1. Begin with the Android Framework
It is not about what the Android Framework you are using. It is about knowing how things actually work on an Android Framework.
Even an Android developer with little knowledge and experience would know what is all about Android Framework.
But, to become an expert in Android app development, you need to understand-
- How the code has been written in the Android Framework.
- How the different things work in the same.
- How everything falls in place while working on the same
It is important for you to know EVERYTHING about the SDK you are working on and need to master it.
2. Become a JavaScript PRO
You know C, C++, and Java as Android is based on the same and now you’ve all the expertise to play with their code and achieve whatever you wish to. But, you shall never limit yourself to learning new programming languages.
There are many programming languages available in the industry and you shall gradually learn them all. But, you should first begin with learning and master JavaScript.
Why? Because
- JavaScript is the most accepted programming language for developing front-end
- It has evolved amazingly to be utilized in the Android mobile app development
- Combining JavaScript with HTML5 and CSS, you can build extraordinary Android apps
So, first, you need to become a JavaScript PRO.
3. Get a Grip on Android P
Recently, at Google I/O Developers’s Conference 2018, Android P was announced and it is said to be using Machine Learning (ML) to bring more exciting features to the Android mobile apps.
Here are a few features that are important for you to not just know, but even learn and experiment:
- Adaptive Battery uses ML to restrict the rarely used apps to utilize the battery
- App Actions uses ML to understand for what purpose and when your mobile app is mostly used for
- App Slices will allow your Android app remote content to be shown on Google Search and Assistance
- Android P uses ML which helps you to add auto-reply features in your Android apps
- Using BiometricPrompt, Android Protection Confirmation, and Strongbox from Android P to offer the highest security with the standard authentication methods
So, this is the time you should get your hands dirty and feet wet with Android P.
4. Learn Codes of AI, AR/VR
With Google I/O 2018, there are plenty of new technologies open for the Android developers. Like I said in the earlier point that Android P uses Machine Learning (ML), you have to learn, experiment, and even master it.
In fact, being an Android developer, you need to make sure you are on your toes to learn what Google has to offer.
With Google Duplex, more and more businesses would look for checking for and integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their mobile apps. And, this becomes an opportunity for you to grab those app requirements if you know how to do it.
Again, this goes for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) as well. Google brought ARCore to help the Android developers to incorporate such functionalities in their upcoming mobile apps.
So, this is for every Android developer who is looking to be successful in the coming years.
5. Explore More about Flutter & Dart
During Mobile World Congress of 2018, Google announced the launch of the Beta version of Google’s Flutter.
Flutter would be used for both- Android and iOS. So, it is also an opportunity for an Android developer to explore this cross-platform mobile app development SDK and its benefits.
So, to become a better Android developer, you should have a deep understanding, working, and environment of each and every framework that is supported to use for Android.
Also, Flutter is written in the Dart programming language and Dart is used to develop apps for IoT devices. This makes it very clear that an Android developer would need to keep a constant focus on learning, exploring, experiencing and experimenting both- Flutter and Dart for future-ready mobile apps.
6. Stay Updated with Latest Successful Android Apps
Most of the time, the Android developers are so occupied in the existing app development projects, that it becomes difficult for them to stay updated with the latest news.
But, it is the time now you should know what kind of Android apps are trending. Recently, we saw a hype and craze of HQ Live Trivia app.
And, we literally went on to understand how it became so successful and what any developer has to plan and implement to create an app similar to HQ Trivia app.
So, if you want to become a better Android developer, you need to know about the successful Android apps in the industry and what made them successful.
7. Read Code of Successful Android Apps
In fact, just knowing how the Android apps become successful won’t be enough to grow. You would also have to read the code within those successful Android apps.
Before sharing it with our audience, even we worked on reading the code, sharing them with our fellow Android developers.
This is an important step to understand what functionalities were made, how faster, reliable, user-friendly to make the app successful.
8. Learn How Android Studio can Benefit You
You are using your Android Studio more often and if you don’t know how it can benefit you, then you are losing so much of your energy, time, and efforts.
Being a coder, you might have good hands of CTRL + C and CTRL + V.
But, that is not enough. To become a better Android developer, you need to learn other highly important keyboard shortcuts and features that help you code easier and quicker.
Learn everything that the Android Studio you are using has to offer-
- Keyboard Shortcuts to some features
- Some additional functionalities to be used
- Some integrations to be used
- And, much more
So, always look for hacks to make Android development easier and faster for you to become successful.
