Mobile Application Development: Education You'll Need to Make A Difference!
When it comes to the IT field, you can take several paths. However, the mobile app development field has become quite popular. The age of mobile devices is here, and they are here to stay.
It is estimated that there are over six billion mobile phone users globally using mobile phones for almost everything from shopping to playing video games. With the sudden rise in mobile phone and tablet usage, the hunger for mobile applications will continue to increase. If you are an aspiring app developer, then this is good news.
Mobile Application Development
Mobile application development is a set of procedures and processes used in writing software for wireless computing devices such as tablets or smartphones. The processes followed in mobile application development are similar to web application development. The main difference is that mobile apps are often designed with unique features for mobile devices. For example, a gaming application can be designed to take advantage of a mobile device accelerometer.
Types of Mobile Applications
Mobile applications are similar to desktop software in that you can design them using different programming languages and frameworks. Although some of the popular operating systems such as Android and iOS have tried to standardize the types of mobile applications development for programmers to make, mobile applications can take different shapes in the following ways:
Native applications: These are applications that are designed to be used in a specific platform, for instance, iOS or Android using software development tools and languages that are supported by the operating systems. Android uses Eclipse and Java, whereas iOS uses Objective-C and Xcode.
HTML5 applications: These types of applications are designed similar to universal standards of web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Apps developed using this framework are compatible across different platforms and only require minimal changes to ensure that they are fully compatible with each operating system.
Hybrid applications: These are applications developed using the native systems and are designed in such a way that developers can embed HTML5 applications within them. Doing this allows the applications to make use of the unique elements of the native systems.
The Education you need to become a Mobile Application Developer
Mobile application developers must hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a computer science major. Mobile application development degrees focus on areas such as system design, data structuring, and programming. It is equally important to learn computer-programming languages such as C++, HTML, and Java. Some computer science degrees will combine these language classes as part of your major while in other cases they are offered as electives.
If you want to move into top positions in the mobile app development field, you may need a master’s degree. Jobs that require a master’s degree will often focus on specialists who have several years of experience.
Why is Formal Education Important in this Field?
Formal education could equip you with the skills you need to get your foot in the door. Some of the skills you should acquire through formal education in this field include:
Cross-platform Development
To survive in the mobile app development industry, it’s not enough to be a skilled developer on only one platform. You should be versatile and know how to develop different types of apps for any sort of mobile device.
UX/UI Design Skills
Developing apps isn’t only about them operating correctly. Because there are millions of applications available, you need to know how to develop easy to use apps that have a clean design for them to stand out. Formal education will give you the skills to create apps with good user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).
Programming Languages
Formal education should familiarize you with front-end development and programming languages such as C#, HTML5, JAVA, and PHP, as well as others such as Adobe Flash Lite, Objective C, and Python.
How Can You Become a Mobile App Developer?
After completing your formal training in this field and understanding programming languages and mobile user interfaces, ensure that you practice your skills to become a successful mobile app developer. Practicing is important if you want to keep your skills sharp. This is why you should regularly practice coding, programming, and development.
Tips on how to practice
- Come up with an app idea
- Write your idea on paper
- Hire or work with other people that can help you
- Test your application
Becoming a mobile app developer is a long journey. If you’re inspired to become a mobile app developer and want to create apps that will help people all over the world, take the first step by earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science with a Major in Software Development - Mobile Development Track. ECPI University offers this degree at an accelerated rate. For more information on this exciting degree program, connect with a helpful admissions representative today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.