We had the privilege of recently having Curt Clifton, App Technologies Evangelist at Apple, as our guest speaker for the West Virginia Coding Club.
Curt grew up in a rural town of roughly 800, miles away from the big cities and bright lights. Little did he know as a young boy that his life and career would be guided by a chance encounter with a computer.
Curt first discovered coding when he was 10 years old, as a 5th grader in 1980. At that time, computers were very uncommon, and luckily, he discovered one (an Apple II) at his afterschool program. There was a high school student there that was getting the computer to do things (besides playing Oregon Trail), which fascinated Curt.
His teacher noticed his interest in this technology and provided him with an Introduction to Coding book. She also set up a mentorship with Curt and the high school student.
Curt’s family invested in an Apple IIe and then an Apple IIGS as Curt progressed with his passion. Over time, Curt learned different computer languages and worked on a variety of self-initiated coding projects. Doing coding made him feel like a wizard — making something out of nothing — just a keyboard and a processor to create practically anything.
Fast forward to college, where Curt attended Iowa State University. Computers were still a very new and developing technology, so with family advice, he focused on Electrical Engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science degree and learning deeply about problem-solving.
Curt's first professional career brought him to Procter and Gamble at a plant in Iowa, in charge of production for Scope mouthwash. That experience gave him a framework for operations, quality assurance, and customer relations.
From there, he worked on control system design and implementation for hydroelectric power plants, which took him to different parts of the world. With a love for the outdoors, he enjoyed the valleys and lakes around the dams and power plants. After a few years, Curt realized he could pursue his passion for coding and technology and decided to "do the computer thing".
Curt returned to Iowa State University to earn his PhD in Computer Science. He dedicated his doctoral dissertation to the teacher that helped him years ago to learn about computers and coding. He had the opportunity to teach while he was a graduate student. That experience brought him to teach at the prestigious Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
He then went on to designing and developing software on the macOS, iOS, and watchOS platforms, which then brought him to Apple as a Software Engineer. Curt progressed over a few years to where all his passions have met as an App Technologies Evangelist at Apple. He shared that this role has evolved from its early beginnings where Apple "evangelists" worked to encourage developers to create programs for the original Macintosh. In this role today, Curt teaches, coaches, and consults with developers outside Apple. He also works with internal engineering teams to help them understand the challenges developers are facing.
Curt's Advice:
1. Figure out things you want to have exist—a game, tool, or creative thing—or some problem you want to solve. Learning for a reason and working towards a goal will be more motivating. Work through the challenges and low moments to get to the successful achievement and high moments.
2. Be ready for change. Technology and what is important evolve. Learn about the things that are changing and potentially where they are going.
3. Work on being able to understand what is wrong and being able to solve problems. Use AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools, as appropriate.
4. Never outsource your thinking, but collaborate with others and learn to work on a team. Don't let AI think for you, but it can be used as a tool.
5. Learn two or three programming languages. Some interesting languages to explore:
a. Swift - a powerful and intuitive language started by Apple and now maintained as an active open-source project at www.swift.org
b. Python - a great language to learn, used at many schools as a first programming language
c. TypeScript - used for a lot of web work and can help find errors over JavaScript
Preparing for potential Apple Internships: https://www.apple.com/careers/us/students.html
1. Build an app and put it on the App Store. This shows people making hiring decisions that you have the knowledge and grit to finish projects.
2. Sharing a portfolio, website, etc., will also help.
3. Include any certificates or extra courses you’ve taken on your resume. This shows that you’re eager to learn.
Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club, commented, "Curt is an excellent example that only with a small opportunity, passion, and hard work, you can achieve amazing results with coding. Thank you, Curt, for sharing your story and insights with our WV Coding Club students."
Thank you, Curt!
Keep coding!