9. Try & Run Two Android Studio
You might be wondering that now this is something weird. No no, it is not.
You need to keep two Android Studio running- one to help you do your routine work and one to see for new and exciting features that can help you test and try for your existing as well new Android app development projects.
10. Learn to Organize & Architect Your App
You work on so many projects and each of those Android app development projects has huge codes that you store in different Activities and Fragments.
But, being in the Android app development industry, you are lucky enough to get so much knowledge and a list of best practices to be adapted to become a successful Android developer.
You can test, maintain, and manage your app’s different logics within the different Android Architecture samples. So, that you don’t have to keep remembering what is stored where and with what name.
Check out the entire list of samples for Android Architecture by Google.
11. Learn UI/UX Design
Being an Android developer, you just don’t have to keep moving ahead with coding. To become a successful Android developer, you also need to learn the concepts, ways design UI/UX.
Even you need to understand what makes your Android app successful is not just your code, it is even how your users feel and experience within your app.
So, keep this in your agenda for 2018.
12. Update Your Third-Party Libraries
You regularly need third-party libraries and that is the reason why you need to update them regularly.
Also, there are times when you don’t use some of the third-party libraries and you need to remove them as well.
And, this is how you will only have the updated ones that you regularly use and remove the ones that are of no use.
13. Learn to Improve the Android App Performance More
An Android developer is considered to be the best one if he/she knows how to improve the performance of the Android app.
You play around with Android so often that you should know anything and everything that can improve the performance.
This is because the app’s success is based on its performance and user experience. So, the more the app performance, the more success you will have.
14. Go Through the Google Developers Training for Android
Well, this was never mandatory. But, adding more skills or brushing up the existing ones is never underestimated.
Not necessarily you should have a certification for Android development training, but it can definitely be an add-on.
This tip has another benefit that it allows you and other Android developers in your team to stay on the same page while working together.
So, it is good you go through the entire Android training programme offered by Google Developers Training. This will either add more skills to your Android experience, keep your team in-lined with the same basic coding skills, and will brush-up the existing Android skills.
15. Keep Two Separate Devices to Develop & Test
To develop and test your Android apps, you shall never compromise on the devices that you use.
It is always recommended to have a device on which you regularly work to be a high-end one. This gives stability and can improve your app development experience which is a sure-shot way to develop great Android apps.
But, it is also important to have a low-end device to test your Android app regularly. For any functionality that you develop, it becomes easier for you to do regular testing and QA on the low-end device because it is an everyday task and does not need a high-end one.
16. Adopt Test-Driven Development (TDD)
While developing Android apps, you often want to write the best code so that it does not break anything while testing.
But, it is equally important to save your time while testing and this is the reason why you need to adopt Test-driven development (TDD).
This helps you to write the test code first that will fail and then writing the code that will pass and then, optimize the code to ensure it improves the functionality.
17. Focus on Testing and QA
Most of the time it happens that due to shorter time-to-market requirements lead to negligence of testing and QAing the Android app before releasing them.
The confidence of having very fewer bugs is good, but having no bugs is overconfidence. And, this could lead to regression bugs which might affect the performance of the apps and you might lose your customer.
If you feel spending time on writing test cases for the same is not smart enough, you can use various tools as well.
So, it is better to focus on writing tests and checking the app for quality. This is a sign of a better and experienced Android developer.
18. Automate Publishing APKs to Play Store
Once, you are done with automating your testing and QA, you need to also look for things that can be automated in saving up your time and efforts.
And, publishing your APKs to Play Store can be one thing that needs to be automated. You can use the Gradle Plugin for the same. This allows you to publish your APKs and metadata to the Play Store once it receives the green signal of passing all the tests.
19. Try to Come Up With Android Development Strategies
This is definitely not for a beginner in the Android development industry. You have skills, experience, and expertise in Android. But, it is imperative for you to come up with strategies that can help your entire app development project team.
This will be helpful in showcasing your talent and skills to the top management and if not them, then definitely your customers and team members.
This add-on can be a straight way to reach to the success.
20. Don’t Overboard with All-things Android at One Go
There are times when you see a lot of advancements coming in the Android industry. And, it is important for you to learn and experiment with those things.
But, a better Android developer understands the ground realities as well and set the priorities for the existing development projects and the things that need to be learned.
