The International Flutter Starter Kit (Part 2/3)
Whether you are a beginner in programming or a Flutter evangelist this guide is for you 😉
*** This article is written in collaboration with Beyza Sunay Güler ***
Hillel Coren
Tel Aviv, Israel
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time? 🤓
Most of my experience is as a web developer. Our company had considered switching from native to cross-platform for a while when I saw the Flutter Beta announcement it was clear it was the right choice. Our mobile developer wasn’t quite as sure so we decided to switch roles, I developed our new mobile app with Flutter while he worked on a new version of our web app.
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
There are countless features that make my work many times more enjoyable than in the past. That said from a business perspective the single critical value Flutter provides is having a single codebase. We’re planning to use Flutter Web which will enable our company to go from three codebases down to one to support all major platforms.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
If you’re just getting started I strongly recommend using the same analysis_options.yaml file the Flutter team uses. It’s stricter than the default rules and I’ve found has helped guide me to write better Dart code.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
I’m probably a bit biased as I helped to develop them but I think itsallwidgets and flutterx can be really helpful when trying to learn more about Flutter. In particular, I’d recommend using the ‘Open Source’ filter on itsallwidgets to find some great sample codebases.
Iiro Krankka
Helsinki, Finland
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time? 🤓
I just started building small hobby apps and learned as I went. Even over two years ago, the official docs and code samples were golden. Especially the Dart docs. I was previously more of hold-your-hand tutorials kind of guy, but that changed with Flutter.
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
I feel like the Flutter team has taken their time to design everything well — and it shows. Most of the building blocks and patterns are intuitive and make sense. Testing is a first-class citizen too. I also love the fact that it’s a complete package — for example, there’s only one package repository, formatter, and you get strong static typing by default. There’s no need to go hunting for navigation libraries after starting a new project.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
This advice might be a little controversial, but start building something. Maybe go through “Write your first Flutter app” and the cookbook if you like, then dive in. And don’t fear the Dart docs.
Don’t know how to define a class in Dart? Google it. What about displaying a text on the screen? Google it. How do you center a widget? Just Google it. Learning by doing has been the way that worked the best for me. But you shouldn’t feel bad if this is not for you. In that case, there are plenty of tutorials that haven’t been outdated and still apply today.
Don’t stress about getting it perfect on the first try. I always hack together something very ugly that works and then clean it up later. There’s also no point in getting stuck choosing the best architecture if you’re just building your very first project.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
The tutorials on the official Flutter website are an excellent place to start. Subscribe to the official Flutter YouTube channel. Try to get a hold of open source projects on GitHub, clone them, and play around with them.
Jorge Coca
Madrid, Spain
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time?🤓
It all started a bit less than two years ago when at BMW I was part of a team that was tasked to evaluate new technologies that could speed up our development process while helping us to scale our development as well. We instantly loved Flutter. And we also loved Dart, which I feel sometimes does not get enough credit. Flutter and Dart are the perfect combos: easy to learn, zero gotchas, and incredibly performant! Since then, I do not want to write a single line of UI code that it is not Flutter. And every day, both Flutter and Dart keep improving!
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
If I had to choose just one thing, it would be how easy it is to get started and do complex things in a very natural, simplistic way. I have done multiple workshops already with all kinds of developers, from lead and senior engineers to high-schoolers, and they all were able to write a fully functional app in just a matter of hours. Hours! Coming from the Android world, where the learning curve is quite steep, makes working with Flutter an incredibly delightful experience that has a big, positive impact on business productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, developer happiness.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Join the local community! Find the Flutter Meetup of your city, or the GDG local group, and be part of the community. You won’t believe how much impact this will have on your career and your personal happiness! You will make friends, learn new technologies, find new jobs and opportunities… and what’s most important, you will be able to help others and contribute back as well!
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
I think the Flutter Community website is the best resource you can find, since it curates its articles, and it has a very active and welcoming community. If you are looking for more hands-on, real-world examples, I strongly recommend checking this and its examples; this project is maintained by my good teammate Felix Angelov, we use it at BMW, and I honestly think it contains the best documentation possible. And it is fully tested!
Jeroen Meijer
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time? 🤓
Good question! Back then, I needed an app for my startup. I had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around Android’s activities, fragments, intents, etc., and I hadn’t done any native iOS development yet. Looking at cross-platform solutions, I stumbled upon Flutter and was amazed by the fact that the code was instantly readable to me. The tooling and the way widget composition was done also really resonated with me, and I’ve been using and loving the framework ever since!
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
It’s hard to pick since there’s so much cool stuff, but I’d pick hot reloading. It keeps my workflow and train of thought going and makes the entire experience so pleasant.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Welcome! It’s awesome having more people use Flutter!
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
1) If you want to know how something works, look at the source code!
2) Remember the phrase “There’s a widget for that.” Almost anything you want to build can be done so using existing widgets. Using these will save you a lot of time, effort and debugging.
3) Watch Widget of the Week on YouTube!
4) Most Flutter developers share their creations and knowledge on Twitter, so follow some people to stay up to date and learn every day.
Unfortunately, there aren’t that many resources available in Dutch yet, but we’ve got a pretty good grasp of English so I’m sure we’ll be fine!
