IOS/Android Developer Career

IOS/Android Developer Career

The Real Poop

There's no question about it—smartphones have changed the world as we know it. Who knew combining powers of cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and the Internet could be so revolutionary? Steve Jobs did, that's for sure. But as "smart" as these phones may on their own, apps are their real special sauce.

Get lost on your way to grandma's house? There's an app for that. Need to find a good restaurant to take a date? There's an app for that too. In fact, there's pretty much an app for everything these days. But these apps don't just appear out of thin air. Mobile developers—people who specialize in the programming languages of smartphone operating systems—have come to make up a formidable portion of all the computer programmers out there.

As an Android or iOS developer, you can pretty much create an app for anything your fevered little mind can come up with. Of course, not all iOS and Android developers can have free reign and keep the lights on. With the incredible amount of competition in the market, you'd better have a crackin' idea and the skills to make it real if you want to eat something other than Ramen noodles six days a week.

Mobile developers help ensure that we have as many expensive devices as possible that do the exact same thing. (Source)

But while you may not have an excellent shot at de-nesting Twitter on your first day at market, the good news is that this industry is big. In fact, it's so big that if you're good enough, the best companies will actually fight over you instead of the other way around. That means perks, dollars, and the guarantee of a sweet rolling chair. Aw, yeah.

Still, until someone designs an app that makes apps, you're going to have to work at it to get there. This isn't something easy like rocket science where you learn it once and things are still working the same way fifty years later. The market is constantly changing, and successful developers have to change with it in order to remain relevant. That means every day is a school day. Forever.

Fun fact: That's actually how you say, "01000111000111110101010010" in binary. (Source)

The good news is that mobile devs aren't rolling their eyes every time they have to learn a new technique. In fact, their eyes light up. That's how exciting new database methodologies and APIs are to the people truly passionate about this line of work, because developers are problem solvers at heart. New information means new ways of making things work.

We're glad we brought up "problem solving" (thanks, us) because it has two of the most important words an iOS or Android developer can ever know: "problem" and, uh..,"solving." Not only is this how developers create apps, it's how they conceive them to begin with.

Consider these common, every-day-type questions:

"Where is the nearest coffee shop?"

"Is there a game that can distract me for the entirety of this three-hour lecture?"

"Why isn't there something I can pay money for that converts my phone screen into a gigantic red button that makes a fart sound every time I tap it?"

Everything that's ever turned a profit on the App Store or Google Play was designed in direct response to a similar query, and it's a developer's job to ask himselfor herself how to answer it in the form of a program by using code. So if you hear a developer asking, "What's your problem?" Don't worry. He or she probably isn't trying to start a fight with you.

Probably.

Whether you seek to supplant the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, or let him and his ilk compete for your affections, if you really learn your stuff, your future prospects in this career are as limitless as what you can choose to create.