Nine Qualities of Successful App Developers

Successful app development needs more than just technical expertise and coding skills. The key developer qualities to search for when hiring resources include:

• Creative ability to solve problems.
• Good knowledge of target user audience.
• The ability to create an engaging user experience.
• A long-term vision for the app.
• Better communication skills.

These skills are mission-critical to building any successful app, irrespective of the niche.

While good coding is always an important factor in app projects, they hardly make the only consideration to measure the developer's skills. The emergence of AI-based coding tools has given rise to a paradigm-shifting approach for any app developer. Technical skills are still important but must be paired with creative abilities, aptitude, and zeal to excel.

Here we will explain some of the key qualities of successful app developers.

Problem-Solving App Developers Aptitude

Efficient app developers with great track records can quickly find solutions after understanding the key user problems that need to be solved. Great developers are always known for their innovative approaches.

Innovative thinking allows them to develop solutions that stand apart from others. While this is important for all developers, it brings more value for remote developers. Since remote developers may not always have instant access to their project head, for them, problem-solving abilities work like life savers.

When you hire a remote development team after the initial technical screening and test, immediately assess their problem-solving aptitude. You can begin doing this through an interview where you can pose practical questions related to the app solutions they have already built.

You can also take common aptitude tests. These questions and tests will provide deeper insights into the problem-solving skills of remote developers. On top of that, we must agree that app developers' aptitude will always improve by taking real app projects where they can get hands-on experience.

App Development Budget & Timeline Management

Another ability that plays an important role is effective time and resource management. It is a key factor for evaluating a remote app development team. Mobile and enterprise app projects often have budget and development time constraints, which is when this ability comes to the rescue. A crucial consideration is how developers can lower development time without compromising quality standards.

When testing and checking the abilities of a remote team, the first responsibility is to look at their track record of adhering to project deadlines and milestones. When you consider questions to ask before hiring expert app developers, put something on the list for how they manage the timeline and budget constraints. You should also check their work process and the development tools they use to speed up development time. A key check is whether they use the latest development tools to speed up the development process.

The App Developer’s Grip on Native Technologies

Since native OS platforms like Android and iOS and their corresponding technologies are irreplaceable for app projects, experienced and skilled app developers must have a command of them. They need proficiency in at least two native programmings languages like Java or Kotlin for Android and Swift or Objective C for iOS.

This will help them write app code for iOS and Android mobile platforms. Even when a front-end app developer embraces cross-platform frameworks for mobile and web apps, learning these native technologies is extremely important.

Swift is the official language for building iOS and macOS apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Kotlin is the official Android language used for creating native Android apps. Java is used for both Android and web apps. Knowing these languages is among the basic steps to becoming an app developer.

Cross-Platform Development Skills

Cross-platform apps are so widespread and highly demanded that only successful developers can deny them. Thanks to their ability to deliver a native user experience while offering the benefits of reusable code like hybrid technologies, they offer a unique value proposition. Highly experienced cross-platform app developers are capable of delivering high-quality apps with a native look and feel for both iOS and Android and also for web and desktop.

App developers, experts in cross-platform development, strongly understand core web development technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. These languages are the backbone of most cross-platform development frameworks, so command of them is vital. Lastly, they need to be experts in at least one leading cross-platform framework like React Native or Flutter, or Xamarin.

Clean App Programming Ability

When you try to hire experienced developers, remember their experience with multiple projects shows up in their ability to write clean code. Clean coding is a hallmark of a successful developer as it helps him to keep pace with fast-paced projects requiring quicker coding and streamlined app testing. Since clean coding leads to fewer bugs and errors, this helps make the quality assurance testing process seamless.

Having clean code also helps a project have precise documentation, further guiding future developers for their projects. With meticulous documentation, the developers can make code changes and feature additions more easily. Well-articulated documentation also helps create references for the developer community, besides implementing the modular changes faster.

To explain this, let's take the example of React Native. React Native uses Javascript programming language, widely recognized for its dynamic performance and capabilities, but clean and transparent coding always remains a concern for its syntax. This is where the developers who can write clean code bring more value and strength to the framework and the apps built on it.

UI Design & Back-end Development

When hiring a mobile app developer with excellence, look for a strong command of UI/UX design principles and practices in the context of mobile devices and operating systems. He must have good knowledge of user interface design with rich and layered user interactions.

Besides front-end development skills, a good understanding of back-end technologies is important. If not the skills of a full stack app developer, at least a working knowledge of any of them and expertise with one are necessary. Nevertheless, an app developer with front-end and back-end expertise can bring significant value to any app project. Here below, we mention these skills briefly.

• UI/UX Design

  Understanding UI/UX design principles like responsive design, micro-interactions, touch interactions, navigation patterns, etc. Command in design tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, Canva, and Figma.

• Front-End Development

  Front-end programming language skills with Swift for iOS or Java for Android, besides cross-platform frameworks like React Native, Flutter, or Xamarin.

• Back-End Development

  Back-end development skills with Node.js, Ruby on Rails, Python, or PHP, besides database systems like MySQL or MongoDB.

Testing Skills

Testing skills for app developers is important to improve the code. After building the functions, QA testing skills are about identifying and resolving coding errors or bugs. An experienced app developer needs the ability to fix not only all coding errors and issues but also to improve the code for optimum performance and user experience.

The developer should know how to work with a QA team throughout the development phase. An app developer should be able to work in close collaboration with the QA testing team to ensure desired output. So, remember to test how the developer is familiar with the QA processes, from bug-fixing skills to code improvement.

Communication Skills

When hiring remote resources for any app project, check how well they are in daily communication, not just in formal talk or writing. Look for developers versed with the seamless communication protocols in modern app projects. In this regard, it is also important to understand to what extent the time zone differences can affect project communication.

Leading developers, having worked on hundreds of projects, are well known for their flexibility and availability regarding project communication and iteration during development. So, make sure they can bear with the iterations during a project.

Domain Expertise

Besides the coding and core development skills, you need to assess the developer's previous experience and knowledge of the domain when hiring an app developer. If they have developed apps for different business niches, find out whether they have already developed apps for any of the competitors.

Are they fully current with the tools and technologies your domain mostly requires? Take enough time to check their domain knowledge and prior experience. Ultimately, someone knowing your business can do the best job.

Conclusion

As a business, you must have your method of evaluating app developers, but the techniques can be similar to what we have mentioned above. All the factors discussed above are widely considered effective for leading successful app projects. Since app development involves serious monetary investments, you must refrain from taking chances with resources who develop it.

With IndianAppDevelopers, you can hire developers in India at flexible engagement models at 50% less cost for robust and highly secure mobile app projects.

As a leading mobile app development company in India, we’ve delivered several mobile applications to startups and the world’s most renowned brands, such as KeepAppy, Scoreboard, TeachKloud, Ethicart, Siente, and more. Book a free consultation now to get your app idea to market.