Introduction

In today’s age, companies that do not have high-quality mobile applications lose out on customers and businesses. A mobile app allows for more effective and direct communication with the customer and helps create brand awareness.

Android has played a massive part in making mobile apps popular. According to studies by Statista, of the 3 million apps available on the Google Play Store, about 2.7 million are Android. So, we can safely say that there are more android users in this world than iOS, probably because android mobile phones are more accessible, cost-efficient, and easy to use.

As an operating system, Android has several advantages over its counterparts. Since it is an open-source platform for businesses, it often means low investment & high ROI. Moreover, with such a wide user base, companies worldwide are looking to exploit it to grow and gain exposure. So, it is not surprising that today, many companies are on the lookout for skilled android developers that can help make their apps more accessible, robust, and user-friendly.

Popular Android Development Programming Languages

With the right tools and programming languages, android app developers can create a well-engaging app that leads to improved brand awareness and the ability to attract and convert more customers. Here’s a look at some of the top android development programming languages.

• Dart (Flutter) :Developed by Google, Dart is a client-optimized language that has been gaining popularity in recent years. Flutter, its framework, is an open-source mobile app development SDK that enables Android app developers to build an advanced native interface with a single codebase for both Android and iOS apps. Many android developers prefer this platform over others as it is effortless to learn and is flexible in nature.
• Kotlin: Since 2019, Kotlin is the official language for Android App Development and is an alternative language to traditional Java. Kotlin and Java are interoperable, and the only sizable difference is that Kotlin removes the superfluous features of Java and is much simpler for beginners to start with.
• Java: Now replaced by Kotlin, Java was the former official language for Android mobile app development. The language is object-oriented and helps keep your app flexible, modular, and extensible. Java offers the best documentation, community support, and many open-source libraries that are readily available for developers to choose from. Some developers prefer to work on this platform as it is more precise with no scope for ambiguity.
• Javascript (React Native):JavaScript is the world’s most popular lightweight, interpreted compiled programming language. From dynamic programming and prototype-based object orientation to first-class functions, the language offers a variety of features. With React Native, an open-source framework developed by Facebook, developers build cross-platform native mobile apps using JavaScript.
• Python: Python is a widely accepted programming language and helps develop scalable web and mobile apps. The language is fast, easy to use, easy to deploy, and offers dynamic binding and dynamic typing options, making it an attractive language for Android app development.

When looking to hire an Android Developer for your team or your next project, make sure the prospective candidate understands Java’s latest implementations and how it can be used for the development process. Apart from Java, the candidate should also be skilled in other programming languages such as Xamarin, Kotlin, C++, Python, CSS, Javascript, and HTML. The ideal candidate may not have experience with all of them, but even the basic understanding of one or more of these languages and the willingness to learn more on the job can make all the difference. Also, make sure to test your developer for the knowledge of Android SDK, JSON, and REST APIs. It does good to remember that your prospective candidate may not have experience with every technology but sometimes his or her attitude is all that matters. The right candidate should be a quick learner and a team player who is willing to grow and learn with your organization. He or she should be ready to step up when required and follow and learn when the situation demands.

Required Expertise

Requirements - hard skills

• Proficient in writing readable, maintainable, performant object-oriented Java and Kotlin
• Experience with Android Jetpack: ViewModel, Data Binding, Live Data, ViewPager2, etc
• Familiarity with RESTful APIs to connect Android applications to back-end services
• Tested, Provisioned, Compiled, and Deployed an application to Google Play Store
• Experience with third-party libraries and APIs
• Expertise in writing complex XML layouts. 
• Understanding of Google’s design principles and interface guidelines
• Proficient in end-to-end implementation (logic and UI)
• Proficient in Coroutines
• Proficient understanding of Architecture components (Room, Navigation, Livedata, ViewModel)
• Proficient understanding of DI
• Proficient in testing methodologies, and Unit tests
• Proficient understanding of Git (How to break it and unbreak it)
• Experience with Kotlin DSL and Gradle scripts.
• Experience with modularization and writing reusable code
• Experience with code reviews and mentoring others
• Experience with CI/CD process
• Experience with Kotlin Coroutines Flow
• Experience working with remote data via REST and JSON
• Experience with third-party libraries and APIs
• Experience with WebSocket - advantage
• Experience with multi-module projects - advantage
• Deep understanding of Android activity lifecycle
• Deep knowledge of Android’s common software design patterns
• Solid understanding of the entire mobile development life cycle
• Experience with Testing Automation (Unit, integration, and E2E)

Experience

Developing software is an individual and team effort. At junior levels, high performance and strong knowledge of the domain is essential, along with the ability to work in a team. At higher levels, many additional skills are vital to being a strong team lead or manager.

• Taking full ownership of features, from design to delivery
• Work as part of a dynamic team, working in high standards, delivering great quality
• Work closely with the product, architects, DevOps, BI, business, and automation teams
• Tackle challenging problems and find creative ways to solve them.
• Lead decision-making & design of APIs, mechanisms, and abstractions.
• Build new features and directly impact the future of our products
• Improve your skills, learn from and mentor top-notch engineers and enrich other team members.
• Perform code reviews, evaluate implementations, and provide feedback.

Salary Structure

The ongoing pandemic has forced talent and companies to resort to remote working. Whether you’re looking for freelance, full-time, or contract Android developers, we at Skuad can help you hire the best talent tailored to your requirements and industry.