With each passing day, mobile apps have become more powerful, prevalent, and most important in our lives, allowing the majority of interaction points between people, businesses, and things we do on a daily basis.
Mobile apps provide a great platform for businesses to promote their products or services to the target audience, generate revenue, provide customer service and reinforce their brands.
However, to thrive in the competitive mobile world, businesses need to create apps that provide valuable experiences to the end-users. As the success of any app is dependent on a great, seamless, and personalized user experience only. That is possible by hiring the right mobile app developers or a team of developers.
Today, I am going to discuss the same – how to hire mobile app developers, what to consider when hiring dedicated mobile app developers to create a successful mobile application.
Mostly, you are going to develop a mobile app from scratch or update the existing one. Accordingly, you have to be clear with your requirements before starting the hiring process. And that is possible with defining project scope and requirements. Let us understand what you should include in it.
Well-Defined App Development Project Scope Before the Hiring Process
In the first place, you need to be clear with the purpose of your app or the problems it intends to solve for the targeted user base. You should define the project scope and prepare a document enlisting project requirements. Successful project execution involves understanding key elements that include, app development activities, features, functions, resources, timelines, deliverables, processes, constraints, and other involved stakeholders.
Before hiring, you must be ready with the Project Requirement Document (PRD) that must comprise the following information:
- Users’ requirements such as functionality, user roles, and features
- Business requirements such as objectives, business model, and other resources
- System requirements such as technical specifications including platform requirements
This document serves as the most resourceful document throughout your mobile app development process for all the associated stakeholders, enabling you to develop a great mobile app.
Furthermore, specifying app development requirements and a list of tasks in advance helps you to identify the skill gaps for your project. Make sure that the team you have or a team you are going to hire for your project has much experience in building feature-rich applications for the selected platform.
Once you discover your skill gaps, you need to finalize the roles and responsibilities of each developer. Let us find out the same.
Roles and Responsibilities of Mobile App Developers
A mobile app developer is a programmer first, who has to not only write the code but also contribute to other aspects of the mobile app development project. They often have to perform certain duties such as unit testing, development, core implementation, writing documentation, and other specs for the project. Common duties include,
- Support the entire mobile application lifecycle including, test, develop, release and support stage
- Gather project related information and recommend changes, enhancements, or new solutions
- Design interfaces from wireframe models and create fully functional, feature-rich, and secure mobile applications
- Write clean code and build apps that fulfill specific needs
- Identify and fix bugs, security threats, errors related to the performance of applications
- Liaise with other app development team members to deliver innovative mobile solutions aligned with your goals
- Ensure apps meet quality standards and oversee the performance of mobile apps
- Remain current on the latest technology to keep apps as innovative as possible
Basically, the roles and responsibilities of mobile developers greatly vary based on the level of experience and your app development requirements.
Mobile app developers have to build, design, test, launch, and maintain apps that work across multiple platforms. Depending on their duties and app-related requirements, they typically work in teams or individually.
To perform the above-mentioned tasks as well as the job successfully, they need to be technically proficient.
So, take a look at the scope of your app development project and note down the list of tools, libraries, frameworks, and other technical expertise you are most likely going to analyze in an ideal developer or a team of developers.
Fundamental Skills of Mobile App Developers
When hiring skilled mobile app developers, you need to look for candidates who are the best fit for your company culture, project needs and possess skills in the following areas:
Sound knowledge and Ability to Program in at least one Programming Language
Look for mobile app developers having good knowledge and expertise in programming languages, e.g., for the Android platform, they must have a full understanding of Java, Android, or Kotlin languages; for iOS, they must be able to work with Objective-C or Swift. Other popular languages include JavaScript, JSON, .NET, C++, and HTML. You can hire a developer having proficiency in whichever language you use to develop a mobile app.
Understanding of Databases
A selected candidate must be able to work with any of these databases – SQLite and Realm dB as many apps expect offline support. Also, to manage the data with proper backup and take care of security issues, a developer should have hands-on experience working with data structure and algorithms.
Familiarity with IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)
This is the most important and must-have skill, as it allows you to speed up your development process by bringing numerous development tools like text editors, compilers, code libraries, and test platforms into a single application. And that is possible because of IDEs like Android Studio, IntelliJ, Xcode, etc. Every developer must know how to use IDEs to write, compile, modify, run, and debug your code. Depending upon your chosen programming language, you can evaluate this skill of developers during your hiring process.
Basics of Networking
Most apps use client-server architecture, where the HTTP request goes through the network to a server and after processing this data request, it responds. This server contains all the resources; it hosts, delivers, and manages the app-related services or requests used by the client located anywhere in the world. That’s why understanding network architecture is important for any developer to create as well as provide continuous support to an app.
Deep Understanding of UI/UX Design Principles
Developers must have a foundational understanding of app design guidelines and standards of each platform and their differences. This basic understanding of design principles helps maintain a consistent design aesthetic throughout the app and ensures a seamless user experience.
Basics of Testing
Testing is an important step in the mobile app development life cycle to create an error-free app. A developer must know the basics of testing and required testing methods as well as frameworks. A developer should have proficiency in writing automated tests in XCTest, JUnit, Espresso, Mocha, Jest, etc., depending on the language you use to program your application.
