I'm thinking of learning how to develop mobile apps. Which is more valuable to companies iOS or Android? I
I can't decide which operating system to focus on. #software #software-development #software-engineer #android #ios #mobile #mobile-app
17 answers
Brian’s Answer
In my role and with my company, we staff both an iOS and Android team. I can tell you from experience that it is harder to obtain good Android mobile engineers than iOS. It seems that more developers gravitate to iOS than Android. That being said, past trends use to have companies focused more on iOS than Android, thus I can understand why previously engineers focused more on iOS. Trends are changing and have been. Currently for any new native mobile App effort we start, unless there is a very specific reason why, we run both an iOS engineering team and Android team.
I agree with the previous response in that more important than anything else is making sure you have a firm, solid, and deep understanding of software engineering. This will include software constructs, algorithms, and design patterns; they will transfer to all languages.
The short answer to your question that I will provide is this, learn both. If you can present yourself as a native mobile engineer familiar with both platforms and able to write code, review code, and design, that will by far separate you apart from most others. If you are considering "picking a side" to start with, I would start with Android. I feel trends right now show more of a need for Android engineerings than iOS. But, I would strongly consider how you can integrate learning both.
Hi Brian, my name is David, a rising, college sophomore, who is majoring in Information Technology. Since the time I selected my major, I have always thought about becoming a web/mobile developer one day, and just saw your suggestion earlier in my email, for following the "mobile-app" topic, here on the CareerVillages site. May I ask why you would suggest Android over iOS as a better practice for beginners, and could you share your early experience with using both platforms? I would highly appreciate your response. Enjoy Memorial Day!
David
Steve Lewis
Steve’s Answer
Both are valuable. We have both an iOS and Android team at my company. If you learn the basic concepts of programming, then you will be able to learn any additional languages in the future. So, I would decide what you like to do best and focus on that.
Hi Steve, my name is David, a rising, college sophomore, who is majoring in Information Technology. Adding on to Joshua's question about which platform is more preferred, I also have a question for you: are Swift and Objective-C the two main languages for mobile development, or will there be other languages mixed in as well? If that is the case, how do mobile-dev. teams at your company deal with common issues among the different programming languages (specifically, OOP), and will some of those issues be permanent?
David
Swift and Objective-C are used for iOS. Swift is newer and supposed to be easier. Java is used for Android development. This is why we have focused teams. One person does not have to do both iOS and Android. But, of course, that would be good to master both.
Steve Lewis
Thank you for sharing, Steve. I'll take those into consideration as I continue to further immerse myself into the programming field.
David
Kumar’s Answer
Both iOS and Android are equally popular and well adapted. If you work for a company that deals with consumers, it is need for both iOS and Android developers. This changes a little bit when you are developing for internal customers within a company. Often, there are preferred devices supported and managed by IT and this mandates if iOS or Android is chosen.
Since both of them are equally good, I would encourage you to follow your passion or interest. Learning one of them makes it easy for you to learn and move to the other if you choose to make the change at a later point of time as the fundamentals of Mobile development /programming are pretty much the same.
Ralf’s Answer
As a developer you will always have to learn new technologies, so you can transition to other platforms later.
Poorwa’s Answer
It's always a good thing to keep your skills updated in both platforms so that you can switch between the two. It also makes you a more versatile developer and aware of strengths / shortcomings in either platform and how you could overcome them, which would be extremely valuable for the company you're working for.
Jenna’s Answer
John’s Answer
In my role, I would say they are equal. Working with different business customers, large and small, the solution is based on the need of that particular type of business. Either way their will be a need for business apps on both operating systems. I would research business I would be proud to support and find out waht they prefer and go from there.
VEERA RAGHUNATH’s Answer
Both plays a major role in mobile industry. I put answer in other way, Based on Location the percentage usage of different mobile OS is different. Most of European and USA region have more usage on I-phones and where as when you see ASIAN and African countries you see most of the people use Android mobiles. So based on place the companies requirement are different. I can say always check the percentage criteria of which OS is being used most in world and can start you learning on that OS and focus on it.
Once you start learning one mobile OS programming and confident about it, trust me the other one you can learn in 30 percent of time you spent on first one. Moreover the concepts will be same, just to understand the syntactical way of implementation.
When an application is developed on any OS , you need to develop for other also as per market trend ,one or other day both mobile OS stores will update with same application.
Start with any one, Happy learning.
gaby’s Answer
i always try to have the business growth perspective of the mobile industry per market, device, etc, not only the technical view.
Darrell’s Answer
1. provide you more career opportunities
2. makes you a more well rounded engineer and help you provide more software architectural insights than you would have realized before if you only knew one platform.
In terms of what is most valuable to companies, it will depend upon which countries those companies do business in, what their core business is, etc. Any company that has a broad mobile strategy will be developing mobile apps for both iOS and Android operating systems so you can't go wrong.
Peter’s Answer
Neha’s Answer
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Justin’s Answer
Sherry’s Answer
For the apps that we deploy on our network, they are ALWAYS available in both Android and Apple iOS (we sell both types of devices). I know it doesn't help you select one over the other for your studies, but if the app you are deploying doesn't work on both operating systems, you're severely limiting your audience. So, if at all possible, learn both!
Pamela’s Answer
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Charles’s Answer
Both. Most apps are developed for iOS and Android, and that trend will continue for the forseeable future.
Sanket’s Answer
Both are equally important to most of the big tech companies in US. For example at Google, I see teams developing Android as well as IOS versions of all the apps.
There are some countries in Asia where you see Android devices capture more than 95% of market and those companies might be more focused on developing only Android apps or they might first develop Android app and later after come up with IOS app.
Whatever you select, you should try to be best at it and that is what is going to matter when companies look for hiring app developers.