How to Hire a Swift Developer

With an outstanding 1.3 billion iPhones sold worldwide since its launch and more than 100 million people using Macs, it is easy to understand the importance of Swift developers. 

A skilled Swift developer works in Apple’s iOS and OS X development, creation, management and beyond. It takes an impressive amount of skill to be a Swift programmer, and as a hiring manager, you want to make sure you get the best of the best. Read on to discover how you can do just that.

What is Swift? 

Apple created Swift programming back in 2014, and it quickly garnered traction, Swiftly becoming the preferred language for all of Apple’s programs and products, from Mac OS X to the Apple iPhone, Apple Watch, and even Apple TV. 

It is preferred for its concise understanding and removal of redundant steps used in the previous language, Objective-C. 

Despite its popularity in the world of Apple, Swift is a multi-purpose language, and it can run on the Linux operating system and Windows operating systems. This means the opportunities for Swift will undoubtedly continue to be used for varied applications and web services. 

Draw In The Right Swift Engineer

First, you will want to write a clear and comprehensive job description that is concise and thorough enough to help you recruit highly competent Swift engineers for Swift app development and Swift ios development. 

You also want to sell your team so a talented Swift programmer is interested, andiscuss your company’s values, goals, successes and what makes you really stand out. 

Don’t forget to include any perks or benefits that the potential candidate will have access to, including whether the job is remote or not. 

The next step will be to analyze the Swift engineers that put forward their candidacy and interest. Depending on the size of your company, there may be a specific human resources team that handles this process or you may not. 

Regardless, your team will want to carefully study the candidate’s profile, resume and any other information that they provide before inviting them to take part in an interview.  

Key Requirements of a Swift Programmer 

The right Swift engineer will offer both technical and non-technical skills and unique personal qualities to your team. 

Each role will vary in necessary skills; however, below are the typical key technical skills required of a Swift programmer: 

• Strong proficiency in the Swift language, including its basic syntax, optionals, control flow, and objective-C interoperability.
• A strong understanding of spatial reason, UI design and perfecting the user experience. 
• Core data control. 
• Sufficient experience with cocoa APIs on OS X.
• Strong coding skills and code versioning tools including Git, SVN and Mercurial.
• Ability to run efficient testing.
• Experience and an understanding of JavaScript Object Notation and Core Data .

In terms of non-technical skills, the following should be considered: 

• Ability to think critically. 
• Strong problem-finding and solving skills. 
• A professional team player.
• Diligent time-management skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• An open mind with an interest in always growing and learning.
• Patience and persistent attitude. 
• Self-motivated with the ability to work autonomously. 

The Interview Process and Interview Questions To Ask When Hiring A Swift Developer 

Whether you chose to conduct the interview virtually or onsite is up to you, though teams are consistently leaning into remote processing. 

Either way, due to the technical nature of the role, it is imperative to run a technical quiz of the candidate’s ability to work with the Swift language and a question and answer section. 

Below are some curated questions you may wish to consider:

• What are 3 advantages of Swift?
• What purpose do “generics” serve in Swift?
• Go through the steps of writing multiple-line comments. 
• Can you expand on what a Swift dictionary is?
• What is the difference between structures and classes?
• Explain how you would handle a runtime error.
• Can you define base class?
• Name 3 of Swift’s key characteristics?
• What does optional chaining result in?
• What different collection types does Swift support?
• What is a nil-coalescing operator?
• Can you explain what concurrency is?
• What type of code does Swift use?
• Can you explain the difference between protocol and class? 
• Explain why a compile-time error happens. How would you go about fixing it?

To determine a candidate’s soft skills, you may wish to discuss the following: 

• How do you deal with internal conflict within a team? 
• What do you look for in a manager?
• Share some examples that you had to problem solve and what you did to overcome. 
• What are the ways you stay involved in change in tech language and programming? 

Where to Hire a Talented Swift Developer?

Depending on the size of the project at hand, you may desire a freelance Swift engineer, which is often found on websites such as Upwork and Fiverr. 

Oftentimes, however, a long-term Swift developer is preferred, for both the candidate and the team. In this instance, you can rely on the experts at Terminal who exist to make hiring technical professionals a breeze. Terminal steps in to find a team the perfect match for Swift developers who has the skills and personality to fit into their new team excellently. 

Terminal works with talented engineers around the world, not placing a geographical limit on anyone, and can vet candidates, including assessing their skills, testing their technical knowledge and analyzing what they offer, according to the specific requirements your team sets out. Terminal makes hiring faster and more cost-effective for you. Leave it to us so you can focus on other goals.

Conclusion 

Swift will undoubtedly continue to grow in both popularity and use within the tech world. 

Get ahead by seeking out the top talent of Swift developers that can drive forward your goals, bottom line and app development. When you have the right Swift developers on your team, your team can excel.  
Are you curious to get matched to the ideal Swift programmer candidates? We can’t wait to hear from you to discuss working together.

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