| Write a software product whose binary will have some popular appeal. It's doesn't have to be a Killer App - it's OK if that appeal is popular only among a certain demographic. I got my break as a coder by applying for a QA job that expected me only to execute scripts that someone else wrote. But one day my manager walked into my cube to find it completely wallpapered with what looked like flowcharts. "Those are actually dataflow diagrams," I explained. "I can't quality MacTCP 1.0.1 because the test tool always crashes." "I know how to code on the Macintosh. Any chance you could get approval to have me fix all the bugs in strm_echo?" I knew and he knew and my manager's manager all knew that I was offering to do software engineering for the pay I received as a script monkey. I fixed strm_echo, qualified 1.0.1, 1.1 and wrote a new tool and a test plan for 1.2. In the process I got really good at debugging with the MacsBug machine debugger. My next job I was the Product Development Manager for a company whose flagship product was incompetently written by a con artists. I stayed at Working Software for 3 1/2 years, during which I learned everything else - other than MacsBug - that I needed to know to be a commercial Mac developer. If you want a mobile app development job you have to have at least one app in either Apple's App Store or in Google Play. If you want to be a web developer you need to create a useful website - not for other coders to look at your source, but for end-users to find useful and appealing. |