Developing a well-designed and user-friendly mobile app allows businesses to digitise their services and make them readily available on any mobile device. By definition, mobile app development is the process of writing software for mobile devices. Apps rule every inch of our lifestyle — from dictating your spending habits, organising your documents in a single platform, and prompting requests to accept friends requests from all your social media accounts. One of the core factors in every mobile app is the app developers, the app's architect. Competent developers are well versed in modern coding languages, cloud infrastructure, cross-platform skills, data integration, cloud integration, security integration, and much more., In this post, we will look at the overview of mobile application development— the role of an app developer, where can one start and more.
We are familiar with how apps work. Users can access apps from their mobile phone app store, download and register an account, and you’re good to go. But do you know how apps are developed? This is where app developers trudge in. It’s the job of the mobile app developer to ensure mobile apps work correctly so the company can achieve its goals. The development framework comprises conceptualisation to market validation, persona definition to creating beautiful designs, creating a robust development architecture and writing clean code, and how you build a marketing plan to launch it to the market. It is a whole new world, and it bores stark difference to developing and building websites.
Just like any developer career path, it starts with certification and credibility. This is the universal starting point for any aspiring mobile app developer. Attaining the right technical skills is crucial regardless of where you have acquired them, whether through the conventional route of a bachelor’s degree or a series of online courses from GoTraining and alike. Alternatively, you can further your efforts to master mobile app development by attending one or more of the many coding boot camp programs springing up to train aspiring developers. Also, it is essential to note that familiarising yourself with mobile user interface design is crucial because it derives the first impression from users. It can make or break an app in terms of usability, attractiveness, popularity, and revenue.
There are also myriad platforms to choose from, two of the prominent ones being iOS and Android. The different platforms have different structures, standards, and requirements; however, this highly relies on the nature of the app function. On top of that, the programming language used in these platforms differs too. Android coding is primarily done in Java, and iOS development is primarily done in either Objective-C or Swift. If you’ve coded in C#, C++, or any C languages, you’ll probably find the iOS learning curve less steep. If you have any prior knowledge in these languages, it could indicate your next step to achieve your goals faster.
However, your path doesn’t stop at knowing programming languages. How are you nurturing your technical skills? Learning programming and development tools enable you to have gained an edge. You should know how to store, update, and delete information on an Android device. Even if you rely on outside APIs for an app, you’ll still need to store information locally on the user’s device. Moreover, dabble on more mobile development SDK/frameworks like Cordova, Angular, React, alike. Ultimately, what really matters is that you relentlessly practise and work on projects, however simple it is, and work your way up to more complex ones. Let’s not forget soft skills because pursuing mobile app development demands a lot more than a certified computer science degree. Being detail-oriented and a problem solver will take you far. Also, it is helpful if you hone your networking skills effectively and are proactive in teamwork. As a rookie developer, forums and online communities are ideal arenas to help developers understand a platform's inner workings and give them a chance to explore development resources in and around that platform. This is where all those soft skills will be put to the test and bring positive outcomes.
For a user, the importance of mobile application development is of great importance. Portability and ease of use make the usability of mobile applications elementary for the audience with gradually less learning curve. Owing to its huge influence in businesses today, mobile app technology continues to grow and become more of a necessity, making the roles of mobile app developers in high demand.
