My Journey from Astronomy Enthusiast to App Store Developer
Greetings! I am thrilled to finally sit down and share my remarkable journey of launching my debut app on the App Store. The year began with a fantastic opportunity when I was approached by the creator of Dubdubspace. Today, I want to recount how this journey has transformed my life.
From where it begins
My adventure started in 2020 when the world grappled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.
During those challenging times, I found myself deeply immersed in the realm of astronomy. I devoured countless YouTube videos on the subject while simultaneously pursuing a job at AirFrance. Regrettably, my lack of a formal degree hindered me from landing my desired position.
Starting to learn iOS development
Fast forward two years, and I embarked on a new path – learning Swift and SwiftUI through Apple's one-month Apple Foundation Program. I developed a profound passion for programming and these cutting-edge technologies, igniting my determination to pursue a career in this field.
To kickstart my journey, I invested in a MacBook and an iPhone, and thus, my learning adventure began.
Self-teaching a complex skill like programming is challenging. I owe a significant debt of gratitude to Paul Hudson and his remarkable 100 Days of SwiftUI course, which enabled me to learn so much thins on the first 40 days of the program. However, I chose to pause my progress at that point. My goal was not just to copy code but to apply the knowledge I had gained by creating my own app.
Starting from Scratch
When I was searching for a project, my passion for cryptocurrency briefly surfaced, creating a cryptocurrency app seemed daunting for a learning project. My love for astronomy soon rekindled, leading me to the NASA Open API. Among its offerings, the APOD, Astronomy Picture Of The Day API caught my eye.
It's a versatile API with numerous parameters, and I learned a multitude of things from working with it. For instance, I gained expertise in using DateFormatter to convert time from seconds to years and format the final date for API requests between two dates. Although my initial approach was a bit rough, it worked at the time and is still functional, though it's due for some code refactoring.
During this journey, I acquired a diverse set of skills, including:
- Utilizing
AsyncImage. - Employing
extensionto enhance code reusability. - Developing both local and remote
SPM(Swift Package Manager) packages. - Crafting my own widgets.
- Implementing image downloads from remote URLs to users' local photos.
Time for the App Store
Financial constraints were a challenge at this point, but a friend told me that the Apple Developer license was a relatively inexpensive investment, costing only 2€ per week when spread over the year. With that perspective, I promptly acquired the license and embarked on the journey of launching an app on the App Store.
Thanks to the supportive developer community, I quickly learned how to deploy my app to TestFlight. Later, I faced my fair share of challenges navigating the App Store review process to launch it as soon as possible, although my "asap" was not quite in line with Apple's timeline 😂.
Two weeks later, my first app was live, and my name was officially online, with millions of potential users who could download it. It was truly a monumental achievement!
The Opportunities That Followed
This app allowed me to share my learning journey on LinkedIn, reaching a wide audience of developers and recruiters.
After working diligently and making the app open source, experienced iOS developers provided valuable feedback, helping me improve my skills and refine the app.
Subsequently, while launching a fitness app on the App Store, I was contacted for a freelance iOS developer position at the renowned Française des Jeux, the largest betting company in France, specifically for their app Parions Sport En Ligne.
This job transformed my life and further enhanced my development skills. It's a challenging mission that involves learning every day, and I absolutely love it.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to learn more about my experiences in the world of app development.
Gratitude and Acknowledgments
I extend my heartfelt thanks to all who took the time to read my post and to Dubdubspace for providing a platform to share our stories.
Special thanks to Paul Hudson, Mickaël MAS, J&M Designer, Sean Allen, F.T and others who where there for me on my learning path for become what I am today 🫶
