Before the Interview

We consider ourselves good iOS developers. How good? Well, we have done some impressive things in our lives. For example, we built gorgeous animations, implemented Combine, uploaded app versions to the App Store, and debugged complex bugs.

So, what is the problem exactly? Why do we need this book?

Because knowing Swift, UIKit, and Combine are remarkable, and debugging, algorithms, and CI management are all essential skills for an iOS developer. But one skill needs to be added for many developers, and that’s how to be a player in the iOS developers’ labor market. Playing in this market requires us to learn and adapt to new skills that some of us may still need to learn, such as skills in the fields of self-expression, wording, communication, and even marketing.

By the end of this book, we will take our tremendous iOS development knowledge and learn how to use it to develop a new skill: the ability to pass an iOS interview.

So, how do we start?

Lau Tzu (a Chinese philosopher) said:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

But the question is, what is the first step?

Is answering a Swift question or scribbling a design for an architecture problem the first step? Well, our first step is to understand what we want from our workplace, where we want to be, and to get ready to conquer it with confidence.

Understanding all this may sound like an easy task. We just send our resume (that we wrote in two minutes) to all the tech companies we know and expect that something will pop up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. We must research the market and adjust our resume according to our needs. Even more important, before we look at the market, we must look inside and understand who we are and what will be good for us.

In this chapter, we will learn how to reach our first interview with a company that suits us in the best condition possible. We will build a company profile together and learn about the different types of companies out there. We will also learn what a good (or bad) resume is and write a resume that fits us and our target workplace. Then, we will learn how to be prepared for our first interview in all matters.

To that end, we will cover the following topics in this chapter:

• Performing company research
• Building our resume
• Preparing for the interview