How to Become an iOS Developer
A huge list of helpful resources to help you get started as an iOS developer today
A year and eight months ago, I began my journey as an iOS developer, and it’s led to the most fulfilling career. If you’re reading this in the hopes of one day becoming an iOS developer, know that it’s worth all the hard work invested.
About Myself
My name’s Josiah Rininger and throughout my career, I’ve gotten the opportunity to work on my college mobile team and intern as an iOS developer with Mobile Mentor in Nashville and the Walt Disney Company in LA, which led me to my current role that I started this past April as an associate iOS engineer at iHeartMedia.
This article touches on all the major categories of becoming an iOS developer that I had to tackle along the way. I’ll be providing links for all the resources I mention. Let’s get right into it!
What I’ll Be Going Over
- Get the hardware
- Download the software
- Do tutorials
- Learn the fundamentals
- Build small apps
- Publish to the App Store
- Get familiar with frameworks
- Find a mentor
- Build a network
- Get excited about it
Get the Hardware
To get started as an iOS developer, the first thing you’ll need is a MacBook or any computer that runs macOS. It’s required because the software needed to build native iOS apps only works on macOS and Apple licenses macOS for their hardware. An iPhone would also be nice to have for running and debugging your apps on a physical device, but it’s not required by any means.
Download the Software
Development software
The only software I would say is required is Xcode. Xcode is a suite of all the software development tools needed to build iOS apps and is completely free to everyone.
Design software
All iOS apps have a user interface, so having some design tools would definitely come in handy. My favorite is Adobe XD, mainly because it’s free. Sketch and Figma are also amazing tools for creating user interfaces and mockups.
Advanced
Some tools that more experienced developers use are Charles and Postman. These are great for tracking and testing various network calls your application might make.
Do Tutorials
Online courses
Now that we have the setup out of the way, it’s finally time to start coding. My first introduction to iOS development was the Stanford Swift courses, which are completely free. Many people love and recommend these courses, but I felt they were a little too advanced for me when I started. Personally, the Ray Wenderlich beginner iOS courses were the most helpful for starting out, and you can do the first two tutorials for free. Paul Hudson’s 100 Days of Swift is another great resource. It’s very thorough and was actually made for free to help developers learn about various topics in iOS development every day for 100 days. Though I’ve never used it personally, Udemy is also highly praised in the iOS community for beginners.
Stanford Swift / Ray Wenderlich / 100 Days of Swift / Udemy
YouTube channels
More than anything, YouTube is the best, completely free way to learn iOS development. Every time I have a question or want to learn a new topic, I can easily find a content creator that provides what I’m searching for. Here’s a list of some of my favorite channels on YouTube for learning:
Sean Allen / Let’s Build That App / RayWenderlich.com / Brian Advent / Mark Moeykens / Kilo Loco / John Sundell / Paul Hudson
Podcasts
Podcasts are also a great help, especially if you have other priorities that require your attention. I typically love to listen to iOS development podcasts while commuting or exercising. My three favorites are The RayWenderlich.com Podcast, iOS Dev Discussions, and Swift by Sundell, all of which can be found on most podcasting platforms.
The RayWenderlich.com Podcast / iOS Dev Discussions / Swift by Sundell
Learn the Fundamentals
Along with iOS-specific tutorials, depending on how new you are to programming, I would definitely recommend learning some of the fundamentals of programming. This is not required but is definitely useful on your journey. The two languages primarily used for iOS development are Swift and Objective-C. Swift was actually released in 2014, so it’s a fairly new language with beautiful syntax. If you like reading, Apple released a book on Swift that covers nearly everything you would need to know about the language. For a quick intro to Swift, Derek Banas has an awesome short dive into the language on YouTube.
The Swift Programming Language by Apple / Swift Tutorial by Derek Banas
Build Small Apps
A lot of the YouTube channels and online courses I mentioned help you step-by-step build small applications. These small projects are so useful for building a strong foundation for iOS development. Once you feel comfortable, you’ll be able to build apps on your own without having to follow tutorials. My first-ever application was the Bull’s Eye app from Ray Wenderlich, and if you have Apple Music, Sean Allen’s Music Player app is a super quick and helpful tutorial.
Publish to the App Store
One of the most satisfying moments is when you submit your very first iOS app to the App Store. It’s also a really great experience to build a product end to end and go through the process of publishing an app. There are a few things you’ll need in order to do this.
First, you’ll need an Apple developer license. You can get this by enrolling in the Apple developer program. This program isn’t free, but at 99 USD, it’s well worth the price! Second, App Store Connect is a website that you’ll want to get familiar with for submitting and managing your iOS apps. Third, you’ll need an idea for an app that you want to bring to life. My first-ever application submitted was a BMI calculator I spent two full days building. It wasn’t big, but it was super satisfying to have something I built come to life with thousands of users worldwide.
Get Familiar With Frameworks
For those of you that aren’t familiar with frameworks, these are bundles of shared resources that provide you with great tools to build your applications.
SwiftUI & Combine
Apple’s two latest frameworks are SwiftUI and Combine. These two frameworks seem to be the future of iOS development so learning these would be great for your career as an iOS developer. Many of the resources I’ve linked dive into both of these frameworks.
Firebase
In my opinion, Firebase is the greatest back-end service for independent developers. It has a database you can use for your apps, along with analytics, authentication, and many more tools, all for free. Firebase does have plans that cost money, but I haven’t needed to upgrade yet.
Find a Mentor
One thing I 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. I’ve had three major mentors in my journey, and it’s the only reason I am where I am. The best part of having a mentor is having somebody that will give you feedback, help you grow in your career, and teach you the best coding practices. I have friends that have found mentors through an iOS developer Slack channel with over 30,000 members that I’ll link below. There are lots of websites for finding mentorship, but really, the best way to find a mentor is through networking.
Build a Network
My networking experience
Building a network is the number one reason that I have my dream job today. At first, it was hard, but now that I’ve built my network, dozens of recruiters reach out to me each month about open positions, and I have a very strong sense of job security. My first internship was due to the CEO at Mobile Mentor, in search of an iOS developer, reaching out to me after seeing my profile. And my current position at iHeartMedia is because of a recruiter from iHeartRadio messaging me about an open position that she thought I was a good fit for.
I’ve also gone to numerous conferences recently that have helped me get connected with major companies and other developers. Surprisingly enough, Twitter has a very strong iOS developing community for networking and learning that I’ve recently joined.
How to get started
The best place to start building a professional network is on LinkedIn. Linking your resume to your account can definitely help in this process. By reaching out to iOS developers and recruiters, you’ll get a much stronger sense of the industry and the community around it. In-person connections are just as valuable, and conferences are a great way to make them. My favorites that I’ve been a part of are the Tapia Conference and SwiftFest. At events like these, you can get connected on LinkedIn or Twitter with like-minded people on the same iOS journey as you.
Get Excited About It
The last thing I’d like to say is get excited about it and stay in this constant pursuit of learning! In no time, you’ll be building applications that thousands, if not millions, of people all around the world will be impacted by, and maybe you’ll even get the chance to contribute to some of the world’s largest companies.
Conclusion
I really hope I was able to help some of you begin your journey in becoming an iOS developer. I’d love to hear back from anyone that found this article helpful.
