Entrepreneurs and startup owners look for a process to hire a professional Android app developer at a budget-friendly package. Android is the top-trending technology, as it’s considered at the forefront of business automation, digital mobility, and transformation.
As per research, Android is one of the two leading technologies in app development, and there are over 131 million Android smartphone users in the United States. If you look at the Google Play Store, you will find millions of downloads listed beneath each app, and these standalone statistics are enough to showcase the importance of Android mobile apps.
A mobile app development company opts for Android app developers who can understand their business vision and come up with an app solution that is perfect in terms of scalability, security, and features. If you are a solo entrepreneur looking for the development of an Android app, then this blog is the right piece for you!
In this blog, we are going to discover the interesting steps involved in the hiring of an Android app developer, and we assume that you are going to enjoy reading it all with us!
Let’s get started then…
Number of available applications in the Google Play Store from March 2017 to June 2024
According to Statista, Google Play was originally launched in October 2008 under the name Android Market. As Google’s official app store, it offers its customers a wide range of applications and digital media, including music, magazines, books, film, and TV. As of April 2021, the ranking of the top-grossing Android apps worldwide is dominated by mobile games, with Coin Master, Garena Free Fire, and PUBG Mobile leading the ranking. This hardly comes as a surprise, as it is estimated that gaming apps will account for over 70 percent of Google Play app revenues in 2024. As most apps in the Google Play Store are available for free, the company needs to utilize effective business models to secure healthy revenue.
How to hire an Android app developer? – Key Steps and Findings
In this fold, we are going to learn about the steps involved in the seamless hiring of an Android app developer:
1. Create A Development Brief
You just can not wake up one day and make the need for an Android app developer in your firm and get started with the interviews. It all takes time…
Yes, you will have to create a questionnaire to analyse the need for an Android app developer, and once you have the queries listed, then you are good to go with the hiring process.
The top-most questions include:
- Why do I need an Android app developer?
- Who will be my target audience?
- What devices will my app support?
- On which platform will my app go live?
- Do I want any special, unique, or modern function in my app?
- Will my app collect personal information? How will I secure its back-end against data breaches?
- How will my app earn?
- How much budget have I allocated for Android development?
- Which 5 features do I want in my app?
- When do I want to complete the development of my app?
- When do I want to launch the app?
These are some of the major questions that should be answered beforehand. Once you get the answers to these questions, you are good to go with the hunting process. You can share these with the business analysts and other team members to conclude together.
2. Look for Platforms and Hunt Professionals
There are different platforms available, like LinkedIn, Fiverr, Upwork, and a lot more to search for your desired Android app developer. You can use keywords like “hire an Android app developer,” and based on these queries, you will get a list of app developers sharing their expertise and past excellence in projects.
3. Assessment of Technical Expertise
Always know that mobile app development is broken down into two major parts – native and cross-platform. Native apps work specifically for one platform; if we talk about cross, then it works for both Android and iOS. Perhaps, whenever you wish to hire an Android app developer, ask if they know SDKs, Android Studio, and programming languages.
You need to have full expertise on Java and Kotlin as these two are considered the top-tier for Android app development. Java is the oldest programming language compared to Flutter, and the primary programming language used for multi-platform development. More than 10 million developers now empower 5.6 billion devices with Java. It comes with a development stack like:
- Java Development Kit
- Java Runtime Environment
- Integrated Development Environment
It has significantly evolved the instant need for web, web apps, and mobile app developers. From small-scale websites to large-scale portals, Java is the ultimate solution for millions of ready-to-be-used CRMs.
• Kotlin for Android Development
Kotlin is another famous programming language for Android app development. It was initially released in 2011 and was fully functional in 2016. It’s a modernized programming language for Android app development. As an alternative to Java, it is definitely a competitor – and a strong one. In fact, not only among Android developers, but Kotlin is widely used by JS and Swift developers as well.
• Android Studio and Android SDK
Without any doubt, we can say that programming languages are important, but an Android app developer should know about Android Studio and SDKs as well.
Android Studio is one of the best and most well-integrated development environments that simplifies and accelerates the process of developing an Android app. It allows the developers to create platform-centric apps with a seamless and unified user interface. Android code names include Lollipop and Marshmallow as the core.
• Databases Integration
Lastly, you will have to hire an Android app developer who has hands-on expertise in integrating databases with the mobile apps. Databases are mostly third-party sources that make the data exchange easier, and get the data stored within the databases directly, like Firebase and SQL.
• Material Design for Android Apps
Whenever you shortlist an Android app developer, you should assess them on technical grounds, like material design expertise. The development team should know how to design a user interface that goes well with the experience. Material design is the set of design guidelines that is provided by Google Android and teams to help app developers optimize their apps across all quality standards.
