🔨 Attending the Second Pilot of Instruments Virtuoso

I had the opportunity to join the second pilot run of the App Performance and Instruments Virtuoso course, led by James Dempsey.

This course is a rare and focused dive into Xcode Instruments a tool that many iOS developers use lightly, but few truly master. Over four weeks and eight live sessions, we worked through topics like:

• How iOS apps really behave at runtime
• Detecting and analyzing performance issues
• Using Instruments like Time Profiler, Allocations, Leaks, and more
• Understanding flame graphs, memory cycles, CPU profiling, and thread behavior

Each session included hands-on examples and code walkthroughs, followed by live Q&A and office hours.

I had used Instruments before, but only the basics, like running Time Profiler and checking allocations. This course gave me structure, depth, and the confidence to investigate performance issues more methodically. This was the first time I could structure my mental model of how to approach performance problems methodically, not just patch symptoms. I’ve already applied what I learned to improve responsiveness and energy efficiency in real-world projects.

A great mix of low-level visibility and practical application, this course delivered exactly what it promised.

James Dempsey is highly didactic, presenting each tool and concept with clarity and hands-on demos that stick. The course balanced theory and practice perfectly.

Thanks again to James.