Kris - Thanks for your advice. I did start looking into Android development a few months ago -- I was in the Philippines and got a tutor there to give me a jumpstart, and then followed up with independent study.
What I found, though, is that there were places where I would get stuck, where an experienced developer might immediately know the solution, and in the aggregate save me many hours of head-scratching. Beginners seek solutions to questions, but often ask the wrong questions. In other words, I might try to figure out how to do something, while a developer with more experience would point out that the approach itself is flawed, and there is a better way to do it. I've been on the other end of this, helping beginners with Ruby, Java, C++, C, etc. If you've ever seen a for loop written in Ruby code by a newly trained Java developer who doesn't know or hasn't taken the trouble to learn how to use Ruby enumerables, you'll know what I mean. It's one thing to scrape by and put something together that works, and quite another to learn best practices from a master. There are books and screencasts, and discussion groups like this one that are helpful in this regard. For a dramatic increase in expertise and productivity, though, working closely with an expert is, in my opinion, the most effective way. I'm not rich, so my best bet I think is to work with someone for whom a rate that's affordable to me would be attractive, and that probably means traveling overseas. I do have excellent skills in Java, OO, Linux, GUI development, so a beginning class might not be the most effective route for me. I could be a good pair programming partner, and maybe I'll start by just offering to pair at no charge. Anyone feel free to get in touch with me if you're interested in this. I'm open to travel. - Keith On Oct 20, 12:20 pm, Kristopher Micinski <[email protected]> wrote: > Kieth, > > If you have years of development experience and are willing to work > hard at it, why not pick up the platform on your own? This will be a > lot cheaper (I think the commercial classes, while not unhelpful, are > very expensive, perhaps necessarily so), and might suit somebody that > could learn at their own pace. Did you give an overview to the > Android SDK introduction page? It's not a difficult platform to pick > up, specially since you probably another GUI environment that will > help you pick up the UI stuff quickly.. > > Kris > > > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Keith Bennett <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi, all. > > > I'm looking to learn Android quickly and would be willing to travel to > > another country (I currently live in the Washington, DC area in the > > USA) for affordable, intensive multi-week training with an Android > > expert. > > > Could be a formal class, could be tutoring, informal pairing, etc. > > > I'm a long time Java developer with strong Linux skills looking to > > learn Android. I did several years of Java Swing work, so I know the > > concepts of assembling a UI, event handling, etc. More recently I've > > been working with Ruby, and love it, but that's another story. > > > Maybe there's something I could teach you too, and we could be study > > partners. I find I'm more productive learning with others than by > > myself. > > > I'm open to discussing any arrangement, even a wacky, creative, > > outside-the-box one. ;) > > > Thanks, > > Keith > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Android Developers" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