21. Learn & Experiment All-things Android Slowly & Smartly
Setting the priorities is definitely important. But, it is equally important to understand that nothing happens in a night.
So, once you start learning new things in Android, you need to right away use them and try them with tweaking to understand and experience it better.
Learning is not enough but learning it slowly and smartly makes the difference.
22. Learn and Test New Android Best Practices
To become a better Android developer, it is important that you always look for the best practices that you can adapt to make your app development efficient.
What you should do, how to improve things, what things to avoid, and what things need to be changed- all these things define the best practices and that is what makes you a successful Android developer.
23. Contribute to Open-Source Community
For any Android developer, the best part is its coding techniques, skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise.
And, if you want to become successful after your years of experience in the Android industry, you need to start contributing to the communities available for the open source.
Develop something that you can give out as an open-source or help the open-source projects available in the community with solving some bugs or writing a few test cases or anything else.
But, begin with something to let the open-source community get to know about you and your experience and expertise in the Android app development.
24. Look for the Latest Android App Development Trends
Well, to remain on the top of the Android app development industry, you need to keep a constant eye on the latest Android app development trends, the industry is talking about.
In fact, there are editors from the well-known websites covering Android news are also looking for suggestions, reviews, and tips that can help them write about the latest trends in the Android industry. You can come up with something that can be helpful for them to cover. And, if they find them useful, you can get a mention in their articles.
HARO is one platform which you can use to see for the Android editors looking for tips and suggestions.
25. Subscribe to Google Alerts for Latest Android News
Also, keeping yourself up-to-date with the latest Android news, you can even subscribe to Google alerts with the specific keywords such as, “Android”, “Android apps”, “Android app development”, etc.
You can find the below results and the option to subscribe to Google Alerts in the News Tab within the Google Search.
26. Participate in Reddit and Quora Communities
To become a better, successful, and even popular Android app developer, you need to come out of your development shelf and start participating in the communities like Reddit and Quora.
On Reddit Android, you can share some Android news, tips, tricks, and even ask for queries related to all-things Android.
Also, on Quora, you can answer the questions asked by other Android developers and even ask any of your questions to other developers. There are various topics available for Android on Quora and you can follow and contribute to all of them.
Tip: Make sure you read the guidelines of both of these platforms before participating in the same.
27. Follow Top Android App Development Blogs/Websites
To become a better Android developer, you need to stay updated with what the industry is talking about. And, to do so, you need to know the top websites that have the latest Android news, tips, tricks, reviews, and suggestions.
And, here is the complete list of websites that you can always look forward to, for Android updates.
28. Write Down Your Own Experiences
Being successful was never easy and won’t be. So, if you want to become the best Android developer, you need to start writing down your own experiences with Android.
What to write?
You can begin with writing tips for Android app development, share experiences with any of your Android apps, etc. to share them with other Android developers. This allows other developers to look up to you as an expert in the industry and follow your tips and tricks in their own app development projects.
Where to write?
There are many platforms available for you to write- Medium.com, DZone.com, your LinkedIn Pulse, Quora.com, your own blog, your company’s blog, and many more.
When to write?
Well, this is something that you need to figure it out. You need to take some spare time from your busy coding schedules and start writing.
Just remember- good things need to no right times.
29. Connect with Other Android Developers
To keep updated yourself and even share your own experiences with other Android developers, you need to connect with them.
Either connect with them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Quora, and there are many other platforms available for Android developers where you can connect with them and share your knowledge and experiences with them.
This tip helps you stay one step higher than what most other Android developers are not doing.
30. Share Unexpected Android Tips/Tricks to Google Developers
To become a successful Android developer has different perceptions for different developers.
A few might be looking to become famous, a few might be looking to be employed by Google or similar well-known companies, a few might be looking to open their own Android development company, and much more.
The success is different for each Android developer, but to showcase your Android skills to the world, you need to always consider sharing some out-of-the-box Android tips and tricks to Google Developers.
This helps you to fulfill any of your success criteria and get known in the Android app development industry.
31. Attend Podcasts & Webinars
There are various ways to gain knowledge these days and it is also in the Android app development industry.
Most of the Android industry experts and Android app development companies are organizing podcasts and webinars to discuss Android app development hacks that the developers can utilize for their day-to-day practices.
This is another way you can learn new things about Android and utilize them in your own projects. Well, I am sure hardly any of your team members would be following this. So, you have a unique way to grab knowledge and skills.
