🧑‍💻 How I keep myself motivated and how to build a personal brand 🏋️‍♂️

Welcome to the 11th issue of the iOS Coffee Break Newsletter 📬.

Running a newsletter is challenging but immensely rewarding. It enhances your knowledge, builds connections, and allows you to help others. The iOS Coffee Break Newsletter has been live for almost three months, and it is one of the best career decisions I have made despite balancing it with my full-time job.

Here are some strategies that keep me motivated in my side project. These points are what work best for me, but I hope you can relate to some of them.

1. Dedicate daily time to your side project

For me, I dedicate a small part of my day to staying updated with the latest community news. I usually take notes or bookmark articles that I might want to feature in that week's issue. At the end of the week, I review everything and pick what is most relevant at the time. If your side project is focused on coding, it is helpful to set aside a short amount of time each day to work on improvements, build features, or fix bugs.

2. Engage in activities outside work

For me, staying active is key! Exercising helps me unwind after a long day, and it is also great for boosting brain function. I have been playing Padel with colleagues from work once or twice a week and hitting the gym 2-3 times a week. If sports aren't your thing, find another activity that brings you joy — whether it is playing an instrument, learning a new language, cooking, meditating, or something else entirely. The important part is doing what makes you feel good.

3. Set clear long-term goals for your project

Where do you want to be six months from now? It is essential to have a clear vision to effectively plan the steps needed to get there. For example, I am aiming for 500 subscribers by this year's end, which requires consistent effort. Whether that is gathering feedback or analyzing metrics to see what content resonates most with your audience, success requires ongoing dedication and strategic planning.

4. Celebrate every win, no matter how small

Even minor achievements can be meaningful! For example, I was thrilled when I hit my first 50 followers and received the initial community submissions. Share these milestones with others — whether through X or other platforms — connect with people, and track your growth along the way.

Now it's time to dive into some iOS development topics. Here are this week's highlighted resources. Hope you enjoy 🙌.

🏋️‍♂️ Building a personal brand to elevate your iOS career

iOSKonf recently uploaded this year’s talks on YouTube, and one by Rudrank grabbed my attention. He discussed his journey to building a personal brand and becoming indie, offering valuable tips for advancing your iOS career and gaining visibility in the iOS community.

One key takeaway was a Rudrank's quote: "The best possible marketing you can do is to add value to other people's lives." This aligns with why I created this newsletter — to share knowledge and build connections by contributing to the community through content and resources.

✂️ Removing image background using the Vision framework

This week, Matteo from Create with Swift shared an insightful article on using the VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest API, part of the Vision framework, to simplify background removal in images. I have often found myself struggling with design tools for this task, so this API is a game-changer.

The process involves three main steps: generating a mask from the image, applying that mask to isolate the subject and then converting the result into a displayable format in the UI. This approach streamlines what was once a complex task into a more manageable process.

⌛ Concurrency Step-by-Step: A Network Request

Matthew Massicotte, an experienced Apple platforms developer, recently published an in-depth article on making network requests with SwiftUI. He explores various techniques, diving deep into how network requests function while showcasing the power of MainActor and its interaction with Swift concurrency.

The article also highlights how to effectively use the nonisolated keyword to manage actor isolation and prevent unwanted behavior. Matthew’s insights are especially valuable for developers eager to master Swift concurrency and I really look forward to meet him at Swift Leeds and hopefully gain deeper insights into how Swift Concurrency works.

🤲 An initial hands-on with SwiftCloud

This article by Swift Toolkit.dev offers an introductory guide to SwiftCloud, showing you how to deploy two Lambda functions to AWS with live examples. Andrew Barba's new open-source package handles the setup seamlessly—it builds the targets using SPM, uploads them, and manages resource creation if needed. I have previously used SwiftCloud to deploy Swift apps on Vercel, so I am eager to test out this new integration with Lambda functions. And the best part is that you can also use the WebServer component to deploy any existing Hummingbird or Vapor application!

🚀 Ship your indie apps in hours, not days!

Last month, Pol shared exciting news about transitioning fully into freelancing, indie app development, and content creation. He is kicking off September with a new workshop titled "Ship your indie apps in hours, not days!" The 3-hour session is packed with tips, tools, and CI/CD workflows.

I have been following Pol’s work for around a year, and his insights have helped me automate tasks and migrate our CI/CD pipelines to Xcode Cloud. Be sure to mark your calendar for this event 🗓️!