How hard is it to change careers? Web dev – App dev

Question

I've been interested in App development since a very young age, around 12. It spurred my interest in coding and I actually released a few (terrible, copyright-infringing) apps during middle school. I then started down the web development path by getting freelance gigs and eventually going full-time at an agency after graduating college with a CS degree. I started as an intern and worked my way up to "mid" web developer.I love all things web development, but recently I've been wanting to dive back into iOS app development. I just don't know how hard switching career paths would be. Should I aim for junior positions and just go for it? I released a free app during my senior year of college that has like 5k downloads by now, but I don't know if that's enough to have in my portfolio.Any advice would be appreciated!

purerandomness · Accepted Answer

Instead of making a hard switch, why not ease into it by spending some hours moonlighting a few apps that you then can use as artifacts proving your expertise in that area?
After that, you can gradually remove web dev related technologies from your CV and LinkedIn so recruiters stop contacting you for, say, JavaScript gigs, and instead include Swift and iOS technologies.
You can shape your career and position yourself on the market without taking an income hit by starting from scratch.