Hi, I'm Alex Pretzlav

I write apps for humans, love to cook, and tinker with electronics. I live in Oakland, CA.

Next Thing

07 March 2015

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Friday was my last day at Silvercar.

In the last year I’ve built a prototype for a product1 that I’m really excited about. I’ve come to realize that if I want to make this real, I need to devote more than just spare cycles to it. Not only do I need more time to polish what I’ve made, but I need to figure how to build a real product, from funding to manufacturing. That process begins today.2

It’s been a little over two years since I took over as the only iOS engineer at Silvercar. I was terrified when I started. I had only ever worked with teams of experienced engineers and product leaders to build shipping apps. Now it was just going to be me. I grew in to the role and came to deeply appreciate the freedom and autonomy I had. I learned a hell of a lot from the rest of the team and from myself. I learned to take personal responsibility for my work and to challenge myself and grow as an engineer without having someone looking over my shoulder. I also learned about teaching, as I helped a teammate learn iOS over the last six months. I know I have a lot of improvement yet in that regard.

Now I’m ready for more freedom and autonomy.

I will be consulting for Silvercar on a limited basis as they continue to onboard new people. My intention is to build a small amount of consulting in to my weekly or monthly schedule to keep rent paid etc. If you’ve got a well-defined time-limited iOS project that needs doing, let’s talk.

  1. hint 

  2. OK, so I’m probably going to take a week and be a bum, then then we’re going to New York, then SXSW, so it’s more like that process begins next month.