Sacramento isn’t well-known for its software development community. But ever since moving into the region, I’ve been surprised to know that there’s a scene with plenty of activity.

Take Hacker Lab, for instance. This co-working space and non-profit recently opened in the Midtown district — just 5 blocks from the Blue Line 12th & I Station — and is hosting all sorts of developer events. I attended its Mobile App Developer panel recently, featuring engineers and managers from all sorts of backgrounds. One panelist has even overseen development of Adobe Photoshop; and another recently dropped out of university to forge ahead in the startup world! I’ve included my tweets from the event below, which includes recommendations from the panelists on what to focus on.

Chris Stevens’s book Appillionaires chronicles the explosive growth of Apple’s App Store and dives into the background behind popular, successful apps like Angry Birds and Doodle Jump. The book doesn’t cover the Android app landscape at all, nor does it cover any of the other application stores (e.g. Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace or the Mac App Store). And since it focuses on popular apps, it only primarily covers indie game developers who have struck it rich, not on applications like productivity office suites or medical apps. However, it’s a great glimpse into this cutthroat industry.