Read the transcript
Jeroen Leenarts: Hi, and welcome
to another episode of my
podcast. I'm sitting here with
Sam McHenry. And you've heard
him before on my podcast, but
this time around, I'm really
interviewing him. And just to
get his backstory, Sam is a
college dropout. He's been a
cook. And quite recently, he was
able to land his first iOS job.
So Sam, Welcome, and
congratulations on that
milestone. I think it is.
Sam McGarry: I thank you so
much.
Jeroen Leenarts: So you have a
bit of an interesting story,
actually, because you took a bit
of a detour getting to the
basically the job that you want
to get out when you got started,
because you're a college
dropout. How did that happen?
Sam McGarry: It was for several
different reasons. But to sum it
up, it was it came down to my
unit, my university was very
expensive. And I wasn't in the
school that I wanted to be in at
the time, I wanted to study
computer science, and I hadn't
originally gotten into that
school, when I when I applied.
So in order to qualify, I would
have had to take prerequisite
courses for about a year and a
half. And even then there was no
guarantee I would even get into
the program. Okay. And then
afterwards, I would do the
program and get my degree. So
that was that, that played a
role in me dropping out. And
just knowing that it was it was
expensive, while out be
preparing to apply. played a
role as well.
Jeroen Leenarts: So you
mentioned you had to get some
prerequisite courses, if you
wanted to be able to apply? Was
that because of your prior
education before getting to this
point, or?
Sam McGarry: Yeah, so I didn't
have any prior, for example,
computer science classes under
under my belt. In the US, you
can take in high school, you can
take AP courses, which are
basically college courses in
high school. And you can take
computer science courses that
way. And I didn't really have
anything like that. And usually
what you do when you apply to
school is you apply to like the
art school for things related to
art, and then for engineering
and things like computer
science, you go into a STEM
program, okay. And if you don't
get in initially, then you you
basically have to reapply again.
So in my case, I was in the art
school.
Jeroen Leenarts: So so what,
what education did you do before
you dropped out?
Sam McGarry: It was mostly, it
was mostly just general classes.
So in, and I think correct me if
I'm wrong, but in Europe, they
do the majority of the general
stuff in primary school. And in
the US, they, some of it, you
still do in the first two years
of college, these like general
studies that are usually
required by the university. And
that's what most people focus on
their first two years before
they even start really taking
focus classes in their degree.
So it was mostly just general
things, general history, some
general science, and I did
manage to take one JavaScript
course, which is cool. And that
was like one of the prerequisite
courses I would have had to
take.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, so in the
end, you You did figure out that
you wanted to do something with
computers, because you already
mentioned that you wanted to
apply to a computer science
program, which didn't work out
because then of course, you have
to get the prerequisites and do
all kinds of things to actually
be able to get into the program.
And then well basically stack up
some hefty student loans, I
guess, exam. So what was your
thought process at that time
that you thought, Okay, let's
just not do this. And you
mentioned at some point that you
traveled around quite a bit, and
that you ended up becoming
somewhat of a cook and you
actually cooked professionally.
So So what's the story there?
Because it's, it's a bit of a
change from like something with
computers to something with pots
and pans, you know?
Sam McGarry: Definitely. It's
definitely it's definitely a bit
of a change as I think that's
kind of an understatement
because it's like I I feel like
I just went to complete opposite
direction. But I, I wanted to do
something with computer science
when I dropped out. And I wasn't
quite sure how to go about that.
And I had heard of developers
teaching themselves, and then
landing jobs down the line. So
considering I was doing that
myself, and I wasn't in a formal
curriculum or environment that
required me to be at a school,
for example, I, I, I considered
traveling as an option. And I
ended up doing it because I
wasn't tied down to one place.
So at that time, I set two goals
for myself, one of which was to
teach myself swift in my spare
time, and try to work on
becoming an iOS developer. And
the other was to learn a foreign
language, which ended up being
French.
Jeroen Leenarts: So um, how's
your French right now?
Sam McGarry: It's, it's a little
rusty. But I would say overall,
for an American, it's pretty
good. My accent. I worked a lot
on my accent. And I was immersed
in a French environment for
about five months. Maybe even
longer than that, because I
wasn't France for nine months I
lived with, I just lived with
English speaking people for the
first half of it. But being
immersed for five months really,
really helped me. So I think I
still have a lot to learn. But I
think I achieved my goal.
