Have you ever dreamed of making your own apps? If you love spending time on your phone, I’m sure you must’ve thought about what it would be like to make a viral app. Or maybe just creating something that you’re proud of, that makes a difference in the lives of a lot of people. Either way you go, becoming an iOS developer does take some effort, so here’s everything you might need as a beginner to start your career as an iOS developer which is a fun and rewarding challenge for aspiring coders.
Get The Tools
To kick off your iOS development journey, the first thing you’ll need is a MacBook, or if you can find your way around it, any computer which can run macOS. It’s required because the software needed to build native iOS apps only works on macOS and Apple licenses macOS for their hardware. If you want a very good entry device, consider Mac Mini — it probably presents the best value for the money you will pay for it. An iPhone would also be nice to have for running and debugging your apps on a physical device, but it’s not required for the most part. Now if you have a Mac set up, it’s time to install the most important software for iOS developers — Xcode. Xcode is your IDE (integrated development environment) for making iOS apps. It’s free and you can download it straight from the Mac App Store, which you should do right now.
Learn the Basics
Now one of the hardest and most important parts — you need to jump straight into code. Swift is the most popular language for iOS development so we highly recommend learning that. SwiftUI is a new declarative framework by Apple to build interface across all Apple platforms, although not used widely in all applications right now, it is the future of iOS Apps, so do keep an eye out for that. We’d recommend the following beginner friendly courses or websites-
100 days of Swift- https://www.hackingwithswift.com/100
Ray Wenderlich’s beginner course- www.raywenderlich.com
More than anything, YouTube is the best, completely free way to learn iOS development. Every time you have a question or want to learn a new topic, you can easily find a content creator that provides relatable solutions. Key Advice — Consistency is key while you’re learning to program, so make sure to practice and learn daily.
Find a Mentor
One thing we can’t stress enough is finding a mentor, somebody to ask questions of whenever you are stuck or somebody that can guide you on your path to becoming an iOS developer. You can find mentors from the iOS developer slack channel with over 30,000 members. Create a few apps from step-by-step tutorials. If you have made a strong foundation of programming fundamentals, now is the time when you can finally start to make something useful. Find step-by-step tutorials for the apps you want to make, and don’t limit yourself to those specific set of instructions, play around with the app, try making different UI or just experimenting around with the code.
Start Your Career
Now for the best part — you’re ready to land your first job as an iOS Developer, it maybe be an intern or junior role, but the important part is now you have the skills to get your first job, the rest will take care of itself. All the projects you’ve made till now, become a part of your resume. So find the company you want to work in and create apps with them! The last thing we’d like to say is get excited about it and stay in this constant pursuit of learning! Mobile is still on the rise and iOS is one of two dominant operating systems in that field. So no need to worry about your future. Before you know it, you’ll have your own app running on your iPhone and maybe on millions of others’ iPhones too, and maybe you’ll even get the chance to contribute to some of the world’s largest companies.
