How is to be a mobile developer?

[Anima Templi]

Hello Daniweb,

I will soon reach the point where I'm ready to move on my journey of programming. One thing that has always interested me is the mobile world. I would like to develop things for the mobile world. What I want to ask/know is tips from people already developing things for the mobile world. I would like to know how it is and which platform they have chosen to focus on? I would like to know why they chose that platform and what possitive things they have to say about it? I'm currently having a hard time picking "side" and I'm therefore trying to gather as much information as possible before making a decision. And hopefully a decision I won't regret later on.

It has to be said that I have both an iPhone and a MacBook so I won't be having any problems testing things for iOS. But on the other hand I do also own Android devices too. I hope to get some helpful replies which can help me in my quest for information.

[peter_budo]

I'm Java developer that moved to Android since Java is the ground language of Android development. Finished university degree in Mobile Computing when iPhone was just becoming big on the market, however I had no knowledge of Objective C, neither device or Mac OS machine (was impossible to develop without Mac based OS at the time). I had knowledge of Java ME and bits and bobs of Symbian but nobody was looking for junior mobile developer. Got my chance with Android 2 years back, knowledge of Java ws big plus and also knowing JUnit and Mockito that are standard tools for testing. Started development on Windows machine to find limitations with Maven base builds so I moved on Ubuntu and later MacBook Pro that been comany perk. Since then never looked back on any other mobile platform

[Anima Templi]

Thank you for your reply! It's always interesting to hear it from people who actually has some experience and know how it is. I have a lot of friends which,to be honest, are pretty badass at programming. I have spoken with people who has developed for both Android and iOS and so far I have seen the majority recommending me iOS. So I think I'm settled for now :)

[Andy Res]

I would like to know why they chose that platform and what possitive things they have to say about it?

I chose Android because I was already familiar with Java, I had a PC, and the fact that Google was behind this technology was inspiring me.
When I begun to learn Android development I didn't have a phone, I was using the emulator to do all my tests. Perhaps not the best scenario, but sufficient to get started. So, not having a device I don't consider a serious barrier.

I want to ask/know is tips from people already developing things for the mobile world.

Make sure you know pretty good the language of the platform your are developing for.

Learn design patterns (at least the most common). This will open up new perspectives for you on how to approach a particular design problem.

Be aware of best coding practices. One starting point would be Clean Code by Robert Martin.

Follow design guidelines of the platform you are developing for - What may look nice on an Android phone, may look strange, or unfamiliar on an iPhone for its users.