Let's Get It Started
This is the very first post for Get Noticed! challenge. I will try to point out for what reasons I have decided to take part in it. Where the project idea came from. And some more.
3, 2, 1 …
… ready, get set, go! These words I have planned to write on March 1, when the main part of Get Noticed! contest was about to start. Things didn’t went that well. I guessed I have fallen into the hardest first step hole. Publishing this post I hope I will release the kraken ;) and I will be more productive in this matter.
Why?
Firstly I would like to point some reasons why I started this challenge. The whole February I was struggling in my head whether I should make such commitment, or I should not. I love reading blog posts, listening to podcasts and/or watching what others creativity is able to do. Many times I have read/heard how beneficial blogging can be. How it helped to develop those who started. How it changed their lives, and so on. At one point I also wanted those benefits, but on the other, I have got some other … priorities on which I could/should/want spend my time on.
What’s more, I was never into writing. One of the worst periods of my life was when I had to write my diploma thesis ;) I used to write a lot with people over the Internet, but I guess it’s slightly different. There is no questions I can reply. I have to think about the post structure, subheadings, subject consistency, and bunch of whatnots. It ain’t easy … at least for now :)
The decision about submitting the contest form has been made after a short talk of Paweł Słomka at Boiling Frogs 2017 conference I attended. He talked about his challenge of 100 posts in a single year, and how that influenced himself. 100 posts a year is more less the same as the requirement of Get Noticed! rules, except, just for 10 weeks. Paweł has successfully completed his daunting commitment, so why shouldn’t I. At least I will try.
What?
Along with the sign in or not dilemma, I had to figure out what kind of a project I would like to develop. What kind of a problem I would like to solve with it? Who will use it? How will it work? Lot of unanswered questions. I could use websites like ideaswatch.com or take one from awesome-app-ideas @ github, but I have decided for follow a different path.
I started asking: which one of my own problems I would like to solve? Is it my very own and unique, or some others as well? What group of people I am part of, that could have certain set of concerns? Or even, who could potential pay for a good solution? That’s how I came up with this idea for an app called EMA. It’s an abbreviation from Eat Me Again :)
Since quite a while one of my interests is nutrition. Among my colleagues I am known for being vegan, but I rather think about my diet as plant-based. Health is my highest priority so I struggle every day to eat as green and unprocessed food as I can. At the same time, I would like to provide my body with all essential nutrients. But it is not that easy in these fast-paced times, having ready-made meals at our fingertips. So I would like to gather information about what I ate. How often do I eat certain products. What should I focus on the next time I enter the kitchen. EMA could help me. Hopefully :)
Some might say that there are plenty of apps that could do something similar. Sure. Probably. But, my excessive demands cannot be satisfied just like that ;) Plus, I would like to implement my own and curated list of features. Nothing that could distract or annoy me each and every day. More details about the app itself I will present in future posts. I have to figure them out first :)
For?
In the name of self-improvement. Mostly. Developing that project I plan to widen my knowledge in mobile development. Widen? I should write: get into any mobile development, because I am a total newbie in this subject. I have never did anything for mobile devices. I don’t even own a smartphone ;)
The second reason related with this blog and self-improvement would be English. At certain point I had to decide which language I will use creating this blog. I am quite fluent in English when it comes to reading or listening, but I kinda suck in writing and speaking. The latter one for sure. Hopefully, after the contest, I will be still motivated to write posts and keep growing my writing skills.
Having said that, please, do not hesitate to leave a comment regarding anything that could help me to improve. It doesn’t matter if I did a grammar mistake, I have implemented something wrong, I could write a piece of code shorter/nicer/more performant(??), whatever. Any feedback is welcome. I am eager for it … unless I cannot learn from it. So then, any valuable feed is welcome ;) Under this post as well as under future ones. Thanks in advance.
Goals?
Well, previous chapters point out reasons why I have started the EMA project. Self-improvement is my goal, but it could be hard to measure if I have already reached it or not. After reading one of JavaDevMatt’s blog posts, I thought I could set something similar for my pet project too. One of his goals was to acknowledge more about making money on mobile games and earn 100 zloty making one. I have no clue how profitable are mobile games, nor nutrition apps, so I set the minimum income at th level of 1 zloty. Yeap, just one :) That should force me to focus on wider range of aspects of mobile development, not only the technology I will use, code I will wrote, etc. If this symbolic one zloty is impossible to gain, please, don’t tell me that ;)
And thanks for reading :)