My First Year with iOS

Transcript

1. My First Year with iOS A Danny Hertz Story
2. Who am I? • Born and raised in Queens, NY • Full-stack developer for 7+ years • Working at Twitter for 4+ years • Revenue front-end for 2 years • Mobile web for a year • iOS for a year
3. But who am I, REALLY? • Pug lover • Music lover • App lover
4. Mobile web I love you, but you’re bringing me down • The mobile-first force is strong @ Twitter • Needed to choose between Web, Android, and iOS teams • I dabbled with iOS pre-ARC but struggled • Mobile web just wasn’t as fun anymore with all the crazy API/Browser discrepancies • The choice to move to iOS was easy!
5. Can I get real for a second?
6. Impostor syndrome • Very common with software engineers • Even more common when starting a new language • Social media only intensifies the information overload • Surround yourself with the honest people who will share stories “Despite external evidence of their competence, sufferers of impostor syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
7. This feels…different • iOS community feels pretty different from others • Fewer polarized camps like the web dev community • The Apple mothership is opinionated and unifying • Some strange cult-like obsessions of certain personalities can be intimidating and off-putting to newcomers • But an overall friendly and amazing group of people
8. iOS Bootcamp • 5 day intensive iOS course at Twitter HQ • Lectures with assignments at the end of class • Senior iOS engineers hang around to help out • Build a fake Twitter client • Everyone graduates with a production bug
9. Starter bug • Fix scrollview pagination bug • Simple and visual with high impact • Ride that struggle bus • Look it over with peers • Ship it!
10. iOS @ Twitter • Millions of consumers • 40+ iOS developers • Platform & Product teams • Items framework, DDG/Feature switches • +1, +2 peer review system
11. Divin’ in Learning by immersion & curiosity
12. Learn to spot a good mentor • You don’t have to actually know them IRL • Reach out to them on social networks and form a relationship • Find someone who knows a ton and shares new things they learn along the way • Be wary of developers who make rash definitive statements • Stay away from demeaning and pretentious developers • Be thankful and give feedback
13. Twitter • I prefer to follow individual developers over automated feeds • Device follow users who tweet infrequently • Reach out to people and ask politely for help/feedback.
14. Some of my fav accounts @davidronnqvist @bitwaker @rwenderlich @flyosity @mattt @orta @ashfurrow @jerols @dwiskus
15. Google all of the things • Use the “ios “ prefix to avoid platform confusion • Filter by “Past year” or ~2013 to help filter results with ARC
16. Stack Overflow • First check if your question has been answered before • Use Twitter/Facebook to amplify the reach of the question • Pretty quick turnaround for iOS-related questions
17. Tutorials
18. Blogs & Newsletters • Pocket + iOS articles = HEAVEN • Great sources with tons of content to pick and choose • Objc.io: Monthly issues with tons of wisdom on major topics like animations, views, concurrency, etc • iOS Dev Weekly: News, tools, code, design, jobs, etc
19. Podcasts • Citibike + Podcast.app = HEAVEN • Great way to learn more about Apple/iOS culture and the major players in the industry. • Cocoa Radio: Short talks with iOS framework/tool/app developers • Product hunt: Longer talks with developers, VCs, and startup folks
20. Books on books • Huge fan of physical books. They help avoid distraction. • BNR is great to jump right into Xcode and start coding • Effective series is perfect for picking up and reading a chapter every day • PTL covers good breadth and depth on more advanced topics
21. Weekend topics • Pick a topic (Core Data, VC Containers, etc) • Don’t leave the coffee shop until you kinda get it • Make a proof of concept app
22. Side projects • Best way to put your skills to the test • Helps you stay motivated in the long term • Beta testing is really helpful and fun • Use tools, libraries, and API’s that you can’t use at work
23. Working with Peers • Coworkers get together outside of work every week • Work on our respective side projects • Help each other with bugs and system design • Helping others slowly fights impostor syndrome
24. Conferences • Schmooze with other awkward engineers and make some good connections • WWDC: Feel like part of the Apple family and talk with actual Apple engineers • Cocoa Conf: Smaller more intimate conference with some non- technical talks too
25. Meetups • Meet other iOS devs in your city • Learn about tools/practices of other major companies in your city • Drop the egos and pick up a beer • It got me here! http://iosirl.com/
26. Cocoapods • Take it apart - It’s like the iOS “View Source” • Don’t use something you won’t take the time to understand • Don’t reinvent the wheel without learning from previous wheels • Keep an eye on it for updates or deprecations
27. Going forward • Start mixing Swift resources into my rotation more • Contribute to an open source project or pod • Finally get an app into the App Store
28. Questions? Say hi @dannyhertz