Episode 8: Paola Mata

In this episode, Paul talks to Cate Huston about tracking data, open source development, giving talks, and more. Detailed topics: Why is user privacy vital for app developers? How important is ethics in software engineering? What data should iOS apps track? When should you store tracking data remotely? How can you find a balance between analytics and ethics? Is there a difference between tracking and analytics? Should iOS developers tell users what is being tracked? Why measuring is better than tracking for iOS apps How can we track users in a privacy-conscious way? How does being open source help DuckDuckGo? Does being open source help companies build trust? How to balance doing the right thing and a company’s public image Does using open source help when hiring developers? How to get started with open source development How to encourage engineers to use open source Where to look for open source projects to contribute to How to prepare an iOS talk What makes a great technical talk? How to deal with stage fright and impostor syndrome What’s the benefit of attending conferences? Wrap up

In this episode, Paul talks to Christian Selig about Apollo for Reddit, community input, how to improve accessibility, and more. Detailed topics: What was the hardest part of making the Apollo app? Do you get much support from Reddit? What are your tips for doing great networking in apps? How do you keep up with Swift Evolution? Are you planning to use GraphQL? Will you try out Combine or other new APIs? How long did it take to make Apollo so successful?  How do you structure a large iOS project? What's your advice for someone who wants to get into iOS development? What inspired Apollo's designs? How to improve accessibility on your app How did you perfect your implementation of dark mode on iOS?  How did you design your app's themes? What was the inspiration for Apollo's widgets? When will Apollo for iPad ship for real? How many of Apollos's features come from its community? How do you track app usage while respecting user privacy? What's the best advertising approach for apps? Does being featured by Apple help get app downloads? How to reach out to Apple for app promotion Are you making enough money from Apollo? How to sustain revenue growth of indie apps How do you decide when a feature is ready to be released? Could Apollo go open source? Where is Apollo going to be in 5 years time? Wrap up

In this episode, Paul talks to Jordanna Kwok about the Netflix interview process, skills sets for iOS developers, moving from iOS development into management, and more. Detailed topics: Introduction What made you move from being an iOS developer to a manager? How long did it take to stop missing coding? How did your team respond to expanding? Do you build internal iOS apps for Netflix? What is your approach to handling mistakes in your team? How to manage a remote team of developers What makes someone stands out amongst applications for developers? What specific skills sets are you looking for when hiring an iOS developer? Do you need to have a CS degree to work at Netflix? How to attract a diverse range of job applicants What is the Netflix interview process? What are the most common mistakes developers mae during job interviews? How important is cultural fit at Netflix? What is the process if a new hire doesn't do well? Why did Netflix move from UIWebView to UIKit? What took so long for Netflix to add corner radius to thumbnails? How much is A/B testing driving your development? How is the Netflix app so efficient? How do you keep your team up to date with tech changes? What drove to implement autoplay when viewing a movie detail view? What is your approach to supporting legacy iOS versions? Do you ever borrow ideas from competing apps?

In this episode, Paul talks to Ish Shabazz about how to integrate UIKit and SwiftUI in the same application, how to succeed as an indie developer, programming with purpose, and more. Detailed topics: Introduction  What are the advantages of SwiftUI over UIKit? What should you use for new apps: SwiftUI or UIKit? Has SwiftUI made you want to build apps for macOS, tvOS, and watchOS How to integrate UIKit and SwiftUI in the same application What is the best process to work on an indie app? How to make your app stand out on the App Store How to get featured by Apple How could Apple make the App Store better for developers? Programming with purpose How to help someone get into programming How does curiosity apply to iOS developers? Do you need a CS degree to be an iOS developer? How to break down a huge project into manageable parts How to find your purpose in life Wrap up

In this episode, Paul talks to Mayuko Inoue about the key to success, the most important skills in software engineering, tips for getting your first job in software development, and more. Detailed topics: Introduction What is the key to success?  What are the best tools for large projects?  Is it important to learn new things, beyond iOS?  Are CS degrees really necessary?  Why is iOS development culture weird? How can we make the iOS development community more inclusive? What are the most important skills in software engineering? Tips for getting your first job in software development How programmers can write a great resume The best tools for large projects Is the iOS community getting more diverse? How to manage side gigs while having a full time job How can you make your side job become your main job? Why kindness is so important in the development community Does having live coding sessions make you more productive? Advice to start making your own video tutorials What’s next for Mayuko?

