Wide application

Usha Albuquerque

Tech-savvy young people are increasingly turning to a wave of smartphone-based apps that have practically taken over our lives. Want to text anyone for free without having to pay the SMS charges there is — WhatsApp; to upload and share pictures — Instagram; to listen to all kinds of music — Soundcould; to browse the latest news and connect with social networks — Flipboard; to share your photos or images, or  draw a new one from scratch — PicsArt/ Photo Studio; to access all video file formats, make changes, zoom in and zoom out — MX Player.

 From best chat apps to games and organisers — there is an app for almost every activity and everyone, and is available across operating systems with a rapidly growing user base. Mobile apps provide a quick and easy way for smartphone users to combine elements of text and social networking, bypassing both the SMS plans offered by telecom carriers and also the established social networking websites. 

As the user base grows, the need to keep up to date with their demands requires new apps to be created all the time. It is estimated that there are more than 180 million people in India accessing the web through their mobile phones today, having increased by 50 million in just one year. This rapid growth has seen most businesses shift focus from a presence  on a web platform to the mobile space. 

With this mobile explosion, especially of Android smartphones, one of the coolest, and most with-it jobs has to be that of the mobile app developer/programmer. 

The work

A mobile app developer is a person who designs applications or software programmes for mobile phones and smartphones. A mobile app is a software programme that runs on a mobile device such as an Apple iPhone or devices running Google Android operating System. Typically mobile apps are either native (written for a particular mobile operating system such as Apple iOS or Google Android) or they are Mobile Web based apps that use markup languages such as HTML5 and require a browser to run. 

Therefore, a mobile developer is a software engineer or software programmer who can design, develop and test mobile application on one or more mobile operating systems and devices (such as Apple iOS or Google Android).

So if you are technology driven and good with new and innovative software ideas, this is probably the best job for you. 

Getting in

Since mobile apps are based on the IT platform, application developers should ideally have a background of engineering or computers, a BTech (computer application) or MCA degree with experience of gateways/servers (WAP, XML, VXML, WTA, etc), browsers, clients (SMS, e-mail, chat etc,). 

One would need to be proficient in programming languages  such as C, C++, Objective for writing applications on iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Java (Android,Blackberry OS). 

If you want to become an iPhone & iPad developer you will have to learn Objective-C, xCode and Interface Builder on Mac OS-X platform.

Training ground 

There are a number of institutes that provide application development training programmes for different mobile platforms, as also for cross platform mobile app development frameworks like Sencha, PhoneGap, Xamarin etc.  Most training programmes are spread over 3-4 months with 30-40 hours of course instruction provided that the candidate has some basic programming knowledge. Microsoft has its own certified training exam, although the more popular platforms like Android and iOS do not.  There are some companies in the technology sector who also recruit and train people on mobile applications design and development skills.

In addition to training, those getting into this field must possess good logical thinking and and analytical skills alongwith the ability to understand an application from a user’s as well as the developer’s perspective. One should also have the ability to understand client requirements, change specifications promptly, if needed, and have the confidence to sell the product in the market. Apart from the application coding, app developers must also be aware of the user interface preferred by different mobile platforms. Generally Apple and Google recommend User Interface design guidelines which must be followed by the developers. They must also take into account how an application will behave in phones with low memory or poor network.

Career prospects 

This is a field where innovation and out-of-the-box thinking can allow freshers in the industry to grow quickly. If you have a good app idea you can start by building something small and simple and try it out on as many users as possible.  If it works, who knows, Google or Microsoft may be ready to give you a lucky break! 

There exists such a huge and thriving market for mobile app developers that anyone able to keep pace with industry trends, technological innovations and new products in the market can do well.

As you specialise in the field, you can look at exploring the following career paths:

• Mobile UI designer (requires artistic and creative skills)
• User Experience and Usability expert (requires understanding of human interaction and ease of use metrics),
• Applications developer/engineer (requires programming skills), 
• Mobility Architect (requires programming, design and Architecture skills)

With enterprise mobility being a fast emerging technology area, many IT companies are ramping up their operations and capabilities to effectively meet the mobility needs of their customers. This opens up many career opportunities for those who have the right expertise in this area.

The future is the mobile and all services and offerings are going to run through some application. Mobile app development is evolving so fast that soon it will integrate with all our devices and activities - television, in-car navigation and entertainment, shopping, commerce and banking. Currently only 15  per cent of India mobile user population of 900 million use the internet and mobile apps, but with the pace of development it will extend to many more.  So if you are tech inspired and brimming with exciting new ways to use your mobile – you can find yourself a job that will give you a chance to play with your phone for years to come. And this time your parents will not object.