As I announced on Twitter last Monday, I’m taking a position at Apple in Developer Technical Support. I’d like to talk a bit about what I’ll be doing in my new role, the thought process that lead me there, and some answers to the inevitable questions the news has brought.
What is Developer Technical Support?
DTS is the engineering arm of Worldwide Developer Relations, the group that puts on WWDC, holds technology workshops, and generally serves as the interface between Apple and its rapidly growing third-party developer community. When you get help from one of Apple’s own engineers, you’re usually dealing with DTS.
If you get stuck while writing your next Mac or iPhone application, you can use a DTS incident to get help. This includes pre-release platforms, which I wish I had known during the iPhone SDK beta. If you’re a seeded ADC member, you get a number of DTS incidents as part of your membership, but they lapse when you renew your membership, often going to waste. Incidents can also be purchased a la cart.
Insofar as I’m not omniscient, fixing your problems is going to require a lot of learning. My job will be to talk to the framework engineers to figure out how everything works. Armed with an Apple badge and a need to know, I’ll have the opportunity to meet everyone and learn everything. To frost that cake, I’ll get to contribute to the greatest week in a Cocoa engineer’s year — WWDC.
Why you got to sell out, sellout?
A lifetime ago, I intended to fly airplanes for a living. I worked for an airline full time, and worked at a flight school part time. After getting through ground school, I used the employee discount on airplane rentals to work toward the hundred some-odd hours required to become a certificated private pilot.
My life revolved around aviation, as did my life’s plan. After getting my private, I’d get rated for instrument and multi-engine, then get my instructor’s credentials and teach for a while at the school where I already worked. When I had the hours, I’d start flying Dash 8s as a copilot for Horizon, then copilot 737s for Alaska. The only real decision was whether I would take captain at Alaska or move to another airline to fly heavies.
One artifact of being a pilot is the radio headset. Decent ones started at $299, with the top of line being the Bose Aviation X, using active noise reduction technology on a lightweight magnesium frame — all for a cool grand. Ironically, these were the only ones I could afford, since they were so expensive they had a 12-month payment plan. I bought mine to celebrate my first solo flight.
Your first solo flight is your first day as a real pilot. It’s the day you share with all other pilots the moment of realization, about 20 feet up, that the only thing standing between you and death is the fact you practiced until you could and did land airplanes in your sleep. Two minutes later I parked my Piper Warrior for the last time. I never flew again.
Long story short, I was downsized from the school and, without the discount, I couldn’t afford it anymore. I spent a year trying everything I could to beg, borrow, or steal the money. If I couldn’t fly airplanes for a living, I didn’t know what I would do. Finally, I sold my headset and bought a used Powerbook and a book on Java. The rest, as they say, is history.
You gotta know when to fold ‘em.
I’m the world’s toughest programmer because I don’t know when to quit, but I’m a successful engineer because sometimes, I do. At the end of the day, when the world starts falling apart, there’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than Infinite Loop. When the zombie rise and the security doors fall, I’d like to be inside, where the food is.
Which is not to say things are so bad I have to go to Apple. It’s definitely a conscious choice while choosing is still an option. There’s a lot of money in iPhone contracts right now. After a couple of years I could probably save enough money to go back to working on my own projects full time. Either road leads to the same destination, but which one is going to make me better engineer?
I’ve long felt something missing from my education. Having learned my trade by apprenticeship rather than scholarship, I never got the years of drills. The problems of shipping an application are quite different than the contrived problems of an engineering school. A couple of years in DTS could really round out my abilities.
That was what ultimately made up my mind. I had a lot of job offers, many more interesting and lucrative, but they were all based on my expertise and experience. If living in Wil Shipley’s basement proves anything, it’s that I’m much more interested in what I stand to learn than what I stand to earn.
Giving up the indie lifestyle
There are those who aspire to independence, and those who have independence thrust upon them. I actually fall into the latter camp. Long before I fell in love with airplanes, I loved the movie “Real Genius.” I wanted to go to MIT, then Harvey Mudd, because I wanted to hang out with a bunch of crazy smart people.
My interest in software engineering was renewed by reading the book “Microserfs,” by Douglas Coupland. I wanted to work insane hours with a team, be it in a garage, an office, or a cube farm. Given my life at the time, a cubicle sounded awesome. Dilbert quickly became my favorite comic because I envied the life Scott Adams was lampooning.
I didn’t leave Alaska because I hated my cube. Far from it. I left because I wanted to write Mac software, but more than that I was tired of being the only person there who knew what I did. I left because my partner left, poached by Starbucks, much as I left Delicious Monster after Lucas left.
For some people, working alone is paradise. I am not one of those people. I don’t need to be independent. I need to be part of a team. I need to be part of something bigger than myself. I need to be with people who are smarter than me.
My dream is a kind of engineering paradise where the air has a hum of productivity. One day I found a place like that, and I tried to work there, but I wasn’t good enough yet. I’ve since built companies based entirely on my memory of that magical place. Now, I get to work there for real and I couldn’t be happier.
It’s not a sad story at all, you see
A few people have bemoaned my employment as a loss for the community, but I disagree. One of the most frustrating side effects of having been so busy last year is not being able to contribute to the community as much as I would like to. I’ve iChat in Don’t Bug Me mode for months. I don’t have time to visit the iPhone forums, publish tutorials, or write meaningful essays about important programming topics.
