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Sean Coughlin
Sean Coughlin

Posted on • Originally published at blog.seancoughlin.me on

The Best Way to Learn to Create Apps is By Creating an App

My Experience

The biggest impediment to learning something new is commitment. It isn't hard to work on something for a day or a week, but can you stick it out for a month or a year? If you have that level of willpower, please DM me. I would love to pick your brain.

For the average individual finding the willpower to stick with something is hard. Distractions are everywhere, and it is often easiest to just give up. I decided I wanted to learn app development at least half a dozen times. With each effort, I would buy a class or start a YouTube tutorial. And each time, I quickly gave up.

No one was proverbially holding my hand to the fire, and on my own, I simply could not muster the willpower to learn by sitting through a class.

I finally succeeded in my attempt to learn app development by giving up on the learning part and jumping straight into doing it. I began working on a simple app to calculate compound interest. I designed a UI, mocked up an app icon, and before long I had fallen in love with my idea. I cannot claim that it was an amazing idea, but I learned a ton along the way.

Nothing Beats Learning by Doing

If you want to create an app, I bet you have something grandiose in mind and that's great! However, if you're just starting out on your first app, I'd recommend picking a simple idea. Your first app doesn't have to be the next Uber or Airbnb. Reinventing the world is difficult!

You will learn far more by working with a simple idea than by trying and failing with your larger vision. This goes back to the old saying, walk before you can run. Once you've developed something, then the next app will be much easier to develop.

Another benefit of developing and shipping an app, even a simple one, is building your portfolio. iOS development is a lucrative profession, Glassdoor estimates the average salary for a Swift developer is $109,000. That is a pretty good chunk of cheddar. Releasing an app will build your portfolio and give you something to market yourself with as you hunt for jobs.

Finally, by building an app you'll learn if you actually enjoy the experience. Perhaps you will discover another opportunity along the way that is a better fit. The only way to truly know is by trying your hand at the process.

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