As the title says, I’m currently a Data Scientist at Uber, but I’d like to build my own pretty simple app and try to grow it as a service. I’m not an engineer and have no idea where to start in developing an app. My skillset is all in analytics and ML and that would be my contribution to this project. I really just need a simple web/mobile app to collect some interesting data from users, then the value of what I would give the users comes from the data science that would be done with their data. I’m willing to either learn some basic development, outsource this, pay someone a few $1ks or collaborate with an engineer and have a cofounder. Please don’t accuse me of “trying to handle the business side” because I’m trying to handle the Data Science side, which is actually the main value prop I envision here. Where should I start? Should I learn design skills so I can design the app and outsource it? Should I try to recruit an engineer to just join me? Should I go on some outsourcing websites and find someone to pay to build it? Any insight is appreciated! Edit: I already have the idea that I want to work on decided and very well defined.
Maybe you should start with an actual idea first
I have an idea and it is quite developed. I just didn’t feel the need to explain it on here and bloat my post as it is useless information. I’m asking for advice on development.
Why would people use your app if the only value is the data science which you wouldn’t be able to do until you have a lot of users?
Because I think I can make the app valuable enough for users to use even before the communal data science aspect comes into play. It has to do with managing a chronic medical condition with a data collection app. Even the data science on an individual’s data can help that individual learn insights, but it will become more valuable as more users become part of the pool.
You should have started in school really, not being disrespectful
What app do you wanna build and what data will you collect? Start there!
I already have the idea! And well defined in a deck. Check out my earlier reply on the 3rd comment
Read your I.P. agreement with Uber first
We have a great team of ux and developers. Let me know if you are interested in outsourcing
You have a good job and you have time on your hands. Just learn how to develop, it’s not hard. I’m completely self taught and there are tons of resources available. Here’s how I do it: 1) decide if you want to build web / mobile / desktop 2) go to themeforest and buy a template that gets you 50% of the way there. Look for common UI components that you like so you can reuse them: forms / buttons/ navigation, etc. The UI helps you visualize how your product comes together and gives it some life. 3) Find a few tutorials on building a very simple to-do app for the platform you want to develop for. So React / web, Swift / iOS, Electron / desktop. 4) once you have a fundamental tutorial built, start adding UI components you bought to make it look nice. 5) start a new project from scratch with the skills you’ve picked up and start building. It will take a while. The key is getting into a rhythm of first building a small feature, stumbling, googling for the error and reading stackoverflow and blog articles. Again, this will take time. It usually takes me a year to build a side project of any complexity with a full time job. Because it takes so much time and effort, I’d validate your idea if you intend to commercialize it. Maybe even start by building a static mock-up with the UI components without any functionality and start showing it to people to get feedback
There are drag and drop app makers. Start there.
I used mockingbot to prototype my app. I have it on my phone to show people.
Ping me. I know someone who has developed a few apps and may be interested. If you are ready to discuss the idea, I will be happy to put you in touch with my friend.