// MARK: - Introduction

let hootan: iOSDeveloper

8+ years building iOS apps, from digital health to enterprise banking.
This isn't a portfolio — it's a playground.

Based in the Netherlands Swift · SwiftUI · UIKit · Combine 0 retain cycles (currently)

Hootan.swift
1struct Developer: Identifiable, Codable {
2    let name = "Hootan"
3    let domain = "hootan.dev"
4    let passions = ["Swift", "SwiftUI", "System Design"]
5    var caffeineLevel: Double = .infinity
6
7    func buildSomethingGreat() async throws -> App {
8        try await pourCoffee()
9        return try await ship(withLove: true)
10    }
11}
→ Console Output

// MARK: - About

The Developer Behind the Code

Hey — I'm Hootan. I've been writing Swift since the days when you had to fight UIKit just to get a custom transition working. Over the past 8+ years, I've shipped apps in health tech, fintech, gaming, and e-commerce — sometimes as the only dev on the team, sometimes inside a large SDK organization. Both teach you things the docs never mention.

Right now I'm at Backbase in Amsterdam, working on a white-label banking SDK that powers apps for financial institutions around the world. My days involve managing multiple LTS branches, migrating legacy RxSwift to Combine, pushing test coverage past 90%, and lately — adapting everything for iOS 26's new design language. Before that, I spent five years at Karafs, Iran's biggest digital health startup (5M+ users). That's where I led a full UIKit-to-SwiftUI migration targeting iOS 13, doubled the build speed, and built the networking and data layers from scratch.

Outside of my day job, I'm deep into AI-powered development. I build agentic workflows that handle the full dev cycle — from reading a ticket to opening a PR. I've used those same agents to build entire products from zero: Invoicent and NexusCommerce were shipped without writing a single line of code manually. It's my way of stress-testing what AI can actually do when you give it real constraints and real deadlines.

I also run HiOLO — a small AI holding company where I incubate and ship products like Kahoo, Stravix, FlowForge, and more. It's part lab, part portfolio, part excuse to keep building things that interest me.

// When I'm not in Xcode, I'm probably watching football, hiking somewhere in the Netherlands, or having a strong opinion about optionals.

Years iOS

10+

Products Shipped

90%+

Test Coverage

AI Products

// MARK: - Memory Management

ARC: The Silent Accountant

Every object lives on borrowed time. ARC counts references with mechanical precision — when the count hits zero, it's over. No negotiations. Click to retain, release, and watch the lifecycle unfold.

RetainCycle.swift
1class Person {
2    var apartment: Apartment?
3    deinit { print("Person deallocated") }
4}
5
6class Apartment {
7    var tenant: Person?  // ⚠️ Should be weak
8    deinit { print("Apartment deallocated") }
9}
10
11// They refer to each other. Neither can die.
12// This is fine. 🔥
→ Console Output

// MARK: - Value vs. Reference

The Copy You Didn't Expect

Structs copy. Classes share. It sounds simple until it isn't. Mutate one side and watch what happens to the other.

struct Point — Value Type

original

{ x: 0, y: 0 }

0x7ff0a001

copy

{ x: 0, y: 0 }

0x7ff0b002

// Click to mutate the copy

class Point — Reference Type

original

{ x: 0, y: 0 }

0x600003c0

reference

{ x: 0, y: 0 }

0x600003c0

// Click to mutate the reference

// MARK: - Structured Concurrency

await the Inevitable

Modern Swift concurrency in motion. Watch tasks suspend, resume, and resolve — or throw trying. Hit run and observe structured concurrency unfold in real time.

↓

fetchData()

idle

→

{ }

decode()

idle

→

✓

validate()

idle

→