Where & How to Find an App Developer: TOP 5 Places, Tips & FAQs

Imagine you have an idea. It’s so exceptional that you want to share it with the rest of the world. The only link that is missing is that tiny app that would serve as a door for your ideas to become viable and tangible. All entrepreneurs hit the same exact wall on their business paths when they realize they need other people to propel their stories forward. If you’re one of those people, who just happen to look for an app developer to make your business possible in a mobile-friendly environment, then you’re in luck, because, in this article, we’ll cover the best places where you can find the best app developers. We’ll also answer frequently asked questions, like what app developers do, what you should look for in their CVs, which app developer you need, as well as benefits and limitations of freelance hiring platforms. Read on to find answers to your questions that have been nagging you for months.

Contents:
What’s an app developer?
What do app developers do?
Things to look for in a resume of an iOS mobile app developer
Things to look for in a resume of an Android mobile app developer
Benefits of pre-vetted app developers
TOP 5 Best Places Where You Can Hire Best Application Developers
FAQ

What’s an app developer?

Mobile application developers are software developers who specialize in mobile technology, specifically in building applications for Android, iOS, and Windows platforms. Mobile developers choose the programming language they want to specialize in, like Objective-C and Swift for iOS, Java for Android, and C# for Windows.

What do app developers do? or What is an app developer’s job?

Mobile app dev’s job description usually includes the following requirements and responsibilities:
— Communicating with a client and following their requirements, discussing possible solutions with colleagues (if not working alone);
— Developing APIs to support mobile functionality;
— Building an app, supporting an app; innovating an app; using and adapting existing web apps for mobile apps;
— Staying informed on recent technological innovations and practices in mobile development.

The skill set often requires the knowledge of a particular programming language, mathematical aptitude, experience in building apps, problem-solving and organizational skills, ability to follow the trend and adapt the development to embrace newer technologies.

Who is an iOS mobile app developer? Things to look for in a resume of an iOS mobile app developer

An iOS mobile developer is a software developer that builds apps specifically for iOS devices. The main requirement for an iOS developer would be the knowledge of programming languages like Objective-C and Swift. They also need to be proficient in the following tools and programming concepts:

— XCode, the backbone of iOS app development, an Integrated Development Environment, that’s used to build apps for Apple products. XCode is essentially a set of tools to manage the entire development of an application, from creating it to testing, optimizing, and submitting it to an App Store.
— Cocoa & Cocoa Touch, two core frameworks for app development environments, such as macOS and iOS. Cocoa Touch specifically offers a UI framework for UI design for mobile apps. The frameworks are written in Objective-C and follow MVC architecture.
— Table View is a layout element for iOS development that’s important to grasp for building complex applications. An iOS developer also needs to be proficient in concepts like subclassing and delegation.
— Key-Value Coding is a fundamental concept that underlies Cocoa technologies, key-value observing, core data, etc. It ensures the elements communicate well with each other, as well as helps to simplify code in some cases.
— Auto Layout element facilitates the development of an interface that’s adaptive and helps control the UI development and quickly fix any screen related bugs.
— View Controllers are foundations of an app’s internal structure. Each view controller manages interactions between the interface and data and facilitates the transition between different parts of a user interface.
— Storyboards are representations of UI interfaces with a display of screens and connections between them. Storyboards can be entirely designed using XCode.

A good iOS developer should be familiar with the following frameworks for building apps:

— Cocoa Frameworks: Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, Apple’s proprietary frameworks
— Apple UIKit Framework
— Third-party frameworks (HTML, CSS, Javascript) for building apps for iOS: PhoneGap, Xamarin, and Appcelerator Titanium.

Who is an Android mobile app developer? Things to look for in a resume of an Android mobile app developer

Android mobile developer is a developer that makes applications for Android devices. The main requirement for an Android developer is the knowledge of Java programming language (as well as Scala and Kotlin). Other important requirements include:

— XML, eXtensible Markup Language, is widely used by Android developers to create layouts as a foundation of a user interface;
— Android Studio, an Integrated Development Environment, provides the necessary tools for creating Android applications, testing, and debugging.
— Android SDK, Android Software Development Kit, has an extensive code library that provides access to some of the Android phone-specific features.
— APIs, functions and procedures that allow the creation of an application with access to data from any other service, application, or operating system. An Android developer must be proficient and knowledgeable in the use of APIs to enable the application to interact with third-party services.
— SQL, a domain-specific programming language for managing data, is important to know to understand how the backend works and how to store application and user data. Other options for storing can include cloud-based services, like Firebase or Parse.
— Material Design, Google’s interface guidelines, is another important part of an Android developer’s knowledge stack. Material Design provides a foundational understanding of design principles.

