Can a Single Person Develop a Mobile App?
The mobile app development economy is seeing significant changes every day. The number of applications the app store and Google play continues to grow exponentially. That means more businesses realize the importance of having an online presence, especially with an app.
Start-ups with low budgets also want to create applications and compete with established businesses. As an entrepreneur getting into business, you need to keep expenses low by doing most of these tasks yourself. This article answers a common question about if one person can successfully develop an app.
Here is all you need to know.
How Many People Does It Take to Create a Mobile Application?
Many business people looking to establish their businesses online get scared by the overwhelming mobile app creation processes. Still, creating an app should never intimidate you. This is because you can create an app by yourself if you have the skills for it.
Creating an app ideally requires up to five people to complete the process. You'll need to hire mobile and backend developers on a full-time basis, then a dev-ops specialist, designer, and QA specialist, all part-time. Hiring this entire team to develop your application and make it market-ready can be daunting.
Thus, it can be best if you can explore the option of doing the entire process yourself. You can learn how to do most of these tasks then take your time to do them. Although it may be time-consuming and tiresome, it is a great way to cut on your expenses and improve your business online presence.
The best thing about doing the entire process personally is the experience you gain from it. You get to learn how the mobile app creation process goes and amass the first-hand experience. Besides, it becomes easier to know your application's ins and outs, making it easier to diagnose and solve problems.
If you're thinking about creating an application personally, you shouldn't fear what the process looks like on paper. Don't be afraid of trying it, as various online beginner-friendly tools will help you.
How Hard is it to Make an App?
As mentioned earlier, many people get scared of creating an application because they believe it is difficult. However, creating an application is easy depending on your approach and the tools you use. Besides, it also depends on the features that you'd want to include in your application.
You should always remember that it is not the process of creating the app that can be difficult. The result that you want to achieve determines how complex the process will be. It is vital to note that prototypes only give direction and a feel of the final product; there's a lot of work to finish.
The best thing about mobile app creation is that things are getting simpler every day. The modern world has changed thanks to the huge impact that technology has brought. Now, most of the application development processes are easier, thanks to the automation of processes.
One of the important aspects of this process that requires automation is testing. Thankfully, you can get a perfectly refined application if you start testing early enough. Testing can start at the prototyping stage all the way to after releasing the application.
If you automate testing, you will determine the features that aren't working perfectly on your application earlier. Besides, you will also determine the functionality of your application after its release. That will support the release of timely updates that will make it suit your audience perfectly.
Create an App with These Simple Options
The process of creating an application is relatively simple and easy to understand. As a beginner, you need a guide to understand the entire process and what is worth prioritizing. Different options will help you get the best application for your audience.
The first option for you is to learn how to code and the various languages involved. It is not mandatory to have coding knowledge, but it is the best way to get started with app development. You can enroll in a school and learn coding or register for an online course.
The next option you can consider is using app builders to complete the process much quicker and efficiently. The best thing about using app builders is that you will be able to do most of the work trained professionals do, even though you're a novice.
Besides, using app builders makes it unnecessary to learn to code. You can successfully create an application without having a hint of what coding entails. You will find templates of different kinds of applications on app builders, which will help you decide whether it fits your needs.
If you have enough time and money, you can combine the first and second options. You can enroll in a school and gather coding knowledge before you start on anything. Next, you can research the best app builder that can give you the desired results.
Although the last option seems tedious, it is one of the best ways that you can use to refine your skills completely. In general, creating a mobile app isn't as difficult as it initially sounds. There are lots of options to consider depending on your situation, budget, and business needs.
Next, you’d need to understand the importance of testing your app before you launch it. Testing will help you find bugs or any flaws in the app as you definitely don’t want to give your users a hard time using it.
If you’re planning to create a mobile app by yourself, you need to learn mobile app testing as well. There are free test automation tools you can use for this. But you definitely need to give some time to learn how to do it if you can’t hire a software test engineer to do it for you.
Mobile Web App Development Requires Detailed Planning
The process of creating an application requires detailed planning. If you're going to do it alone, you may even need more planning because the process will be long and exhausting. However, that doesn't mean that you cannot get the best results if you're working alone.
The best way to prepare is to identify what your customer needs early. You can conduct surveys to understand the features that your customer wants in the application. You can also research what competitors are doing to prepare more adequately.
Poor preparation can be disappointing in the end. For instance, you may realize that your application isn't navigable when you've already launched and released it. You could lose on several potential customers, especially those who'd have anticipated the launch, only to get disappointed.
As a newbie, you may also get tempted to think that a web-based code will work perfectly for a mobile application. But then, there are differences between the two, and thus you need to use the correct one. Besides, you should ensure that you produce something that your audience will be happy to use.
Final Thoughts
In short, there's no disputing that a single person can develop a mobile app. Although it is a process ideally meant for 5 or more professionals, you can handle it from start to finish if you have the right skills. Today's technological world makes it easy to learn any skill that you want to acquire at any time.
If you're looking to give it a try, there's no need for a second, though. As mentioned earlier, planning is key when you want to develop an application. Prepare adequately, acquire the skills you need and then gather the tools and software to see you through the process. In the end, you will have an application that you desire and that meets your audience’s needs.
About the author:
Dan Martin has been building teams and coaching others to foster innovation and solve real-time problems. Dan also enjoys photography and traveling.