Career Story of a self taught Android Developer - Part 2

Part 1 of this post – Career Story of a self taught Android Developer.

(Suchandrim explains how he became a self taught Android Developer)

What are the skills and education required to be an Android Developer?

You need to know:

JAVA is most preferable language to know. Kotlin is a new language will I will recommend everyone. (I made my first practice app without any coding experience in Java)
OOP Concepts is a must. Without this, you cannot structure an app.
If you plan to make an app of your own you need to have basic knowledge of Photo editing softwares (Illustrator/Photoshop/Sketch) and have an eye for good design. Both UI and UX skills are important. For example, if playing a song requires 5 clicks, no matter how beautiful the screens look, no one will use your app.

Finding a solution is not good enough, you need to find the best solution as we are limited by the device and we have to optimize.

The skills required are:

Thinking out of the box
Ability to solve problems
Learn and adapt to changes
Writing clean well structured code code

The education required is:

Skills are much more important than a degree. Companies like Google, Facebook or even where I work, Mutual Mobile do not require a degree at all. But a Computer Science Engineering opens up more avenues for you. If you are in High School and want to be a developer, you can opt of CSE.

What do you think everyone leaving higher secondary school should know?

Whatever you have learnt or not learnt matters almost nothing. Therefore, if you are a great student, that doesn’t matter. I have seen excellent students in High School failing professionally. On the other hand, if you did not perform well in High School, doesn’t matter at all. Work hard, keep learning and you will fly high. The place where I work, Mutual Mobile doesn’t even require a degree to be an Engineer. You just have to work hard to succeed.

How do I know if mobile app development is for me?

Evaluate yourself, whether you have:

excellent learning skills – if your are ready to learn half your work is done.
excited about challenges – ready to face and handle them on your own.

Grab the opportunity:

If you are the one who love technology and love developing.

Do not opt for this:

If you cannot keep up with mob tech, because this is a huge work.

Do not expect to be spoon fed.

What are the challenges faced by an Android Developer?

As a fresher, it’s not that easy to start out. You cannot expect a company to ‘train’ you from scratch. You need to have experience and by that I don’t mean touching the surface, I mean having in-depth knowledge. I had worked on Android for over two years with commendable work, but only after applying to around 60 Android positions, I got offer from 5 after multiple rounds of interview.
You always have to keep yourself updated, at the bleeding edge. Unlike other techs, Android changes a lot and you should be ready to adapt to changes.
Finally a huge challenge is device specific issues, a thing that iOS developers don’t worry about. Android apps are made for thousands of devices, no matter how much you try, a perfect piece of code can crash on a device. So, sometimes you need to write unnecessary code to avoid issues on particular devices.

What are some alternate career options for an Android Developer?

Nothing is fixed. I say this because some of my colleagues shifted from Android/iOS to web technologies to be a full stack developer. Some went to become Project managers (A good project manager brings out the best in the developers).

Technology changes and you should be prepared for the change. If there is a better replacement for Android in the next few years, we have to shift to that.

For example: Today, if someone represents himself as a Blackberry Developer, it’s pretty much useless. So, always be ready to shift to alternate technologies when required.

What is the future of this career?

It’s really hard to say. But there is a huge potential for Mobile Tech. We have just begun, but 5 years from now App interactions can be totally different than today. The only one prevailing will be mobile. It is the only technology that can touch all the people in the world. So, its reach will be unlimited. Android may or may not stay, but Mobile Tech will keep on spreading more and more.

Any recommended resources for aspiring Android Developers?

Google’s own Android training is perfect. I learnt from that 3 years back and it’s still good. They update it very often.
Udacity – Nanodegree course is the best paid course. It is expensive but worth it. You will be provided with a Google certification as well.
Vogella and AndroidHive are pretty good too.

I will not recommend any books for Android, because it keeps on changing and books will get outdated very fast!

Final thoughts

Find a good mentor ASAP. It is really important

Start making apps and projects. That’s the best way you will learn.