This is a guest post from Andrew . Andrew is a 15 year old app developer from Utah. Find out what Andrew has already learned as an app developer, the hidden mentality of coders, and why he is so pumped on app development and making some extra cash.
Get inspired to go out guns blazing and conquer something big this week!
– Carter
App developers don’t need to think outside the box, they need to think in a whole different dimension.
In the virtual world we define physics, time, rules, and everything else.
I managed to build my first mobile application, Zero Gravity, with under $500.
App development takes hard work, dedication, persistence, patience, and a lot of time. The completion of a mobile application alone is a huge success, and revenue is an added bonus.
I am the CEO and Founder of EDGE Developers stationed in Utah, USA. I am highly proficient at C#, do well with HTML5, CSS, Javascript, Ruby, C++, and have some experience with PHP, SQL, and Java.
I have built hundreds of simple command line programs, a calculator, a coin clicker game, a couple websites, an RPG for Steam (not quite finished yet), Zero Gravity for Android devices, and Zero Gravity soon to come on IOS devices.
I love software engineering, listening to music, playing the guitar, longboarding, snowboarding, going to the gym, and playing lacrosse.
I’m 15 years old.
High school can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to finishing up applications. At one point, I had a lot of chemistry homework so I built a calculator in the Visual Studio IDE to help me. Although this was definitely not the most efficient way to get my homework done, I had a great experience building that calculator. I still use it to this day.
An important concept for development is to fulfill the needs of the public
Don’t copy someone else’s work or ideas, and don’t just build a knockoff. Programs that we create control our universe from nearly every perspective. These limitless possibilities motivate me to build something new, powerful, and exciting.
Some see development as hours behind a computer writing boring code. There are so many things you can do, you should never get bored. What appeals to me is the fact that I can build anything that I can think of. You can escape into another dimension, losing yourself in your own world. You can’t do that in real life.
[sc name=”Position – 1 – Shortcode” ]
Everyone has something to learn. Some professional, or even amateur developers sometimes have the attitude of, “Those that think they know everything annoy those of us that do.” If you have truly mastered a language, expand your skillset to other languages, softwares, and technologies.
I have a lot to learn myself. I have taught myself a majority of the things that I know about development. I currently am learning from a couple books, the Sololearn Android applications, Bluecloud Solutions, Pluralsight, digital-tutors, stackoverflow and www.google.com (my good friend).
The road from concept to completion of Zero Gravity has been long and arduous. I have learned many things from my app development experience that will allow my future applications to excel.
The best way to learn is by experience
I have learned building the game is just the beginning. After the game is complete, the real challenge is incorporating leaderboards, in-app purchases, and platform specifics. The challenge in these is that you didn’t write all of the code, so you begin with little idea of where to start. It requires constant learning.
I got into app development through Unity. Before beginning to use Unity, I had been building an RPG for Steam. I learned C# through a college textbook, and through the process I wrote dozens of command line applications specific to what I was learning.
Despite writing tons of previous applications, I have learned the most during my experience developing for the mobile platforms. Command line applications helped me to learn the language, syntax, and play around with different application structures.
A great rule that I try to follow is:
[tweet_box design=”default”]“Never write the same code twice.” [/tweet_box]
If I find myself rewriting code that I have already written, I immediately rethink my strategy.
I have found that there are many ways to make the application function. I am now working on finding the fastest and most efficient way to make applications function. Planning hierarchies and refactoring can help quite a bit. If reusability is important for the application, refactoring the code to perfect it can be beneficial. There are also times when refactoring is impractical.
Development for IOS has been a challenge. I had to set up a virtual machine with Mac OS X Mountain Lion on Oracle VM VirtualBox, fiddle with obsolete Xcode errors, and I am still not quite finished with it.
I am doing cross-platform with Apple and Android due to the vast amount of users on each. I have an Android phone, and I absolutely love Android.
Android’s user experience far surpasses that of Apple/IOS
Android development was seamless, fairly simple, and it just makes sense. Android holds a majority of the smartphone market, so if you do not develop for Android as of now, you are missing out on possible revenue.
My goal for this summer is to work at an entry level jobs for 15 year olds, probably at a software company, to see the real business world as well as to aide my own business through my experience.
I would like to earn enough money to go to college in a couple of years.
I will continue developing mobile applications for the Android and IOS platforms, creating more powerful applications than ever before, and continue to grow EDGE to become a successful development team.
I am currently working on my second mobile application, and Zero Gravity is waiting in review for IOS. I have also considered starting a web service portion of EDGE to develop websites for clients.
This marks the beginning of my career in the field of technology.
Hi Andrew, great post.
I’d love to learn more about you and your plans for the future. Please reach out if you’d like to learn more about Laicos and where you might fit in.
Keep up the great work!
You are an amazing young man. Keep up the good work, we may be living in your basement some day!?
You’re amazing! Keep up the good work. I’m proud of you!
man, and I’m paying 5000 g to have my app made.
Nice work. Person like you motivate the other.
Well done to you,i would have loved too have the opportunity to design apps when i was your age…the internet was not available when i was 14…go for it in the app world…and please think about having a great future…if you stick too the app world..
kevin
shop portsmouth app
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by other people that were NO smarter than YOU. YOU CAN change it. YOU CAN influence it. YOU CAN build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you will never be the same again.” Steve Jobs
Keep up the great work young man!!!
You really motivate me, Am 19 I just started learning programming few days ago and i must admit that i love it.
Thanks for the sucess story, hope to meet mine soon.
Hey Andrew, Keep up the good work! You are inspiring! At your age I also learnt how to code but computers where much bigger in those days :). Now, I’m developing apps for some big names and never regret my choice of becoming a developer.
Keep up the good work, and good luck with your projects.
hello, I am interested in creating and selling my own emoji s. I would like more detail information.Having trouble downloading the 21 step app. Is there anyone to speak with regarding this process thanks Bruce
@Bruce – yes, send an email to support@bluecloudsolutions.com and they’ll help you out
Yes very encouraging and inspiring to say the least. I definitely learned something today! Great work.
Great!
Another great development story very inspiring!
I Believe in This. Well done for articles.
interesting post!