From Zero to Certified Android Developer
My personal experience with getting Android certified
Introduction
Recently I had the opportunity to take the dive into Android development with Kotlin and take Google’s certification to try my hand at using that to help accelerate my learning as an Android developer. In just two weeks I went from zero Android/Kotlin experience to a certified associate Android developer in Kotlin!
Looking back, there are a few things that I learned and stood out during my experience taking the exam.
My Past Experience
Before taking the Android exam, I had been working on another project the past year doing full-stack development with iOS and Swift on the frontend, and a serverless backend on AWS in Node.js. Coming from doing native mobile development in Swift to doing Kotlin and Android made the transition a little easier, as a lot of patterns and methodologies are very similar between the two platforms and languages.
Prepping for the Exam
Why go the route of taking the Associate Android Developer exam to learn Android? Firstly, using their recommended exam means that you learn to use the patterns and the best way to solve problems within that framework. I used their official study guide to get up to speed on all the topics that are listed here, and it gave me a great look into the patterns and best practices to architect your application. Second, it combines the step of learning the Android platform and Kotlin fairly well. From my experience, using the study guide isn’t the best way to learn Kotlin, specifically if you’re a beginner. Coming from working in Swift, it was good exposure to learn the little syntax differences between Kotlin and Swift along the way.
The Exam Itself
The exam itself is pretty straightforward. You get eight hours to finish a half-completed application that they give you and given a prompt of what the completed app should look like and how it should function. Towards the end, they give some video questions about the project that you just completed. The questions are there to verify that you are the one that finished the exam, and are pretty simple to answer after doing the exam.
The exam was tough, and there were some moments when there was something I hadn’t studied enough that I had to do some frantic googling and problem solving to work through it. The study guide is the best tool for prepping for the exam, and all the topics give you a good foundation for the exam. All the information there is very relevant and helps you become a better developer.
Once you finish the exam and have it working (it needs to compile and not crash to pass!), you are all done and await getting the results. In my case, it took about three weeks to get my results back, given there are some delays with the state of COVID in the world at the time of me taking the exam.
What I Learned
Regardless of if I had passed or failed the exam, the most important thing was that I learned something new and broadened my knowledge and skills as a developer. Here are a couple of my big takeaways from my experience.
- Different is good (and come in with an open mind)! Originally there were some things that I expected to work coming from Swift, and I was caught off guard when some things I was used to didn’t exist in Kotlin. As I went along, I realized that the differences between languages and platforms encouraged me to solve problems differently, and made me ultimately a better developer in the long run. Coming into a new environment with an open mind to the differences between them made me realize that those are good.
- It seemed like the exam was good at getting you up to speed with the patterns that Google recommends in Android development, but doesn’t necessarily get you up to speed with learning Kotlin itself. If you don’t have as much development experience, it may be a little more challenging to go through the study guide to learn Kotlin and the Android platform at the same time. Coming from another language should give most developers a good base to understand Kotlin, and you can learn the little syntax differences along the way studying for the exam.
- The exam is hard! It was challenging and stressful during those eight hours to be coding at 110% for that entire time, especially if you get stuck on a part that you can’t figure out. However, the best advice I can give is that most problems on the exam can be solved if you take a step back and look at the two pieces you are trying to connect. Taking a quick breath to look at the bigger picture of what you are trying to do can help get your head out of the weeds when you get stuck on what seems a simple issue.
- Challenging yourself to learn something new quickly is rewarding. It was so exciting, thrilling, and even a little stressful at times to get out of my comfort zone to learn something new. Moving forward, taking 1–2 weeks each year to learn a new platform, technology, or language is something I want to take with me in the future.
Conclusion
Would I recommend taking the exam? Absolutely! Regardless of your skill as an Android developer, I think it is a good challenge for anyone to take the exam. If you are on the fence, go for it! For beginners, it’s a good way to get up to speed on the patterns and architecture Google recommends in Android apps. For more experienced Android developers, it may be a little less of a challenge, and your past apps may speak louder than this certification. Regardless, continually learning is something all developers must pursue!
