I’ve been working as an iOS developer for over a decade. A few months ago, I decided to move into a different role. The transition was quickly followed by a demanding new project, so I put those thoughts aside for a while. Now, with some distance and perspective, I’d like to look back on the past few years and the lessons they taught me.
When Tech Felt Like Magic
Back in the 2010s, I already had a few years of experience in enterprise-scale application development. I mostly worked with Java, and iPhones were still a fresh novelty, expensive and somewhat alternative to the mainstream.
Having a small, portable computer where you could install tiny apps felt like a crazy yet amazing idea. Working with a “hipster” programming language like Objective-C and finally forgetting about Internet Explorer 6 came as a huge relief.
In 2014, I was still working on banking apps, but I replaced my toolkit of Eclipse, Java, Spring, Hibernate, and Oracle databases with Xcode, Interface Builder, Objective-C, and Core Data. I learned how to create custom UI elements, transitions, and… massive view controllers. 🫣
