Hello everyone, I’m completely new to programming and Apple development, but I’ve always had the strong wish to learn coding and to work more deeply with Apple’s system structures. My main questions are: How should I best start learning? For example, is Swift Playgrounds the right first step? How should I continue afterwards to gain further knowledge, possibly in areas like system architecture, cybersecurity, or cloud computing (even though I don’t want to commit too early to one direction)? Can you recommend a learning schedule or intensity (e.g., how often per day or week I should practice) for someone who works full-time? Is my current MacBook Air (2020, Intel i3, 8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD) still suitable for learning and beginner development, or would you recommend upgrading to a newer model? On top of that, my English is not perfect yet – is it possible to improve it alongside learning coding? I’m very motivated to finally start this journey, even though I once turned down an IBM apprenticeship when I was younger. Now I want to give it a real try. Any advice, personal experiences, or learning resources would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Welcome to the forum.
A first comment: edit your text to make each question clear and post easier to read.
And avoid asking so many questions on so different topics.
Anyway, I'll try to provide some answers.
- Q1: How should I best start learning? For example, is Swift Playgrounds the right first step?
My personal advice: start with tutorials from Apple like 'Develop in Swift fundamentals'. Or go and visit https://developer.apple.com/pathways/. If you want to learn SwiftUI, select it.
- Q2: How should I continue afterwards to gain further knowledge, possibly in areas like system architecture, cybersecurity, or cloud computing (even though I don’t want to commit too early to one direction)?
You will find resources here again: https://developer.apple.com/pathways/.
My advice to continue, after step 1, is to imagine and develop a complete (yet simple) app. That's how you will put what you learned in practice. And then, each time you fall on a problem, ask the forum for help.
- Q3: Can you recommend a learning schedule or intensity (e.g., how often per day or week I should practice) for someone who works full-time?
It depends on the goals you have. But usually, when you learn developing, it is not uncommon to spend several hours some days. I would say, 10 hours a week to be a minimum.
- Q4: Is my current MacBook Air (2020, Intel i3, 8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD) still suitable for learning and beginner development, or would you recommend upgrading to a newer model?
Essentially, no, unless you just want to wet your feet. The storage (250 GB) will be insufficient. 500 GB or better 1TB is needed. Same for RAM, I would avise 16 GB at least. More critical, MacOS 26 (available as beta, to be released in a few weeks) will not run on Intel based machines. So it will be obsolete very rapidly.
- Q5: On top of that, my English is not perfect yet – is it possible to improve it alongside learning coding?
That's a different question. To code, that's not a problem. But if you want to take profit of all existing resources (e.g., forum) that may be an issue, even though automatic translation is better everyday. Coding is not the best way to learn, because it is very limited in focus.
- Q6: I’m very motivated to finally start this journey, even though I once turned down an IBM apprenticeship when I was younger.
That's a good condition, so good luck.
