Who doesn’t love downloading a shiny new app or browsing around the app store? Clearly, many people do and this high demand is reflected in desirable salaries paid to app developers. If one looks at the average US annual salary for Android Developers, it’s $97,986, according to Glassdoor. Besides the excellent salary, there are many reasons to become an Android Developer in 2018. This article will list some of these reasons.
The Android Operating System Still #1 and Growing
The Android operating system is hugely popular – that’s an initial good reason to become an Android Developer but there are many more. Gartner’s latest research, published in 2018 about the 2017 smartphone operating system market, shows Android extending its lead to capturing 86% of the total market share. This is up 1.1% from the previous year. Also, Samsung, Nokia, Asus and LG have announced plans to launch new Android smartphones.
Source: Garter (February 2018)
Because Android dominates the smartphone market and it’s a free and open operating system, it’s no surprise then that many developers want to start developing for the Android platform. According to the 2018 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, which interviewed over 100 000 developers, the Android platform came out as the #1 platform developers want to learn, with 16% of developers ranking it as their top platform choice. The Operating System is what people use, whereas the platform includes the related developer tools, etc.
Image Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#technology-most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-platforms
App Revenue: Heading to the Stars
Revenue from apps is climbing hugely. Here’s a graph depicting worldwide app revenue growth in 2015, 2016 and projected growth in 2020, from The Statistics Portal.
Image Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/
Mobile apps are projected to earn $188,9 billion in revenue via app stores and in-app advertising by 2020. Interestingly, iOS users (i.e. the Apple platform) are much more likely to purchase apps, whereas Android app developers make their cash from in-app purchases and advertising. An in-app purchase is something you buy in a game or app – for example, a Gold Bar in Candy Crush. It’s known as the Freemium model. Moreover, it’s the most popular way to make money from apps – that’s another good reason to become an Android Developer. The way the Freemium model works is that you distribute your app for free but your revenue is generated from 0.5-2% of users who want to enhance their app experience with in-app purchases or subscriptions.
Why Developing for Android is so Cool
You may be keen to become an Android Developer, because the experience of developing Android apps is particularly satisfying. First up, it’s cheaper to develop apps for Android. There’s no annual fee unlike the Apple platform, which charges you a set fee each year. Also, the Software Development Kit, or SDK, is free. And these development tools offer advantages, because Android Studio runs cross-platform – i.e. on both Mac and Windows machines unlike iOS, which only runs on Mac. This is helpful if you have a number of people in your team, whether at the office or freelancers, and you each have different machines.
High-Demand for App Developers
According to Modis, tech jobs are on the rise. There’s an anticipated 12% growth in tech employment by 2024 (compared with 6,5% projected growth in other industries). By 2024, there will be 48,500 additional tech jobs. So which tech industries can expect growth?
According to an article in Forbes, the 13 top tech skills include Mobile Application Development. Says Scott Stiner of UM Technologies and part of the Forbes Technology Council: ‘Mobile application developers will continue to be in high demand, just as they have been the past few years. The demand will get greater in 2018, though, and successful app developers should be fluent in multiple programming languages, including Java, HTML5, Objective-C, C++, C#, Python and Swift. Also, app developers with UX and UI design skills can offer much more value for project management.’
Clearly, App Development is a career with an upward trajectory. Become an Android Developer if you’re keen on a flexible and stimulating career, which is in high demand. HyperionDev offers a 6-month, part-time Mobile Developer Bootcamp aligned to the Google Associate Android Developer certification. During this time, you’ll master Java, the basic language used in the development of Android apps is, and Android. Who knows – perhaps you will develop the next Pokemon Go or Uber. Your only limit is your imagination.
