Even 20 years ago, when the first cell phones began to hit the market, people realized how popular these devices would become. Back then they were used mainly for making calls and sending text messages, while nowadays smartphones are small computers, often with better components than many notebooks. Nowadays nobody can imagine leaving home without a smartphone or tablet. Mobile devices give us great opportunities, such as browsing social media, taking pictures and videos, browsing the Internet, playing games, conducting remote meetings, and much more. Like any device of this type, it needs an operating system to work properly. Currently, there are three systems dedicated to mobile devices on the market. These are iOS created by Apple, Android created by Google, and Windows Phone, created by Microsoft.
Every day, we use countless applications installed on these systems. Many companies offer mobile applications that make accessing their services from a smartphone or tablet much easier, but someone has to create, develop and constantly update such applications. This is done by Mobile App Developers. Who are they and how to hire them? You can find out by reading this article.
If you frequently use your smartphone to contact candidates and want to learn valuable tips about phone screening, we recommend reading this article.
Who is and what does a Mobile App Developer do?
Mobile Developer, is a person who creates functional and aesthetically pleasing applications that meet all the needs of the end customer. Such a developer specializes in mobile technologies such as app development for the aforementioned Android, iOS, or Windows Phone systems. Mobile app developers create, test, update and manage mobile apps throughout the app lifecycle. They are responsible for both programming the mobile application and designing its user interface.
The main task of a Mobile Developer is designing and coding mobile applications and taking care of their development and updating (also in client-server architecture), dealing with issues of relational databases. Mobile Developers must also take care of the code quality, as well as write unit and functional tests, because nowadays both clients and end users are very demanding and expect a product of the highest quality, working flawlessly.
The Mobile Developer works closely with the entire development team and with the client itself. He may receive assistance from the project team in creating mock-ups of the application and cooperate with other teams in the organization in order to coordinate the deployment strategy. It is good that he/she also works actively with the Product Owner, reporting on the progress of the ongoing tasks – most often this is a task belonging to the Senior Mobile Developer.
“Mobile development is strongly and closely based on the C and Java programming languages. Currently, the most popular mobile platforms are iOS (Apple) and Android (Google). This is an extremely strongly and intensively developing branch of programming – devices are constantly being improved, the production of such devices is faster and they show much higher transfers. It is surprising today that NASA managed to land on the moon with only 4KB of RAM, but the RAM size that is practically the norm in a modern smartphone is … 4GB.”
Kamil Ficek – Senior IT Recruitment Consultant
What skills should a Mobile App Developer have?
A mobile app developer needs to know the right languages and technologies to practice their profession. There are two main positions: iOS Developer and Android Developer. The differences are closely related to the software itself, and in a nutshell, Android is a universal and open system, while iOS on the contrary – a significant part of the software is created internally by Apple. Each application coming from “outside” is carefully analyzed and subjected to numerous tests.
What does an iOS Developer do?
An iOS Developer creates, tests, and updates apps for iOS devices. For this platform, until recently, proficiency in Objective-C was sufficient. Nowadays, Xcode (a development environment) is mainly used to create iOS apps and Swift, which replaced Objective-C and became the primary iOS programming language, was implemented in the eighth release of the system. However, knowledge of Objective-C can be useful when you have been writing iOS applications for 2-3 years and want to get to know this platform better. It is worth knowing its basics, as well as the elements that influenced the Swift language, i.e. the Objective-C Runtime and the object-oriented approach it implements. Knowledge of Objective-C is also useful for understanding how external libraries work that have not yet been fully ported to Swift, or for working on programs written in Objective-C. An iOS developer should be able to design and architect iOS device applications from scratch.
Skills an iOS Developer should have
- Swift
Swift is the main programming language used to develop iOS apps. It is a very modern programming language, relatively easy to learn, and frequently updated. A successful iOS developer should have a good understanding of Swift and its core concepts.
- UIKit
UIKIt is a framework that helps iOS developers design user interfaces. UIKit includes features to implement gestures, animations, default components, and tactile touch controls in applications.
- Xcode
Xcode is an application developed by Apple that makes it easy to write applications for any Apple device. An iOS Developer should be able to navigate through Xcode and understand how to use the various features of the tool.
What does an Android Developer do?
The Android Developer is responsible for developing applications for Android devices. He designs and develops applications and then tests the code for edge cases and overall usability. Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world, and the devices supported by it are expected to grow in the future.
For programming on the Android platform, it is necessary to know primarily Java. It is not uncommon for a mobile application developer to use frameworks such as Core Data, Networking, and Push Notifications in his work. According to one of the Android Developers from KISS Digital, it is advisable for a mobile application developer to be familiar with reactive programming, with a particular focus on the ReactiveX library, and to have a good command of English.
Skills an Android Developer should have
- Building user interfaces
That is, the ability to turn a design into a functional Android application using Java and XML. To do this, an Android Developer must know how to use all the conventional view containers and know all the standard views, as well as other components that may appear in an Android application.
- Data storage and notifications
An Android Developer should know how to store, update and delete information on an Android device. Even if he relies on external APIs for the application, he still needs to store the information locally, on the user’s device. Also, he should be able to implement push notifications to reach more users.
- Material Design Guidelines
Many Android apps use the Material Design framework, created by Google in 2014. For this reason, an Android Developer should know how Material Design works in the context of designing and developing new apps. Additionally, the ability to implement basic Material Design guidelines in an app is essential.
Mobile App Developer Salary
Salaries for Mobile Developers vary widely depending on the type of contract and years of experience. Analyzing the earnings in Poland, it is worth taking into account that the salary often depends on the location of employment, but these days, many companies allow you to work completely remotely or hybrid. According to the JustJoinIT report, the average earnings of a Junior Mobile Developer in 2021 amounted to 6 609zł, Mid Mobile Developer could count on an average of 12 159zł, and Senior Mobile Developer about 17 441zł.
According to our report, “Prepare for IT Recruitment Process in 2022” salary ranges were as follows:
- Junior 5,907zł – 9,958zł
- Mid 13,318zł – 20,580zł
- Senior 16,450zł – 24,790zł
- Expert 18,656zł – 25,995zł
Summary
The faster and faster-growing number of users of mobile devices causes the demand for specialists programming for mobile systems to increase as well. There is nothing to indicate that this upward trend will soon reverse, so the profession of iOS/Android developer is undoubtedly attractive and very promising. Mobile applications are becoming an increasingly important part of business strategy. Mobile applications can be installed directly on the phone, they can send notifications and interact with users. As such, it is the job of the mobile app developer to ensure that the mobile apps work properly so that the company can achieve its business goals and users enjoy the features available. When looking to hire the right Mobile App Developer, it is also important to approach the hiring process properly.
At Next Technology Professionals, we are able to present our first candidates even within 3-5 days. With our extensive candidate database, direct search method, and in-depth candidate vetting capabilities, we are able to carefully select candidates and deliver only the most promising resumes.
Need to hire the best Mobile App Developers? Contact us and enjoy an effective recruitment process.