Journey to Intermediate Android Developer after ALC beginner level.

A presentation giving at the ALC 2.0 Meetup grandfinale at the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Transcript

1. WHAT NEXT FOR ANDROID DEVELOPMENT AFTER ALC BY OFOEGBU VALENTINE
2. Market for Android Development in 2018  From Cupcakes and Gingerbread to KitKat and Oreo, the Android has taken us on sweet technology journey over the years. That too, with every new version update. In the year 2017, most of the companies realized that it is important to invest into Android App Development Services. Especially, if they want to meet the demands of their customers and boost their sales.  The year 2017 witnessed 254 billion app downloads. Which is more than 57.33 billion in the year 2012! Today, Google Apps, Lifestyle Apps and Social Media apps are leading the market. So, the SMEs that want to enhance their branding and customer engagement must offer similar Android Apps. If you want to create an Android App that stands out from others, you might have to hire a mobile application development company. Source: https://www.biztechcs.com/blog/android-app-development-trends-2018/
3. Key Trends to watch out for in Android Development  ANDROID INSTANT APPS: We use some android applications daily. And some keep lying in our smartphones for ages. Such applications do nothing but acquire space in smartphones. To help the users get over this problem, Google announced the launch of Android Instant Apps in October 2017. And how do instant apps work? Well, the users just need to tap on the application they want and use it without installing it on their device.  AR AND VR ANDROID APPS: A report by Statista states that 2018 will have 977.9 million Standalone Artificial Reality App downloads. And by 2022, the figure will reach 1,389 million. Now that is quite a figure! Do you remember a game that took the app market by surprise in 2016? It was Pokémon Go! Ever since it released, everyone got addicted to it and it took the gaming industry to whole another level. It was a virtual reality based game.
4. More Trends  Internet of Things: Before the term “Internet of Things” came into existence, people had no idea that things from real life can be intuitive enough to know your needs. According to Gartner, by the year 2020, there will be 20.4 billion connected things. And we will be lucky enough to spectacle and utilize these smart objects. The home automation companies are designing smart home technologies that help users inter act with their smart home devices. As Android has a higher user-base, the android developers must create apps that offer an interactive user experience.  Innovations in Mobile Payments: The whole world has been singing the “Mobile Responsive” anthem. But apart from that, the global mobile payment segment is also witnessing a noticeable growth. By the end of last year, it had established a market of $600B. New payment technologies like wearable payment solutions, contactless payments, digital currencies have come into existence. E.g., Scan to pay from zenith bank, pay with capture etc.  Cloud Based mobile apps and Games.
5. Android App Development – Tech. Trends App developers are constantly working on new methods to simplify and shorten development process on one hand and build the best designs and user experience on the other. Each year we can see continuing emergence of new, cutting-edge techniques and tools in mobile apps development. Let's take a closer look at Android app development trends!  Kotlin: Kotlin is a relatively recent programming language that works on the Java virtual machine. It's developed mainly by the JetBrains programmers and since Google IO 2017 Kotlin has been the official programming language of the Android application. It has a lot of advantages, such as:  Kotlin is interoperable with Java  Null safety  Extension function  Lambdas  Data classes
6. More Android Tech. Trends  Room Persistence Library: Room is part of Android Architecture components, but it is a database library so we split the description into different points. It's an abstract layer over SQLite that significantly simplifies query building. Its possibilities are amazing and oriented towards the observer pattern. Now, it's easier to write a query using annotations.  Object Box: Object Box is a performance-optimized mobile NoSQL database created by GreenRobot, who also created the GreenDao library. This database management system was released in a stable version in September 2017. Object Box is a database built from scratch, has a concise API that operates on objects like GreenDao and Realm.  MVVM Architecture – Model View ViewModel  Architecture Components: Android Architecture Components is a set of libraries that help design maintainable, robust and testable apps. They include: Room, Live data, ViewModel.
7. Beginners to Intermediate – The journey  Strong grasp of Android Fundamentals. Here is a guide from Google: https://developers.google.com/training/android/  The guide also contains guides for Intermediate journey  For more Advanced concepts in Android development: Google released an Advanced course found here: https://developers.google.com/training/courses/android-advanced  So if you are experienced in Java and want a more direct and traditional approach to learning Android Development, Then google has a course for you here: https://developers.google.com/training/courses/android-fundamentals  It ensures a strong grasp of concepts and practical applications built in the learning process. Experienced android developers also use it to refresh their basic understanding.  Videos made by the google office in India for the course can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaZ66V0mKSM&list=PLlyCyjh2pUe9wv- hU4my-Nen_SvXIzxGB
8. Concepts to look out for in Intermediate Android development  Good Understanding of Databases in Android(Sqlite, cursors).  Strong understanding of Material Design!  Understanding of Content providers.  Understanding of Widgets.  Understanding of Background Tasks (Services, loaders, Asynchronous Task etc.)  Recycler Views and Custom Views.  Fragments  Google Location services.  Google Maps  Android Architecture components(View Models, Livedata, room etc).  Transitioning to Andvanced from here is not hard(Sensors, NDK etc.)
9. How to make money in Android Development  Be so good that they can’t ignore you.  Add value and money will chase you. TIPS  Work as a developer in a company.  Work remotely from your home or a beach in Miami while chilling.  Work as a freelancer on upworks, fiverr, or for company(home and abroad).  Be a Techpreneur or a Technical co-founder or CEO.
10. Dudes competing with Native Android Development  IONIC FRAMEWORK(Javascript, Html, css)  CORDOVA  XAMARIN from Microsoft(uses C#)  FLUTTER FROM GOOGLE (uses Dart prog. Lang., might be the future of cross-platform)
11. When you see someone’s who is amazingly good at their craft and you think “Wow! How did they do that” or “How did they get so good” It’s usually years of practice and unwavering passion THANK YOU!!