A Brief History...

Before launching into a summary of my Swift experience so far, let me state the reasons and purpose for this blog.

In around April 2015, I decided to start learning the Swift language. It was fortunate timing that Apple had unveiled this new programming language, as it meant I was learning something yet to be fully established. This appealed to me as the idea of spending time and money invested in a language that would eventually become obsolete would be rather pointless!

Why? Why start learning Swift? This question becomes more pertinent when I explain my background: no coding, programming or any real computer-related experience in my working career - apart from the 'essential' Microsoft programs. Why I decided to embark on my Swift Journey is based on several factors:

• Having been a Primary School Teacher in the UK for (in April 2015) for nearly nine years, I was keen to seek an alternative career.
• Coding was something that had appealed to me for a while, especially because I've had an idea for a sports-related board game that could be adapted to an app/computer program. Learning Swift would be the first step to eventually achieve that goal. 
• Learning a new skill/computer-based language seemed like a fresh and exciting challenge.

So, over two and half years on, very little progress has been made! The main reason for this is because having got relatively immersed into learning Swift at first - in the evenings and spare time I had while working as a teacher still - I made a life-changing decision. Not a switch into anything computer or coding-related, but teaching in another country!

That's right, I got a job approximately a month or so into learning Swift at an International Primary School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This was something I had thought about doing and has turned out to be a great move. It has rejuvenated by teaching career, having a fresh challenge and change and I've quickly been promoted, making me feel more valued than I ever did in the UK.

However, the pull of Swift has never fully let go. In my first year in Dubai, I don't think I opened up my Mac to code, not even once! Adapting to a new work environment, living surroundings, country and being away from loved ones was a huge challenge. I'm not in the position where I'm very settled in Dubai - though this took a substantial amount of time. Meeting my girlfriend out there - another ex-pat from the UK has made me feel even more settled and comfortable ever. Despite that, the idea of learning Swift and using it to potentially switch careers is still something I have a burning passion for. 

In Summer Breaks or Christmas Holidays - like now for example - I've been able to revisit what I once learned about Swift. However, with so much time in between each Swift session, it's very much going over what I've forgotten, rather than building on any real skills. So, for the past few weeks - including some time in Dubai as well as the UK, where I currently am for another week or so, I've been refreshing my Swift knowledge and have got to the point where I have consolidated everything I once learned - and more - from that initial flurry back in April of 2015. 

I've used a combination of resources: Udemy courses, a Treehouse membership, apps such as Swifty and SoloLearn...these have all helped me to 'rebuild' and go over what now seems like fairly familiar ground. A few days ago, it occurred it to me that it would be much more useful to chronicle and detail my Swift journey through a blog, rather than making notes on paper, on Playground files, in Word Documents...much better to record and refer to it this way!

So my next blog will explain what I know about Swift so far, so I can make sense of what I know at this point.