy. Yes, it's hard to test using simulator only (not all functionality is supported) but you can register anytime you feel like you're ready.

But if you love programming and would love to join the iPhone dev to fuel your passion, then go ahead and fire away!

Initial costs:
MacBook or Mac Mini which runs Snow Leopard
Your time
iOS SDK (free from Apple site)

Optional costs:
iPhone Dev program enrollment (for deploying to device and publishing to store)
iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad for testing

[Paul Michael]

I also suggest you pay attention to Mark's advice as he has a few apps already in the App Store.

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Paul Michael wrote:I also suggest you pay attention to Mark's advice as he has a few apps already in the App Store.

i am currently learning java and .Net. what i am thinking of doing is to make as many applications for iphone as i can and try to sell them at App Store.
i have got a few good ideas of one or two applications. i can make applications in Hebrew,English and may be in Russian too.

After doing a few projects, when i come to my job interview as a java, .NEt programmer, i will be able to show them my iphone work and show them that i have already some experienced in programming.
That would give me some edge, you see!!

what do you think of my plan? is it wise?

[Paul Michael]

Instead of trying to create as many programs as you can on the iPhone, why don't you focus on one to make sure you can polish the app to the highest level? That will be a more fulfilling endeavor than having several half-baked apps.

But I'm not sure whether that will give you a big plus on your Java/.Net interviews, since employers who are looking for Java/.Net developers will look for experience in those specific languages.

If landing a Java/.Net job is your primary concern, why not simply join open source projects in Java or .Net?

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Paul Michael wrote:Instead of trying to create as many programs as you can on the iPhone, why don't you focus on one to make sure you can polish the app to the highest level? That will be a more fulfilling endeavor than having several half-baked apps.

But I'm not sure whether that will give you a big plus on your Java/.Net interviews, since employers who are looking for Java/.Net developers will look for experience in those specific languages.

If landing a Java/.Net job is your primary concern, why not simply join open source projects in Java or .Net?

well, iphone programming is based on Java. i participated in one lesson and saw the syllabse. i used printif(%d , %f).. syntax

what is open source projects in Java.

consider that i am a begginer in Java. but the iphone course takes 4 months to complete (while java & .net takes 1 year and 4 months), so i wont be able to program difficult programs ,before i finish the java course.
Thats why i am thinking to develop applications for iphone, to show employers that i have some programming experience.

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Dmitri Makovetskiy wrote:

well, iphone programming is based on Java. i participated in one lesson and saw the syllabse. i used printif(%d , %f).. syntax

what is open source projects in Java.

No, iPhone programming isn't based on Java.
So you saw printif(%d , %f) and you knew iPhone programming is based on Java?
Actually it has nothing to do with Java at all and you can't do iPhone apps in Java neither .NET.
Pick one field (Java, .NET or iOS) and concentrate on it, trying to learn them simultaneously will not get you anything except the disappointment...

[Jesper de Jong]

Dmitri Makovetskiy wrote:well, iphone programming is based on Java. i participated in one lesson and saw the syllabse. i used printif(%d , %f).. syntax

No, to program for the iPhone, you will have to use the Objective-C programming language; not Java or C#.

In fact, that "printf(%d, %f)" syntax you saw does not come from Java; it's something that comes from C, and that Java inherited from C.

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Jesper Young wrote:

Dmitri Makovetskiy wrote:well, iphone programming is based on Java. i participated in one lesson and saw the syllabse. i used printif(%d , %f).. syntax

No, to program for the iPhone, you will have to use the Objective-C programming language; not Java or C#.

In fact, that "printf(%d, %f)" syntax you saw does not come from Java; it's something that comes from C, and that Java inherited from C.

Thank you todd.

i see know. would you say it would be wiser for me to learn Design Webmaster instead?

i want to learn some graphics.. i need to learn some other course with java and .Net//

i am unemployed and i need to keep busy , what do you think?

[Steve Seals]

Personally, I would recommend taking no courses at all until you know what you want to do. There are too many people out there going to school and then getting jobs that they really don't even care about. You could simply go through some online tutorials (there are tons of them) and do some work to see what you think you ENJOY doing the most. Apache web server is free, as are all of the tools to run your own local web server. You could set those up, go through some free tutorials, and decide if you're actually interested in web development at all. Same with application development. You could work with so many different languages that require absolutely no monetary investment to see if you even like doing it or not. Even microsoft has gotten aboard and have the .NET express editions that are free of charge. You could decide on your own whether you like java, .NET, web development, python, ruby, etc, etc, etc with only an investment of a few hours a week.