A good Android developer should be familiar with the following frameworks for building apps:

— Native Script
— Flutter
— Litho
— Corona SDK
— Cross-platform: React Native, Xamarin, PhoneGap, NativeScript, Ionic

Why hire an app developer from a hiring agency or platform is a good idea? Benefits of pre-vetted app developers

It might seem obvious that when someone starts looking for an app developer, they turn to Google and meticulously type “app developer for hire.” The search results most probably yield a thousand of related pages with freelance platforms, such as Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr on top. Looking at numerous identical profiles, one might get tempted to hire the least expensive option, after all, they all must be relatively the same, right? We disagree.

First off, the freelance sites work pretty much like an auction, where the fastest and most affordable gets all the riches, but what you end up getting is essentially a pig in a poke. You’re left on your own to communicate with the chosen candidate which potentially can result in miscommunication, poor delivery, extra time and cost. What we think is best is to go for a developer who has already been interviewed, screened, tested, and vetted by professionals. Ensuring you’re hiring a great developer who has passed all the necessary tests and is able to communicate clearly will save you tons of valuable time and eventually money (although the price tag might initially seem daunting). But in a faced paced technology world, you probably don’t want to hire a developer whose work needs to be redone by several other cheap programmers, it will come to a pretty penny in the end anyway.

Hereinbelow, we’ve reviewed the TOP hiring platforms that have vetted their talent so it’s easy to recommend any of them: they all offer top programmers in their respective fields, including iOS and Android developers. You’d be surprised that some of these hiring platforms have the most reliable devs at a fraction of a cost one would pay for such talent on Upwork.

TOP 5 Best Places Where You Can Hire Best Application Developers

Now we’ll look at the TOP 5 Best Hiring Platforms for finding the best mobile application developers (and actually any type of developers in general) who have been meticulously pre-vetted and who are ready for full- or part-time remote work.

TopTal

The name TopTal speaks for itself: it only hires TOP 3% of freelance talent. Now, some of the key features you should know before considering TopTal are:

— The deposit is $500 that’s applied as a credit to the first invoice.
— There’s a trial period, where you’re allowed to test a developer for free, and if not, you’ll be given another 2 weeks of free trial with another developer. If none of those developers works for you, then your deposit’s refunded.
— The hiring process is overly complicated: in order to work for TopTal, candidates must pass a series of tests, including screening for communication skills, personality, domain-specific knowledge, technical coding challenges, etc.
— Apart from developers, you can choose designers, project and product managers.
— Expect to pay from $60-95 per hour for a developer. Commissions from TopTal are usually huge, though, ranging from 50 to 150%.
— Most of the devs work remotely, however, some are available for on-site work.

Crossover

— A hiring platform for candidates who are available for long-term jobs and full-time work (40 hr per week). All candidates work remotely. Usually, the clients are offered with teams of 4-5 developers.
— There’s a great pool of technical staff from technical support to chief architects.
— The hiring process is complicated to ensure only the best talent gets selected: successful application through hiring events, testing, interviews, background checks, etc.
— Crossover only charges 10% to the client.
— A team of developers usually cost around $125 per hour. The range of prices for different developers ranges from $10 per hour to as much as $400 per hour.

