How to become Android Developer, in this blog post we share 17 valuable tips by professional android developers sharing their journey and what helped them.
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I still remember back then when I got my first Android smartphone and all I wanted to was explore it more, I loved it from top to bottom. My first smartphone Sony Xperia P was a beauty.
Soon I was blown away when Google launched Android Studio and I thought that learning Android could be fun until I actually started doing it which I later found boring because I wanted to build something different from others and not what they’re doing.
So, I ended up making a music player that randomly plays any song with no key. That was my first step towards becoming an Android developer.
But soon I found the app boring and bad so I gave up, but it’s later after meeting a great friend of mine who is a successful Android Developer I got to know things I was doing wrong all the time. Here are some valuable tips I have received from him to be great at Android Programming:
How to become an Android Developer?
Be realistic about your project
Whenever you’re working a particular project be realistic about it. You should know what you are capable of doing and if there is something difficult you can always try but imagining a great perfect app might land you nowhere as perfection is an illusion. Always prepare a checklist of things to be done in the project and then start working on it.
Read more code
Reading more code can help you increase your mental power to analyze things better and work on codes. The more you read codes the better it will be your ability to learn and work with complex codes as well.
Learn Java design patterns
Design patterns are solutions to general problems developed by software developers using trial and error by numerous software developers over quite a substantial period of time. Learning them can help you widen up your knowledge about Android development and you can create more complex apps.
Start small and expand gradually
One thing that got me down from my project initially was that I had a lot of expectations. I wanted a lot many things to happen and my project to go viral, but you need to understand that such things take time and energy. Make every day better than yesterday, do something new.
Learn Reactive programming
Built on 4 principles Responsive, Resilient, Scalable and Message drive, reactive programming helps in building light and responsive apps much better than traditional ways.
Listen to Android Podcast
Listening to podcasts is the best way to gain knowledge whenever you are somewhere outside or traveling. You can do it when you’re on your way to office or college. It helps you make use of time spent on the unproductive activity and gain more insight about android development.
Contribute to Open Source
Contributing to Open Source is the best way to add stars to your portfolio. It helps not only you to gain more knowledge about programming but also employers to know about your work and capability.
Explore Android Working
Do not only explore the Android documentations, also explore the workings behind the IDE, explore the Android SDK and get to know about the workings behind the curtain.
Learn new languages
Why limit yourself to only Java when even python or C# and also be used to program Android apps, learn new apps every month and deep dive in the one you fall in love with.
Fall for Kotlin programming language
Kotlin is a kind of a language that has a specific set of instructions that can produce varied kinds of outputs, It runs on Java virtual machine (JVM). It’s officially supported for Android Development. So if you’re bored of Java do learn this new language and explore it even more.
Perseverance Pays
At times you may get bored of Android programming, if you are like me you may even start to hate your mobile because you’ve your app icon on your home screen which is still under development, but perseverance pays. Persevere every day for a better today than yesterday. You’ll eventually somehow meet success in life.
Attend Meetups to connect with other Android developers
This is the best advice I can give you, download the meetup app from Android and App store and meet developers, connect with them and discuss new projects. I’ve made more than 100 developer friends like this and we love discussing things on WhatsApp group. We connect if we like any buddy’s project and then we help him till launch. Sounds so great to have such amazing people around you.
Learn Keyboard shortcuts
It pays in the long run especially when you get so much to code that you don’t have enough time to even touch that mouse right next to you or touchpad if you work in the laptop.
Audit Libraries
Audit all third-party libraries that you’ve installed and kept them updated, remove the unnecessary ones.
Develop for lower versions
Develop your app that even lower versions of Android and low-end devices can play easily and swiftly, This is one of the biggest reason as to why you should learn Kotlin for Android development.
Click here to see Top 10 Android Emulators you can use to run and test your Android Apps
Save work on cloud
You may own a personal device but always save your projects on either GitHub or Dropbox. It minimizes the loss of your hard work.
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See Also: How to Hire a Great Android Developer
