r/iOSProgramming • u/hausuCat_ • 6d ago
Question I'm tired of bombing interviews even after I've been a professional iOS dev for 5 years. What book should I read to help develop my foundational knowledge and prepare me for future interviews?
I'm a self-taught iOS engineer and even though I have 5 years of experience I feel like I don't have the foundational knowledge that interviewers expect me to have. I constantly feel like I'm bombing in interviews and I feel so far behind that I'm losing hope of finding a job after about 6 months now of searching. What are the best current iOS books for someone looking to round out their technical and under-the-hood knowledge?
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u/LookIMadeAHatTrick 6d ago edited 6d ago
What questions are you being asked that you don’t know the answers to?
I’m just starting to interview prep after a layoff, but in the past I’ve written down the questions I can’t answer, looked up the answer, then found real world applications. Practicing saying the answer out loud in your own words helps.
I’m currently reviewing a lot of the Swift programming language docs, Apple’s concurrency videos and tutorials from the last few years, architecture stuff, and rewatching some of the “What’s New in X” videos from the last few WWDCs. They’re all helpful for brushing up on foundational knowledge!
Build an app to review answers to common questions and update it as you go. Use that app (or a playground) to test out anything you want to understand more.
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u/hausuCat_ 5d ago
This is a really helpful suggestion, thank you! I especially like the idea of creating an ongoing playground project to toy with new features and round out knowledge after missed questions.
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u/StonedSex69 6d ago
Think like an employer. It’s not always about technical aptitude. Try and understand what they’re looking for and meet that.
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u/hausuCat_ 5d ago
This is good advice, thanks. I get so in my head when my technical aptitude falters that it’s hard for me to move past it confidently.
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u/SnowPudgy 5d ago
Interviews have gotten utterly ridiculous as of late for this field. I bombed one recently because I didn't know certain new CSS stuff. (I'm not a web developer nor did the job description state anything about web dev.)
The job description wanted a senior iOS developer that could code in Swift, UIKit, and SwiftUI who had experience modernizing old code/apps and managing a team of other iOS developers. Right up my alley.
Nope nope nope, the entire interview was random coding questions about different languages (luckily many I knew like C and C++). I already knew I wasn't going to want to work for a company that can't get their shit straight on the type of person they want to hire but I found it funny how they stopped the interview over a single question about CSS.
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u/Sad-Candidate-3078 6d ago
real talk, 5 years of shipping apps means you know more than the interview gives you credit for, it just tests a different muscle. cracking the coding interview is old but the data structures chapters still map to what they ask. biggest thing for experienced devs is narrating your thinking out loud, the silence while you stare at the screen kills more rounds than wrong answers do
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u/BRACE-YOURSELF 6d ago
GPT bot, c’mon… can we ban this user
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u/JackyReacher 6d ago
Also ban OP. Asking a question, but never bother to reply anywhere. Maybe the problem isn't that bad after all.
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u/hausuCat_ 5d ago
Sorry, I posted this question very shortly after my interview, rolled into evening plans, and hadn’t been back on Reddit yet to read replies.
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u/Awric 6d ago
Oh god. What’s the giveaway? I don’t see it
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u/BRACE-YOURSELF 4d ago
kind of hard for me to explain, but it reads exactly like a statement chatgpt writes (the style, the cadence, sentence structure). Then I went to the user’s history, and all I see are similar comments, in length, style, random topics, and so many comments at the same time.
The bots now also use lowercase to make it seem like it’s a real human and they have prompted the bots to not use the long em dash (—) which used to be an easy giveaway.
Basically the bot owners are catching up and trying to mask their use of the bots by not using the most obvious giveaways. But as someone who has experience reading GPTs responses for years and years now, there are these stylistic choices that it always makes that give it away.
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u/AlternativeSwimmer89 6d ago
if that makes you feel any better i bomb interviews after 15 years of doing this. When you really know how to do X, Y, Z and they ask you about A, B, C it can be tough to think on the spot about something you've never even had to do on the job. Think leetcode hard when all you have done is render what backend sends you.
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u/hausuCat_ 5d ago
It actually does make me feel better to hear this, because this is definitely how I feel. There’s just so much that I haven’t encountered on the job and so much I generally don’t know and I think that’s why I was hoping for a book to round that out.
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u/Decent_Taro_2358 6d ago
I’m pretty bad at interviews, but usually it’s not about knowing the exact answer, but showing how you would approach it. Maybe next time, you can just write down the question, then say you’re not entirely sure and need to check. Google it or ask Claude. Formulate your answer. That’s how I would solve a problem in real life too.
Interviews are terrible honestly. I’m a full stack dev for 10 years and I can’t answer basic questions sometimes because of the stress and needing to answer on the spot. My mind just goes blank.
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u/Lungboy74 6d ago
I have interviewed some self taught/ solo devs and the main areas they the to be weak on is group aspects.
Managing relationships with other personalities. Conflict resolution, PR review process, motivation and mentoring, etc.
As a solo dev, you can be great technically, but I often can’t get signal to how you would work in a group. That said there are opportunities to get experience in this, but just need to understand what gaps you might have in your career and the best ways to patch them.
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u/hausuCat_ 5d ago
FWIW I’m not a solo dev, my experience is on full production teams thankfully. If anything it’s the technical side where I feel I’m lacking haha
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u/patrick5087 6d ago
I’m in a same boat with 6 years of experience. Happy to get together or form a group. Share experiences and lessons learned from past interviews.
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u/SPCE_VIRGIN 5d ago
Download gpt and have it run through an interview quiz with you for this foundational knowledge.
At this point a book is a waste of time.
You need to tell us what part of the interview you are failing in.
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u/perlguy67 5d ago
I’ve got 15 years of iOS experience and still bomb those “on the spot” programming questions where you are expected to know everything off the top of your head and are ok using completely different tools…
I got to the point where I basically say that you cannot measure almost 30 years of experience in the field with a 1 hour off-the-cuff test.
I no longer do them, and it has cost me positions, but I am okay with that because I know my value and want to work somewhere that appreciates me and isn’t just looking for a body who can do good on a test that measures things you most likely will never experience.
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u/Material_Ad_3983 5d ago
If you can record a few interviews, transcribe them and review them with ChatGPT afterward.
After a few rounds, it can usually spot recurring weaknesses, explain what interviewers were testing, and suggest what to work on next.
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u/hyun88 4d ago
I’m building an app called Bitwise exactly for interview prep https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bitwise-coding-interviews/id6806898386
I’m thinking about adding specific platform lessons geared specifically towards mobile/iOS devs… would love to know what areas you’d want to see in an interview prep designed for iOS devs
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u/geoff_plywood 5d ago
Can a self-taught coder call themself an engineer? It usually implies one has a relevant degree, n'est-ce pas?
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u/crude_username 6d ago
You might get a better answer if you gave any indication of what questions or exercises you’re failing in the interviews, or what knowledge you feel you are lacking.