What Are the Best Swift Bootcamps in 2021?
In 2014, Apple and the open-source community released the Swift programming language as part of an effort to refresh the tech giant’s development process. The best Swift bootcamps are teaching this relatively new language to budding software engineers across the US.
These coding bootcamps usually teach Swift for mobile development, but it’s just as prized for desktop development in the Apple ecosystem. Swift apps run on iOS and macOS, so you can transfer your mobile development skills to desktop with minimal adaptation.
The Best Swift Bootcamps
Atlanta-based Big Nerd Ranch has multiple courses for students at various levels of Swift expertise. The iOS and Swift Essentials Course introduces students to programming via the iOS platform. Then, the iOS Essentials and Advanced iOS Courses build on that foundation.
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Although the courses only last for a few days each, their project-based curriculums pack in plenty of learning. Founder Aaron Hillegass was personally recruited by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, so you are learning from the best.
Your tuition fees also include hotel accommodation, meals, and a shuttle transfer.
Tuition: $4,200 Advanced iOS, iOS Essentials; $5,200 iOS and Swift Essentials
Locations: Atlanta
BrainStation is a coding bootcamp with in-person and remote iOS development courses. Students learn the fundamentals of Swift in a way that lets them learn similar C-based object-oriented programming languages as they continue to grow.
This bootcamp includes UI design elements and programming techniques to make your app shine. It can take your app idea to the top of the app store.
You will also earn a BrainStation Mobile App Development Certificate. This will make your resume and LinkedIn profile stand out from the competition.
Tuition: $3,250
Locations: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Online
Code Fellows is a Seattle-based bootcamp that teaches students with a mix of a set curriculum and individual selectable courses. Software development students take courses from the 100 to the 500 level. The 100 levels are the absolute basics, while the 500-level courses give professionals the chance to upskill.
In the Code 400: Advanced Software Development for Mobile Applications Course, students learn how to build Android apps in Java. You will also get to grips with building apps in Swift.
Tuition: $12,000
Locations: Seattle
Devmountain is a Strayer University-affiliated bootcamp that offers an immersive iOS developer course at its Lehi, UT campus and online. Students in this program learn how to use Swift over 13 weeks, with some user experience design and data structure education as well.
You will also collaborate with software QA and UX design students on a capstone project at the end of the course. This will give you an insight into how app design works in the real world.
Usually, the in-person immersive course includes accommodation. However, due to COVID-19, this is not currently offered.
Tuition: $9,900 In-Person immersive; $7,900 Remote Immersive
Locations: Lehi, UT, Online
Best Online Swift Bootcamps
If you don’t live near one of the in-person bootcamps listed above, there are still several options for a quality learning experience centered on the Swift programming language.
The Best Online Swift Bootcamps
Developer Bootcamp
Developer Bootcamp offers courses in a mixed format with self-paced instruction online and the ability to complete exercises in-person at one of its many locations. The Mobile App Developer Bootcamp teaches students to build Android apps as well as mobile Swift programming. You will study for 70 hours.
Students can choose to pay extra to add Objective-C instruction as well as Xamarin cross-platform app development instruction. Xamarin allows developers to make apps that work on both Android and Apple platforms.
Cost: $2,400 – $4,800
Noble Desktop offers bootcamps in a wide variety of courses on its NYC campus and in a live online format. Its iOS App Development Bootcamp covers basic programming concepts in XCode before teaching students Swift principles in a project-based curriculum. You will commit to 60 hours of live online classes.
Firstly, you will learn how to implement several coding concepts through the curriculum’s three app projects. You will then finalize the design aspects, and submit your app to the app store.
Cost: $2,495
Tech Talent South offers in-person courses, but its iOS Development Course is one of its online-only courses. Students in this class learn Swift programming with the Xcode development software.
In this six-week part-time course, you will learn how to incorporate APIs, work in the Xcode ecosystem, build a storyboard, and connect your code to a user interface.
Cost: $3,250
What About Free Swift Bootcamps and Courses?
If you’re not interested in paying to learn how to program in Swift, there are free courses and bootcamps online. These MOOC courses below will teach you how to master the programming language.
The Best Free Swift Courses
Coursera – iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs Specialization
This course from the University of California, Irvine, trains students to build apps from start to finish. You will then be able to sell your apps on the app store or land a job with a company that does the same. Students learn Objective-C, Swift, and various other tools associated with both that help with this goal.
Like many other courses on Coursera, enrollment is free. However, you can choose to invest a small sum of money for extra benefits. These include a certificate of completion. You can add this to your resume and LinkedIn profile to entice prospective employers
edX – Mobile App Development with Swift
This course from Australia’s Curtin University teaches students every step of the app-building process with Swift. Students learn the tools that they’ll be using throughout their Swift programming career by building their first app.
While building an iOS app from scratch to end product, students will learn how to integrate augmented reality and web connectivity into their apps. This course teaches all of the design and development tricks and tips you need to be a successful Swift programmer.
Udemy – Develop 6 Beginner iPhone Games with Swift and Xcode
If you’re interested in building the next mega-hit game for the app store, this course will give you everything you need. You’ll go from novice programmer to game developer over six separate projects.
These games won’t just be basic dice rollers, either. You will be working with 2D graphics using SpriteKit, learning to program collisions and physics, and creating scenes in The Scene Editor. All of these skills will give your games that professional, and marketable, polish.
Why Learn Swift Now?
Swift is slowly becoming the dominant programming language for Apple products. It is replacing the Objective-C language, which has been Apple’s language of choice since its release in the 1970s. You can also transfer the object-oriented programming skills you learn while learning Swift to other languages if you decide you’d like to pick up new ones.
What Do Swift Programmers Actually Do?
Swift programmers do more than just build apps. Swift has a number of applications outside of app and game development that don’t get as much attention because they aren’t as in-demand, or as easy.
This isn’t to say that it’s not worthwhile to learn how to build apps and games in Swift. As we’ve mentioned, the programming language is well-suited to building apps across the desktop and mobile settings for Apple products. So, you won’t have to learn any extra functionality after you master Swift.
Build Apps
You’ll be able to build more than just mobile apps if you learn to program in Swift. Much like JavaScript’s React Native framework, Swift allows you to build a desktop app and then transfer everything to a mobile device without relying on any extra tools.
Maintain Legacy Code
Swift is part of the C coding language family. This means it has a collaborative nature built-in with plenty of tools that make legacy code maintenance much easier. The programming language is fast, and Swift’s Playgrounds feature allows you to test chunks of code internally without building new apps.
Playgrounds makes it much easier to test new code iterations before deployment. This saves teams time, and headaches, while iterating software.
Change the Future
Swift was only released in 2014, unlike other popular languages which are around 30 to 40 years old. As this language continues to find its form, the community is still helping to shape what it’s capable of. You can get in on the ground level of Swift’s development and help make it the best language possible.
Get Rich
Many programmers find Swift much easier to use and deploy to the app store than Objective-C, which means your app idea can make it to the market much quicker. Social media giants like Facebook pay billions of dollars for apps that may strengthen its bottom line. So, Swift could be the ticket to a big payday in your future.
Should You Attend a Swift Bootcamp in 2021?
If you’re interested in building products exclusively for the Apple ecosystem, then yes. Apple is still doing very well in the market while showing few signs of slowing down.
These bootcamps give you a foundation from which you can explore the more complicated functions of Swift down the road, like machine learning and more. If you’re interested in more general web development fields or web design, then Swift may not be for you. However, many bootcamps listed above offer separate courses that cover all of the bases.
With some added design and digital marketing education on top of your Swift skills, you could build and market a popular app that changes the face of tech forever.