Soshace

This is us, it would be strange if we have not told you about our hiring platform, right?
— Soshace is an absolutely transparent and open company: you can see the list of available developers (some of them even have video presentations) absolutely free of charge; all developers have passed rigid screening and testing procedures and technical interviews with a professional.
— To work with Soshace, you’ll need to deposit 500 dollars, which are applied as a credit to your first invoice.
— All remote developers are available for full-time work only, 40 hours per week.
— Soshace’s commissions are pretty small, some are as low as $5.
— Developers’ rates start from $20, which is pretty reasonable and affordable.
— Most of the developers work with front-end frameworks, like Angular, React, Vue, Meteor, etc. Backend options are also available though, for Node.js, Django, MySQL, etc.
— A risk-free trial for any developer is 40 hours
— Your project’s timeframe needs to be at least 3 months

Scalable path

— Scalable path allows for 20 hours of a free trial.
— The screening process is just as rigid: phone interviews, testing, technical interviews with developers, coding exercises of the client’s choice.
— The hiring marketplace is full of freelance developers, designers, marketers, project leaders, etc. — — The onsite-positions are possible but rare.
— The minimum project size to start working with Scalable Path is at least 100 hours or $5,000 USD
— The devs usually charge around $40-65 per hour
— All communication is conducted through a so-called project leader who finds the candidates for your project.

Hired

— Hired is a marketplace for freelance workers, who are available both for contract and permanent roles.
— The pool of candidates consists of software engineers, product managers, data scientists, and designers.
— The interviewing and screening process is a combination of proprietary algorithms and an in-house curation team of sourcers and recruiters. Hired claims they accept only 5% of all applicants.
— The pricing is not as transparent: Hired offers different pricing plans depending on the size of your business and requirements. However, Hired claims there’s a lot of options and flexibility when it comes to pricing.

FAQ:

What degree should an app developer have?

Most hiring managers and recruiters prefer to look for a mobile app developer with at least a bachelor’s degree in any programming-centric field or computer science. It doesn’t mean, however, that if you don’t have a degree (or have a degree in a non-mathematical field) you don’t stand a chance. If you learned web and mobile development by yourself, have an extensive number of successful projects up in your case, then you’re most probably a good fit. So don’t be discouraged by lack of formal education, if headhunters see you possess all the right skills and appropriate knowledge, you’re in the game. We’ve covered skills and requirements (languages and frameworks) needed for an iOS and Android developer earlier in this article. To briefly summarise the qualifications, let’s outline them here: familiarity and proficiency in object-oriented programming (OOP), knowledge of Java SE/ME/EE (especially for Android development), Objective-C and Swift (for iOS), Javascript, HTML, CSS, C++, UI design, database fundamentals, mobile deployment.

Differences: app developer vs software engineer

Software engineers can take part in software (app) development, but software developers are rarely engineers. The primary engineer’s concern is to apply engineering principles to the creation of software by connecting the client’s needs with appropriate technology solutions. Developers, however, are responsible for the whole development cycle.

Differences: app developer vs web developer

App development usually refers to the mobile application development (however, some might refer to desktop application especially for Mac). Web development concerns the web: either back-end (business logic and databases), front-end (user presentation), or full-stack (both).

Are app developers rich // what do app developers charge?

The average annual salary of a mobile app developer in the US equals to approximately $103,000, according to Indeed.

The hourly wage varies from as low as 20 dollars to as much as 150 dollars per hour depending on the developer’s location, skills, portfolio, proficiency.

How do app developers get paid?

It actually depends on a few factors, like a company a dev works for, dev’s location, payment system preferences, etc. Some companies use Payoneer, others — wire and bank transfers, etc.

How many app developers are there?

According to recent statistics, there are about 19 million software developers worldwide with 8.7 million mobile app developers.

How to find an app developer?

Above, we’ve described in great detail the hiring platforms with pre-vetted remote app and web developers; so all you need to do is sign up for the platform that suits you best and choose the most proficient developer in their respective field.

How to become an app developer for Android?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Check out awesome Android developer roadmap on GitHub.

How to become an app developer for iOS?

Same: Awesome iOS developer roadmap on GitHub.

How much does it cost to make an app by yourself?

The simplest apps tend to cost around $25,000, the more complicated the app the pricier it gets.

Mobile app development cost estimate: the USA

According to Clutch, the cost falls somewhere in between $200,000 to $500,000 for corporate budgets. Based on the average number of hours needed to build an app the cost equals around $171,500.

App development calculator

One of the many app development calculators online is from BuildFire.

Conclusion

Hopefully, we’ve covered all the questions you might have with developing an app or looking for a remote app developer. However, we think it’s worth expanding the topic and writing several articles on development, deployment, and marketing of mobile applications. So if you want us to continue the discussion of those topics, please, leave a comment or give us a heads up!