Last Updated on 2024-10-16
The age of mobility drive startups to develop mobile apps as a key marketing tool. A startup with a successful mobile application begins with a great idea and requires thorough planning to succeed. As Android-powered devices fueled the development market, thus a huge number of companies move to mobile application development. These also fueled the demand for Android developers.
An Android developer is responsible for designing and creating applications powered by Android, an open-source mobile operating system (OS) designed primarily for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
As of May 2017, Android is the most popular OS worldwide, with over two billion monthly active users. The Google Play Store features over 2.6 million apps powered by Android as of December 2018, and about 88% of smartphones in the world run on Android OS.
The advancement of mobile technology has made our lives easier. We owe it to those companiesโwhether established to startupsโ and developers who made things easier and more comfortable. These companies want to facilitate their customersโ needs and accelerate their business productivity.
On the other hand, developers always aim to develop apps that serve brands to stretch out customer reach and market presence. Indeed, there is a huge demand for experts in Android mobile development worldwide. This article will serve as a reference for startup owners and HR recruiters looking for this talent.
Startup Commercial Success with Android
In every business venture, there is always at stake and risks. At Full Scale, we always prioritize the success of our clients as it looks for cost-effective ways to make the most of their investments. Also, we define success as we help startups develop Android apps with a beneficial level of convenience, expertise, experience, and cost.
However, letโs face the truth, disruptions in every business endeavor is always present. For startups, failure for both sidesโowners andโto establish the principles of successful mobile development. Three principles need correct implementation: design applications, flexibility, and simplicity. And yet, before we delve into the depths of Android mobile development, let us check first the responsibilities and roles of an Android developer.
What does an Android developer do?
Job Responsibilities and Roles
Letโs first discuss the job responsibilities and the potential roles of Android developers. Here is a list of a developerโs major job responsibilities:
- Design and build applications for devices powered by Android
- Maintain quality and ensure the responsiveness of the application
- Collaborate with the software development team to design, define, and launch new application features
- Maintain the applicationโs code integrity and organization
- Do regular unit tests and bug-fixing to ensure the usability, reliability, and robustness of the application
- Perform continuous evaluation, discovery, and implementation of new technologies to maximize the efficiency of mobile app development
Most Android app developers perform one of the following developer job roles that are in high demand in todayโs mobile development market:
- Mobile app developer
- Mobile architect
- Android developer
- Android engineer
- Mobile embedded software engineer
- Mobile lead software engineer
Essential skills
Both technical skills and non-technical skills are the main factors to consider when you hire Android developers. Below is a list of technical skills that Android developers should have:
- Java – Developers should have a well-rounded knowledge of the syntax and programming structures of Java and know control structures, lists, loops, object-oriented concepts, and variables. They should also know how to proficiently utilize both the core concepts, as well as the updated or latest additions of the Java Software Development Kit (SDK).
- Android – The areas of the SDK that developers should be familiar with are the basic understanding of layouts and views, lifecycle activities, user input, getting data from the web and data storage, collection views (ListViews) and adapters (default and custom), action bar, and working with different screen sizes and densities.
- APIs – Developers should be able to learn and work with their application programming interface (API) or other third-party APIs. Some of the recommended APIs they should learn to work with include JSON/REST and XML/SOAP.
- Android Studio – The preferred integrated development environment (IDE) for developers is Android Studio, which has many of the capabilities that developers need from a full-featured IDE. Android Studio features code completion and code debugging, and helps developers to make sure their code will maintain high-performance on mobile devices.
- Databases – Apps handle large amounts of data that will likely interact with external databases such as cloud services like Firebase and Parse. Understanding how databases work, the methods on how to query data and use the data in the application is important for developers because it will help them to develop apps that can store data efficiently, and even externally when an app is offline.
And these are the non-technical skills you should look for in Android developers:
- Collaboration and communication – These skills are essential because developers mostly work in team environments. They collaborate and communicate with other developers, designers, management, client, and sometimes the intended end-users of the application. Developers should make sure they can clearly and simply explain and convey what they are working on to both technical and non-technical people.
- Written communication – Developers should be comfortable in communicating through written text. They are expected to write technical documentation, work summaries, daily and weekly reports, user-facing text in the apps being developed, and regular communication with concerned parties via chat and email.
- Passion for work – Many employers often post job listings that mention โpassionate employeesโ as one of the job requirements. What this means is that a developer is genuinely enthusiastic and interested in the job that he or she is applying for. When you interview applicants and you observe that some of them have thoroughly researched the company and position and ask relevant questions about them, it shows that they are passionate about the job being offered.
