I’ve been hired by scribd to help jumpstart one of their iOS-related projects. That means I’ll soon grab my bags and hop onto a train that brings me to Vienna from where my plane leaves early morning Saturday, March 12th. I will be flying via London Heathrow to San Francisco where two busy work weeks are awaiting me.
I am mentioning this for some reasons, obvious and less obvious ones. Of course I like to gloat a bit, but I am also mentioning my trip because it might cause extensive delays when responding to your e-mails.
Just how does one land such a gig? I can only assume that my online activities and networking have played a role. This includes my educational articles from which people might deduct that I am serious about Cocoa. It also includes my open source projects, one might think that CoreText might be one of the technologies that scribd has a vested interest in.
It’s the second time that I visit San Francisco, the first time that I am aware of Apple’s HQ being near. If you have some recommendations for a visiting iOS developer like myself, let me know.
I will have free WiFi at the Hilton where I’m booked into. But I wonder: is there some kind of prepaid micro-SIM that one could get for a 2 week stay in the US that would give me a bit of voice and a bit of data. Just enough to use Google Maps or other connected apps while being out and about the town?
Also, how would one approach visiting the mothership at Cupertino? It’s about an hour by car and like 3 hours by bus… should I maybe get a rental car? Or better to hook up with local talent? Speaking of which… is there any? I’ve been tweeting about my visit for several days now, but only one mentioned he is local to SF.
Categories: Administrative
Congrats and Good Luck!
Many friends from Europe have had good luck getting a pre-paid SIM card at the T-Mobile stores. You might also try an AT&T store. Not sure if that includes data…
I’ve never been to Apple HQ, but there is a visitor area and a small store (they don’t sell much in the way of hardware from what I understand). Renting a car is definitely the best option. It’s about 45minutes to an hour one way from San Francisco.
I’m sure once you’re here, your hosts at Scribd will find plenty to keep you busy. Good luck!
Best way to reach cupertiono would be to take the caltrain (express or bullet on weekdays) from San Francisco to Sunnyvale and then take route 55 towards de anza college
Yup, I was about to recommend the Caltrain too.
There is not much to visit in the Apple HQ though, unless you are invited and accompanied by an authorised Apple employee (and even then, photos are usually forbidden). But you can get some goodies from the boutique.
First, thanks for your very helpful articles.
I would get a car. Transit in this part of the world is VERY time-consuming.
If you’re looking to hang out with fellow iOS developers, there’s some Meetups while you’re here:
http://www.meetup.com/Informal-iPhone-Developer-Meetup/events/16611421/
http://www.meetup.com/sviphone/events/14999475/
http://www.meetup.com/Informal-iPhone-Developer-Meetup/events/16616027/
Thanks for the suggestions. I wonder why all the meeups are so far away. I’m actually in SF downtown.
Dude – get a car! This is America!
🙂 and 🙁
Yeah, I saw you’re in SF. The Meetups are all in the middle of SIlicon Valley, so that’s probably why the locations. The informal one is a one minute walk from the train station, if that helps. The big one on Monday isn’t anywhere near a train station, but it should be easy to catch a ride. I work in SF, so you could even catch a ride with me.
I’m certainly interested in “the big one”. Whereabouts in SF do you work, riding with you out and taking the train back in might be one open. Another possibly would be to get my colleague Sam to drive. Let’s stay in touch on this one.
You can reach me at jeg@polished-pixels.com about the Monday meeting.