Stop Being a General-Purpose iOS Dev

Instead go specific in niche (industry)

Author

Bratislav Baljak
September 02, 2025

Being a general-purpose iOS dev is keeping your salary miserable.

That means you solve all problems for everyone — and get paid mid-range for it.

Stop applying randomly. Stop scrolling job boards.

There’s a much better way…

The Trick to 2x Your Salary (Without New Skills)

  1. Define the industry where you know the most.

  2. Define your ideal employer profile.

That’s how you 2x your salary without touching your technical skills.

This is the same principle startups use when they define a niche.

Don’t go universal — go specific.

Think Like Sales Reps even as iOS dev: Use a CRM tools

You don’t need to buy Salesforce. Use any CRM (or even LinkedIn filters). The goal is the same: filter companies until only the right ones remain.

Filters to apply:

  • Industry

  • Company size

  • Founding year

  • Geo / pay

  • Bonus: team signals

Let me explain each one of them.

1. Industry: Where you create BIGGEST Value

Pick industries where mobile is the main product, not a side channel.

  • Fintech / Digital banking (mobile-first banks, brokerages, payments)

  • Health & Fitness subscriptions (coaching, nutrition, trackers)

  • Photo & Video / Creator tools (AI editing, camera, UGC — top growth category in 2024)

  • Productivity apps with AI (notes, tasks, calendars, now boosted by Apple Intelligence)

2. Company Size: Where You Fit Best

  • 50–250 employees: Only if they’re well-funded. Expect to wear multiple hats.

  • 250–1,000 employees: The sweet spot. Hybrid setups, 1–2 days in office every couple of weeks.

  • 5,000+ enterprises: Big Tech & banks. Compensation can hit $250k+, but expect 3+ days/week RTO in 2025.

3. Stage / Founding Year: Avoid Legacy Debt

If you want Swift + SwiftUI (less Obj-C), target:

  • Companies founded ≥2014 (after Swift was announced).

  • Or companies that rebuilt major surfaces ≥2019 (after SwiftUI launched).

4. Team Signals: The Green Flags

Look for companies that:

  • Run design-led processes (design systems, motion docs).

  • Have test culture (unit/UI/snapshot) and CI/CD (Bitrise, GitHub Actions, Xcode Cloud).

  • Experiment with on-device ML aligned to Apple Intelligence.

  • Track accessibility as OKRs (post-EAA compliance).

  • Are remote-friendly but with clear review & release rituals.

This can’t be set in CRM, you need to go to their AppStore or use ChatGPT deep research to found out these.

5. Geo & Pay: Who Pays the Most

  • United States: SF Bay Area, Seattle, NYC

  • Europe: Zürich, Geneva (Switzerland)

  • Asia: Singapore

These hubs consistently pay top of market for iOS engineers.

So don’t stay stuck as the “general-purpose” iOS dev.

Define your niche.

Filter until only the right companies remain.

That’s how you double your salary without learning a single new framework.