With These 5 Essential Skills You Could Be a High Paying Android App Developer
Becoming a mobile app developer requires five essential skills. Let us go through them one by one.
Native vs. Cross-Platform Development
Essentially, there are two ways to make mobile apps: native or cross-platform. By using native development, we can build an app that only works on one operating system such as iOS or Android. In this way, you get to be in full control of the target platform’s capabilities so that performance is excellent and users have the greatest experiences possible.
The disadvantage, however, is that if a similar application has to be built for another platform, we will have to create another project entirely in a different language and ecosystem; in other words two projects and two sets of bugs to fix each!
Here comes multi-platform development; also known as cross-platform development. With cross-platform development strategy, we can save time by reusing code over various platforms and may reduce bug density even further. That means fixing it once fixes it across all platforms. But for now let’s talk about native development options for iOS (Objective C is an older language while Swift is modern and preferable) and for android (Java being traditional or Kotlin which is modern and preferred).
Cross-Platform Development Frameworks
Which framework or toolkit to use will depend on cross-platform development. These include React Native, Flutter, Kotlin Multi-Plattform, MAUI, and a few others. Let’s take one by one. First of all there is React Native which was launched by Facebook in 2015. This toolkit allows you to create mobile apps with JavaScript and React which is a popular library for building web UIs. Some major users of React Native include Skype Microsoft Office as well as the very Facebook itself. Then we have Flutter, a Google product that was released in 2017. For this reason, Flutter utilizes DART programming language that combines best parts of JavaScript, Java and C#. An example of such an app is eBay nested within Alibaba and Google Play Store.
Now it’s really powerful! Moving on to Kotlin Multiplatform these are the latest tools from Jetbrains who developed IntelliJ including PyCharm as well as WebStorm among others. I think these are the world’s best IDEs currently available. It employs Kotlin programming language which is modernized version of Java Apps built with Kotlin multi-platform include McDonalds, Netflix, Cash App , which happens to be a payment system among other things . Lastly there’s MAUI abbreviation for what?
User interface (UI) for a .net multi-platform app introduced by Microsoft, Maui lets you build native mobile and desktop apps using C sharp and .Net. These days, most companies prefer to use multi-platform development to reduce their costs. This implies that we cannot consider native development for now but rather focus on cross-platform possibilities.
Choosing the Right Framework
Now which framework is better? Well, there is not the best framework in existence. Yes, there are such people as our superstar opinionated developer Mr. John Smith who swears by React native but others have the opposite view point on this matter. The point of fact is that neither of these frameworks are flawless. Each has its own issues and oddities that you will find out when you start building real applications beyond YouTube tutorials.
And why is this so? It’s because they try to support two completely different platforms at once So which cross platform solution should you choose? Well, it depends on two things.
Your Familiarity with Languages and Technologies
First, on what languages and technologies you’re familiar with Example if you are a C# developer MAUI might be the easier route If you know web technologies like JavaScript and React, you may want to go with React Native It makes an easier transition from web to mobile development
Employment Opportunities
Another aspect is employment. In many cases, React Native and Flutter get more jobs. The following shows the number of available positions for different kinds of mobile app developers in the US alone. Here however is how it looks like now and maybe this might be different where you come from. Maybe a Flutter developer will find even more opportunities for work. So don’t ask me which way to go; Just find your way by doing a lot of research!
However, if you are interested in mobile development as a career option, you must choose between React Native and Flutter as they are not compatible with each other but one has to decide because they love similar things. If you can do basic web development then better take the React Native path ahead, otherwise prefer working with DART because DART is just a really pleasant programming language compared to JavaScript, which is I think very modern and has no oddities or weird parts associated with JavaScript for instance. Either JavaScript or DART should be chosen so that there can be commitment on the learning schedule. If I put 3-5 hours daily, it will take me around two months to master either of these languages at least only on essential basis since I was confident that it is impossible not to learn them both during such period only if someone devotes 3-5 hours every day to it respectively.
Version Control Systems: Git and GitHub
The following thing to study is how a version control system like Git works. It’s not a coding language. It is a tool that we use for tracking code changes and collaborating with other people. Every developer needs Git and GitHub, which is the platform for hosting Git repositories in their lives. However, Git has tonnes of features, but you don’t need to memorize them all by heart if you are just starting out everyday usage. Take it as an example of 80/20 rule: at least eighty percent of the time, twenty percent of the functionalities in git are used. You only require one or two weeks to practice before getting started.
Understanding Data Structures and Algorithms
Usually developing mobile applications involves dealing with data structures as well as implementing sophisticated algorithms. Many autodidact programmers face this problem because they try escaping this way and learn more languages and tools while bypassing computer science basics.
Computer science students are taught two important subjects; data structures and algorithms which are often tested in technical interviews especially by large companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft. For a person who has had the privilege of teaching millions of people, I would strongly advise against this. Otherwise you will feel the bitterness later part of your career. Here is my personal advice: dedicate at least one to two months studying classical data structures and algorithms as this will form your base in programming and problem solving.
Learning Design Patterns
Another thing you should learn is design patterns but many self-taught developers seem to miss it out as well. Design patterns refer to solutions that have been proven for common issues related to software designing. The book about “Design Patterns” features 23 classic design patterns described by Gang of Four. Some of these patterns are used in mobile frameworks hence learning them will enable you understand more about Object Oriented principles applied on mobile frameworks that run on low level languages like C++. However, I must say that this is a very old book written in C++. But honestly it’s not a light reading because most of its examples are kind of dry and don’t really apply to modern software products.
Therefore, I have developed a practical, hands-on course on this subject where I use Java and up-to-date examples found in applications we are using today. This shows how design patterns are put to use in contemporary applications. You can take my course or any other if you dedicate some hours each day for about two months, and the chances are that you will understand design patterns quite well.
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Right then, the next thing is a mobile framework as discussed above before that. As an alternative to DART, learn Flutter and instead of JavaScript go for React Native. In the event that you already know how to program very well with your background being strong enough, then it will take you approximately these two frameworks within 2 months to achieve your aims here; And so if you can spare few hours every day following this direction map, after maybe eight or twelve months, you will be able to apply for entry level mobile developer position.
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