Jeroen Leenarts: So you
mentioned that you you traveled
but you also mentioned that you
were in France for nine months,
I think you said, yeah. So were
you in one location in France,
or moving about or was it pretty
much just one, one city that you
that you lived in and you and
lived your life there for nine
months.
Sam McGarry: So a little bit of
both. When I first got there, I
wasn't quite sure what I was
doing, or how I was going to
accomplish my goal of learning
French. So I started by moving
around, I lived in one place for
a month and a half helping a
family as a handyman. And I also
put for them. And that was in a
small village in the West of
France called Launch Vidya. So
mouth. And then after that, I
went to the south of France, to
your another small town called
costs. And that's near nice,
which is more well known. Okay.
And then afterwards, I ended up
moving to Knott's which is the
fourth largest city in France, I
believe. Okay. And that's where
I stayed and got a more stable
job.
Jeroen Leenarts: So and more
stable job as a cook or as a
cook. Yeah. And learning swift
in this time frame. Was it like
when you got back from France in
the US? Or was it also during
this time that you were applying
yourself to learn Swift?
Sam McGarry: It was also during
this time, like I would, I was
doing so the first half of my
time there. I was doing these
odd jobs. I was like I said, I
was a handyman, I was painting
houses. And then afterwards, I
worked as a groundskeeper
helping maintain a large
property, south of France. And
in my spare time I was working
on on projects. And I would
basically set myself a goal with
a project and then I'd worked on
it in my spare time, for about a
month or so.
Jeroen Leenarts: So I'm just
trying to grasp the thought
process that you must have went
through. So okay, there's a day
you decide to drop out? Did you
already have a clear cut plan of
what you wanted to do? Or did
you come up with it as you as
you went?
Sam McGarry: Not clear cut at
all. The only thing that was
clear cut was those two goals
that I set for myself to learn
the foreign language and to try
to teach myself a programming
language. And with those, like
broad goals, I kind of started
paving the path for myself.
Yeah. And that was like the only
considering the way I was
traveling at the time, it was it
was kind of hard to be any more
formal than that. And when I did
end up getting a job while I was
there, it was easy to set up a
schedule and work on it in my
spare time.
Jeroen Leenarts: So So why
France because that's, that's
quite a trip you need to make
from the US, right?
Sam McGarry: Yeah. I had already
begun learning French when I was
younger. I took, like, I knew
the basics, I took like, three,
three years, I think, in in
between middle and high school.
So out of the language out of
like all the languages, I knew I
knew that one a little bit. So I
felt drawn to sort of complete
that. Right, not completed, but
become more fluent in that
language. And I've always
thought it was an interesting
language. So I chose that, and I
figured the best place to
immerse myself be France.
Jeroen Leenarts: Yeah. So and,
and what's the process then? So
you you had those two goals you
dropped out? And then you
thought, Okay, let's go to
France. Then what you just buy a
plane ticket? Or what's the
deal?
Sam McGarry: Yeah, so I, I
didn't just show up there, I, I
went on this website called
Workaway dot info, which I had
used in the past. And it's, it's
this really cool website, where,
basically anywhere in the world,
you can find a short term stay
in a city in exchange for part
time work. And it's usually in
places like hospitals, or
sometimes it's in, like, in or
near a restaurant, and you may
help work by working in a
restaurant. But in my case, it
was just helping with kind of
like random things around a few
properties as a handyman, like
doing painting, and renovating a
porch, for example. And I would
also cook meals for the family
sometimes. So it's really random
stuff.
Jeroen Leenarts: So So and why
did you pick up these these
skills, you know, cooking and
building a porch and painting
and groundskeeping and all this
stuff.
Sam McGarry: Most of it was you
just learn as you go. And that
was the case for everybody else
that was there it was. It's just
like, if you're willing to
learn, and you can do physical
labor, it's pretty
straightforward. They'll explain
the rest to you. As far as
cooking goes, my first ever
worked way that I ever did was
in a restaurant. And that was
when I was 18, in Portugal. And
I picked up most of what I know
about cooking there. So and I
had worked as a cook the
previous summer before I left,
so I, I had a little bit on my
phone.
