What Are The Skills Mobile Developers Need To Succeed?
CyberCoders reports “mobile app development is the hottest and most in-demand industry right now. Mobile is permeating all forms of tech.”
A Computerworld article listed the “10 hottest IT skills for 2015,” with programming/application development ranking #1: 48 percent of survey respondents said they planned to hire this year.
The CyberCoders looked at its own job placement data for insights on which mobile OS is more in demand and reported a 110 percent increase in Android -related jobs posted from 2012 to 2014 compared to 54 percent of iOS jobs. The data also shows recruiters typically filled an Android-related position in about half the time of an average job.
CyberCoders says a request from a prospective client you should definitely be prepared for is providing examples of mobile apps you have developed. It also suggests sharpening (or adding) skills, listing the top 11 in-demand skills for mobile developers:
For Android:
- Android SDK
- Android NDK
- C
- C++
For Android or iOS:
- Social media APIs
- Social media SDKs
- Node.js
For iOS:
- Swift
- Cocoa
- Cocoa Touch
Additional advice from the article include proving you are truly interested in achieving a vision — not just an IPO — and to know more about tech than just your app. “It's important to know not just current technology but what is coming up. If you can advise clients on future proofing their projects or showing how they can grow over time, it’s a better sell than ‘I can build this to specification,’” says Samit Shah, cofounder of mobile app development company Persource.
A Dzone article lists four skills — but not tech skills — that are vital to a developer’s success: problem solving, the ability to teach yourself, naming — or the ability to give good names to concepts — and dealing with people. In the article author John Sonmez says, “If you can solve problems, learn things quickly, name things well and deal with people, you will have a much greater level of success in the long run than you will in specializing in any particular technology.”