Finding a Mobile App Developer

Low code development decreases the number of hours spent on a project if the low code software has a reasonable price. Advice on how to find a mobile app developer that's a good fit for building an app your organization needs.

Plenty of companies have great app ideas and need to have mobile apps written. Unfortunately, many of these organizations don’t have an app development team or internal resource who can develop an app. These organizations must find and assess developers for hire. These might include full-time freelance app developers or development companies that specialize in creating iOS and Android apps.

Hiring a mobile app developer can be difficult, especially if you don’t fully understand mobile app design or the app development process.

Why the Right Mobile App Developer is So Important

The better your mobile app developer matches your style and your company's culture, the smoother your app development will go.

You have a work style that a mobile app developer should gel nicely with. Do you like minimal communications or a lot of meetings and progress reports? Do you like to be heavily involved, or do you prefer to give marching orders and step way from the project? Make sure the developer you work with has a history of working with managers with a style similar to yours.

Also, your company has a culture you want to convey in your mobile apps. You want communication in the app to be formal or informal You want a certain looking and branding in your apps. Make sure the developer has experience building the types of apps you want. If you need an enterprise app for inventory management, but the developer has B2C app experience, is this truly a fit?

Another consideration is the app developer's specialties. If you need a field app that works without a connection, the app developer should have experience building offline apps. If it's a healthcare app, a developer with experience building apps for HIPAA compliance is a must.

Set Screening Criteria for App Developers

While finding a mobile app developer can be a challenge, we have some advice for you. Plus, the article “How, Where, & When to Find an App Developer for Your Business,” offers great suggestions.

To start, the article recommends, check out any company’s experience that you’re considering hiring.

Ask for sample apps. Download these apps from the app stores and review the Android or iOS apps he or she has built. Take a really careful look at the app development they've done, from design to usability. Get references and call them to ask, did this cross-platform, Android, or iOS developer meet your deadlines and expectations?

Read and listen to communications carefully to see how well they communicate with you. If there’s a problem with communication now, it will likely get worse during the development process.

Put together a list of criteria for hiring. Include screening criteria such as app reviews, app testing, references, project management skills, specialties, communications, and so on.

Where to Search for App Developers

As to where to look for developers, the article suggests going to freelance sites such as Toptal and Hired. These sites don’t accept just any developer --- Toptal says it only accepts three percent of applicants. The sites also clearly lay out freelancer rates,

If you’re looking to hire a development agency, Clutch.co, B2B Marketing, and Relevance are all good options. These sites have reviews and ratings of each development agency. Links to their projects and clients are also helpful information for selecting a developer.

Consider contacting professors in computer science at colleges and universities. They might be willing to point you to their most capable students. Students may work for reasonable rates in order to build up their resumes and start creating a portfolio of their work.

Also check with companies and people with whom you network. There’s nothing better than getting a recommendation from someone with direct experience in working with potential developers.

Google can also be a great resource to help you find respected mobile app developers. In this case, you'll need to spend extra time vetting developers you decide to screen.

Have a Defined App Project

Also, important, the article says, is looking for a developer at the right time. Make sure you’ve clearly identified the problem you want your app to solve and how you want it solved. Once you've outlined your needs, then you're ready to begin engaging with developers.

Ideally, outline the ideas you have for the app, and put together some wireframes for it. That will give you a head start on the development process. To know if a developer is a good match for you, carefully see how they respond to app ideas and wireframes.

Keep App Costs Down

Some developers hand-coding their apps. While these apps have outstanding performance on Android or iOS devices, the process makes app development more lengthy and expensive. Hand-coding requires more development hours and time for debugging code, in addition to user testing. More hours spend developing your app means more dollars on your project.

A great way to keep costs down is using a developer to can do development with low code development software.

Low code app development does some of the routine coding for developers, yet allows them to code advanced features as necessary. This speeds development time, while reducing the amount of code to debug. Low code development decreases the number of hours spent on a project if the low code software has a reasonable price.

Use Free App Development Software

Alpha Software solves this problem for you. The company offers award-winning, low-code app development software that developers can use for free. This mobile app development software performs like the best in class software and eliminates costs during the development and testing phases. There's also no limit on the number of apps you can build or the complexity of the app you build.

Developers can build mobile apps for free with Alpha Anywhere Community Edition. You only pay when they deploy the finished apps - for as little as $99/month.