Jeroen Leenarts: So and what
level of a cook, would you
consider yourself if you would
ever have to apply again to such
position?
Sam McGarry: I'm not really sure
how to like, like, I'm no chef.
Like, I'm, I don't have any
formal culinary education. But I
can be given a recipe and shown
how to do something once and I
can usually replicate it.
Jeroen Leenarts: Yeah. Okay. Um,
and what years we'll be talking
about when you dropped out. And
when you move to France, and
when you got back, because I
think it was all just before the
whole Corona thing happened,
right?
Sam McGarry: Yes. So COVID 19,
hit Wilo while I was in France,
working as a cook. And I
remember the night that the
government announced that they
were going to go into quarantine
was it was like middle of March,
middle of March in 2020. I think
it was like March 18 or
something. Yeah. But I remember
I was washing dishes and
everyone in the restaurant,
waiters, everyone who was eating
there, got up and went to the
TV. And everyone crowded around
it. And my boss came and told me
that I didn't have to come into
work the next day. And then from
that day, until the end of
April, I was in quarantine my
apartment in France, because I
couldn't get a flight out.
Jeroen Leenarts: Oh, that's a
bummer. It was six weeks. Wow.
That's a lot. A lot of spare
time for programming. But that's
a bit, I think. Yeah. So. So
yeah, that that that'll happens.
You also already mentioned that
you had an interest in computer
science or doing something with
computers to to make your life
as How did you gain that
interest? Because you mentioned
that you already did like a
course on JavaScript. But there
must have been things with
computers before that even
besides just you know, right
Adding some papers for, for
school or, and that that's more
involved in that right?
Sam McGarry: Yeah, so I've, I've
always had an interest in
computers since I was younger.
And since I got my first
computer, which was like a
crappy, like $200 laptop, I was
always like messing around with
things. I was never like, it's I
wasn't like, you know, writing
terminal commands when I was
like in middle school or
anything, but I was always kind
of like tinkering with things.
And when I was, and I think
that's for the original interest
can remember, in eighth grade,
when I was, I think 13, I had a
final project for the year in my
school, which was completely
open ended. And you could choose
to do anything that you wanted,
as long as you made a proposal
and follow through on it. And it
could be anything from making a
cookbook or a movie. And I chose
to try to make a program. So
there was somebody at the school
at the time, who was a former
programmer, and I asked him to
be my mentor. And I, my projects
ended up being a photo editing
program, written in C Sharp that
ran on Windows. And then after
that I didn't program until that
JavaScript class,
Jeroen Leenarts: but it's just a
photo editing program. In C
sharp it's sounds like a lot of
code that needs to be written
for that, or how did it work
out?
Sam McGarry: Me, He showed me
how to use Stack Overflow.
Jeroen Leenarts: at it, that's
an important skill, right? Yeah.
So he decided to teach yourself
programming. Or at least you had
some prior experience, as you
mentioned, with JavaScript, and
now C sharp. But why Swift? Why
this specific language.
Sam McGarry: So I had always had
an interest in iOS specifically.
And I think out of all
programming jobs being once I
found out that being an iOS
developer was the thing, I was
really interested in that I
remember, just ever since I had
my first iPod, I love everything
about iOS, I love the platform,
and I love everything that went
into it. So getting the chance
to learn more about it as
actually build things for the
platform. And to it for living
is something that really
interests me. And I remember, I
think when I was traveling, the
first time around when I was 18,
I met an app developer, briefly.
And he showed me an app that he
was working on. And I just
thought it was the coolest thing
in the world that like he just
pulled his phone out of his
pocket and had had something
that you built right there. So
Jeroen Leenarts: So and that
made you decide to, to pursue
swift as a development language.
Yeah. But then what you you have
a, you have an idea, like, I
want to learn this. Where to
start.