In this episode, Paul talks to Chris Lattner about the early history of Swift, his tips for learning the language better, and his thoughts on Swift Evolution. Detailed topics: Introduction How did you start creating Swift? Could you have improved Objective-C instead? Was there a risk of Swift splitting the community?  When Swift was first designed, were you only thinking about Apple platforms? How and when did Swift get its name? How did you decide what went into Swift at launch? Were the changes between the first Swift beta and release? What was it like getting on stage at WWDC14? How important were Playgrounds and the reference guide? If you were starting from scratch today, what would you do differently? What's the best way of learning Swift? What made Swift grow such a thriving community? Running Swift for Mac OS 9 Chris Lattner explains optionals Chris Lattner explains closures Why is the word 'in' part of Swift's closure syntax? Is Swift getting too complicated? Multiple Trailing Closures in Swift When will async/await come to Swift? What made Result finally appear in Swift? Is Swift becoming a multi-platform language? Is Swift Evolution working well? Is there anything you would change in Swift? Will Swift Evolution ever slow down? Wrap Up

We speak to Carola Nitz about debugging iOS apps, managing legacy code in big projects, and organizing a Swift conference. Detailed topics: Introduction What are the most common problems with debugging in iOS?  What are the core tools for debugging iOS apps?  How can you get started using Instruments?  What is the best way to approach debugging a bigger problem? Tips for memory debugging  Which parts of Instruments are useful for debugging? How could Apple make debugging better? What counts as legacy code? How to add new features to iOS 13 while still supporting iOS 12 and earlier?  Techniques for keeping old code working What skills do you need for large projects? How can you maintain feature parity between iOS and Android apps?  What separates a good event from a great event?   How to assemble a diverse conference speaker line up? What works better for learning: workshops or presentations? Tips for attending a conference if you are an introvert  How to start organizing an event? Wrap up

In this episode, Paul talks to Meng To about about designing for SwiftUI, coding for SwiftUI, how developers can improve their design skills, and more. Detailed topics: What makes SwiftUI so attractive to learners and designers?  Should designers stick to platform conventions?  How does SwiftUI compare to React?  How to avoid going overboard with animations How to make iOS apps that look great on all devices What can SwiftUI do better than UIKit? How to make apps more accessible Should you learn SwiftUI or UIKit? What are the biggest shortcomings of SwiftUI? SwiftUI vs React vs Flutter Top three tips for SwiftUI learners How to split up SwiftUI code into manageable chunks What's your advice on unit testing? How do you integrate components from UIKit into SwiftUI? What are the most common design errors developers make? Should developers rely on Dynamic Type for all their fonts? How to make your app stand out using SwiftUI What tools does iOS give us to make great designs? When does it make sense to use a new gesture in your app? How to create great designs that are accessible The #1 tip for developers to improve their designs

In this episode, Paul talks to Paola Mata about mentoring, enums,  Swift community, and more. Detailed topics: What separates a senior iOS developer from a junior developer? What are the core skills of a senior iOS developer? What are the levels between junior and senior iOS developer roles? Is time-based promotion right in software development? What is the best approach to code review as a senior developer? How to get to senior Swift developer roles? Do you think a degree in computer science is necessary? How to allocate the right amount of time for projects What are the responsibilities of a programming mentor? What comes after senior developer, and how can you get there? How can a senior developer keep learning? How would you discuss problematic code with a junior developer? What makes Swift's enums so powerful? How would you explain enums with associated values? What do you think are good use cases for enum raw values? Where should enums be used more? What new Swift API would you most want to see in your projects? How to get involved in the Swift community How can you get involved in the community if you can't travel? Tips for starting your own Swift meetup Tips for introverts who want to attend a meetup Should we build an presence online before going to a meetup? How to find a software engineer mentor Wrap up 

In this episode, Paul talks to Sean Allen about how to prepare for a Swift job interview, how to ace take-home tests, and more.  Detailed topic: What's the best way to learn Swift? Should you learn SwiftUI or UIKit? Should you learn Objective-C as well as UIKit and SwiftUI? How long before SwiftUI replaces UIKit? What would Objective-C have to do to become popular again? What are the three most common mistakes when learning Swift? What are the most important concepts when learning Swift? How to keep up with Swift's evolution? What are the best free resources to learn Swift? How should you approach testing in Swift? What are the most common take-home tests for iOS developers? Which interviews pushed you the most? What are the most important non-code parts in take-home tests? Where should new iOS developers start their career? How to decide which framework to use in a take-home project How to ace a take-home test Recommendations for creating take-home tests What's the best way to prepare for a Swift interview? How to prep for data structure and algorithms questions How to answer tricky whiteboard questions What's the value of whiteboard interviews, if any? The most common interview questions for Swift jobs What to ask when ending a developer interview   What are your favorite/most fun things to work on?   How to respond to questions where you don't know the answer? Would you ask the interviewer to show you their code before working for them? Do you think young developers should also focus on testing? What are the red flags to look out for during an interview? Would contributing to a big open source project make your resume pop out? Architectures: MVC or MMVM? What is a senior developer? Is it important to know all the Git commands?