32. Become Active on Social Media
By suggesting you become active on social media does not mean you start posting your personal photographs on social media.
With this tip, I am suggesting you to start sharing Android tips and tricks on social media. This can help you be noticed by some big names in the Android industry and other Android developers across the globe can come to know about your expertise.
Also, you can share your written blogs on social media and grab great feedback on what you should write more and what you should avoid. More and more people can reach to your blogs.
33. Attend Android Events & Conferences
Also, there are numerous events and conferences taking place across the globe for Android. Even, we recently saw two big conferences- Mobile World Congress of 2018 and Google I/O 2018.
I have just named these two because they were quite hyped. But, there are other well-known companies organizing events and conferences once a year focusing on Android advancements. And, you could always look up for the same and network with other Android experts.
It is not necessary that you go for the global ones, you can choose any events locally or domestically as well.
34. Attend Local Android Meetups or Organize One
Do you know many organizations have started organizing small-scale meetups of developers?
Yes, that’s right. Networking is in-trend and that is the reason organizing meetups are becoming so successful.
You can lookup in Meetup.com for the Android-based meetups near your locality or city and you can get yourself registered and attend the same.
Also, these small-scale meetups are not at all expensive and you can even organize with at your own office or a small co-working space.
This will help you showcase your expertise and would help you connect with other Android developers and also to learn from them as well.
Well, I told you, becoming a PRO in Android app development won’t be easy.
35. Build a Strong Local Android Community
Attending and organizing local meetups are of no use if you don’t remain in communication with the developer whom you met.
So, it is equally important for you to stay in constant contact with those local Android developers.
Also, you can build a strong local Android community which can be strengthened in terms of getting bigger and challenging Android development projects, helping each other, and growing together.
Anything that can help you be a better Android developer should be adopted by you and should be your only focus.
36. Keep Your Career Goals Clearly Defined
Well, whatever you plan and execute in your career should be completely aligned with your career goals.
It is important for you to be clear about what do you want to achieve by being in the Android industry.
And, this won’t be enough, you need to keep a track of how close are you to achieve your Android career goals on a regular basis.
37. Stay Dedicated, Consistent & Self Motivated
Dreams never come with one simple key. There are many keys available to open the doors to achieve your dreams and goals. So, you need to stay dedicated to what you need to do to reach to a level where you always wanted to be.
Also, be consistent on whatever you need to do to become a better and successful Android developer.
There will be times when you’ll be bored of writing and testing just the Android code all the time. But, always remember that you would need to motivate yourself to avoid any distractions. Because any distraction from your goal could lead to reach to a level where you’d started.
38. Work on Improving Your Productivity
Apart from remaining dedicated, consistent, and self-motivated, you would also look forward to the ways you can improve your work productivity as you are a full-time Android developer. And, you just don’t have to write the Android code full-time.
You might need to research for some tools that can help you with some tasks which takes your time unnecessarily, but needs equal importance. For that, those tools can work for you and can improve the efficiency of your work without compromising on the quality.
39. Learn to Manage Your Time & Projects Effectively
The most important stress of an Android developer is to work on different Android app development projects simultaneously.
There are chances where you get confused on the business logics, data interpretations, other configurations, etc. So, if you want to become an expert Android developer, you would need to learn and master time and project management skills.
This will make you efficient and definitely an Android PRO.
40. Aim to be a Leader but Effectively be a Team Player
If you are an Android developer working with an organization, your positions might change based on the experience and how you become better and better each day.
There are chances that looking at your progress, learning, experience, and contributions to the Android app development projects, you might get promoted to a higher position.
But, that should not be your ultimate goal. Being a leader, you shall never forget that the technology is the only thing that is not constant. It changes rapidly.
And, thus, you would equally be required to be a team player who would keep contributing to the Android app development team. Your responsibilities would be an addition to your authorities.
41. Never Stop Learning, Experimenting & Sharing
There is no shortcut to success and there is no end to a goal. Every goal is attached to another goal. So, if you are passionate about the Android industry, there won’t be any end to your career goals because you everyday see there are updates to Android OS, its integrations, there are many more frameworks developed & launched, and much more.
So, Android is going to to upgrade with the changing technology needs. So, at whatsoever stage of your career, never ever stop learning the new technology. And, every new technology needs to be experimented by you to understand it well.
Also, there is no expert who can remain an expert without sharing their knowledge. So, keep sharing your knowledge with everyone.
