When the IT field comes to light, you can pick various career paths. However, the mobile app development field has earned a lot of popularity. Well, mobile devices have lived for ages and are going to stay here forever.

The estimated mobile phone users worldwide are expected to have reached 6 Bn who choose their mobile phones for almost their every need, starting from shopping to paying to playing the games. With the sudden upliftment of mobile phones and tablets, the demand for mobile apps will constantly increase. If you are an ambitious app developer, then this would be good news for you.

WHAT SHOULD YOU LEARN BEFORE BECOMING A MOBILE APP DEVELOPER?

Mobile app developers should at least hold a bachelor’s degree right in computer science as a major. The degrees of mobile app development targets areas like data structuring, system design, and programming. Equally, it is essential to learn computer programming languages like HTML, C++, and Java. Some computer science degrees will merge such language classes as a significant part, while in others, they are offered as electives.

If you want to grab the top position in mobile app development, you may necessitate a master’s degree. The jobs that demand a master’s degree will usually target specialists with several years of experience.

Some of the skills you need to acquire as a mobile app developer through formal education in the same field are:

1.CROSS-PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT

If you want to survive in the mobile application development industry, just being a skilled developer only on one platform is not sufficient. You should be proficient and hold knowledge about developing distinct sorts of apps for any mobile device type.

2.UX/UI DESIGN

Developing mobile apps is not just about operating them correctly. As there are numerous apps available, you must know how to create user-friendly mobile apps with a good design that may make them stand uniquely. Formal education will offer you the skills to develop apps with a good user interface and user experience.

3. PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

Formal education will let you familiarize yourself with front-end development and programming languages, like HTML5, Objective C, C++, Java, and more.

WHAT DOES A MOBILE APP DEVELOPER DO?

Well, the shoulders of application developers are packed with various responsibilities. These include managing the app lifecycle, know-how of certain principles of coding, support, and collaboration efforts.

To get more understanding about every responsibility needed for this role, let’s get a detailed look at the most basic needs of application developers:

• Coding and Design

A fundamental principle of app development is the deep knowledge of coding and app design. Relying on the proficiency, app developers must hold the right programming skill to code for the OS they are designing.

Typical programming languages include:

• C++
• Java / JavaScript
• PHP
• Python;

• Application Management

Among the essential responsibilities of an app developer is application management. As the name indicates, a soft skill that app developers should reveal is an organized calibre to handle the app life cycle and people involved in the process to make sure deployment and post-deployment changes go smooth.

UNDERSTANDING THE APPLICATION DEPLOYMENT LIFECYCLE

The application deployment lifecycle includes the below crucial stages:

Initial Planning > Design > Development > Testing > Deployment > Support.

In all the phases, an app developer needs to hold specific knowledge and potential to lead the phase into its completion. Such demands the activities around project management and collaboration. Let’s get deeper:

• Planning and Design

This phase demands specific input from a collaborative and project management perspective.

On the project management edge, the mobile app developer should accumulate the requirements dependent on the analysis of empirical data. Holding this information, they should also have the analytics soft skills to lower down the requirements.

On the collaboration and communication edge, program design exists. It states the development of the software’s architecture and generally is headed by the developer who needs to incorporate input from the other critical stakeholders on the team.

• Development and Testing

From here, the fun starts! Relying on the design, the requirements gathered in the previous phase. The developers will kickstart the iterative steps of coding, next, testing, and then revising. Development and testing are the two longest stages in the lifecycle.

• Deployment and Support

At this stage, the software developer is all done with the major phases of the lifecycle, and the project management targets the shifts to customer support. Simultaneously, the developer should collaborate with the other senior members of the IT dept. To make sure that the asset management line items have accomplished their end.

TROUBLESHOOTING AND DEBUGGING APPLICATIONS

A term, troubleshooting, states the systematic pathway through which the application developers should get the potential to recognize, categorize, separate, and articulate the issues that emerge in the apps.

Troubleshooting occurs during the lifecycle testing stage and demands the developers to collaborate with end-users at a top-level to recognize the issues in the system.

Debugging is required to take as a subset of troubleshooting that indicates the natural process of deleting the identified problems on a case-by-case basis. Both such techniques are the need for savvy developers.

MONITORING, UPDATES, AND SECURITY

Once the app launched, the application developer should shift into a mode where they become all set to monitor and release the updates to the edition as required. The application developers should also get about the security protocols that safeguard users from external threats and stay competitive in the ever-changing field of cybersecurity and technology.

Server Engineering and Admin Responsibilities

An app developer for an enterprise may also work with the server engineering functions. This embraces holding the programming languages’ know-how needed to code networking servers, lofty experiences with the cloud servers, database software and the back-end platform technology, and cloud platforms such as AWS and more.

In such examples, app developers may need to code the aspects belonging to the server environment and admin platforms that are required for critical systems to perform perfectly.

End-User Support and Training

The app developers are needed to handle all the elements of training and support. It may state collaborating with other team members to craft training video, tutorials, or infographics, live troubleshooting issues, or carrying phone training and support,

Project Management, Collaboration, Communication

All the responsibilities above need a deep understanding and practical, basic knowledge of project management, communication, and collaboration. Such soft and hard skills are apparent all through the application lifecycle and continue to be related even post-deployment.

CONCLUSION

Becoming the best mobile app developer is a journey that would not end so soon. If you are motivated to become a mobile application developer and want to develop apps that will assist people globally, this post will help you know a lot.