The urge to create something beautiful for iPhone
I didn’t think I’d be learning how to build iPhone apps at 30. Not while juggling a product marketing career, masters in data science, a family life, and the sinking feeling that I really should have taken coding more seriously 10 years ago.
The unfortunate reality is that the way coding was taught (electronics engineering degree), especially how “pointers” in C++ were taught made me believe coding wasn’t for me. It was too boring, too restrictive.
But now I know those “restrictive” rules are what open unlimited creative freedom!
What wasn’t working for me
Even though I’ve been a content creator for a long time - writing, building brands, running my own business - I hadn’t built something in a long time that made me feel creatively proud.
Sure, I’ve shipped valuable content. My master’s in data science lets me dig deeper into the numbers. But something was still missing: that creative spark - the kind you get when you’re not just expressing ideas, but building something tangible.
That itch had been quietly growing. I missed the feeling of watching something come to life because I made it happen. And weirdly enough, it was coding that could make it happen - the thing I always thought was “too late or too boring” to learn.
I didn’t want to code just for the sake of it. I wanted visual feedback. That immediate “aha!” when something runs. Backend programming? Too abstract for my brain. Web dev? Maybe.
But it was iOS - the smoothness, the consistency, the craft of apps that just work - that speaks to me.
I’ve been an Apple user for years, not just for aesthetics but because things just… work. My iPhone is 6 years old & runs as smoothly today as it did on day one - no lag, no weird bugs, just clean user experience minus the storage issues lol (it’s 64GB).
iPhones last a long time. Even Abe Lincoln had one.
Compare that to a similarly aged Android phone, and the difference is night and day.
That quality made me curious. Who builds iOS apps and how?
And more importantly: Why not me?
Discovering Swift & iOS
When I finally started exploring iOS development, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was walking into. Swift sounded elegant. Fast. Clean. And honestly, it felt… inviting in a way that many other programming languages didn’t.
I wasn’t looking for the easiest route - I’ve been through enough to know that “easy” rarely leads to meaningful. What I was looking for was something I could see myself growing with. And Swift felt native, not just to the platform, but to the kind of builder I wanted to become. Maybe its the declarative nature.
Anyways, what really tipped it over for me was the creative control Swift and SwiftUI gave me. I could design and code in the same space. I could visualize my layout, see it update in real-time, and tweak it with intention. It didn’t feel like hacking things together - it felt like crafting something, view by view.
Swift made me feel like I could build beautiful things - not just functional ones. And that mattered to me more than I expected.
This wasn’t just about learning how to code. It was about finally having a creative outlet that felt aligned with both my tech side and my artistic instincts.
My Early Struggles and First Wins with Swift
I’ve only been learning Swift for about a month and a half as of writing this post - so let’s be real: I’m still figuring things out.
I have coded with Python for about 2.5 years or so, all of it has been primarily in and around machine learning and data science.
And that experience with Python makes it slightly easier for me to pick Swift up - since I get the logic.
Anyways, the first few days were messy. Xcode felt like…well you know how it feels..it’s weird, peculiar but to be honest it is a really really good ennvironment.
I kept wondering if I had installed things wrong. Errors - specific errors in and around Swift Data and what not.
But at the same time, there were these tiny wins that kept me going.
Like the first time I got a button to actually change light mode to dark mode, with a gradient background, ahh, it was beautiful.
It sounds basic - and it is - but seeing that change happen because I wrote the code? That hit different.
Another small win? Just pushing my first little SwiftUI app to GitHub. Nothing fancy, just a few screens stitched together. But it felt like crossing a line. Like I went from someone watching tutorials to someone doing stuff. I had done this one to understand how XCode works more than actually building the app
I still run into weird layout bugs. I still forget what some modifiers are called. But I’m not frozen anymore. I’m moving. And that feels good.
And btw the AI suggestions or ChatGPT or even Apple docs or even Apple Developer YouTube channel are super helpful for all this!
Why This Journey Matters to Me
This isn’t just about learning to code or adding another skill to my resume.
For me, this is about building something of my own. Something that doesn’t rely on algorithms or client briefs. Something that doesn’t need to perform on social media (or maybe it does). Just something real - made by me, for me, for now.
It’s also about proving to myself that I can start something new, even now, even after 30. That I don’t have to “catch up” to people who started at 18. That I can learn at my own pace and still make progress.
I’ve always been curious. I’ve always wanted to understand how things work. And now I’m finally channeling that into something I can shape with my own hands (well, keyboard).
Swift and iOS just happen to be the tools I’m using. The real reason I’m doing this is to reconnect with that builder in me - the one I kind of lost along the way while chasing growth, deadlines, and whatever came next.
This feels like coming back to something I didn’t know I needed.
You’re Not Too Late Either
If you’re in your 30s (or beyond) and thinking about learning something new - especially something like iOS development - I just want to say this: you’re not too late.
I know it feels like everyone’s already ahead. I know it’s easy to scroll past yet another 22-year-old who “just shipped their fifth app or is doing $23k MRR as an indie dev” and feel like you missed the boat.
But you haven’t.
You’re bringing life experience, focus, and a different kind of drive to the table. You’re not doing this to show off. You’re doing this because you want to build. And that counts for something.
I’m not an expert. I’m still learning.
So if you’ve been sitting on the fence, unsure whether to dive in — maybe this is your sign.
You’re just getting started too, just like me.