Careers in Mobile Development
While getting educated in what you want to do is important,
It’s just as important to know where you’re going once you get out there.
What does do?
iOS Developer
With iOS development, there are many paths to take when it comes to developing for mobile Apple devices. Apps can be used for anything and everything, leaving one opportunity to take a wide array of paths.
What is it
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Job Type
An iOS developer can range from being a Junior to a Senior usually, as well as there being a ‘Lead Developer’ though often times developers work under free-lance or for themselves, the rankings being more applicable if you work within a company.
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Salary
The salary can vary greatly depending on if one works for themselves, or with a company. The the average salary for an iOS developer is roughly $122,000 each year with the range being quite large depending on the success of the developer.
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Responsibilities
Developers often need to be familiar with Swift and Objective-C to handle apps as well as need abilities such as handling source control using Git and a familiarity with Core Data. The developer most usually manages apps whether creating, maintaining, upgrading or a mix of all three.
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Career Path
Within a company, the advancement is rather simple, one goes from being a Junior Developer, to a normal Developer with hopes of becoming a Senior Developer or Lead Developer. Those that work for themselves can work to create a successful app that will achieve their goals.
Android Developer
One cannot forget Android when it comes to mobile development, while the knowledge is often different is language from others, it is a great platform of creation. Apps here are still for any and every use.
What We’re Looking For
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Job Type
The Android developer seems less commonly referred to as ‘Junior’, ‘Senior’ and other titles except within companies. A free-lancer or one who works for themselves obvious will have a different job experience entirely compared to the company worker.
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Salary
The free-lancer’s salary depends on what jobs they’re taking and how often they take it. Within a company, $125,000 is the average salary with a huge range depending on the position itself. Android tends to see higher wages at times as iOS is the more popular option for developers.
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Responsibilities
Knowing the language of Java is a must to program for Android, with C++ being useful and the up-and-rising language of Kotlin being adopted by Android as well. Similarly to iOS, you’ll be working to create, upgrade and/or maintain apps usually.
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Career Path
Within a company, there is a ranking system at times from Junior, to a normal developer to Senior while for a free-lancer, they are their own boss most usually listening to themselves and their clients.
Mobile Software Engineer
A software engineer – confused often with a programmer – is skilled in the design, implementation and maintenance of complex creations, in this case apps.
What We’re Looking For
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Job Type
When you look for Mobile Software Engineer, there’s back-end, front-end and full stack specific positions as well as ‘Platform Engineer’ and ‘Software Developer’ being common position titles.
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Salary
The average pay for a Mobile Software Engineer is around $97,000 a year though this can rise if a promotion to a ‘Senior’ engineer is received to around $107,000.
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Responsibilities
The engineer, depending on which ‘end’ they’re working with, regardlessly is usually searched for to assist with managing mobile applications and sites as to manage something complex is rarely a one-man job.
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Career Path
The ‘Senior’ and ‘Junior’ positions within companies can be climbed but with software engineering one can always shift gears to working with programs for computers on our desks rather than the ones in our pockets.
Mobile Architect
The architect is the builder, they are the creative designers that can sometimes lead the team and lead it to greatness. If you see a great looking app, the architect likely had a hand in it.
What We’re Looking For
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Job Type
With Mobile Architects, they can sometimes be referred to as the lead of a team though not always. There is cross-over with Engineer and Developer positions as well, but the Architect remains a key role in creation on a mobile platform.
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Salary
For the Architect, pay tends to average out at $120,000 though as expected, not every position will offer that much. Commission assignments can be found but compared to working with a company (which the Architect is mostly best suited for) leaves free-lancing as a very small area.
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Responsibilities
Often times the leader of the project, they are expected to be able to guide the team and organize things on their own at times while also collaborating with others to keep things running smoothly. A familiarity with both iOS and Android is a plus.
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Career Path
Within a company, the Architect can work their way up to Senior and Chief positions or with skills being transferrable, move on to be just a developer or an engineer.