Fear Liss

Casey Liss announced yesterday that he had changed jobs to become an iOS developer. I was happy for him, of course, as it’s been obvious for a while that being a Mac and iOS user in his personal life has made him wish he could switch to the Apple side in his professional life. But I was also struck by how brave this move was.

Changing jobs always takes a certain amount of bravery, especially as you accumulate responsibilities. Staying where you are, where you know the ropes, is easier than jumping into something new, no matter how qualified you may be. But that’s not the kind of bravery I was thinking of.

By moving into iOS development, Casey is entering a field where he’s a celebrity, despite having relatively little direct experience. That has to be weird. So weird that, if it were me, it’d worry me a lot more than, say, the learning curve for Cocoa libraries. There’s nothing specific I can point to that’s worth worrying about—and it’s that vagueness that would make me uneasy. Maybe that says more about me than it does about Casey’s situation.

In any event, congratulations, Casey! Both for the new job itself and the courage it took to jump into the unknown.