Start your career in iOS

There are a number of career options in current industry. In all available options, numerous people will follow the trend and will become a Software Engineer. The outlook of Software Engineer is like a White Collar Job, where evenings are good, mornings are tremendous and in between that we have to go through a phase that totally depends upon our performance, rate of growth, working environment. Here I am not going to discuss more on this scenario; So let's move ahead with my topic.

Why I have taken this topic?

Since Software Industry is not small, numerous technologies are available, between these we have to choose one in which we are going to break records. When I chose to work in this Industry, I also had a number of options with me as Java, C#, Android, iOS, AngularJS, JavaScript. For a while, I was totally confused; which path I should take to kick my career? Suddenly I was suggested to work on iOS, as I had a resource available in the form of a friend who is working in iOS and carrying a MAC book with him, and then I became a part of Mobile App Industry.

I have seen a lot of posts over Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social sites querying how he/she can become an iOS App Developer. I have done a few surveys and found interesting that there are two categories of people who demand this career.

First who are totally new as freshers who came out from the college. Second, the one who is already working in some technology and want to be a part of Mobile App Industry through iOS. While we refer to Mobile App Industry it consists of four platforms as Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry. Apart from this Amazon and Symbian OS are also available, as they have only few users, these two are less known.

Either you are fresher or you are switching the domain, you need to go through all the basics and practice, the only main difference will come in the rate of learning and understanding speed. One who is already familiar with Coding and Logics, might finish learning with a pace whereas freshers may take a little bit extra time to understand, but don't panic, keep your patience, if you want to really succeed and achieve. Every learning needs its own time, and a good learner will always keep patience. I have talked about all this to make you clear in which way you are going to start your career.

Now Moving over the point:

The very first thing you need to start learning; is a proper mac (Pro, Air, Mini or Desktop - refer below image), why I am saying here this, is important because, even Anyone can install third-party software over windows like VMWare to work, but this is a lengthy process, and if you didn't succeed to install it, you might lose the patience before even starting. because Software learning without practical is like a house without a roof. One can go with mac mini in terms of budget.

For a time being one can use online editors for swift as IBM Swift Sandbox, iSwift.org, JDOODLE and for Objective-C: rextester, JDOODLE, ideone, etc..

Talking in terms of software, need only Xcode. Don't be confused here that I haven’t mentioned about iPhone or iPad, because Xcode contains the virtual simulator in which testing can be done with developed apps for a while. And also don’t need to worry about the Apple Developer Account. Register for Apple developer Account with active Gmail or any account and start using it. No need to worry about payment, until you are not going to deploy app over App Store. Once you have registered an account over Developer account, you will be able to sign in Xcode through account said personal team which registered as above. Below a simple illustrator of Xcode with Simulator.

Now, It comes in mind, after all this setup, from where we are going to start? Absolutely now we have to enter inside the programming language, which we are going to use in developing Apps. When iOS App development was started , it was started with Objective-C, but now it shifted to Swift. Both languages are different in their own way (You can google it). You can start with any one and then can switch over another language. First need to understand about the basic items that are going to use in these languages. So focus on one language at a time and Let's kick your learning.

There are a number of websites like tutorialspoint.com, raywenderlich.com, udemy.com, rypress.com, appcoda.com, nshipster.com, objc.io, code.tutsplus.com, codeschool.com, etc.. But According to me the best place to start from Apple own official website (refer to the link below and accordingly that get inside the Objective-C and Swift).

Above link contains the link for Objective-C as well as Swift. Apart from this what all the frameworks and other technical notes, you can find easily over the internet. If you need the Video tutorial, you can easily refer to iTunes online library or Udemy.com (it is a paid tutorial). this document also contains the demo of each framework, try to run it over Xcode and get the result.

Sometimes while moving to swift we have always confusion in our mind; from which swift version I Should start to study. According to me if you have done the basics then move to Swift 3 and then Swift 4.

Above link will help in getting the tools as well as some other resources which will help you in getting the depth of knowledge. Once you start with learning, you can use stack overflow for small-small doubts. Later you can upload and backup your file over Github and you can find sample codes also from Github.

Hope, This blog will be helpful for a newbie to get start career in iOS. Just do as much as practical you can do. Get knowledge of all the basics, write a small chunk of codes, run the stuff in Xcode, and you are all set to be an iOS App Developer. This blog is totally referred for Native iOS App Developer.

If you like this article, just share with whoever needs it, because knowledge is made to share. Let's learn together, by sharing our knowledge to one another. Feel free to comment if any suggestions are there which makes this post more beautiful for those who need it.

At last I am just sharing a simple Swift course module one can follow.

Thanks for reading this article.