#sam soffes

Apple’s Mac App Store is a ghost town

“Sam Soffes, the developer behind the new Redacted for Mac shares the number of downloads that the app had, while being the 8th top paid app in the US and top paid in app in Graphics category,” Stephen Hackett writes for 512 Pixels.

It’s pretty nuts that 59 sales is top paid on the Mac App Store in the US.

“Ouch,” Hackett writes. “I think it may be time for Apple to take a long,…

This is the first of many such posts. We want Goalsmith to be a valuable resource for all your goal setting needs, but we also want it to be a source of inspiration and drive for our readers. That's why I figured it was time to introduce you to Sam. Some of you may Have used or heard of the app called Hipstamatic. It's taken the mobile phone photography world by storm in the past couple years. According to a 2011 poll, the iPhone 4 camera is the second most used camera in the world, and out of all the photo taking/editing applications available, Hipstamatic shines the brightest. Last month, the team launched a new app that uses vintage camera types and built in sharing features to allow friends to take and share photos with each other. It's already been given raving reviews... and this blogger uses it all the time. Anyways, without further wait, here's some thoughts by Sam.

                                   1. So, you've had the opportunity to work with some really big clients and create some amazing things. I know right now, you're working with the Hipstamatic team, for example. But I'm curious to hear what actually got you started in development?

I got started with HTML when I was 10 years old. My mom was going to a class on how to make websites that a local ISP was putting on for free and brought me because I liked to play on the computer. I went home, fired up Notepad, and started writing away with all caps tags. Learned ActionScript a little later after I got tired of tweaning in Flash. Took a class on C++ freshman year of high school. Started playing with PHP in my spare time at the same time. A friend and I did our first website for real money using PHP while I was still a freshman. After doing lots of PHP work, I started playing with Objective-C and Mac development while I was still in high school. After high school, I got a salary job doing PHP when the iPhone SDK was announced. I said I knew Objective-C and could probably make something so I made my first app, Bible. After I left that job I picked up Ruby and have thankfully not written any PHP since.

2. What were your biggest obstacles in the beginning, and how did you move past them?

Since I was all self taught, not knowing how to do something was always my biggest obstacle. Lots of reading and time in front of the computer perfecting my craft has really paid off but was definitely no quick trip. At first leaning now to program is very difficult. Once you learn how to learn a language (very meta, I know) it becomes really easy. I went from never touching Ruby to redoing my website in Ruby on Rails in a weekend.

3. Hold old are you now?

I'm 22. Skipping college really gave me a head start on everything. Fun fact: bought a house when I was 19 and sold it when I was 20.

4. How important to you are personal goals?  

Goals are very important to me. Most of how my life is now is due to setting goals and meeting them. I decided I wanted to buy a house, paid of all of my debt, and bought one (granted it was the worst financial decision of my life, but it was a good learning experience). I decided I wanted to move to San Francisco to be near a lot of other great minds, found a job, and moved there—all within a few weeks. Sometimes my goals can be a bit impulsive and sometimes they can take years. I tend to prefer more short term goals so I stay motivated. Planning to do something in 5 years seems silly. 5 years ago I wouldn't have ever imaged I'd be where I am today and I would assume the same is true for 5 years from today.

5. Are there certain things that really inspire you or light your creative fires? What is it that drives you to continue the creative process?

Looking at other people's creations is a huge source of inspiration. I download an enormous amount of apps just to see what other people are doing. When I'm pretending to be a designer, I spend a lot of time on Dribbble too. Probably the biggest source of motivation for any project is stuff that I want. Thinking, "It would be cool if it did this because I'd use the crap out of that feature," makes for good software. Building stuff that satisfies your own needs is super rewarding. Building stuff you care about is way better than building stuff you don't care about. I have worked on dozens of projects that I thought were completely stupid. It turns work into just a job to pay the bills instead of something I'm passionate about doing.

6. What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned in your life?

The value of people. I've worked in teams of one a lot. Working with other people is so rewarding. I wish I would have learned this sooner. Moving from city to city and not knowing anyone sucks. Having friends and doing stuff besides work makes everything better. Common sense, I know, but this took me forever to get right. When you build stuff on your own, it's easy to get into the sense of "this is good enough" because no one else will ever see your code or whatever else isn't public facing. When you work with a team, you are motivated to show off a little and keep things nice so others don't have to wade through you garbage. This alone is amazing. Not leaving my apartment and seeing only the pizza guy  for days is cool for a short while.

7. Do you have any advice for someone who is just now beginning to explore their dreams and future?

You can do it. People hear about some of my perks at work, see our office, or about how much engineers in the valley get paid and say "I wish I could do what you do." The truth is they don't or they would be. If you want to do something, do it. Simple as that. I wanted to learn how to make a Mac app, so I bought a book, fought through it, and made a Mac app. I wanted to make an iPhone app, so I downloaded the tools, fought with it for 6 months, and made an iPhone app. With a little perseverance, resourcefulness, and motivation, you can do it. Go buy a book, google up some tutorials, or whatever and start.

My thanks to Sam for his thoughts. It's inspiring to me that he's done so much in such a short amount of time. Besides being one of the brilliant minds involved in Hipstamatic, Sam also developed the Bible app (as mentioned above), and is a respected part of the development community. Learn more about Sam on his site or follow him on Twitter.

Dowload the Bible App here...

Learn more about Hipstamatic here...