Sam McGarry: I started by
writing a. So at the time I like
knew some JavaScript, because of
course I had just taken. So I
started Googling around and
going on YouTube, as like
finding tutorials. And I think I
found it tutorial by code with
Chris. And I didn't even watch
the entire tutorial. But I use
this tutorial as like an
inspiration. And it was
basically it was a really simple
app, because it was like build
your first app or something. And
it was just the war car game,
which is the game where you
like, you both place a car down
the same time and Chevy cars
higher wins the cars. And it's
about winning the entire deck.
And using that as inspiration. I
wrote a kind of like the back
end for it in Java scripts. And
so there was no visual aspect to
it. But I got like the the
functionality of the game to
work in JavaScript. And then I
slowly started translating
things into Swift. And then I
use storyboard and Xcode to make
my first UI. And then using like
random numbers. I had like a
quote unquote, CPU. And that
was, that was my first step. And
once I had like, gotten over
that barrier of how do I even
use this language? It was easy
to kind of start setting up my
next project.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay. And so
when was that you created this
this initial first little app
that you just mentioned.
Sam McGarry: That was right when
I write when I moved to France.
So I completed it after being in
France for a month.
Jeroen Leenarts: So that was
like, halfway through. Let's hit
2019. That's correct.
Sam McGarry: That was like, yes.
September, early October of
2019. Okay,
Jeroen Leenarts: yeah. Because
in March, you were forced to go
back to the US after six weeks
of quarantine.
Sam McGarry: And the next year,
and yeah, and then
Jeroen Leenarts: the year
before, nine months before that,
prior to that you, you actually
went to France. So right now,
the big news that, that I
recently heard from you, is that
you actually landed your first
iOS development job. Can you
tell us where you're working
right now?
Sam McGarry: Yeah, um, so I'm
working as a contract developer
for a company called glow tech.
Jeroen Leenarts: So contracted
developer. So that means you're
you're sort of freelancing, or
are you on their payroll?
Sam McGarry: I'm under payroll.
But I say that because I, I work
in tandem with another company
who is basically contracted.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay. Yeah.
Sam McGarry: So yeah, that's
more distracted for that
company.
Jeroen Leenarts: That's more the
construction of all the
paperwork. Really? Yeah. So what
was the process of, of getting
this first job? Because you've
been teaching yourself? app
development, iOS development
with Swift? And how hard was it
to, to get to get your foot in
the door to begin with, and then
second of all, to actually be
able to have a successful job
interview.
Sam McGarry: So I won't lie it
was it was pretty difficult.
Particularly because I was
working as a cook while trying
to achieve this goal of becoming
an iOS developer. And with that
in mind, it felt like I was
really doing two things at once.
And I would say it, it took me,
so I have been working on Swift
for about for about two years
now. Yeah. But I, I didn't, I
wouldn't say I really like dove
in, fully into the job search,
and really prepared myself for
that aspects of it, or even felt
prepared for it until the
beginning of this year. So from
that point, until now, it's was
about five or six months. And I
was new to technical interviews.
And I was new to presenting any
kind of technical skill in in an
interview. Yeah. And so that was
a huge learning experience for
me. And getting getting my first
interview was really exciting.
Which happened in January, as I
pass the introductory round. And
I just remember, like, it just
felt like I was almost there.
Because I had already been
working on it for a year and a
half, when in reality, job
interviews, a job interview, it
doesn't guarantee anything.
Yeah. So one thing I definitely
struggled with was really
getting getting excited for an
opportunity, only to be declined
later on. Which happened with
that interview. After the
technical round, so
Jeroen Leenarts: so so and what
what were the biggest lessons
that you discovered you needed
to learn in the whole
interviewing process?
Sam McGarry: I would say the
biggest lesson was just learning
to not, not try it, try not to
have too much emotion associated
with the process. Because it, it
doesn't really help the result.
And it doesn't help how you feel
afterwards. Yeah. And I kind of
had to go through that a few
times to really get that, get
that into my head and to really
learn that. And also just just
being consistent with my
preparation in general. Not not
preparing the day before a job
interview, just kind of always
trying to keep myself fresh on
the basics and doing everything
I can to prepare for that
specific job interview.
