> Like any occupation, unless you're some sort of savant you > need to spend about 2000 hours (a year) working at it to achieve basic > competence, and 10,000 hours (five years) to become an expert. If > you're not prepared to spend that sort of time working at it, then > find a different occupation.
Dan, in the beginning I completely disagreed with the things you wrote, but I completely agree with what you've written in your last message (although I still believe Android is a good framework:-) ). Yes indeed, anybody who is not willing to spend that much time, should better be a consumer of applications at the Marketplace. The hours you should spend to gain good insight and expertise may vary depending on your experience, but the final message is that you should work hard and spend time. I like the Android framework and I believe that developing applications for Android is a good step to get involved in mobile development. However, I don't like certain things around it. One example is the App Inventor. I've never used it; maybe it can be a helpful tool for people with software engineering background to start a new application very fast. However, App Inventor and the things you can do with it, is either perceived wrongly (in this case Google should deliver the message better) or deliberately marketed with overpromisses (hoax, hoax, hoax!!!). I've seen people who have never written a single for-loop in their life, trying to "develop" applications with the App Inventor and make money with it. One can always argue that natural selection will eventually eliminate such people, but they will also cause pollution which could hurt the credibility of the framework. (The following is just a hypothetical question, I've not done a statistical analysis in the Marketplace). If 5 out of 10 applications I find in the Marketplace would be rubbish, would I bother searching it in the long run for applications and would I continue using Android? I don't mean that this is the current situation in the Marketplace, by no means. But giving people a tool like App Inventor and then either not delivering the message correctly or deliberately marketing it with empty promises, has the risk to backfire and maybe it's not worth taking that risk. Software development cannot be 100% automated. Period. -Ali On May 29, 6:07 am, DanH <danhi...@ieee.org> wrote: > Yeah, Bob, I think you mostly understand where I was coming from: > 1) Don't focus your career on any single technology or product but > rather seek to have a broad-based, multi-specialty background and the > flexibility to move from project to project. And don't short-change > learning the fundamentals. > 2) Don't expect to strike it rich on some viral app. Work up a plan > for who your customer is and how you will serve their needs. In terms > of marketing, market yourself to a few people (ie, other companies) > rather than the masses. Mass marketing is simply beyond the > capabilities of an individual developer. > > I do take issue with the argument that there's no room for innovation > with big (or small) corporations. I've spent most of my career (about > 36 years) working for large corporations, and, save for the last 2-3 > years of that time (when my employer essentially decided they were out > of the innovation business), I was always innovating, in small and > large ways. I have my name on something like 20 patents, I won > several awards from my company, and I had the opportunity to work on a > number of interesting projects. > > But the main point I'd make is that programming is HARD WORK. I see > too many people on various forums (actually less here than elsewhere) > who try to get into it without doing their "homework", figuring they > can get along by just modifying sample programs, lashing together bits > of code they've Googled, begging experienced people to do their work > for them. You might be able to lash together some app that sells a > few hundred copies in the Marketplace this way, but it's not going to > even pay the rent, much less put a kid through college or buy you a > house. No company is going to hire you, or, if they do, you won't > last long. Like any occupation, unless you're some sort of savant you > need to spend about 2000 hours (a year) working at it to achieve basic > competence, and 10,000 hours (five years) to become an expert. If > you're not prepared to spend that sort of time working at it, then > find a different occupation. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
