Ryan Dillon, Developer in Springfield, IL, United States
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Ryan Dillon

Verified Expert  in Engineering

iOS Developer

Springfield, IL, United States

Toptal member since January 6, 2021

Expertise
iOSXcodeSwiftObjective-CREST APIFirebaseRealmGoogle Maps Development
Bio

Ryan is a veteran iOS developer with a broad range of experience developing and publishing apps to the App Store since 2010. He specializes in using the audio and animation frameworks of iOS to create tools for musicians. Apart from music-related apps, Ryan has extensive experience building apps that leverage custom and third-party back-end services to enable the creation and synchronization of complex data.

Portfolio

Spur Staffing
Swift, iOS, Firebase
Self-employed
Core Animation, UIKit, Core Audio, Xcode, Swift, Objective-C, iOS
Self-employed
Swift, Objective-C, iOS, Core Graphics, Core Audio, Core Animation

Experience

  • Xcode - 8 years
  • iOS - 8 years
  • Objective-C - 8 years
  • UIKit - 8 years
  • Core Animation - 6 years
  • Core Audio - 4 years
  • Swift - 3 years
  • REST APIs - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Objective-C, Swift, Xcode, iOS

The most amazing...

...experience I've had as an app creator is seeing my own app for drummers featured in a major industry print publication that I've been reading since I was young.

Work Experience

iOS Developer (Contract)

2021 - PRESENT
Spur Staffing
  • Handled bug fixes and added features for the iOS native app for workers on the Spur Staffing platform.
  • Collaborated with back-end engineers and product designers to keep the app compliant with state regulations in all 50 US states.
  • Updated automated testing to fix and extend UI tests.
Technologies: Swift, iOS, Firebase

iOS Developer | UI/UX Designer

2010 - PRESENT
Self-employed
  • Designed and developed Click, a popular metronome app for iPhone used by thousands of musicians around the world.
  • Programmed a real-time audio system using Core Audio, which powers a dynamic and highly accurate metronome. Developed custom animations inside UIKit which are highly performant and perfectly synchronized to the metronome audio.
  • Contributed to App Store releases of apps from iOS 3.0 to 14.0, adapting to new devices, design paradigms, and the changing market along the way.
  • Designed a unique circular menu system with an API similar to UITableView, but which lays out its elements in a circle. Integrated UIDynamics APIs and custom inertial calculations and animations to create a fluid, physical-feeling interaction.
  • Used Core Data APIs for loading of built-in data as well as the persistence of user-generated content.
Technologies: Core Animation, UIKit, Core Audio, Xcode, Swift, Objective-C, iOS

iOS Developer | UI/UX Designer

2009 - PRESENT
Self-employed
  • Designed and developed the DrumDictionary, an Apple New and Noteworthy featured app for drummers, which also received recognition in a major drum industry print publication.
  • Used Core Data APIs for the loading of built-in data as well as the persistence of user-generated content.
  • Worked on App Store releases of apps from iOS 3.0 to 14.0, adapting to new devices, design paradigms, and the changing market along the way.
Technologies: Swift, Objective-C, iOS, Core Graphics, Core Audio, Core Animation

iOS Developer

2022 - 2022
Yahoo! - Sports
  • Worked in a small team of three developers to implement a redesign of the entire "Daily Fantasy" experience of the Yahoo Fantasy Sports App.
  • Introduced SwiftUI into the codebase for the first time, mentored and guided peers in SwiftUI best practices, and created a foundation of reusable components and patterns for future use in the app.
  • Designed and implemented a more streamlined interface for analytics reporting, making it easier for developers to adhere to analytics requirements without getting in the way of the "main" logic and functionality of the app.
Technologies: Swift, iOS, Objective-C, SwiftUI, REST APIs

iOS Developer

2019 - 2020
Lead Scout
  • Oversaw the creation of a custom data-syncing process that allows team members to collaborate in real-time in generating new leads for their roofing businesses.
  • Inherited an app with only very basic functionality and worked directly with designers and product owners to turn it into a full-featured product.
  • Was solely responsible for all new feature implementation and bug fixes for the iOS mobile client for the Lead Scout service.
  • Implemented both iOS client and Ruby on Rails back-end code to manage in-app-purchase subscriptions and coordinated them with the custom web subscription functionality.
  • Built a rendering-and-caching system that turns complex, dynamic web views into native images that can be quickly loaded, along with the invalidation logic needed to ensure the caches images are always accurate.
  • Implemented a Realm database for storing user-data locally and created a sync engine that provides up-to-date information and data merging; I used standard REST calls for the Ruby-on-Rails back end.
  • Used MapKit and annotations views to display user data consisting of, at times, tens of thousands of location data-points along with customized display properties and advanced filtering.
  • Managed dependencies using CocoaPods and implemented GitHub for version control and collaboration.
  • Developed a custom search functionality that provided a seamless UI and user experience for advanced searching of both new addresses and existing user data by collating and ranking results from external APIs as well as the local existing data cache.
Technologies: Firebase, UIKit, Google Maps API, Realm, REST APIs, MapKit, Swift, iOS

Experience

Metronome App for iOS

http://gigbagapps.com/click
A fully custom UI treatment on this app combines rich, fluid animations and practical features to bring a fresh perspective to the crowded metronome app market.

I was the designer and developer for this app, creating everything from the real-time audio processing pipeline to the custom rotation animations and extensive UITableView customizations. I also created an innovative circular menu system to achieve a unique, minimal look.

Lead Generation App for Roofers and Other Home Contractors | iOS

http://leadscoutapp.com
A Swift-based app for roofers, landscapers, etc., and their teams to collaborate on generating new leads and advertise for their business.

I was the iOS developer and worked directly with the back-end and web teams to bring the full host of features available from the service into the mobile app. I helped to design the system for data synchronization between team members. I took 100% ownership over the new features and bug fixes for the mobile app, including integrations with Google Maps and other third-party services, alongside a custom Rails back end.

theDrumDictionary | iOS App for Drummers

http://gigbagapps.com/thedrumdictionary
This project involved the complete rewrite of an outdated iPhone app in Swift UI. It brings the app into the modern era with full native support for all iOS device screen sizes, as well as macOS support. I revamped the audio system to allow for better controls.

Skills

Libraries/APIs

Core Audio, Core Animation, REST APIs, Google Maps API, Core Graphics

Tools

Xcode

Languages

Swift, Objective-C

Frameworks

UIKit, SwiftUI, MapKit

Platforms

iOS, Firebase

Storage

Realm

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