Looking For A Mobile App Developer? Join The Crowd
For computer professionals, it seems that the best job to grab now and for several years into the future is that of mobile application developer.
IT jobs website ITCareerFinder.com ranked the position No. 1 on its list of best IT jobs for the future, based on factors that include a 10-year growth of 32 percent (adding 292,000 new jobs), an average salary of $95,000, and the rapid rate of smartphone and tablet adoption. The developers can create anything from games to social media applications to enterprise apps, that is, those used by businesses use to support their operations.
Kristen Johnson, regional vice president for IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology in Boston, said the company's research shows the average starting salary for an app developer will rise 9 percent in 2013. In Worcester County, she said, the salary range is about $93,000 to $134,000.
That's due largely to the fact that demand is far outpacing supply, Johnson said.
“Mobile application developers are becoming more and more sought after, but there's not a tremendous amount of people who have that skill set and it's basically because it's newer,” she said.
Whereas the most famous apps may be social and recreational in nature, like Facebook and Instagram, the market for enterprise app development is where the money is, and where the field is growing the fastest.
According to tech careers website Dice.com, the best-compensated developers work at companies that want to develop “better mobile workflows for their own operations or reach out to customers via some kind of interactive connection.”
How Sales Forces Use Them
Erjon Metohu, owner of Eri Mobile Inc. of Worcester, which develops mobile applications, said one example of how businesses are using apps lies in salespeople who can work on tablets and smartphones rather than on a laptop when they're on the go. He said more companies are shifting toward that mobility.
Sean Mahoney, founder and CEO of AndPlus in Worcester, which develops apps and custom software, said that many people may associate mobile apps with games like Angry Birds. “Really, these mobile devices are helping people do their jobs better.”
Meanwhile, Metohu said he has heard that this area is losing many developers to New York and Silicon Valley.
“We get requests every single day,” he said. “It's actually very difficult to keep up with all the projects we're working on because we don't have the manpower.”
Johnson said most of her clients, many of whom are marketing agencies and technology companies, are seeking employees with computer science degrees or equivalent experience.
More specifically, companies are looking for developers skilled in programming languages Objective C, iOS (for iPhones and iPads), Android and Java (for BlackBerry). But so far, developers aren't necessarily learning those skills in school.
“There's just a lot of developers out there who are essentially getting together in person, (or) in online forums, and ... in some instances, self-teaching, and in some instances, helping one another,” Johnson said. And that's something employers understand.
Metohu said his 2-year-old company is always interviewing developers.
“There's a lot of them that want to get into the app development industry but they don't have the experience,” he said, adding that he'd likely test those people with small projects to see what they're capable of doing.
Mahoney said his company started out making websites, but that the market became saturated about four years ago, driving him toward app development. It's not his largest source of revenue. Mahoney said that two years ago, he would have said he could use more app developers, but now, he says the company's in a bind trying to find experienced developers. He's looking for what he calls “Renaissance people,” those who can jump between platforms and are willing to adapt to mobile technology.
Johnson recommends that developers who are interested in learning about app development come forward and make it known that they want to learn when their employer has a new project. She also suggests developers do consulting work to get experience and that they be flexible about compensation while they're getting the experience. She said that tradeoff is worth it in the long run because companies are willing to pay more for a worker with more experience. The lack of sufficient supply, she added, is driving up salaries.
Mahoney said that although the career path may be lucrative, it isn't one he thinks people typically take for the money, but more, for the love of doing it.
“These people kind of look at this as a hobby versus a job," he said.
“Anyone who's in it for the money I think is bound to have a miserable time because, although the pay is kind of high,” he said, a passion for app development is key.
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