Deciding to go down a career path because you can make some money doing it is a terrible idea. People do it all the time, and they fail miserably. If you don't enjoy doing a job, you WILL NOT give it your best, no matter what you think. Would you rather have a surgeon working on your heart that chose his career path because he could drive fancy cars and buy a big house? Or would you rather have a surgeon that chose his career path because he wants to heal people? This is a no brainer and any prospective employer will choose the person that has the passion for the job over someone that has the passion for a pay check. And believe me, you really can tell the difference between the two.

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Steve Seals wrote:Personally, I would recommend taking no courses at all until you know what you want to do. There are too many people out there going to school and then getting jobs that they really don't even care about. You could simply go through some online tutorials (there are tons of them) and do some work to see what you think you ENJOY doing the most. Apache web server is free, as are all of the tools to run your own local web server. You could set those up, go through some free tutorials, and decide if you're actually interested in web development at all. Same with application development. You could work with so many different languages that require absolutely no monetary investment to see if you even like doing it or not. Even microsoft has gotten aboard and have the .NET express editions that are free of charge. You could decide on your own whether you like java, .NET, web development, python, ruby, etc, etc, etc with only an investment of a few hours a week.

Deciding to go down a career path because you can make some money doing it is a terrible idea. People do it all the time, and they fail miserably. If you don't enjoy doing a job, you WILL NOT give it your best, no matter what you think. Would you rather have a surgeon working on your heart that chose his career path because he could drive fancy cars and buy a big house? Or would you rather have a surgeon that chose his career path because he wants to heal people? This is a no brainer and any prospective employer will choose the person that has the passion for the job over someone that has the passion for a pay check. And believe me, you really can tell the difference between the two.

i like photoshop and graphics, it is fun and i like programming too, i find it useful (even though i struggle understanding java from time to time).

i do want to combine both. ideally, i want to work as an employed worker and as a freelance worker.

first i thought to be an iphone programmer (Freelance), but then i thought that graphics appeal to me more cause i like photoshop and creating graphics in general.

The problem is that i dont know how hard or easy is to work as a freelance webdesigner. and would my time and money investment be worthwhile. Thats the core of the dilemma

[Sumit Bisht]

I cannot comment upon how hard or easy is to work as a freelance webdesigner, but I've seen people having similar skills excel using Content Management Systems , which involve your designer skills with a bit of programmer skills for tweaking/enhancing/extending it.

On iPhone platform,try googling for CMS for iPhone

[Bear Bibeault]

For better or worse, many employers these days are looking for a "jack of all trades, master of none". So a web developer with design skills is rather sought after. Bad news for true designers who don't have dev skills, but good news for devos who can push pixels around.

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Bear Bibeault wrote:For better or worse, many employers these days are looking for a "jack of all trades, master of none". So a web developer with design skills is rather sought after. Bad news for true designers who don't have dev skills, but good news for devos who can push pixels around.

i have decided to enroll for webdesign course.

i am a bit afraid to take the iphone course. i know that the demand for iphone programmers is high. but what will happen when the market will get saturated of programmers?

[Bear Bibeault]

That's true of any programming discipline. I'd worry less about market saturation and more about what you'd enjoy doing.

[Bear Bibeault]

Besides, when it comes down to it, what courses you take will rapidly become moot except as a stepping stone to the real world. It's what you do with the knowledge rather than what you took a course for that will count. So take the courses that prepare you for what you want to do with the knowledge.

If I only worked in what I took courses on, I'd be designing antennas or something like that...

[Dmitri Makovetskiy]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Besides, when it comes down to it, what courses you take will rapidly become moot except as a stepping stone to the real world. It's what you do with the knowledge rather than what you took a course for that will count. So take the courses that prepare you for what you want to do with the knowledge.

If I only worked in what I took courses on, I'd be designing antennas or something like that...

the benefit of taking webdesign and iphones is that there is a nice stream of income cause i can freelance for iphone when there is no webdesign work and vice versa.



i enjoy graphics the most (webdesign).
but programming interests me too.