This week I'm celebrating 10 years of making iOS apps. I don't know the exact day. I searched through my first projects, the oldest files date from March but I didn't use versioning back then and re-created projects from scratch quite often. The earliest 'proof' I have is a photo from February 13, 2009, when I created an account on the iPhone Developer Program.
I have been making apps full time since then. Just a couple of years after I started, people called me a senior developer, and it made me laugh because I didn't consider myself one. But I realized I was one of the few then who had worked full-time building apps when most developers were hobbyists, creating apps on their personal time while having different jobs.
It's been a fun 10 years, I worked on 31 apps, mostly as a freelance, and learned a ton from the many people. A big thank you to
- Fred Brunel, for teaching me a ton about programming best practices, scoping projects, managing priorities, and shipping products.
- Martin Dufort, for giving me a chance in the early days of iOS development, and for coining the term "Olislump."
- Sam Vermette, for sharing your care for design and the awkward jokes, it was fun co-organizing CocoaHeads with you.
- Hesam Hosseini, for the trust and respect you showed for me during the years we worked together.
- Dan Robichaud, for showing me what it's like to work in a startup, and managing ever-changing priorities.
- Luc Vandal, for your confidence in me, letting me work on your baby, Screens.
- Adii Pienaar, I owe you more than you think, we still have a company together by the way.
- John Mitchell, for showing me the business side of making apps, and how ruthless we should sometimes be.
- Mikael Cho, Luke Chesser, and Steph Liverani for staying in touch all along my iOS developer career and giving me the opportunity to join the fantastic team at Unsplash.