Thank you! Haha I'm not entirely sure I recommend my approach. Obejctive C + IGListKit + regular old UIKit on iOS, React through next.js (for SEO) and native css on web, and Kotlin on Android. As to why: I've gotten a bit brash from my college hackathon years, as well as worked on a similar stack during my time as a full-stack eng at Pinterest. From sheer muscle memory and ___domain knowledge, building out Queenly on these three platforms was quick. Regarding mobile dev, on native dev vs. using React native, I'd say there's an advantage to being able to handle native navigation and animations, a wall that one might run into when developing on a hybrid app platform like RN. Additionally, a little company history: Queenly was an iOS-first app, launched first to prioritized our power sellers in our community. The React web app followed that, with enough user growth in between to shelve any considerations for a migration to RN.
Short answer is an absolute yes! Would recommend building programming skills and experience in areas that build on whatever professional, academic experience/credentials you already have. For example, Python+Data Science if you have some math background or have worked in industries that use analytics a lot. Embedded systems if you have worked in auto, hardware/electronics, aviation industries etc. In general, try and use your age and experience to project a well rounded technical ability. Programmers are easy to find, but coders with good ___domain expertise are more valuable and hard to find. Also very valuable are demonstrable communication skills, especially written. So, if you have maintained any blogs or have had a journalistic stint you can use that to your advantage.
Ageism exists no doubt, but a) tech industry continues to be one of the biggest drivers of jobs worldwide b) freelance/remote work based careers to some extent provide 'age irrelevant' opportunities.
Overall, welcome and good luck!
Good point. We should use more images. I’ll think about where we can add some for clarity! Now that we’ve done a bunch of talks at reinvent in these topics, we should have some that we can incorporate easily.
1) Transfer your overall web development skills to another language/platform (Go, Clojure, Elixir or JS/Node). For anyone 'spoilt' by the beauty of Ruby, Clojure and Elixir are good choices. Given that you are coding professionally since 2008, you should be able to move into 'adept' category quickly in any of the above.
2) Utilize your Ruby programming expertise and become a Mobile developer !! Check out Rubymotion.com. Code in Ruby for Android and iOS.