All through my entrepreneurial period, I hoped one day things would be established and stable enough that I could afford to do things like that. In a very real way, going to DTS is exactly that. I get paid to help the community. I don’t get to be in charge, I don’t get to put my name on things, and I don’t stand to get rich — but I don’t care about those things.
What I care about is doing good work as part of a team. I care about giving back and helping others succeed. If the best way to do that is to fold up United Lemur for another rainy day, so be it. I’ll see you all at WWDC.
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Comments
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Jack Holt
The community's not losing you; now you're their man on the inside! You would have loved MIT. It is one of those "engineering paradise where the air has a hum of productivity." Hope I have the privilege of meeting you one day. Best of luck at the Mothership!
Mac Tyler
Ah, the ways in which you inspire me.
Peter Bierman
You're going to love it. It's like drinking from the firehose. I'm looking forward to this year's WWDC with our roles reversed. Good luck getting a WWDC backpack now, though!
Ian Baird
Congrats on the new gig! You're there with an awesome crew, and if you have to "sell out", there are far worst places to do it.
Good luck at Apple!
Ian Baird
Whoops! I need a copy editor. That should have been "and if you have to "sell out", there are far _worse_ places to do it."
Sorry about that.
John McLaughlin
Good Luck,
The few times I've filed a DTS incident I'm always impressed at how complete and professional they are. You'll make a great addition as the worlds toughest DTS engineer.
Jeff LaMarche
A big congratulations again, Mike! I saw your Keynote at 360 iDev (and was a little surprised to see my face staring down from one of the slides), and was honestly happy for you when you made the announcement there. I assumed that you had plenty of options, and going to Apple was very much your choice, and one you were happy about. From what little I know about you, it seems like a great fit. Certainly Apple's getting a great addition to the DTS team, and for you, I suspect you're going to find it's a learning experience like no other. I worked in a similar role at another software company for several years and loved it, and that was a company whose products I didn't believe in the way I do Apple's. I would kill to be able to have the same experience at Apple - to have access to the various teams and a license to learn the inner workings of all the various frameworks. Sounds like a fantastic job to me, and in my experience, people who get hired by Apple don't have to drop out of the developer community.
Making a choice to do something you love is not selling out. It's succeeding (even if you were taking a pay cut in the process).
I really hope the job is everything you hope it's going to be, and maybe I can buy you a beer at WWDC to say congratulations.
Ben Reubenstein
You are the perfect person for that role within Apple. When we met at C4 I was a very green Objective-C developer, and you answered each of my questions with a thoughtful approach. Thank you so much.
flydadfly
congratulations! "my son does dts for apple" has a nice ring to it...love you, man!
Victoria Wang
Congrats Mike! Sounds like great fun, and Apple's definitely lucky to have you. Your blog has been amazing -- even if you have to close it for now, I hope you don't stop writing and sharing your fascinating stories.
Sean Reilly
I don't think working for Apple is selling out at all. Good luck in the new gig, it sounds like a great career choice.
PJ Cabrera
Mike, congratulations on the new job! Based on the work I've seen from you, I know you'll do great!
Bill Tinney
Kudos man. It may seem odd, but the Dr Seuss's "Oh the Places You'll Go" was in my head as you were illustrating how you've gotten to this juncture. Sorry to bail on you for the bean company, but I think we all know you had way too much potential for XQuiz type projects. :-) Cheers man.
kiterri
I am happy for you! Congratulations and best of luck!
Love & Peace
Matt Johnston
Great news - didn't get to go to NSConference but now you'll be wearing a big badge at WWDC, w00t!
Random Lemur
Eep!
StuFF mc
Congrats on this choice Mike. I really appreciated your Pimp My App talk at NSConference and also the interview (soon to be released on Pomcast.com) we did together. See you at WWDC!
John C. Randolph
Mike,
Congrats on joining Apple, with a few caveats. I'll give you the same advice I gave Jurewitz when he joined DTS.
First, DTS is chronically understaffed, even more so than the rest of Apple. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of believing that's your fault.
Second, use your time in DTS to look for your next job within Apple. Get to know as many people as you can, find out what they do, and who they work for. Introduce a lot of people to each other. Make all the contacts you can. I've been out of Apple for several years now, and Apple employees still ask me who to go to for some questions.
Third, when you get tired of DTS, if you can't find a different gig inside of Apple, don't sweat it. Having Apple on your resume makes you golden for any Mac or iPhone development shop.
Fourth, There are a lot of smart people in that department, but there is one guy in DTS (you probably already know who I'm talking about) who is scary smart. Learn as much as you can from him.
Good luck with it.
-jcr
David Casseres
Nothing "sellout" about doing a stint in Apple DTS. Interesting folks, and they'll work your ass off, which we know you like. And it'll be different from what you've done before.
Do not fall in love with Apple, the employer. I know what I'm talking about, having worked there for much too long and then gotten laid off without warning. It happens. But enjoy it to the full while you're there.
Pay attention to everything John Randolph tells you.
Andre
Well, I think I'll start using those DTS's now then. ^_^
Thats really cool your going to Apple, I'm sure you'll love it! (yea i'm just a bit jealous)
Ryan Cross
I just came across this blog and found 2 things:
1 - someone pretty cool and who i think I probably admire (thus will keep reading)
2 - a pretty damn cool catpcha, which is really what prompted me to add a comment.
Good luck with the new job
