Mr Russell, then aged 30, and his brother, Sam, developed a treasure hunting app called DreamWalk that saw businesses offering prizes to customers who could find the treasure using the iPhone's GPS abilities.

"From day one, my brother and I had an app on the App Store," he said. "It enabled a business to put virtual treasures on map, not unlike Pokeman Go. So McDonald's could put a free fries at the Botanical Garden and people could collect them and redeem them in stores.

"We had to figure how to build an app, my brother learned how to code and I learned UX/UI (user experience/user interface) design but we had bunch companies (including Coca Cola) asking us to build a version of the app and we ended up become an app development agency."

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Mr Russell was born in Bendigo and grew up in Shepparton. After finishing school, he spent nine years making television commercials in the region before taking his leap of faith in to the technology sector.

"There were no mobile phones when I was in high school," he said. "We felt like pioneers when we got into it. It felts exciting doing new technology. It was all really new and we put our life savings into it.

"The iPhone 1 was the first phone with touch screens, it was the first consumer device with a GPS chip and that was a big reason why we knew this idea would work.

"Apple and other companies wanted apps for their stores, this was before over-saturation was a problem."

Since 2008, DreamWalk has established itself as Melbourne's leading app developer.

"The DreamWalk app was shelved a while ago, it ran its course and we moved on to other things," Mr Russell said. "There were endless streams of ideas coming through and we started developing apps for clients, mostly businesses who were trying to introduce a new revenue stream or branding exercise to reach a target market."

From the first iterations of apps 13 years ago, the technology world has evolved and now sees high school students learning to code as part of STEM subjects.

"We see more and more junior developers for work and getting work. There are a lot of jobs out there," Mr Russell said. "It is a booming industry in that respect. A number of schools are even offering specific app development subjects.

"My best advice for aspiring developers is to just do it. You can learn a lot online and spend years at university but as an employer, we look at portfolios.

"We want to see apps built or designed on the app store. That's the only way you can get a gauge on someone's skills. Most other employers would be similar. But the education is valuable as well."

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