Jeroen Leenarts: So how many
applications Did you submit
Sam McGarry: It was 35. And out
of that, out of those 35, I got
responses from I think 14 of
them. And I got interviews with
one, two, or four or five.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay. Yeah. And
the interview that was
successful, was it like, an
interview that you landed just
on open application? Or was it
through networking with some
people that you happen to, to
know?
Sam McGarry: Completely through
networking? Okay. So, I, I met
this developer through an online
developer coffee meetup. I think
it was, I think it was in
January, maybe maybe in
February, but it was a while
ago. And he messaged me on on
Twitter and asked if I was still
looking for a job. I said, I
said, Yeah, and he asked me a
few other questions and said,
Okay, I can try to get you a
take on projects. And if you
have good results, no
guarantees, but I may be able to
get you an interview. So I did
to take on projects. And I
passed that, and I ended up
getting getting an interview the
next week. Okay, and because
they don't typically do a take
on projects, I think, usually,
they just do two rounds of
interviews, I was actually able
to skip the first round and go
straight to the final rounds.
Okay. And and that just the
final round was with five
different people. And they there
was like a behavioral aspect to
it, and then a technical part of
it as well.
Jeroen Leenarts: And the the
take home project, was that the
the ISS tracking thing that you
also have on your GitHub?
Sam McGarry: No, that was for
probably the other big
opportunity that I almost got.
Yeah.
Jeroen Leenarts: So yeah, I said
that the take home project for
this job interview was was
something that they requested
you for specifically what you
needed to create. And it is not
something that you can share
online on GitHub, for example.
Sam McGarry: It is on GitHub. I
just didn't like tweet about it
or anything. But But yeah, if
anyone's curious, it's just, I
think it's called Star Wars
people. It's just an iPad app
that takes from that gets
information from the Star Wars
API and presents it
Jeroen Leenarts: now you you're
working as a software developer,
what's the biggest change for
your life, compared to before
you started your life as a paid
software developer?
Sam McGarry: Probably the
biggest change is just not
having to go not having to do
this on top of doing work and in
a really physical work
environment. So I am not
exhausted all the time. Now.
Even at one point, I went down
to part time as a cook, and I
was doing it three or four days
a week. And I would still, I
would still feel it, the
physical exhaustion throughout
my weekend. And it just would
affect my energy level and my
motivation, and everything that
I needed to be consistent about
self studying software
development.
Jeroen Leenarts: And any any
responses you've gotten from
people that are a bit closer to
you. So like friends or family.
Sam McGarry: Yes. My family is
was was really excited because
they knew I had been going for a
job for a really long time. And
like, right when I got the job,
I had just gotten out of a
really long interview process
that took about three and a half
months, because it was with a
really big company. And I got to
the finish line. Basically, I
was in the top three candidates
out of 200 people and I ended up
not getting the job due to my
lack of experience. Yeah. And
they they knew all that so they
were really happy when I ended
up lining something.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay, so And
what's your plan right now?
Because probably gaining some
experience that that will help
but what else because I can
imagine that you have a bit more
spare time, as you already
mentioned. So what to do with
all this time?
Sam McGarry: Yeah. I've been
trying to enjoy it as much as I
can try to really work on like,
you know, exercising and things
like that. But I've, since my
job is remote, and, again, not
really tied down to one place.
Yeah. Although I do have to be
in the US. I'm thinking about
moving elsewhere. So I'm still
kind of poking around and
looking at places, but I kind of
see as a good opportunity to go
live in a cool place.
Jeroen Leenarts: And because
right now you if I'm correct,
you live near New York City,
right, or?
Sam McGarry: Yeah, I live about
four to five hours away from New
York City in upstate New York.
Jeroen Leenarts: So yeah, I have
no clue what upstate New York
is. But that's probably the
state of New York, right?
Sam McGarry: Yeah. I, when I was
in Europe, I stopped trying to
say upstate New York because
everyone just thought that meant
New York City.
Jeroen Leenarts: And same with
the Netherlands. If I say yeah,
I'm from the Netherlands. They
go like, where's that? I say,
Amsterdam? Oh, you're from?
Yeah. Oh, come on, man. It's
it's a whole country, not one
city. So um, so yeah, you're
looking into like, moving around
a little bit in, in the larger
United States, it seems to also
to adjust your cost of living a
little bit? Or is it more like
just sightseeing and seeing what
else is, is available in the
entire United States?
