Swift is not only a programming language recommended by Apple but also the most popular (and preferred by developers) way to build iOS mobile apps.
According to the 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey (based on responses from around 90k developers), Swift surpasses in popularity other mobile-focused technologies like Objective-C (another language often used for building iOS apps) and Kotlin (Google-recommended language for Android apps).
What’s more, in the same survey Swift ranked 6th on the list of most loved programming languages. Developers love its clean and modern syntax and the fact that it provides the best performance when it comes to technologies used for iOS development.
The popularity of Swift is also fuelled by the still growing popularity of mobiles themselves. Approximately 50% of internet traffic is coming from mobile devices and many businesses try to make the most out of it by building apps for smartphones and tablets.
How can you make your app successful in the crowd of millions of others? First off, start by hiring an experienced Swift developer. But how to find one? How to assess which Swift developers are good and which ones are not up to the challenge? Read our guide to learn all the ins and outs of hiring Swift developers.
The hard skills your Swift developer needs to have
It takes years of study and practice to become a great developer. In terms of Swift development, the skills needed to truly thrive and build amazing apps are quite specific, allowing you to easily assess what you need to look for in your candidates.
To make the process easier for you, we list all the most important hard skills a good Swift developer should have below.
- Expert knowledge of Swift
This one is definitely an obvious one, but worth calling out anyway. Make sure your developer has experience with the most recent releases of the programming language as your project will surely be based on them. As of now (April 2020), Swift 5.2 is the latest branch being developed.
- Experience with official Apple tools
There are multiple tools that help Swift developers in delivering their apps faster, but the crucial ones are developed by Apple themselves.
The first one is Grand Central Dispatch, a technology that helps with managing concurrent operations on devices with multi-core processors. It’s already included in both macOS and iOS, meaning Swift developers don’t need to install anything — they simply need to be able to take advantage of this system library to improve the app’s performance.
The second Apple tool for Swift developers is Xcode IDE, the official environment for building great apps. It’s basically the center of development for any kind of Apple device — Swift developers simply MUST know it to create apps.
Another worth mentioning Apple tool is Core Data, a framework dedicated to data storing and object mapping.
- Knowledge of Objective-C
Sometimes not necessary, but a great skill to have anyway. Objective-C is another popular language used for iOS development and it can be used simultaneously with Swift. This means a Swift developer with additional Objective-C knowledge has the advantage of being able to use the great features of both of these languages.
- Understanding of good design practices
Building mobile apps most often means also building their interface. The better planned and executed the interface is, the better the user experience — and the better the user experience, the higher the revenue and sales numbers. As Apple themselves focus on great design, they created the official Apple Human Interface Guidelines, around which the whole iOS app design world revolves. If you plan to hire Swift developers, you should definitely prioritize candidates who are familiar with these guidelines and know how to translate them into a great-looking app.
The soft skills most important for Swift developers
Soft skills are as important part of a Swift developer skillset as the hard, technical skills. They don’t only affect the efficiency of the developer’s work but also influence the innovation and effectiveness of the rest of the team and company.
What soft skills should you be specifically looking for when you want to hire a Swift app developer?
- Adaptability to customers’ needs
The more intuitive and user-friendly is the app, the more customers will leave it on their device instead of deleting it. Understanding what non-tech-savvy customers want and being able to answer these needs is an incredibly important virtue of all great Swift developers.
- Good communication skills
Swift developers often have to interact with other people and teams at the company to build an app that really meets what customers want. Being able to communicate well with others, such as app designers, sales teams, and data scientists is therefore crucial in the role.
- Willingness to learn
App development is not something you can simply memorize and then repeat for the years to come. Changes happen often, so Swift developers always have to be willing to learn new approaches and explore what the community is currently crazy about.
Top Swift developers job interview questions
To properly assess the skills of your Swift developers candidates, we recommend running a technical job interview with them. If you don’t have the required knowledge about Swift yourself, you can ask for help from another dev with iOS development experience, a software consultant, or an IT project manager.
To give you an idea of how such an interview can look like, we’ve listed below some of our favorite questions that a Swift developer can be asked.
- What is dynamic dispatch and how is it different from static dispatch?
- What is ABI stability? Why does it matter in Swift development?
- What is the decorator pattern? What are the two ways in Swift that help in implementing it?
- Frame vs Bounds — what is the difference between them?
- What are type aliases and when to use them?
- What is a tuple in Swift?
- Convenience initializer and designated initializer — what are they and what’s the difference between them?
- Does iOS automatically deletes Keychain items after the app is uninstalled?
- What can be used instead of Core Data?
- What’s the use of ?? in Swift?
The importance of company fit for Swift developers
To make the work of your whole team even more efficient, you should try to find Swift developers that truly match your business. What should be considered when looking for the best fitting candidate?
- Industry fit
Mobile apps have been already tested out in every possible industry, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding Swift developers who previously worked with companies similar to yours. Such devs are especially valuable as they already understand the market and type of customer you are targeting with your product.
- Product fit
Look also for Swift developers who worked on features similar to those you want to have in your app. They will deliver such features faster as they already know what’s the best approach to developing them.
- Company culture fit
Employees and employers sharing the same values can build a connection that truly fuels up innovation in the whole company. Look for similarities in areas like the preferred style of management, approach to remote work, experience with the diverse working environment, and focus on global/local.
Take your mobile app to the top with a great team
Swift developers are a great addition to your team but you should not forget about other people that make a mobile app great. You can make your product more attractive by hiring experienced app designers or UX/UI designers, create a vision behind it with the help of creative product owner, and use data to really understand the needs of your customers with help from data scientists. And if you want to launch your app also on Android, Kotlin developers or Java developers will also come in handy.
How to get all these professionals to join your team fast? With our help.
At Ideamotive, we run an industry-leading network of top IT talents looking to take the next step in their careers. We keep in touch with only the best of the best and connect you with specific professionals based on your company’s exact needs as well as industry and product fit.
Contact us and start growing your future awards-winning team.
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