Exploring Conferences: WWDC 2024 and Beyond!

It is still technically the dub-dub week, but all the major community events are finished, and a lot of developers have flown back home. 

I was unsure of making it here this year, but everything somehow worked well for me. I met my manager from the Voice Control team with whom I interned remotely during the pandemic, had a lovely conversation with the MusicKit team, met my Twitter friends IRL, and made a lot of new ones, too!

I wrote about my plan of making the most out of WWDC 2024, and I am happy that it went beyond my expectations, with impromptu meet-ups in between.

Here are some thoughts from the announcements and my life after WWDC 2024, and beyond.

The Bet of Going Indie

I am still processing the announcements, but the inspiration and motivation I got from talking to Apple designers and engineers made me leap.

Betting on myself and my cute little apps for a year till June 12, 2025: Going indie.

I started with SwiftUI back in 2019 and made a few apps that got decent feedback, but I never got to monetise them. To me, I felt like they were baby apps that nobody would pay for. For half a decade, I was looking through my lens of insecurity and limitations.

When I attended the design lab on the Keynote day, my perspective changed. Two of the designers I met that day said my app was cool. My insecurities doubted their words, asking them if they were sure about it. They even said they would pay $5 for it when I had initially planned to sell it as a one-time purchase of $1. The subsequent day, I met an Apple designer friend of mine, and she said the same.

Being uncertain all these years has only resulted in regret of "what if everything goes wrong?". This year, I just want to bet on "what if everything goes right?"

For the past many months, I have also realised that money is not my motivator to work anymore. I have worked hard over the years and saved well to be privileged enough to say this. I do not want to have any $10K MRR or $5K MRR goal, because I know hitting that number will not make me happy. I want to enjoy the process of developing apps that I use for myself, go all in on marketing, and trust that money becomes a by-product of obsessing over my craft. $2K+ MRR is what I would call a success till the next WWDC, but I would not mind more to pay for travelling around the world.

Writing a Lot

I want to hone my writing skills because that is what I am best at. I have a lot to write, and typing my thoughts into words is therapeutic for me.

I love reading my storytelling style of writing, and I do not want to hold myself back by not being vulnerable because I know a lot of people relate to it, and some even find it inspiring.

Building a career in technical writing via my books and website is a path that I am thinking of, and there was a time a few years ago when I wanted the high of Gumroad notifications on my phone for each book purchase.

I do not feel the same way anymore, so this time, when I am exploring WWDC 2024-related content, I will focus on learning the in-and-outs, justifying the word exploring in each of my blog posts, and again, trusting that money becomes a by-product of obsessing over my craft.

I will continue guest posts, and sponsorships for my website, and steadily grow it over the years!

AI and Some Intelligence

One of the exciting announcements for everyone was the capabilities of Siri with App Intents. It works now.

Whenever I bumped into someone after the Keynote, the probability of them talking about Apple Intelligence was remarkably high. I do not have any ideas as such, but I am eager to explore how I can integrate Intents into existing apps or new ones.

The thing about jumping on the intelligence train is that I do not want to create something gimmicky just for the sake of it. Because I know I will not be able to sustain working on it and abandon my efforts.

Creating a new journaling app is more important for me than ever, and one of the schemas is related to Journal which I am looking forward to in the upcoming betas!

All About Music

Music is my life. I am listening to Bruno Mars while writing this, and I know a life without music is a life wasted.

I have many adorable Apple Music apps, and a social feature that I worked on for a bit last year, but, like usual, it went to my side-projects graveyard. It is the first priority I want to pick up when I am back home to start my indie journey.

My selfish request is to embrace people's great music taste, and then borrow their music straight into my library.

Public and Social Speaking

The past twelve months have been an intriguing one for me.

I got to speak at five different conferences, ranging from a sponsored talk to a full-length talk, an opening talk, a lightning talk, and finally, a closing talk. The only one missing on the spectrum is a live-coding talk, and I do not intend to perform this dangerous act of courage on stage.

Five different talks in a year have been exhausting. Working on them is difficult for me as I am still a newbie. English is not my native language, and I have to practice hard to feel that I speak naturally. I still sometimes read out from my presenter's notes, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I want to achieve a level where I can actually talk naturally on stage without so much intense full-time effort.

Many conferences are coming up this year whose call for papers is still open, and I intend to apply even though giving more talks should not be my priority at this point in my life. At every conference that I go to, someone mentions how much my talk helped them at work or inspired them to use the particular thing I talked about.

My last talk on personal branding was my best talk yet. It was the first time I was vulnerable on stage telling my story. And when developers told me how much it inspired them, I felt a sense of purpose to talk more. I must use my words responsibly to help others. It makes me happy, too.

I usually sweat like a sinner in church, and my hands freeze on stage, but I still want to speak anyway. It is fun, and if my words can help someone have a better life, it is worth the pain.

Also, I am at the peak of embracing my extrovertism, and it definitely helps with public speaking!

Another thing that I want to change with my public speaking strategy is to have an extremely detailed outline for my talk before I apply. I am a big-time procrastinator, and I only work when I hit the panic button when there are a few weeks left for my talk. I feel mentioning this outline may also be beneficial for the organisers to give them confidence that I can deliver the talk.

This is important when speaking on new announcements like the ones at WWDC 2024, as I want to ensure the content is explored enough before converting into a talk format.

More inspirational, storytelling and drama-filled talks this year!

The Journey Ahead

I feel excited, hopeful, and overwhelmed. Starting this new life is a big step, but it is one life that I need to live with no regrets.

There will be challenges, doubts, and uncertainties. And growth, learning, and a reason to find myself.

Creating good dots to beautifully connect them backwards in the future.