Sam McGarry: Probably adjust my
cost of living, but I don't
know, I'm, I'm open to a lot of
different things. So I'm just
like, for example, right now,
I'm looking at some places in
New York City. And it's a place
I've always wanted to live. And
it's, it's nearby as well. So
cross country or anything,
Jeroen Leenarts: would probably
increase your cost of living a
little bit living in the city
itself. But yeah, you just said
change costs. For the better.
Yeah, so yeah, that sounds like
Like, like, if you really want
to, like, you know, likely soak
in the city life for a while
that that seems like a good
opportunity, I reckon. Yeah, the
other opposite would be like to
go in into some more rural areas
of the United States. That's
provided to have an internet
connection. But you already
mentioned that you lived in some
small villages in, in France. So
you'll probably be able to
manage I reckon
Sam McGarry: I'd be able to
manage, but I've tried it now.
And I know, it's, it's not
really for me, I prefer to be
around more people, or like
different kinds of people from
different places.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay. So and
how do you stay connected, while
being a remote worker? Because I
can imagine that you don't get
to see your peers very often.
You probably have met them on a
few occasions already. But so so
what's the what's the deal for
you to like, stay in the loop
and to just not turn into a
crazy hermit with like, a foot
long beard and stuff like that?
Sam McGarry: Yeah. So we're
obviously like chatting every
day. And we we tend to help each
other a few times a week using
tuple. Like the pair programming
thing, and just hop in calls and
work on things together. Yeah.
Which, which is helps. And I
believe my company doesn't meet
up every now and then. Which I'm
really looking forward to. But
besides that, there, there is a
much in person stuff going on,
because everyone lives all over
the place.
Jeroen Leenarts: If you would
plot your development. Have you
as a software developer? Has
this graph changed a lot since
you started your job? Or so? are
you gaining knowledge quicker or
easier now? Or is it different?
Or what's it like for you
because being self taught takes
a lot of perseverance and
probably also a lot of time? And
I'm not meaning about time each
day, but time in like months
that you have to keep at it. So
yes, it has to change a lot for
you to just being able to fully
focus on software development
and then just being able to keep
on learning.
Sam McGarry: Yeah, so Yeah, if
you could put it on a graph, it
would definitely be, I don't
really know what like the term
is, but it would be really slow
for the first like year or so.
And then it would just shoot up
after that. Because after I
really started to get like the
basic understanding, and also
just be able to use that basic
understanding, I was naturally
able to start picking up things
quicker. And there was some,
there was some things I
struggled with like, like you
learning UI kit, for example.
I've started with Swift UI, and
I did not want to learn UI kit,
because it just looks difficult.
But after getting over that,
kind of like mental speed bump,
I was able to pick up the basics
and then start to gain an
interest. And then today, I, I,
it's a lot easier for me to pick
up things just because I have
that, that basic knowledge
already with me.
Jeroen Leenarts: And when when
learning new things, do you have
like a standard way of like
trying to gain the skills? Or is
it what's your process? Because
you mentioned yet learning UI
kit? That's, that's very
abstract. So yeah, where would
you start? If somebody would
come up to you and say, like, I
want to learn UI kit. So what do
I do?
Sam McGarry: The way I did it
was, I would assign myself a
project, which would usually be
an app that would focus on some
specific technologies that I
want to learn. So I wanted to
learn core data. And I wanted to
learn UI kit. So I just told
myself, Okay, I'll try to build
an app using both of those
things. And it obviously wasn't
like a pretty straight path and
achieving that goal. But just
working with those things on an
app for I worked on the project
for several months. It I just, I
was able to learn a lot that
way, would you
Jeroen Leenarts: say that,
creating a small project. So
like, sort of made basically a
small product as a better
effect, when learning frameworks
and software development
compared to following tutorials.
Sam McGarry: I think it can be
really, really useful. Because
it's, it's practical. Whereas,
you know, like, in tutorials,
you're learning things, and
you're watching somebody else do
something sometimes. But I think
and I think he could even go in
tandem with tutorials, like you
learn something from this
tutorial, and then go try to
replicate it in your own way, on
a small level. And I think it's
just useful because you're,
you're actually practicing what
what you've learned, okay? And
for me, at least, it really
helped me retain all that, all
that information.
