Editor’s Note: For the 17th installment of this campaign, we are pleased to feature the story of two best friends, Raph and Flo, who learned iOS development with CodeWithChris to build the app of their dreams. Discover the journey they went through as they let coding become part of their routine and how perseverance, patience, and hard work became their strength to push through their ultimate goal.
You can connect with Raph (Threads, LinkedIn) and Flo (Threads, LinkedIn).
Raph & Flo decided to stray from their individual careers to pursue their app idea
Raph & Flo met when they were 17 and started a band. A decade later, in the summer of 2021, they had an app idea they couldn’t shake off. They decided to stray away their individual careers to pursue this project.
At the time, Raph was a finance student and Flo was a copywriter with a secret passion for all things design. Naturally, their initial thought process was: “We need a CTO to do this”.
But they felt wary of relying on someone, and they dreamt of the creative power that could come from building it themselves. “How hard could it be?”, they thought.
That’s when they found the CodeWithChris YouTube Channel. Chris’s beginner-friendly teaching style convinced them to commit to a CWC+ annual membership, and their journey of learning iOS development began.
Coding became part of their everyday routine
Coding became a part of their everyday routine, spending hours in the morning before they start their day, in between meetings, every night, and on weekends.
Raph and Flo studied different courses within CWC+ to complement what each of them could contribute to their app project. Flo completed the iOS Foundations course and worked on the views of their app, whereas Raph, having completed the iOS Databases course, took charge of configuring the Firebase SDKs.
As they were coding and learning, they had countless setbacks along the way. Building their dream app felt like climbing an endless mountain of which they could never see the top. Some bugs were left unsolved for months, which sometimes felt discouraging.
“Trying out CWC came from a what-if mentality. But now, we’re confident that we can make the app of our dreams.”
According to them, trying out CWC+ came from a what-if mentality.
“What if we could make a simple MVP ourselves? But now, we’re confident that we can make the app of our dreams, that we can learn anything, and so we DEFINITELY don’t need a CTO.”
Two years later, Koriu is nearing its publication on the App Store
They made a lot of progress working on their first project, but over time they realized that it was too ambitious for a first app. After some thinking, they decided to pivot to a simpler idea that came from a personal problem.
They were looking for a way to follow markets and browse public companies’ financial statements on an iPhone, with a clean and intuitive design.
Raph had the financial expertise but found finance apps difficult and unsatisfying to use. Flo, a passionate designer, could fix that.
So together, they set out to build Koriu: your companion to keep up with financial markets!
“We started because of the dream, but we kept going because it’s fun.”
Getting to the App Store is not an easy climb. Raph has this to say to anyone learning to code and struggling at the moment:
“You are not alone. It’s common to face setbacks when learning iOS development.”
Raph and Flo persevered, and eventually, always had breakthroughs that rewarded them with intense feelings of euphoria and pride.
“We started because of the dream, but we kept going because… this is fun!”
If you’re like Raph and Flo who have their hearts and minds set on reaching their dreams, you will always have that little push within you to get through it.
The CodeWithChris Team is proud of what Raph and Flo have accomplished and is grateful for sharing their story with us.
We hope their story has inspired anyone who has doubts in their learning journey and remember to keep going. If you need any help, you can reach out to our team through the chat widget at the bottom right of the screen.
Are you a CWC student who has a success story to share? Get in touch with us at care@codewithchris.com.
Want to achieve your goals in iOS development? Learn with us today.