Given that iOS application development companies are growing, opting for the profession of iOS developer will be highly profitable. Are you curious about what skills you might need to be a professional? This article will provide you with detailed information about all the technical and soft skills that you need to learn.
Before getting into the skills, let us talk about the career scope, salary package, and needed educational background.
Payscale of an iOS developer
As per the average salary scale mentioned on the Glassdoor site, it is about $1,04,413 per year. For an iOS mobile app developer, it is $73,134 annually. On the other hand, $99,906 is the average yearly salary of an iOS software developer.
Career scope of iOS developers
Apart from the handsome salary package that even a fresher iOS developer receives. There is a wide range of career scopes that this field can offer. If you are up for challenges, learning, and growth, the opportunities will be innumerous. You can be an application developer, application designer, tester, and data access manager and take part in user support and app maintenance.
In the initial phase of joining as an iOS developer, you will be working with teams where you might be allocated with following responsibilities.
- Writing clear codes for developer iOS software.
- Support app-building tasks like idea generation, designing, releasing, testing, and maintaining.
- Taking part in bug fixes and troubleshooting.
- Collaborate with the team for any changes and improvements.
Educational background
If you have discussed your passion for being an iOS developer with your friends, you might have been demotivated by the response that if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree in computer science you cannot take up this profession. But believe me, this is not. Job opportunities and the perception of employers have now changed. Now they don’t look for certificates but are more curious about practical knowledge and learning. So, even if you do not have a computer science degree from your high school, you don’t need to worry.
However, you need to complete your graduation. And the most important thing that you should reflect on is your love for the subject, coding, and learning. Also, if you are from a computer science background and planning to do your master’s, I would suggest you strengthen your portfolio as a developer and upload unique projects on GitHub. Don’t forget to add your resume for easy access to employers. Apply for the role of junior iOS developer, gain some years of experience, and then go for masters. This way it will help you to clearly understand the topics.
Skills required
Technical skills
Core programming language- Objective-C and Swift
Every developer should know some other programming language. In the case of iOS developers, they need to learn both Swift and Objective-C. However, in the initial stage, you should know the logic behind codes designed with Objective-C and Swift. Even if you are not designing your own codebase, you should be able to understand how things work. This is why knowing the fundamentals of the programming language is mandatory.
Get your hands on the theoretical concepts of generics, automatic reference, Cocoa Touch, Cocoa, and APIs.
Source control
Learning the skills of Source control can help you to track and organize changes within code. When you will work with a team of developers, this will let you collaborate with the software development process and work on a single codebase. Also, it speeds up the release velocity.
With Version control, you can easily detect errors in the codebase. Even if you are working single-handedly, it will be helpful. Using version control, you can also make the code human-error-free. Detecting bugs, and being responsible towards your development is what you need to grow within yourself. You can cross-check the codebase.
Networking
Networking is the exchange of information through Hypertext Transfer Protocol. While developing an app, you need to establish connections with different web servers. Thus you should learn about the concepts of networking. For this, you have to learn about the Alarmofire, NSURLSession, RestAPIs, HTTP, and others.
X Code
You need to learn about the toolset, and XCode to build applications for iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Thus skills in navigating XCode are important. Apart from this, learn about the tools and process of debugging. XCode can be used to measure the performance of applications and run tests. Thus you should be able to acquire these skill sets.
iOS Concurrency
Concurrency in iOS is defined as the state with which programmers can execute multi-tasks independently. It is related to multi-thread programming. With this skill, you can identify bugs, and errors and get a clear idea of the code logic. Moreover, extend your knowledge about updating UI, networking, and data fetching.
Algorithm and app design patterns
Knowing about the algorithms and the software design patterns is important to understand the architectural design of apps. It is possible that during your professional journey as an iOS developer, you will come across the same architectural issues. In this case, you will be able to brainstorm the problem and solve it if you understand the logic behind the concern.
In most interviews, you will be asked about the algorithms on the provided codebase, you cannot avoid the fundamentals of iOS app algorithms.
User testing
Every developer irrespective of the segment they are working in has a strong knowledge of user testing. With this, they can test the functions and interface of apps, services, or websites.
Consider a regular example. You are developing a product. Before handing it over to customers, you must require it to test the product based on its usability. Here, the skills of user testing are needed.
Reactive programming
Reactive programming is a crucial part of iOS development. However, for this, you have to first learn the logic of asynchronous programming. Given that reactive programming is based on asynchronous programming, you will be able to manage real updates to static content.
Soft skills
Communication
If you are a developer, there is no way that you cannot avoid communication with team members, clients, and supervisors. So, if you are an introvert and don’t like to interact with others, get over those practices and learn the skills of communication. It will be needed when you want to explain your work to others.
Resourcefulness
A developer should always be resourceful for his/her team. With this, you can be innovative in finding solutions to any code errors.
Teamwork
Software or app development is all about teamwork. It is a cyclic process that involves designers, app testers, developers, and others. Every one of them has to interact with others. Also, while working with a team, conflict or argument is inevitable. Thus you need to acquire the skill of teamwork to adapt to the work process.
Coachability
You have to be flexible while seeking feedback from team members, clients, or supervisors. This is what the skill of coachability does to a person. It makes a person positive and imbibes a sense of learning and growth.
What is the average duration of becoming an iOS developer?
The average duration of becoming an iOS developer is 9 months to 12 months. However, this depends on your consistency. If you want to be an iOS developer in 9 months, you should consistently dedicate 3 hours daily to learning technical skills. I would suggest you not spend a long time learning theoretical concepts. Focus more on practical learning and start building your project portfolio. Read more:
