cocoaCoding

Passion is a word that is thrown around far too often when wanting to describe how devoted we are to something. We belittle this word far too often. Passion should be used to describe the workers who wake up in the middle of the night to work on something they love; it should be used to describe the people who spend their life working on something because they simply want to make it better. To have a passion is to have an intense love or emotion for something; I have a passion for developing great software, and I truly mean passion. I live and breath my software. When I sleep, when I run, when I shower; I’m thinking about how to make software better, faster, more reliable. My room is filled with several large whiteboards, each covered in doodles, scribbles, and illegible writing about my software. My mind is the same, always working out how to make something work more efficiently. Fast is important; a user may get easily frustrated if something takes even a second too long. Even if you’re using the latest and greatest technologies to improve your speeds, you can always make something faster. When your app lets the user instantly tap, touch, scroll, flick, and swipe, your application melts away. You immerse the user in an environment where they don’t realize that they are running an app. They don’t realize that they are using an iPhone or an Android based phone. They become immersed in the utility, in the game, in the movie. Your application becomes this tool, an invaluable resource. That is what fast is all about. I work everyday to make this happen. That is what keeps me up at night.

I’m not just a software developer, I’m also a user. I use my applications on a daily basis. Many of my best feature additions have come from my want for a better way to do X or Y or Z. I depend on my software just as thousands of others do. That is why I work everyday to make that software better. I think that is what perspective every developer needs to have. They need to be the ones sitting in the user’s seat actually using the application. They need to believe in, rely on, and use the software they make. When their application crashes, they need to be the one who’s workflow is messed up. When their application has an update, they need to be the happiest user knowing that feature X, Y, and Z were added. They need to almost be evangelists for their own applications. I mean, they should be doing this automatically. Too many applications fail from lack of passion put into the development. Sometimes, it’s not our fault; there can only be so many hours in the day to work. However, sometimes people develop for the wrong reasons. When your main goal is to become rich, I feel like you’re already setting yourself up to fail. Customers can tell when a developer really cares and when they are just trying to become another startup with another hit product. I would rather create amazing software and give it away for free to thousands then sell a hundred and make a small amount of money. I mean that truthfully. I have done that.

Recently, I open sourced all my current iPhone applications to allow for more users to download them. I was really excited to gain over 9,000 users of my application in a few days. Sure, I might not be making anything from these applications (I’m actually losing money if you factor in my time spend developing) but I’m feeling the enjoyment of having more people being able to enjoy my software. I love hearing that my applications made something easier, better, or faster than before. I love that. I went from making a small amount of money developing to making absolutely nothing; but I’m still developing. I’m developing because I don’t care about the money. I don’t care about the fame. I care about the applications. I care about the making the user’s life easier.

I have nothing against developers who make money from their software. Hell, I know eventually some application that I’m working on now will be paid application when they hit the app store. I do have something against the developers who develop something without passion, creating something that they wouldn’t be 100% proud of, and trying to profit from their users. If you truly believe that you have made the most amazing RSS reader that will change the way we use RSS, sell it on the App Store. If you have been working months on this amazing application that has literally sucked thousands of hours of your life to create, sell it on the App Store. However, if you rush a product to launch and don’t put care or passion into it, your product will fail.

I’m a software developer and I care about my applications. I promise to never ship something that I’m not 100% proud of creating. I promise to always work my hardest to create the best. I promise to never settle for anything less than the best task manager on the App Store or the best sign displaying tool on the App Store. That is what I’m calling on every developer to shoot for. Shoot for the best first person multiplayer MMORPG app or whatever app you’re building. If I leave you with one thing, it’s that you must create something that you truly believe is the best. Something that you can proudly declare as #1 app for doing ______. I can’t promise that it will be successful or make you rich, but I can promise that the most important user of your application will be thankful. That user is you.

I’m Sonny and I develop TapTask, Sign+, and Hash+. I create amazing software that changing the workflow, changes the life, of thousands of users. What do you do?