Proficient in Version Control Tools
Look for a developer having proficiency in version control concepts and tools such as Git, SVN, Mercurial, etc., for the purpose of collaborating with other team members for your project. Source control is helpful in managing and storing the code.
Encryption
To make a secure mobile app, it is important for a developer to implement encryption in the application. This helps prevent all types of attacks and secure sensitive user information, database, error handling, and other app-related data. Thus, a developer should know how encryption algorithms like AES-256 and BCrypt work and the process of authentication.
Other Soft Skills
Apart from the above-mentioned technical skills, a developer must have good communication skills which enable smooth coordination throughout your mobile app development process. Likewise, a developer must have other soft skills such as critical thinking skills, analytical reasoning skills, teamwork, excellent time management, and attention to detail.
Now, you know your app development project requirements, the roles and responsibilities of developers, and their fundamental technical and non-technical skills to develop customer-centric mobile apps. It’s time to take a look at the top 5 proven tips you can not ignore while hiring a mobile application developer for your project.
5 Important Tips To Consider When Hiring A Mobile App Developer
1 Set your app development goals
You should be clear about the requirements and purposes of developing a mobile application. Its logic, concept, design, features, functionality, security, quality standards, and deliverables with timeframes, should be finalized in the first place. You must note down a list of tasks based on your requirements. This helps you define the type of talent you want in your team, and you will be able to convey your exact requirements to the developers or candidates you are going to hire.
2 Set up the app development budget
Budgeting is an essential factor when it comes to hiring a mobile developer. As such, the cost of hiring a developer is entirely dependent on you. You can consider multiple factors associated with development such as UI and UX, security, testing, integrations, etc. Be ready to spend more if you want to find experienced mobile app developers for hire or an app development team for your project.
You need to be precise with the type of app you want to develop, the platform or technologies you want to use, features and functionalities, third-party integrations, resources, and other criteria. So that you can decide on your budget, for example, you can hire experienced app developers to develop novel features with enterprise-grade security in your app. And experienced developers are costly. So you need to set up the app development budget and have a proper spending plan of your budget on hiring developers.
3 Select the most suitable hiring model to have the best talent on board
When it comes to mobile application development, both in-house and offshore developers are considered reliable options to build successful dynamic mobile apps. You have to select the most suitable hiring model, offering the needed technical expertise at an affordable cost.
Firstly, you can have a project-based model and have a dedicated team of developers working for your project at a fixed cost. The second option is hiring developers or a team of developers to complete a particular task, regardless of your development phase, via a service-based model.
And the third option is the team augmentation model, where you can close the skill gap without hiring developers permanently to accomplish your app development goals at a reasonable rate.
If you want to develop a high-quality application and are looking forward to planning, managing, and delivering applications on time, without the hassle and within your set budget, then hiring offshore mobile app developers or a team of developers should be your pick. Remember, hiring a proficient app developer can help you achieve your goals to develop a scalable, secure, and user-friendly app the way you want. So, you need to make a suitable choice about the hiring models.
4 Examine the app developer’s portfolio and past experience
It is important to allocate some time analyzing the shortlisted candidate’s portfolio and past work experience. Before hiring, take a look at their job-related roles and responsibilities, accomplishments, development approach, discover what technologies they have used, and the platform they specialize in. This helps you to find the most suitable developer for your project.
You can check work samples as well, which gives a better understanding of their domain knowledge and experience in working with tools, libraries, frameworks, and technologies. Subsequently, examining the portfolio can help you in simplifying your assessment process.
5 Creative and efficient work approach to developing applications
Hire top mobile app developers who can brainstorm new ideas that give your business an edge and add value to your organization. With the mobile app development services landscape constantly evolving, the developer must keep up with the latest industry trends and capitalize upon them to favor your business.
Also, make sure to hire mobile app developers that follow an agile and efficient work approach. Development teams that use methodologies like Scrum and DevOps are a better choice as they enable you to track and monitor the project’s progress in real-time. Ensure that the developers create minimum viable products (MVPs) so that you can offer feedback and make changes, if any.
Final Words,
No doubt, how unique or well-planned your idea is, finding and hiring the right developer is the real challenge for most businesses. I hope the above-shared points will help you find and hire dedicated mobile app developers in your team.
You need to hire the best mobile app developer to build successful apps in today’s competitive and digital age. Or else, you can partner with the best mobile app development company having experience in, for example, Android app development, iOS app development, and cross platform app development leveraging the state-of-the-art technologies and tools. Partnering with an IT outsourcing company can help you save your time and money rather than spending your crucial hours on a lengthy hiring process.
If you need a team of app developers for your project or seek to extend your existing team, we can help you hire the right qualified people with technical proficiency for your project. Just get in touch with our team to discuss your app development requirements or any consultation you need for your project.
Author's Bio:
Pritam Barhate, with an experience of 14+ years in technology, heads Technology Innovation at Mobisoft Infotech. He has a rich experience in design and development. He has been a consultant for a variety of industries and startups. At Mobisoft Infotech, he primarily focuses on technology resources and develops the most advanced solutions.
