The Future of App Development
Mobile Engineers’ Survival Guide in the Fast-Moving Market
From what I have learned on the the mobile developer market recently, it is becoming harder for an Android or iOS developer to find a suitable and well-paying job in the market.
Some major reasons include the increasing supply for mobile engineers, people generally stop downloading apps, and many more.
In this article I will go through a more detail explanation of the recent trend mentioned above and my two cents what mobile engineers could do to prepare themself for the upcoming challenge!
Coding Bootcamps Increase the Supply Side for Mobile Developers
Although the demand for mobile developers has not fallen sharply compared with previous years, the growth rate has slowed. On the other hand, owing to a great number of coding bootcamps that target to bring up mobile and frontend engineers, a great number of developers are flooding into the developer job market.
The supply side for mobile engineers has increased rapidly in recent years, raising the standards for a qualified mobile engineers. The days of a mobile engineer easily getting over 10 job offers are over.
Recode ran an article in mid-2016, that begins: “The mobile app boom kicked off in July 2008, when Apple introduced the App Store. Now it is over.”
According to data gathered and analyzed by the CakeResume team, JavaScript and Python are now the most in-demand programming languages for companies who post product development jobs on CakeResume, both together taking up almost half of the job opportunities, while mobile engineers taking up merely 10% of the job opportunities.
learn more about tech salaries in Taiwan
People Stop Downloading Apps
While App usage continues to grow and revenue also ascends, the majority of consumers actually download zero apps per month.
let’s face the truth, born and raised up in the era of information explosion, individuals don’t have the leisure to check on what’s new on the app store everyday. When it comes to choosing an App to download, many people feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available.
Take the productivity category of App Store as an example, there are over thousands of Apps in this category and new Apps popping up almost every week. It is almost impossible for users to dig through and learn all the apps. They just choose what is on top then click Install.
And not to mention that if you could build an awesome productivity app, Google and Apple could do it 10 times better and faster than you. In the end, there’s not as much need for individual apps to accomplish similar convenience factors.
What You Could Do to Prepare for The Changes
Although the bull run for mobile development has ended, there is still over 2 billion smartphone users, 27.5 billion mobile apps downloaded, and time spent per day on mobile devices has increased rapidly in recent years. Moreover, apps offer a user experience which even ‘Responsive Websites’ are unable to provide.
In order to stay on top of the game, you will have to differentiate yourself from the pack — other mobile engineers. If you are a mobile engineer who only knows how to code and tweak your App’s UI, you aren’t that different with others after all. Below I listed a few ways that you could implement so that you could stay competitive in the job market.
1. Choose Newer Technologies When You Have the Chance
If you are an Android developer, you could start choosing a job involving Kotlin or Flutter, which are backed by Google. If you are an iOS developer, try look for a job to get involve with using Swift.
Although older mobile coding languages, such as Java and Objective-C, still have their upsides, the main reason why Kotlin and Swift are created at first is to address the older languages issue. It means that Kotlin and swift provides many safety mechanisms available out-of-the-box while being more concise and expressive than Java and Objective-C at the same time.
2. Build Up Your Domain Knowledge and Industry Skills
This point is especially crucial. Each industry has its specific skills to learn and refine. For example, if you are building a stock, foreign exchange, future or options market app, you will have to understand the WebSocket protocol, which lets you transfer as much data as you like without incurring the overhead associated with traditional HTTP requests.
For the streaming media industry, possessing experience with live streaming protocols such as HLS, RTMP, WebRTC will be a must to deal with streaming related apps. (check out this article to learn why you should get a job in the streaming business)
These industry skills can really make you stand out, and adds on another layer of expertise to your already pretty impressive mobile engineer title, making you more valuable in the job market.
3. Follow the Irresistible Tech Trend
The future of mobile app development will be shaped by how businesses harness mobile technology to solve people’s everyday problems.
Don’t try to fight the irresistible trend, see how you can surf the trend! Exposing yourself or trying to get a job in the field mentioned below will absolutely give you more opportunities as a mobile developer. So what are the trends for mobile app development?
- IoT (Internet of Things)
“The driving force behind the growing mobility market is the impact of the IoT and its broad reach,” write the experts at Maryville University online. In the future, apps will need to speak to each other, in the same way that devices in the IoT communicate. The market needs companies that can develop custom IoT applications — sensors and devices, web apps, and both B2B and B2C mobile end-user apps. - AI (Artificial Intelligence)
According to experts at Maryville University, AI is everywhere, from predictive analytics algorithm used by retailers like Target and Amazon to anticipate shopping needs to fraud detection monitors from banks and credit cards. Some more examples: Tinder uses machine learning to increase a user’s chances to find a match. Google Maps makes the process of choosing a parking spot easier. - AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality)
Tech Giants such as Apple and Google have launched their own augmented reality kits — AR Kit and AR Core resp to help app developers to create high-quality mobile apps. As for the VR, the latest buzzword associated with it is v-commerce. One of the examples is Alibaba, that in November of 2016 introduced VR shopping to its customers across China.
Feel free to use CakeResume to search for cool mobile developer jobs
👉 IoT Jobs on CakeResume
👉 AI Jobs on CakeResume
👉 AR/VR Jobs on CakeResume
How To Write a Mobile Developer Resume
After you have a better idea on how to pave your career, you will eventually have to have a perfect resume to showcase your work and experience. Read the article below to learn how to make your resume more readable, and how to have it more easily found by companies.
Online Resume Builder — Building Your Resume In Minutes!
Conclusion
While nobody can predict the future with absolute certainty, mobile developers are here to stay, and would do well if they begin preparing for that future. Although the future of app development will look different than it’s contemporary iteration, keep in mind three things:
- Always use newer tech when you have the chance
- Build up your domain knowledge and industry skills
- Surf the irresistible trend.
If you have done all of these, you will be doing just fine!
