Taiwan Luthiers wrote:I have a friend who develops iphone/ipad apps, I am under the impression that if you make something like Angry Birds you'd be rich but otherwise I don't think you make much from writing apps. I mean it doesn't take much to write an app (reading a few books on programming and making a simple app for example) but good programmers are hard to find, while most who goes to school are probably little more than copy and paste (and with the Chinese culture the creativity isn't all there).
If I were to get into software development I'd work for a software company, plenty of that in Taiwan, but then I have no experience developing software and only have limited programming skills. I just know that if you pull your own weight in a software company, you wouldn't be making 22,000 a month long, you should be getting more even if you have to work long hours.
I hear people say that life is what you make of it and it doesn't matter what country you're in, that if you work hard you will be rewarded for it. Although sometimes I do wish that there are a better market for luthier service but at this point its hard to know, but I do know that the few qualified luthiers in Taiwan are overworked because the demand outstrip the supply.
Oh and doctors are a dime a dozen in Taiwan and they do not get paid much, but being doctors give you more freedom to immigrate to other countries because doctors are always needed everywhere, especially third world countries.
I would die if I only made 22,000 NT per month, that's peanuts. Thing you don't understand about software engineer especially with smart phones is you don't need to be an angry birds to be successful. Would $5,000 US make your life in TW a little easier?
You can't just "pick up a book" and start coding, it takes time to understand coding, its learning a new language. Also good programmers don't fall from the sky, they all started somewhere. Telling the computer what to do, nothing amazing about it. I am not a big fan of going to schools for the same reason that you mentioned above, schools can't teach creativity especially in TW where they are built on a score based outcome. No matter you can't apply the concepts as long as you get that certificate! Man!!! I hate when I hear locals or even anyone, "I'm just doing this so I can get this certificate"
When I started I cloned a game, I had no experience and with coding, taking an idea and translating that into computer language is not an easy task. Software development isn't glitzy and I kinda like it that way. Keeps the noise down. There are many developers making hefty chunks of change each month making games.
Think about it like the music industry. Do you want to be signed to a big label have glitz, cameras, lights and the jazz but are over worked, stressed and pressured or would you be a indie band that has a loyal low key group of supporters who follow your work and support you. Trust me software development, especially for mobile is really good. I also notice a lot of guys get in and say OK I'm a indie developer make one app and quit. Chances are you won't be rovio and your single app wont have A BILLION downloads but, 5-10k download across 8-10 apps per month?
edit:
angry birds had an initial investment of 140,000 US and they made billions off of that. That was probably spent to hire coders, artists, sound people, etc....If you don't have 140k to invest what do you do?
Also many creative people cannot code, and coders aren't artistic enough it usually takes someone with both sets of skills to create games/ apps or investments like rovio put down to gather all those people together to create a game. We hear about rovio with their success but have a look into the story about "Rhode Island and 38 studios" can you say FUBAR!