• Android App Testing
Android app development teams look for dedicated resources to inquire fully about the app testing, and they should know how to debug the bugs reported by them. The testing includes functional testing for functional requirements, accessibility testing, and compatibility testing to ensure the app is working fine with all platforms.
Whereas, the scope testing refers to unit testing, medium testing, and end-to-end testing with instrumented, physical, and emulated test cases.
4. APIs Integrations
APIs are one of the vitals for an app because clients ask for extended features that can only be obtained with the optimal use of APIs. For payment gateways, Google Map integrations, 2Factor Authentication, Guest Sign Up, Weather App, Amazon AWS – Android app developers should know how to utilise the APIs within the Android app for a better user experience.
All professional Android app developers in recent times try their best to create mobile apps with seamless API integration, and put in excessive efforts to create apps from scratch that are eye-catching and versatile.
• Analyzing the Portfolio
After the detailed technical assessment of the resources, the next most exciting step is to see the portfolios.
Most of the development firms now look for dedicated resources that could perform well on the platforms. Whereas, if we talk about other things, then you should check the viability of the portfolios before hiring them for the firm. Yes, you read it right.
While analysing the portfolio of the resources, you need to look for the following factors:
- What is the type of app have they created in the past?
- What is the magnitude of the project?
- What are the visual aesthetics? Does it attract the audience?
- What is the overall user experience?
- What diversities are present in the individual domain?
- What are the clientele and target audience preferences?
- What are the possible monetization strategies for the mobile apps?
On top of these concerns, you may check the past testimonials that were posted by the clients to know if they meet their expectations or not. These concerns are really important because after this step, you are pretty much close to the hiring phase.
5. Deciding on the Hiring Models
The next step is to finalize the hiring model for the Android app development:
• Freelancers
The first and most frequently used hiring model is the freelancer, where the app development firm hires freelancers to work on the projects. Freelancers are independent individuals hired for specific skills or tasks.
Freelance Android app developers are best in terms of small, well-defined tasks, short-term needs, and tight budgets. The pros for freelance Android app developers include: flexible and fast to hire resources, usually lower cost, and good for niche skills. Whereas, the cons include limited availability, less accountability at scale, and knowledge walks out the door when they leave.
• Staff Augmentation
If we talk about the staff augmentation model, this is another approach that is driven by companies looking for a quick way to assess Android app developers. This model basically works like a remote team on a subscription basis, where the idea is to fully accommodate the clients and in-house app development teams with cloud migration projects. It’s best in terms of solo developers working in some other space, and you only have to pay them for the work they have done!
Unlike freelancers, where you don’t have control, staff augmentation gives you full control over the resources, saving operational costs. It’s best when scaling teams quickly, for long-term or ongoing work, and when you want control over execution. But the biggest drawbacks of staff augmented resources is they charge more than freelancers.
- Project Base
Lastly, in this model, an external remote team takes full control of the projects, and they have a dedicated project manager taking complete care of the app. You are not linked with the teams, but you coordinate with the project managers to know about the status of the work.
These are best for clearly defined outcomes, limited internal bandwidth, and whenever you want an end-to-end ownership handled. The best pros include predictable cost and timeline. Whereas, minimal management requirements.
6. Industry Analysis and Modernised Technologies
The ideal Android app developer will have great expertise with modernized technologies like AI, NLP, Machine Learning, Big Data, Cloud Computing, AR, VR, and IoT-based sensors to be integrated within the Android apps.
They should always keep an eye on the industry standard and the important insights that are driven by the Tech Leaders. This knowledge is really important as it impacts the entire working of the mobile apps.
The crucial app features include navigation, scope coverage, and features that overall impact the user experience, depending on the industry trends. For example, now we can see AR being used within e-commerce stores to allow virtual try-on features for users. This feature is seen in most of the apps like Alibaba, AliExpress, and more. Perhaps, only those Android app developers could integrate this feature within the Android app that knows about this trend. That is why it’s important to hire an Android app developer who keeps an eye on the trends and builds competitive applications.
7. Signing the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)
NDA, also known as Non-Disclosure Agreement, is a legal contract that requires the entire development team to protect the information that is provided by the clients related to the application.
It protects your idea from being copied and keeps it confidential till the end of the day. The source code belongs to the developer, whereas all the digital assets are protected for a better user experience.
When are you hiring an Android app developer?
And we are done for the day. We hope you enjoyed reading about the process taking you to the seamless hiring of an Android app developer for your business app. You may follow all the key steps that are provided and discussed within this blog for a seamless hiring of a professional. From choosing the hiring model to the expertise assessment and other key standards, we covered it all for you.
If you think we have missed anything within the blog, then feel free to share it with us. We would love to hear back from you.
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