5 Basic Skills Every App Developer Should
Be Well-Versed In
By Manoj Rupareliya
Mobile application development is the most profitable business today and skilled developers are in high demand in the market. In this competitive world, lagging due to a lack of basic skills can render negative effects on your career prospects. Basics are the starting point of any career path and here is where most of the developers get wrong by developing skills towards a particular technology and miss the larger picture here.
2019 saw developers bracing up for a popular race of choice between Go, Kotlin, and Python as the programming favorites among them. There has been a frenzy among developers today to be innovative and flexible in terms of work and there has been a conscious effort to abid the development process to the international regulations on the security of data.
1. Know the JS Universe:
The most prolific platform that provides all the right tools to develop applications of higher performance and lower latency is JS(JavaScript) universe. Everything from full-stack, front-end to back-end can be developed through JavaScript frameworks and environments. 2018 had 73% of developers swearing an oath on knowing the Javascript programming language. Which was 66% in 2017 There is no doubt on the popularity of JavaScript as a programming language.
This should be the first on any developer's checklist. JavaScript is a scripting language that can be directly inserted in the HTML of a page. Web browsers can easily read JavaScript language and it is the only programming language to obtain such a status. Browsers can read Javascript, interpret it and then run the program, to provide the users with client-side experiences.
JavaScript also is compatible with other languages like Kotlin, PHP, Python, Ruby, Java or.NET. JavaScript running in the browser is fully-decoupled from how HTML web pages are generated and users will always have the same rich experience as JavaScript works seamlessly without bothering the server-side language being used.
Benefits of JavaScript For Every Developer:
- Client-side execution by JavaScript provides faster user experiences.
- JS is asynchronous and can communicate with the server in the background without interrupting the user interaction taking place in the frontend.
- JavaScript has brought user interface interactivity for applications of all kinds.
- Developers need to adapt their design by Combining HTML5, CSS3 & JavaScript to form effective apps across multiple browsers and devices, using a single database.
- Developers can learn JavaScript fast and get into active development very easily.
- Its syntax is easy and flexible that simplifies the development of complex applications by enabling developers to simplify the app’s composition.
2. Cross-Platform Bliss:
There are many platforms to be acquainted with but two major players in the market are Google and Apple. Google-powered AndroidOS and Apple's brainchild iOS are the two most profitable platforms. Every developer should be well-versed with the applications that can be as native as it could be in these platforms and yet be functional across environments.
Android has surely made the market ruling business decisions and the free applications realm has been explored by Android very-well. In the 3rd quarter of 2019, Android had 2.47 million applications to choose from in the Google Play Store. Apple's App store remained 2nd with 1.8 million applications on offer. With so much to choose from, the application should be designed to attract and sustain the customer and this is where developers with the knowledge of native as well as cross-platform apps development can be helpful.
Developers should be familiar with tools like Android SDK, iOS SDK, Android Studio, Studio X, etc. to optimize the application development through the leverage of these tools and best practices of both the platforms. Developers should have the basic knowledge of languages like Xamarin, Kotlin, node.js, etc. to exploit the cross-platform paradigm.
3. Agile Approach:
Mobile applications have now gone agile and are now built faster, meaner and leaner through agile approach. The agile approach is a methodology that ensures the development of applications into iterative phases. These iterative phases are often known as the sprints. Agile approaches like Scrum are more of an enterprise model and are used extensively for larger projects. But, if you are a developer XP approach is a must-know for you.
XP stands for extreme programming and is based on three different models of Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Feature-Driven Development (FDD). All of which are based on user behavior, testing of applications and features in an application. Adding agile approaches to your profile as a developer can boost your chances of recruitment at any reputed firm.
4. The Low-code Knowledge:
Among top tricks to develop an application faster, low-code development is among the most popular methods. Any firm that hires developers for app development has the requirement of developing applications faster, error-free and has low memory usage. Low-code approach can develop apps faster and leaner on the memory side as there is low coding and lesser needs to store theses codes with lesser codes.
One more important factor that can help lower code writing and faster app development that can easily load on the launch. The low-code approach emphasizes the reuse of a common logic to ensure low or no coding on each version of the app to be released. This methodology helps low memory usage and helps the application load faster, This is the sole reason every developer should be able to use and exploit the goods of low-code development.
5. Innovative Technologies:
Developers should be updated with the latest innovations and technologies in application development and its associated technologies. IoT(Internet of Things), for example, is the biggest innovation of the present market that is changing the way apps were seen and envisioned. IoT is considered the most adopted technology in the next few years with 53% popularity over other innovative technologies like Deep Learning, Machine Learning, etc.
Today, the applications need to be adaptive to the IoT-based devices and technologies for effective connectivity and exchange of data from the IoT-based device interface and application API. Other innovative techniques like server-less development of application, cloud-based development, automation of testing, etc. should be there in your checklist to enhance your overall CV(Curriculum Vitae).
Artificial Intelligence and its relative technologies are changing how a mobile app can be tested. With the data-science and its applications, user-data is leveraged to adjust the application versions to meet the requirements of the customers. using the heuristics approach to conduct the test of applications with no or low-error. Developers must know these innovative technologies, though it is not necessary to be an expert on such technologies a basic acquaintance with the technology can certainly make a difference.
Concluding lines:
Developers around the world are developing multiple skills to be able to add value to their worth. Enterprises too like to hire developers that are multi-taskers and knowledgeable in a myriad of skills that can help build seamless and highly responsive applications.
Mobile applications have seen an evolution in its development process and methodology, over the years. These evolutionary phases ensured the applications to be real-time responsive and lighter in memory usages to ensure users don't feel the need to leave these applications.
Leveraging your knowledge and skills to get the right job is every developer's dream and a dream that can be fulfilled through the knowledge of basic skills as above that can shape your career.
Author Bio
Manoj Rupareliya is a Marketing Consultant and blogger. who has been writing for various blogs. He has previously covered an extensive range of topics in his posts, including Business, Technology, Finance, Make Money, Cryptocurrency, and Start-ups.
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