Mobile apps have changed our daily lives from how we run our companies, to educate or create and even find fun! This has made the development of mobile apps one of the most intriguing and exciting careers available. Android is the undisputed leader in global mobile market share. This market leadership means an extremely high level of satisfaction for Android developers.
Since Android applications are able to continue connecting people all over the globe and empower users to participate in imaginative and engaging ways A career in Android development is getting more rewarding, fulfilling and in demand to the world economy. To become an effective Android developer, you have develop a range of skills and apply them at the right time and location to deliver the best possible experience to your users.

Here are the top 10 capabilities you need being an Android developer.

Android foundations

The most fundamental element for Android development is the programming language. The two most popular languages used to create Android apps can be found in Kotlin or Java. You can make use of either Kotlin or Java--or even both at the same time--to develop apps. You need to be familiar with the fundamentals of either or both of these languages, which include the basics and syntaxes, collections framework multithreading, concurrency and multithreading functional programming and generics.

In order to design the layouts (user interface) to design user interfaces (layouts) in Android it is possible to use XML. Similar to HTML, XML is also an XML markup language. It stands in the form of eXtensible Markup Language. After the creation of XML Layouts, they are linked to Kotlin/Java files where business logic is written.

To design fluid XML layouts and write business logic in an integrated environment, there is an efficient tool called Android Studio. Android Studio uses Gradle, an advanced build toolkit to help you automate and manage the build process. In order to integrate Gradle within Android Studio, you can use a plugin dubbed The Android extension for Gradle. Before you begin learning what Gradle can do and learn how you can make use of it for managing external dependencies.

Gradle and Android plugin work independently of Android Studio. This means that you can create your Android apps within Android Studio, the command line on your machine or even on machines where Android Studio is not installed (such as continuous integration servers). If you aren't using Android Studio, you can learn how to build and run your app using your command line.

Android interactivity

The user experience with Android apps should be considered in the highest priority. Responding to events using callbacksand implementing appropriate gestures like Drag and Drop, providing proper keyboards for user input and making sure that pan and zoom are at the correct place play an important role in ensuring the user with a seamless experience. These are nitty-gritty, but are extremely beneficial in improving user interaction. Above all, these interactions between users happen in an Android component known as Activity.

An Activity is the only specific thing that the user is able to do. Almost all Activities interact with the user. So the Activity class is in charge of creating a window where you can put your user interface.

The Android device has a variety of screen layouts. Screen orientation is among them. It is possible to choose either landscape or portrait. Every Activity can be in either landscape or portrait mode. When the screen is rotated, the current activity will be destroyed and recreated in a fresh orientation. A stable Activity must be ensured even when the screen orientation changes.

Android UI

A program is not complete when it is not able to display modern-day UI. It may include useful capabilities, but if it isn't able to meet the modern UI guidelines, then it's likely to be a failure.

Utilizing RecyclerView to implement grids and lists and ConstraintLayout to design complicated layouts, incorporating animations that enhance the user experience, using proper menus, following Material design guidelines and using vector drawables instead of the raster graphics are just a few of the most fundamental guidelines that every developer must follow in their apps.

When designing layouts, one should remember to take into account different screen types of devices. The same application must look different on different gadgets. As an example, the screen on tablets must display dual-pane layouts that make use of a widescreen. For smartphones, the screen is recommended to use a single pane. This is possible by using Fragments. Additionally, in some instances it is possible to tailor Views to your need. This can be achieved by creating custom components to Views.

Implementing navigation

Navigation refers to the interactions that let users navigate across, inside and back to different parts of content in your application. There are various UI elements that enable you to design and implement an effective UI navigation.

The most basic one that is an app bar which is also known as Toolbar. On your Toolbar you can place the pop-up of menus, menu icons and add a navigation drawer icon. This navigation drawer icon helps you to open and close the drawer, which is an additional element for implementing effective navigation. The navigation drawer permits you to add more menu items that will allow you to swap fragments in your current Activity , or carry out various other actions that are relevant.

