How I became a developer and made it my profession

Prologue

Before I actually tell you my story about how I became a developer/programmer, I feel the need to write a few initial sentences. Ever since I started my geek journey, I was a fan of the Microsoft world. I also experimented with Linux, but turned back to Windows and improved my skills there. Windows is way more powerful than a lot of people think and in its latest iteration, it even opened the doors to Linux (which is a great move from a once so closed company like Microsoft).

When it comes to mobile operating systems, I was amazed about Windows Mobile 5.x and 6.x, because they were the mobile counterpart to my favorite (desktop) OS. I did also some experiments with Symbian, but they were never on par in those areas I worked on mobile. Of course, this changed with the advent of the iPhone and Android, and Microsoft surely missed to get into the game with those two. But finally, they released Windows Phone 7, and of course, I continued the journey in the Microsoft ecosystem.

I know a lot of people hate Microsoft and all of their products. This is a post for people that are still open-minded and are interested in my story. Because also programming in the Microsoft ecosystem is programming, believe it or not.

Back in Time

I always wanted to become a developer. Sadly, my parents decided to not let me study informatics and sent me to learn a job instead. When my son was born and the company I worked for went bankrupt, I decided to go down the learning route and learn C++ with the help of a correspondence degree course. But often, life had another plan and I sadly had to quit this route.

In 2011, I finally acquired my fishing license (which is required in Germany). But I had one big weakness: I couldn't remember properly to those d*mn fishing knots and mixed them always up. I even lost some fishes because of that when I went fishing. Having a smartphone (yes, even Windows Phone 7 was smart), I searched for a fishing knots app. There was none.

I knew that on the iPhone and Android such apps were available, and was pissed off. I liked my HTC HD7 a lot and did not want to quit and choose an iPhone or Android device. I searched the internet on my phone for good-looking mobile websites, but back then this was hardly the case. I got pissed even more. At that time, I was (of course) following the latest Microsoft and Windows Phone related news, and a video series got announced: Windows Phone programming for beginners.

Learning the basics

I started to watch the series, and as C# makes it relatively easy to follow along even as a beginner, an idea began to grow. I made it through the whole tutorial videos and knew at least how object-oriented programming works, and then I decided to go the next step - writing my own app. Of course, the idea was to create a fishing knots app for Windows Phone, and a few months later, I released my first app to the Windows Phone Store: Fishing Knots +.

The app provided 12 frequently used fishing knots back then, broken into 3 easy steps, finished by an animation that shows how to tie the knot. To get to that point, there was a lot of additional learning involved. Studying documentation, reading other's blog posts, StackOverflow research - if you are a programmer, this may sound familiar.

The hardest part was the animation. I had already the idea to make the animation controllable, so videos and animated GIF were out of options (the latter one wasn't even supported on Windows Phone 7 natively). So I learned how to make a storyboard to switch between the frames of the animations to keep the door open to make it controllable. In its latest version, there is also a read-aloud feature in the app. I also started to port it via Xamarin.Forms to Android and iOS (not for making money, but for the experience).

Introducing UniShare, my first app with more than 100.000 installs

Starting with Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft removed one of the killer features of Windows Phone 7.x - the cross sharing option directly from the Me-Tile. The Me-Tile was your central hub around you and your social media accounts (at least Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). I used that one a lot back then - and of course, I was totally pissed off about the removal. You guessed it right, another project was born. On a late saturday night, I had a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) ready and was able to share again as I was used to before Windows Phone 8.1.

Of course, that gained some attraction in the community and I was forced to push out UniShare as a real app into the Windows Phone Store. In the meantime, the app is also available on Windows 10, as Microsoft urged me to update the app and publish it as UWP app to the Windows Store. Overall, the app has seen more than 111.000 downloads. UniShare is also available as an open alpha in the Google Play Store.

Finally reaching my goal

During all that time, I was also blogging about some development stuff I did and got connected to quite a few other developers. One of them posted in the second half of 2014 they were searching for a Developer in C#, but one needed to move from Germany to Switzerland. After a few phone calls with him (our lead developer), I had an appointment for an interview. Luckily, I got accepted, and my new employer helped me a lot to get started in Switzerland. In 2015 it all started off. Of course, there were/are still a lot of things that I need to learn. But with the help of my new job, I was able to highly improve my skills, and I will continue for the time being. But I finally reached my goal - my current profession is indeed developer!

Conclusion

You can see, life sometimes goes in completely different directions. 19 years after finishing school, I arrived at the point where I wanted to be. I think life/god had that long-term plan for me, because, during these years, I became the husband of a fantastic wife and father of two awesome kids.

So never give up. Just keep on dreaming, and continue to see and take opportunities - even if they lead you first into another direction. There is a high chance you will achieve your goal sooner or later. My story is a good and hopefully motivating example.

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