El cierre de una pequeña era

Hoy fue mi último día trabajando como contractor con una empresa con la que llevaba trabajando casi 4 años. Ha pesar de que me fui (y mi equipo) en muy buen plan y todos estaban super agradecidos con el trabajo que hemos hecho en los últimos meses, no puedo evitar sentir un mal sabor de boca por las circunstancias de lo ocurrido.

¿Qué me queda de la experiencia? Pues un gusto que no tenía por el beisbol. Y mucho aprendizaje.

Vamos por el siguiente proyecto.

P.D. Sigo trabajando en Nearsoft, por si no se entendió bien.

Perks are NOT culture

The perks your company gives to their employees are not what defines their culture. This is very simple and obvious. But not so much when the things that makes people come to you are the perks.

When you start hiring people that only cares about the perks, you hire the wrong people. Hire people that will make your culture stronger. That will make your culture growth.

My first App in an AppStore

I just completed my first app (they are actually two) and got them to the AppStore (one of many available). Here is the story of that accomplishment.

You Owe Me

When you are just a user, often you feel like the developers and the companies owe you something because you happened to support their service or device. You often hear "Windows Phone is doomed because there's no apps, it's all Microsoft's fault" or "That App is iOS only, that because you cannot get money from Android" or even "The App experience is crippled because restrictions made by Apple".

What the users don't know is that politics takes such an important part of bringing the app you want to your preferred platform. And sometimes is not the fault of Google, Apple or Microsoft that the app is crippled or is taking a lot of time to come out.

No Man Is an Island

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine...

— John Donne (Wikipedia)

Just like that "No App Is an Island". They are just a few Apps that don't depend at all from a 3rd party framework, control or technology. Even an in-house backend may be problematic to integrate in a brand new app. If you add that dependency to politics you get a more complete picture about the current state of App development.

Next time you see a high profile app coming to a new platform think about all those dependencies that had to be addressed to complete the App. If the platform is popular those dependencies should be addressed already, and people (the providers) will care if they are not working as advertised. If the platform is not so popular, well you may have a bad time and your project may get delayed.

App Reviews 

App reviews are so important, for real. Before this app I didn't realised this. From reviews you can get bugs, UX issues and features request. As you read the reviews it feels like if you were in the middle of a hostage situation, people start blackmailing you because you OWE them.

The app is fine but because it doesn't have my favorite soccer team, it deserves 1 star. Add my team and I will change the rating to 5 stars.

— Average user

It's funny because a lot of the things they are asking are already in the TO-DO of the developer, or even waiting for the next update to be up. But often the developer won't have a chance to say that directly to the user.

Conclusion

This experience was awesome. It was stressful because some crazy changes to requirements and hard deadlines but AWESOME at the end. It's a shame I cannot say I did THAT, either way feels great when you read that people love your work.

The S.W.E.T pledge

Mike Rowe (Trabajo sucio) plasma en el compromiso del "sudor" puntos importantes para tener una buena ética laborar y de vida. Me quedo con algunos puntos con los que concuerdo profundamente.

5. I deplore debt, and do all I can to avoid it. I would rather live in a tent and eat beans than borrow money to pay for a lifestyle I can’t afford.

9. I believe that my education is my responsibility, and absolutely critical to my success. I am resolved to learn as much as I can from whatever source is available to me. I will never stop learning...

10. I believe that I am a product of my choices – not my circumstances. I will never blame anyone for my shortcomings or the challenges I face. And I will never accept the credit for something I didn’t do.

11. I understand the world is not fair, and I’m OK with that. I do not resent the success of others.

12. I believe that all people are created equal. I also believe that all people make choices. Some choose to be lazy. Some choose to sleep in. I choose to work my butt off.

Me encantaría que las personas comprendieran esto más tarde que temprano.

Source: http://profoundlydisconnected.com/skill-wo...