Joe Birch
Brighton, UK
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time? 🤓
When I started with Flutter it was quite early on, so there wasn’t too much in terms of guides or tutorials. I installed the Android studio flutter/dart plugin and just started playing with the sample app that loaded into the IDE. I used the documentation for widgets and just started piecing together things to build sample apps and learn how it worked. Whilst this probably took a little longer than following tutorials that we have access to now, looking back this was a great way at really diving into what was available and understanding how it all worked/fitted together!
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
Flutter reduces a lot of the complexity that comes with building apps, as well as reducing the time that it can take to develop something. For example, using the Flutter Firestore plugin you can put together a simple CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application in a small amount of time. I’ve been able to develop small applications for both Android and iOS in quite a reduced amount of time — being able to put together ideas quickly is incredibly important in today’s world, especially when we may need to create things such as an MVP. For me this a huge advantage point — whilst I have some iOS experience, being able to create MVPs and production-ready apps for multiple platforms is huge.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Like most new things you may be learning, just get stuck in and build stuff! It’s easy to get caught up with architectures and the ‘correct’ way of doing things, but with Flutter, you can see usable results really quickly and I think that is important when learning something new — you want to see results! Once you are comfortable with these foundations, then dive into the deeper topics. As a second point, get involved in the community — share what you’re learning and chat with other Flutter developers. The Flutter community is really something special and there is a lot to gain in both directions there.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
To be honest, the official Flutter documentation has been a huge help for me. There are really great samples for each widget and plenty of sample screens to see the code for. Any open-source flutter package or project listed on awesome-flutter is worth checking out also! There is also a collection of GDEs for Dart / Flutter and members of the Google Dev Rel team that would be worth following as there is always a lot of content being shared there!
Katarina Sheremet
Switzerland
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time?
I started more than a year ago. I had my own Android app, but I needed the iOS version. I went to one of GDG/WTM Meetups where I’ve heard about Flutter. I’ve decided to try Flutter. It worked perfectly for my project because I use Firebase for the backend.
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
When I started to rewrite my Android app, Flutter was in beta. Some packages were not implemented for Firebase and other features I had. In a few months, I checked them again, and they were already present. Flutter improves and progresses quickly, because of Flutter Community. Therefore I can say, that what I love most about Flutter is Flutter Community.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Practice makes perfect.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
I’ve written an article about free Flutter resources. Actually, I don’t know any Flutter Resources in Russian (my native language).
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My Social Media
Twitter: @kate_sheremet
Medium: https://medium.com/@ksheremet
GitHub: ksheremet
Kevin Segaud
Toulouse, France
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time?
I started by looking at the example given by the flutter team 😊
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
The productivity boost, edit save see your change almost instantly. Code as UI is an awesome one thing to learn and you can do an application.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Look at the examples on the flutter repos, then find an open-source project that you like to participate in its development.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
Medium article and example and the flutter.dev website is a good way to know more about the framework. In my language (French) there are not that many resources but it’s coming.. Didier Boelens, for example, wrote an awesome article in French.
Lara Martin
Berlin, Germany
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time?
I started learning Flutter with the Google and Udacity course! This way is how I learned the basics and coded Flutter for the first time (and fell in love with it!). While I did exercises in the course, I read lots of the tutorials that the official documentation Flutter has the Cookbook.
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
Being able to create applications faster because I can see the UI changes I make almost instantly on my device.
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
Keep coding! In every coding session, you will learn new things. If something blocked you, ask the Flutter Community. The community is very welcoming and will help you! :)
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
I recommend you to start a Google Codelab, which are free deeper tutorials that explain your concepts, but at the same time, you have a hands-on experience because of your code too. The quickest way to love Flutter is by trying it out yourself!
I’m native Spanish so I can recommend a place to learn Flutter in Spanish which is the Flutter Community in Spanish.
Muhammed Salih Güler
Ankara, Turkey
Q1: How did you start with Flutter as a beginner back in the time? 🤓
My company was part of the early access program for Flutter and we had a project to work on Flutter. The company was impressed by the quality of the SDK and the response rate of the team. That’s how my journey started :)
Q2: What do you love the most about Flutter?
Flutter as a framework, I like being able to create complex animations easily with high performance. Besides the framework, I love the community. This way I was able to have friends from all around the world. This way, I was able to travel around the world and meet awesome people :)
Q3: What do you say to all the beginners in Flutter?
First of all, go step by step, do not be afraid to ask your questions. Everybody is friendly and happy to help. So just ask your questions. Do not be afraid to experiment with new stuff, Flutter is new and who knows, maybe you can invent something for everybody.
Q4: What are some resources that you recommend for those who are just starting out with Flutter? & are there good Flutter resources in your language?
I would suggest the Flutter Community Medium page for written content or if you are a Turkish speaker go ahead and check out the Flutter Turkey medium page (shameless plug). For video resources, Bootcamp from App Brewery is good. And basically, check out the Flutter documentation in case of emergency :)
You can follow me here:
About the writers
Beyza Sunay Güler is an archaeologist and a software developer. She loves making translations about Flutter and publishing them on Flutter Turkey. She’s a co-organizer at GDG Ankara:) And a WTM Ankara Ambassador. You can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. Feel free to contact her!
Nawal Alhamwi is an SDG advocate and a software wizard. Flutter to her is love at first sight! She is a co-organizer at GDG Jeddah and a leader for the WTM Jeddah. LinkedIn & Twitter are her favorable virtual places and thus you can find her hanging out there!
Until then, happy Flutter-ing, stay hydrated 🥤💙, and of course, stay tuned for part (3/4)! 🤓
