I started my developer career as a web developer, using PHP. Soon after I switched to the .NET ecosystem to continue web development using C# and the ASP .NET MVC framework. I was creating web applications for my entire professional life until recently.

A few months ago I started working on mobile applications for Android and iOS, yet still with C# thanks to Xamarin. I am creating this blog post to share how I feel after this change.

Why this choice

You might wonder why I decided to switch from web development to mobile development. Because I wanted to work on something new in order to learn new skills, even if I still have a lot to learn regarding web programming.

I also think that mobile applications still have a bright future, sure there are already a lot of them on the existing stores. But new mobile devices are coming, like the smart-watches, and they will provide new opportunities for the developers. It is a good time, in my opinion, to learn how to create applications for mobile devices.

At my current company there was an opportunity to work on the new Android and iOS applications using my favorite language (C#) so why not take this chance.

A new paradigm

I knew that the way of programming would change since I already experienced mobile applications development with a project on Windows Phone. But still I was not prepared for what I have to do and I don’t think I could have been prepared.

Unlike a website an application has a very specific life cycle, you don’t just answer a request with a response. Almost everything I learned building web applications does not help me, the paradigm is entirely new.

Asynchronous programming is mandatory in this world, if everything runs on the User Interface (UI) thread the application will freeze. I always wanted to improve my skills in this area, looks like I found a good opportunity for this goal.

The separation of concern is also different, no more Model View Controller (MVC), now it is time to use the Model View ViewModel (MVVM) pattern. Even if I already used it (WPF and Windows Phone), it was not at the same level and I still have a lot to learn.

And of course you have the emulators to test the application, each time you want to test you have to build and deploy it, you cannot just refresh the page to see the changes. The feedback loop is long, several minutes most of the time, therefore debugging feels slow and debugging is important when starting with this technology.

Outside the comfort zone

I started working on the applications about two months ago and I still have a lot to learn. I need to deal with two ecosystems I know nothing about (Android and iOS), two frameworks I know nothing about (Xamarin and MvvmCross) and the business requirements which are not the easiest to meet. But at least I know how to use C#.

At the moment I struggle everyday, I have a lot to take into consideration, mostly some “How?” questions related to my new development environment. and also a lot of “What if?”: “What if the network is not available?”, “What if this solution is too slow?”, “How to provide the best experience for our clients?”…

Sometimes I cannot manage to produce anything for an entire day, and to be honest I feel worthless, I feel like I am a fraud… How can I consider myself has a professional software developer if I am not able to produce anything of value with my work?

Well, I guess this how it feels to step outside my comfort zone and I think I am in a ravine of the learning phase.

I will not give up

The thing is, that I am not the only one in this situation, I am not the only one to struggle. In the team we all have to deal with the same amount of learning, senior developers and junior ones.

When I take a look at the journey I began two months ago I realize that the route is still long but I also learned a lot, I am more familiar with the concepts of asynchronous programming and those of the MVVM pattern.

If I want to consider myself as a professional I will complete my journey and I will learn the skills I lack in order to produce the value our clients expect. Even if my work is painful from time to time, I have no regret, this is a massive opportunity to learn. I will succeed no matter how much time I need. And I hope to be able to share some Xamarin tips and tricks on this blog in the future.

See you next time!