Another element of navigation is another one is a BottomNavigationView which allows you to toggle between different parts of the same Activity by using tabs that are located at in the lower part of the display. If you need to utilize tabs connected to the Toolbar and swipe between Fragments (different pages) Then ViewPager should be your choice.

The user's intent is the most important aspect of navigation. Users may want to launch a brand new Activity or return to the prior Activity or even share data to some other app. These intentions can be achieved through Intents within Android. If you are aware of your desired activity, use Explicit Intent instead of using Implicit Intents. It is always possible to set your intentions.

Most importantly, the Google Jetpack's Navigation component can help you implement navigation, from simple button clicks , to more intricate patterns, such as app bars and the navigation drawer. It's worth having a some time to study this component before you begin implementing navigation features in Android.

Android testing

Users interact with your app at a variety of levels such as pressing the Submit button, to downloading information onto their device. Accordingly, you should experiment with a variety of scenarios and interactions as you iteratively develop your application. The most commonly used testing tools are Expresso, Junit, Mockito, Robolectric and UI Automator.

Working with data

Data is a crucial component of your application and must not be overlooked. You may need to fetch information from the server, query data from your local database, or save user preferences , and perform processing of files.

For local databases to store your data locally, you can use Room database that is part of Android Jetpack's architecture component. You may want to share your data outside your app with security by using ContentProvider.

To store a tiny amount of data like key-value pairs or types of objects, you can make use of Jetpack's DataStore which utilizes Kotlin coroutines as well as Flow to keep information.

If you're looking to connect your UI components in your layouts to data sources in your app using a declarative format, then use Data Binding Library.

To manage files within your application, utilize the vast file system APIs provided to you.

Most importantly, to access the data over network (i.e. while using REST APIs) make use of the Retrofit 2 library, which is a blessing by Jake Wharton to all Android developers.

Notifications

Notifications are one of the most effective ways to boost the engagement of users. They appear outside of your app's UI to present the user with reminders, messages with other people, or any other relevant information from your app. Users can tap on the notification to open your app, or perform an action right within the message. It is possible to create notifications, alter its appearance, add actions to it, and even group multiple Notifications using Notification channels.

Firebase on Android

If you hate being a backend designer, Firebase on Android is the best choice for you. Firebase is an app for mobile that lets you develop apps quickly and with high-quality to increase the number of users you have and earn more money. Firebase provides several utility features to make the life of an Android developer easy.

To make your app visible for Google search results, you should use the Firebase App Indexing API. Cloud storage or cloud firestore to store your data on your server. If you need to automatically run backend scripts in response to events initiated by Firebase features and HTTPS requests, you can use Cloud Functions. The next step is Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) which allows you to push notifications to clients. By using FCM it is possible to notify clients that a new data, such as emails, is available to sync. Use Firebase Crashlytics, which is a lightweight real-time crash report that helps you prioritize and resolve stability issues. If you've used deep links in your app Try Dynamic Links. With Dynamic Links your customers get the best available experience on the platform they click on your link.

It's worth having a the time to look over bubiligi, See how your Android developer skills compare to other developers and what areas you must focus on.

Android security

Android has built-in security features that drastically reduce the impact and frequency of security concerns in applications. It is possible to protect your user's privacy by using permissions. Use secure sharing of data with signature-based permissions. Handle data security by using internal storage External storage, ContentProviders and internal storage with caution. By default, don't export an Android component, such as ContentProvider or Service BroadcastReceiver, unless you need to.

Android has limited the capabilities WebView's capabilities to the minimum to prevent security concerns on the web such as Cross-Site Scripting (JavaScript injection). But still you need to be aware and limit the frequency you ask your user's credentials. Instead, you should use an authorization token, and then refresh it at regular intervals.

Git: Version control system

Git is an open-source and free software used for version control. Git lets you test innovative features and coding techniques without fear. You can work on new wild concepts for your project while your previous working copy stays secured and safe. If you discover that the project is evolving in the incorrect direction, you'll be able to back up your old version without hassle and with a course correction.

As the world moves ever more into the mobile landscape, Android app developers can expect to get a response for their apps and also provide value to businesses that require mobile app development skills.