Many of you might have heard about the term “Android Development” or “App Development” while you are in your high school or in a College but don’t know what exactly the term means. Or you might belong to the nerd category who knows what App Development is but confused where to start from. It happens, nothing to be worried about.
I started my app development journey in 2nd Semester of my college, with flutter. During that time, I didn’t have much knowledge about native app development so I decided to start with cross platform with Flutter. By the time I made several projects and participated in hackathons, I shifted to native Android Development using Java. But don’t worry, I will try my best to explain all of it, so that you can start your journey without any confusion.
What exactly is App Development?
The process of creating a mobile application on your computer with the help of coding and designing that runs easily on a device, provides valuable information, scales up your business or makes your life easier is called App Development. It can be an android app or an iOS app.
Which track to choose?
The most important thing before choosing a track is your interest and requirement. If you are a naïve and doesn’t have any programming knowledge, get yourself into learning any programming language, (be it C, CPP, Java, Python, etc.) and get a taste of how to code.
- Native Android: If you are familiar with Java you can start with native android development. If you have a Windows PC/Laptop with at least 8GB of RAM in it and an android smart phone for testing (which I guess is the most common thing, we all have), you are good to go. You will get to learn a lot of things and explore a lot of interesting stuff while building an android app. Initially you can start with Java and gradually shift to Kotlin - the official language for android development according to Google. Know more about it here. You can get a lot of resources available on the internet to get you started on your journey of becoming a successful Android Developer.
- iOS: If you have a MAC running computer and an iPhone, you can definitely start with iOS app development. You will be learning Swift to develop iOS apps. Resources are definitely available on the internet from many developers around the globe.
- Cross Platform: If you somehow get interest into Cross Platform app development like I did, you can definitely give it a try. It basically means, once you write your code, you can run your app in an android smartphone or an iPhone, which definitely increases efficiency and reduces time to make apps for both the OS. This technology is majorly at hype in recent time due to it’s high productivity and reliability. You can either start with the current rising technology Flutter by Google for which you will be using Dart (a programming language by Google specifically for Flutter) or you can opt for React Native in which you will be coding in React JS. Both the technologies have a wide community and resources available on the internet to get you started.
Maintaining Consistency
As you start with it, you might face mental breakdown, feel tired of coding and even feel like “as if it’s not for you”. But trust me, everybody feels that. Even the superior coders and developers face such breakdown and mental insecurities at times. But, you can do it. Not only android development, but anything you start, make sure to give your best in it and not give up. Don’t hesitate to take your time, take breaks and explore other technologies. If you are passionate and determined to learn, you will definitely rise.
Don’t fall in tutorial hell. If you keep on watching tutorials for months, you might feel like you are learning a lot of things, but as soon as you try to make an app on your own, you get to know that you can’t. Instead fix small deadlines and make small projects of whatever you learn. In this way you will implement your knowledge practically and have a clear vision.
Open Source Contributions
If you haven’t heard about the term yet, don’t worry. You can get your answer with just the term googled. Open source contributions can greatly enhance your learning curve and improve your skills. You can clone open source repos into your system and learn from the code by making subtle changes and playing around with the project. You can also contribute in any of the open source projects available out on the internet. GitHub can be your choice for finding such projects. Remember, you don’t need to be a pro to contribute in app projects. You can start with simply suggesting a color change of layout, or even changing the font family used in the app.
Resources
Here are some of the resources from my side which are free of cost and get you started from scratch: Resource Link. Beside you can definitely opt for paid courses from Udemy, Coursera and many other platforms if you want.
Start your app developer journey today, all the best!
