Attending WWDC is one of the best things you can do for your career as a developer. You’ll learn about the latest Apple news straight from the horse’s mouth, gain some new skills, and potentially make a few connections (even though this year is all-virtual, again).

In this article, we’re sharing a couple of things you can expect from WWDC 2021 and how to make the most of this opportunity.

What to Expect This Year

Firstly, like last year, WWDC 2021 will be held online due to Covid, so you won’t see many attendees who aren’t Apple execs or hear crowds cheering after every reveal.

Secondly, as always, the keynote will provide an intriguing and insightful glimpse into Apple’s future. Of course, amidst all the news surrounding iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12, WWDC is a conference for developers after all, so there will be lots of technical content that you will find educational and entertaining if you’re an app or game maker.

Why Developers Should Attend WWDC

WWDC is one of the biggest and most beneficial events in a developer’s calendar and there’s a reason for that – actually, here are five:

• Broaden your horizons: WWDC is a great way to get out of your daily routine and open yourself up to new possibilities, and stimulate your minds with innovations and new solutions that will take your projects to the next level.
• Get insider tips: You can request a one-on-one lab appointment with an Apple insiderand pick their brains about implementing Apple technologies, UI design principles, managing your app on the App Store, and more.
• Feel inspired: We all need to recharge and get a new perspective from time to time, and WWDC is the perfect opportunity for that. Listening to insights from industry leaders, innovators, and pioneers will give you fresh ideas you won’t get in your day-to-day life and motivate you to try new things you’ve never tried.
• Strengthen your skill set: The tech industry moves fast, so it’s important that you continuously dedicate time to developing your skills. From WWDC, you can gain invaluable tips and techniques on all things Swift and SwiftUI, so you’ll definitely leave having enhanced your technical skills.
• Encourage teamwork: Taking part in WWDC, where you and your team can gain new experiences together outside of the usual work environment, is a great way for you to bond and get to know each other better.

Finally, it’s just fun to learn new things and be one of the first people to hear about the next Apple releases – it doesn’t get more exciting than that!

How to Prepare Yourself for WWDC

To help you get the most out of WWDC, here are a few things you can do in preparation for an exciting week ahead:

Plan your week: Keep your schedule open for the hundreds of sessions if possible. If nothing else, you should at least make yourself available for the keynote, where all the big announcements will happen.

Pick your battles: There will be over 200 sessions happening throughout the week, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to catch all of them so it’s good to be prepared and to know what will benefit you most.

Prepare your project: Having a solid base to build upon allows you to quickly start exploring new features, tools, and APIs as they become available.

Put together some questions: You may have a few questions in your project that need to be answered, so write them down and ask an Apple engineer in a one-on-one lab appointment or on the Apple Developer Forums.

Finally, make sure that you have spare devices to install new OSs and that your Mac has enough space for Xcode Beta.

And away we code!

We hope we’ve got you excited for WWDC 2021. As usual, we don't know exactly what will be announced at WWDC this year but one thing for sure is that you can expect another action-packed week.

What are you most looking forward to at WWDC? Let us know on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.