02 2 / 2012
Why freelance iOS developers don’t develop their own apps
Have you ever wondered why freelance iOS devs work for other people, when they could be building their own businesses? Especially in booming, high growth, high excitement opportunities that mobile offers? As a web entrepreneur, I wondered this exactly myself. After all, programming is a powerful skill, so why waste your time and effort on other people’s projects when you could make your own apps and keep more money for yourself?
After spending the last few months learning iOS programming on my own, and spending the last 6 weeks shipping 3 apps, I now know the answer. In short: it’s fucking hard. Here’s the general process.
Come up with idea: a) Okay, what are we going to build? Do people want it? Has it been done before? Whats in the app store now? What niche can we target? b) Business model: free + ads + in app purchases? 99cents? Will people pay for it?
The name of the game for indie devs seems to be targeting a niche industry, serving them well, and profiting through fewer but higher value transactions. Finding these markets is not always obvious, so it make take some searching to even figure out what industry you want to build for.
Got the idea. On to building: Apps these days have high production value. We need nice art, graphics and audio. Should we buy it? Do we need exclusive rights? Maybe we should hire an artist. How much would that cost us?
Most programmers aren’t artists, and in order to stand out in the app store, you need beautiful visuals. How you find the right creative assets to fit your project is a job of its own.
3 weeks later…
Okay, done. Polished and submitted: Everything is polished, bug-free and sexy. Why is nobody noticing my app? How do I get more downloads? Should I build a web landing page for it? Or a Facebook page? A twitter account? Submit to 50 app review sites? Get coverage on a blog? I’m tired…
By this point of the development process, I noticed I was exhausted (maybe you wouldn’t be, depending on how you work). Working on your own ideas is very exciting, especially on an interface like the iPad or iPhone. I had put a lot of energy into perfection and polish for the app, testing it multiple times over, adding/removing elements, and generally getting the UX the way I want it. The LAST thing I want to do is go back to building supporting assets and marketing for the app. It is just too friggin tiring; once you finish the app, you kind of just want to close your eyes and hope it magically does well (and move on to the next idea!). But this isn’t the case, as marketing and coverage is almost as important as the app itself.
Conclusion: Freelance iOS devs are programmers. They get told what assets to use, how the UX should be, and can go to sleep at night not worrying about marketing the app they’re paid to work on. Plus the wages are pretty nice, as iOS devs are in high demand. Independent iOS devs however, are entrepreneurs. They pool together resources, they scour high and low for profitable markets, they cry when things go bad and jump for joy when things go good. They take risk, where freelancers take none.
And that’s why the freelance developer exists. Because he’s not crazy/dumb enough to go on a wild goose chase.
(Addendum: Obviously, most freelancers have projects of their own. However, getting paid work vs going full time on your ideas are two very different things. Its perfectly fine to want to work for other people. It also speaks to the demand and opportunity costs required to pull a developer away from his own opportunities.)
