

From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer - calebhicks
http://www.calebhicks.com/2014/learn-12-week-coding-bootcamp/

======
jkhowland
I'm a full time iOS dev that taught myself. I spent a ton of time working
through my struggles via StackOverflow and piece working online tutorials.

Very cool to see what you were able to build in only 12 weeks.

Why did you choose this, instead of learning yourself. Didn't you still have
to do all the work to learn even with the program?

~~~
calebhicks
Of course. No one's going to learn a thing by just showing up and listening to
an instructor. Whether that's an iOS Dev Bootcamp or Physiology.

I put in hundreds of hours beyond regular class time. And yes, definitely
working through struggles on StackOverflow and online tutorials.

I chose this because, for me, it's a lot easier to sit back and watch TV or
play around without the financial, time, and personal commitment of signing up
for a class. I had somewhere to be. My wife and kids knew I had somewhere to
be. So it was a full family commitment that made it work.

------
austenallred
I know the point of this post is to show how a non-technical person learned to
code enough to build iphone apps in 12 weeks, but I'm really, really excited
about "Wired In." Well done.

~~~
calebhicks
Thanks Austen. I'm excited to be working on it.

------
tannerc
Edit: being down voted because of an opinion?

Hey, I want to middle school with Caleb!

On a more related note: It's exciting to see others realize how simple and
painless Apple has made iOS dev. It still takes logical chops and a keen eye
to make something worthwhile, but the bridge between non-developer and
developer is getting shorter and shorter.

The new iOS 8 kits will shorten that gap even more.

Still, as a developer myself with some successful projects behind me, I'm a
student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it will only
be very high-caliber apps that survive. Or, I guess, developers who can stick
out the rough times as well as the good ones. How new developers fit into that
landscape is still uncertain.

As I haven't done any Android development, can anyone shed light on how
similar the two processes are (iOS dev vs. Android)?

~~~
mgkimsal
"I'm a student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it
will only be very high-caliber apps that survive"

I may be bucking the 'everything will be mobile first/mobile only' mindset,
but I see the 'successful' apps as those that fit in a larger ecosystem of
functionality. For many users, the primary/only point of contact with a system
may be the mobile app, but there will be other endpoints of the system with
more traditional web interfaces or even other endpoints which will provide
other value to other parties.

Yes, the instagrams and yo and such are 'successful', but ultimately, they
tend to prove the exception to the rule, I think. Outside of gaming, I'd
expect most apps to have other functionality that can be processed and
accessed with in other ways beyond solely a mobile interface.

To that end, the mobile app experience doesn't necessarily have to be 'high-
caliber' over and above all the other competition, as long as the rest of the
supporting functionality provides enough value.

I may entirely wrong though...

~~~
jkhowland
I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game
developers.

The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new
paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll
just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money.

I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of
business that releases the apps. They need to consider marketing, pricing,
launch strategies, and app store optimization. They need to maintain a
relationship with their customers, and constantly ask what the customer wants.
There is a lot more to a mobile company than the app, and I think the best
companies (and their apps) are the ones that will survive.

~~~
tannerc
I'm intrigued by your belief that simply releasing new paid versions of an app
leads to more profit. Do you have any evidence that such an approach works?

~~~
jkhowland
It's a common method for indie Mac developers. Look at anything Panic does, or
even someone like Daniel Jalkut with Mars Edit.

------
cahlansharp
Caleb did a great job in the iOS class. Super impressed with what he's built
and how far he's come.

------
bjones53
Thank you for addressing the value of individualized learning and for
assessing your experience based on the knowledge you acquired as opposed to
your employability.

For every person that learns something on their own, there are many more that
pay for courses, tutors, and even private coaching, due to some of the reasons
you mentioned. I don't understand why programming is any different.

------
generatestring
After reading those recent financial/earnings from iOS game developers on HN,
I'd be very wary of dropping 4,500$ for a 12 week course.

~~~
austenallred
Being an indie game developer is very different from being a contract iOS
developer. I can't imagine a full-time iOS developer being paid less than a
Jr. High teacher + $4,500. I'm looking for one now, albeit with a little more
experience than Caleb, and could very well end up paying six figures (in
Utah).

~~~
jkhowland
Exactly. THAT is a door opened to you once you learn to write iOS
applications.

------
infra178
Does anybody have a recommendation of a good way to learn the same material
for someone who's motivated but unemployed and dead broke?

~~~
rrrrrraul
Hey, I've been learning iOS dev on my own since the beginning of the year, try
these:

-Stanford's Developing iOS Apps Course (free on iTunes U)

-developer.apple.com (unpaid account), gives you access to plenty of code examples to learn from and programming guides

-check out raywenderlich.com, objc.io, nshipster.com to name a few

-stackoverflow

-youtube(!)

-and if you can gather a few bucks, I'd recommend Big Nerd Ranch guide for Objective-C and the iOS programming version too

-IRC

Good luck!

Edit: formatting

~~~
calebhicks
The Big Nerd Ranch books are fantastic. Definitely check them out. I know
they'll get something out for Swift sometime soon, but the iOS programming one
would be a great foundation even with Objective-C as the sample code.

Some of the bootcamps will do financing. I'm against financing things that
depreciate, but if you can get a decent job out of, it's not a terrible
option.

------
nedwin
Are you planning on moving out of teaching into development?

~~~
calebhicks
Great question. I really love what I do at the junior high. I teach business
and teen entrepreneurship. I love going into work in the morning.

But I loved my experience this summer. I love the thrill of writing, building,
and seeing my code work. The creator's high.

My current plan is to take a year off from teaching next year and pursue an
entry-level development job with a good local company. I'm only 27, so while
I'm not sure development is the full-time career path I want to take, I
definitely want to try it out. In the end, it will boil down to whether I
enjoy waking up and going to work as much as I do now.

------
trich7
DevMountain has produced some great talent from what I've seen.

------
Dewie
"non-technical".

~~~
calebhicks
I think I addressed this in the post itself.

>So to say I’m entirely non-technical may be unfair. It just depends on the
context. Neighborhood barbecue? Technical. Startup Weekend? Non-technical.

Where does the HN crowd fit on that spectrum? My guess is most people here
would still consider me non-technical, even with what I've built so far.

~~~
sosuke
I think you over estimate what HN expects from you to be technical. You're
technical now, no question about it.

