Finding Work

Sunday, May 6, 2007

I’m really excited. This week I got my first contract job as a Cocoa developer. This is an important step in my transition from being a 4D developer to a Cocoa developer. Unfortunately I can’t tell you anything about the new project. But it looks like it’s going to be fun, and I’m really looking forward to working on it.

I wasn’t actively looking for work. But then, I’ve been doing contract 4D programming for over 13 years, and really never actively looked for work. Somehow it just seems to find me. But it’s not because I’ve been lucky. On the contrary, I actually market myself on an ongoing basis. I do this not by advertising, but instead simply by trying to contribute to the developer community.

It seems obvious to me now, but I discovered this by accident. When I first started developing with 4D I found a 4D developer forum on CompuServe. The developers there were kind enough to answer my beginner questions, and it really helped me learn. After a few months I started seeing questions on the forum that I was able to answer, so I did. They were simple questions, but I answered as many as I could. I kept at it, and after about a year I was answering the more advanced questions.

Then I attended a 4D developer conference. I was amazed at how many of the developers that I met there told me that they already knew me from my posts, even though we’d never talked online or in person. Suddenly I was one of the cool kids in the community. Throughout the conference I was being invited out to dinner, people would come over to talk with me in the hotel bar, and somebody always wanted to chat with me over lunch.

And, not surprisingly I guess, all of this recognition and chatting led to opportunities. People would discuss their projects with me, and I’d tell them about similar work I’d done. The next thing you know, they’re asking me to help them out. Or they’d put me in contact with somebody else they knew that was looking for help.

So now I’m trying to reproduce this success with Cocoa. Rather than trying to help other developers through an online forum (although I do a bit of that too), I’m using this blog to post information that I hope other Macintosh developers will find useful.

In fact, that’s how I got this new Cocoa development contract. A fellow 4D developer found this blog and has been reading it. When he ran into a business associate looking for a Cocoa developer, he sent him my way.

So are you looking for development work? Here’s my advice: Start by contributing. Start a blog, write a tutorial, answer questions on a mailing list, or just participate in your local user group meetings. Before you know it, people will know your name, and the work will find you.

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