Jeroen Leenarts: And and what
would you give as advice to
anybody who's like hearing your
story and thinking, maybe this
is, this is a path, I want to
take as well to just switch
myself around to something
completely different, and pick
up new skills and then actually
be able to land a different job
through all this effort.
Sam McGarry: So besides, like
the tech, the technical
resources that are amazing to
anybody, beginning Swift, like
hacking with Swift, and Ray
Wonderlic, and all that stuff,
the thing that made a huge
difference for me was joining
Twitter, and joining the iOS
developer community on Twitter.
And just and also attending
events, and just meeting
developers reaching out to
people saying that you're,
you're learning, and you want to
learn and tell people what
you're working on, tweet about
it, be vocal about it, and the
community is the most welcoming
community I've ever been a part
of. So it's, it's just really
making those connections did
many things for me, like it
helped with my motivation, and
it helped help me figure out
what the best next step was.
Jeroen Leenarts: So but that
that's like the whole process
thing. So in what way was
putting yourself out there for
all those people to see? helpful
as well? Because I reckon that
just being able to share your
story is very beneficial for
yourself just for your own well
being But were there also
situations that you got stuck on
something very specific. And
then just by mentioning it in
the in the right platform, so
either Twitter or some online
meetup or whatever, and that
then somebody was able to help
you get unstuck, or?
Sam McGarry: Absolutely. So in
in January, I participated in a
hackathon organised by syro and
ting, I believe, I believe to be
on your podcast. Yeah, but. And
at that hackathon, I met some
really cool developers, and
they. So one of them. Nadeem, I
believe, has been on this
podcast as well. Then there's
this guy named Ezra, and Alex,
and we worked on out together,
and we had a group shot. And
we've had that group shot ever
since. And there are many points
where I was working on take home
projects. And or I was, you
know, somewhere in the job
interview process, I didn't know
quite what to say to an email.
And there were many points where
I got stuck. And they were super
helpful. Like, I would just hit
them up in a group chat and ask
whatever dumb question that was
that I had, and they'd be more
than happy to help me. So if I
hadn't attended that event, and
worked with them, I know, I
never would have met them. And
just that was, that was probably
the biggest example for me. But
I've also gotten advice on on
Twitter, and iOS dev happy hour
from, from developers.
Jeroen Leenarts: The three names
that you just mentioned that
were deemed as Ryan, Alex, have
you ever met any of them in real
life? Up to this point? Nope.
The effort expects to meet any
of them in real life.
Sam McGarry: Hopefully, I'd love
to. Yeah, yeah. We live all over
the place. So it's, it's a, it
would require some logistics,
but I'm sure it'll happen at
some point.
Jeroen Leenarts: Do you ever
expect that you will be able to
be in a position that you can
pay it forward in the sense that
the help that you've been given
that you can give that help to
maybe somebody who raises his or
her hand at that point in time?
Sam McGarry: I, I really hope
so. I, I wouldn't say I'm, I'm
qualified to do that now.
Because I'm, I've only just
started my journey. But I would
say I'm qualified to share my
experiences and my story thus
far. And and I'm more than happy
to help anybody who may need to
hear any part of that. Okay,
because people did that for me.
Jeroen Leenarts: Cool. Well,
Sam, I think we have a quite a
good recap of of your last
couple years. So you expect many
big changes in the near future,
or maybe just move house a
little bit, but anything else
that you're planning at the
moment?
Sam McGarry: I am working on a
app myself. And I was pretty
close. It's in the beta right
now. It's called track ISS. And
I'm hoping to release it in the
near future. I kind of pause
work on it, because I've been
getting up to speed at my new
job. But I'm excited to launch
it at some point.
Jeroen Leenarts: Okay. Yeah, so
that's very interesting. So
people should keep an eye on
your Twitter I reckon to to get
announcements on on track ISS.
So with that, if there's nothing
else that that we've forgotten
then, Sam, I'd say thanks for
your time, and we'll be sure to
catch up in near future. Thanks
so much for having me on.