These job responsibilities and roles tell us how Android developers will help emerging businesses from all sectors use mobile applications to engage their users to reach optimum business results.
Sources Where you can Hire Android Developers
There are two types of sources where you can hire Android developers โ the first is the traditional source, and the second is the online source. The traditional sources include posting job advertisements in newspapers, hiring the services of local job placement firms, and social networking with friends, peers, or relatives looking for work.
The main advantage of online sources is a much larger number of opportunities to assess many applicants since many developers prefer to post their resumes online; there is also a wide variety of online sources that you can search for. These include employment websites, freelancing platforms, developer community forums, and social media sites.
These sites are also either free or require a minimal fee for posting job listings. Another advantage of employment and freelancing sites is that you can search for applicants according to the type of employees you need. It can be classified as a full-time office-based, freelancer, and contract-to-hire or project-based job.
Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and CareerBuilder are the most popular employment websites in terms of the number of unique monthly visitors. Each of those four websites has its own U.S. and international versions. You can find thousands of software developers from these sites, many of which are available for local or remote employment.
Here are some other websites where you can hire Android developers:
- Toptal – This site focuses on the quality of its pool of developers because you have access to the top 3% of developers in the world. Each freelancer member of Toptal must pass through a strict screening process before being eligible to accept jobs from clients.
- Upwork – A global freelancing platform that has more than 12 million registered members, and allows you to interview, hire and work with freelancers. In Upwork, you can hire freelancers for various tasks from simple coding tasks to long-term contracts for complex offshore mobile app development projects.
- Freelancer – With over 25 million registered users, Freelancer has a huge pool of Android developers ranging from junior, mid-level to senior developers. Some developers can do simple mobile app development up to complex mobile apps that can solve complicated tasks.
- GitHub Jobs – GitHub is a cloud-based service that helps developers to store and manage their code and to monitor and control the changes to their code. This site has over 28 million users. GitHubโs job board is GitHub Jobs which is focused on IT talent. For a small fee, you can post an Android developer job listing that will be viewed by GitHubโs huge developer community.
- Stack Overflow – This is the largest Q&A site for developers to learn, share their knowledge and build their careers. The Stack Overflow job board allows you to search for a large pool of skilled Android developers both locally and abroad.
- People Per Hour – What makes People Per Hour unique from other freelancer platforms is that it holds skills contest for its registered freelancers, and allows them to post their job postings. In this site, you can easily post job listings, contact freelancers, and pay for them through the siteโs safe and secure payment system.
Offshore your Android App Development with Full Scale
If you want to offshore your Android app development, we offer a free consultation. We are eager to help your uncommon innovative ideas to build solutions. We are located in Cebu City, Philippines, and we have a decent roster of skilled Android developers and other software developers. We provide extensive app development efforts to bring tremendous profits to your company.
Here at Full Scale, our current Android developers have extensive experience in mobile app development and participated in the development of various mobile app projects.
Through our Guided Development system, we will give the right app developer for your project. These developers have junior to intermediate (two to three years) experience in Android mobile development and are proficient in Native Android (Java), Android (Hybrid application), C++, Java, and Kotlin. They have skills in the Android testing frameworks of User Interface Automator and Espresso.
As mobile application development occupies a place in the pantheon of the IT revolution, still the reality is it is not going to be business as usual. Mobile app development is expensive, and limitations are lurking around. Plus, the scarcity of developers in the US is a massive blow to most startups.
And yet, our company has mobile app developers who are skilled in Native iOS (Objective C), JavaScript, and web application frameworks such as ASP.NET, CodeIgniter, and Laravel. We believe that a software development offshoring partnership with us will be one of the best business decisions youโll ever make!
Contact us about your Android app development project. We will evaluate your needs and timeframe, and figure out what kind of development, testing, and design you need for your project.
If you need additional Android developers, we can recruit more through our comprehensive screening process that includes technical interviews by our senior developers and technical exams. We will provide continuous support from the beginning up to establishing your team. Our dedicated services embody renowned highly skilled Filipino software developers and world-class work ethics.
Matt Watson is a serial tech entrepreneur who has started four companies and had a nine-figure exit. He was the founder and CTO of VinSolutions, the #1 CRM software used in today’s automotive industry. He has over twenty years of experience working as a tech CTO and building cutting-edge SaaS solutions.
As the CEO of Full Scale, he has helped over 100 tech companies build their software services and development teams. Full Scale specializes in helping tech companies grow by augmenting their in-house teams with software development talent from the Philippines.
Matt hosts Startup Hustle, a top podcast about entrepreneurship with over 6 million downloads. He has a wealth of knowledge about startups and business from his personal experience and from interviewing hundreds of other entrepreneurs.