The realm of excellent iOS app development has taken a spiral upwards. The Apple App Store offers 2.2 billion apps. Statistics reveal that viewers spend a high amount of time on the App Store.
Ease of development, high profits, unified UI, and a minimal design approach are compelling reasons that push the extensive development of iOS apps.
Clubhouse, the famous audio-only social media platform was only available for download on Apple devices. The users had to send an invitation to use the app. The live audio app was highly popular amongst the people after tycoons like Elon Musk appeared on live audio.
In the last five years, the US mobile app developers market size and economy have increased. We can take this as an example.
The employment sector has seen a sharp increase in iOS development as due to the COVID-19 pandemic the demand for medical devices, health apps, E-learning, etc., has increased significantly. Those who are interested in the software development industry and are willing to invest their time and effort will definitely have promising careers.
So if you’re looking to build the next highly popular iOS apps and capture the market, you’re going to have a tough time searching for the person with senior ios developer skills because the benchmark needs to be matched when you enter any market.
Choosing the right iOS developer and the skills required for ios developer becomes crucial because if you don’t have the right proficient development team,
- You may take more time to launch your iOS apps
- Your app may lack the features due to the lack of innovative thinking skills and experience of the iOS developers
- Ultimately, you may fail in your business
When hiring iOS developers, it is important to check the hiring process of iOS app developers as well as the iOS developer required key skills with core competency, robust knowledge, and expertise.
How to Become an iOS Developer?
This question needs a little bit of research and finding out the ios developer required skills list. This list should be a compilation of different skills required to become an iOS developer and it is precise enough to give you an idea to get a job or build your iOS apps.
Here are some of the top technical skills for ios developers that a recruiter should look for in a senior iOS developer.
16 Technical Skills Your iOS Developer Must Have
1. Proficiency in Xcode and Interface Builder: This is one of the popular and important ios development skills For one to be a skilled iOS app developer, one must add proficiency in XCode as a primary object to offer a majestic user experience.
With the right knowledge of interface building, a professional combines it with the Cocoa Touch framework that has developed apps for several platforms. Therefore, it encourages a developer to allow several Apple services like Game Changer, Passbook, etc.
2. Knowledge about Auto Layout:
Another important aspect of being an iOS app developer is not only the knowledge of coding but to having an in-depth knowledge of Auto layout, which allows the developers to create a user interface by establishing a relationship between elements.
To get incredible control over layout with wider customization so as to get the perfect interface, the Auto layout is a must. Being such a fantastic tool, Auto layout performs actions that could not be imagined earlier.
3. Knowledge of Containers and Storyboards: With the right knowledge of containers and Storyboard, an iOS app developer will make your app look easy to operate with their app developer skills.
Be it fixing small bugs or dividing complex navigation flow into manageable sub-flows, the right knowledge of the storyboard feature immediately shows the results of the actions.
4. Knowledge of Table Views: Being a user, you might have a raw knowledge about table views, but it is more versatile than one can imagine.
When your iOS app developer has the right idea about the table view, you will understand that it offers an altogether different look to an otherwise boring interface.
5. Skilled in databases: The iOS development framework revolves around different databases. It is important for iOS developers to brush their ios developer skills on the most common databases.
Some of the popular databases that are deployed in iOS development are Realm, SQLite, and Core Data.
6. Practical knowledge about Networking: For the one who is not familiar with JSON that is JavaScript Object Notation, which is the most common data format, scoring your dream job of being an iOS developer can be quite a task.
7. Practical knowledge of Swift 3.0 programming language: Swift 3.0 is the most favored language used in iOS app development. One should be as efficient in Swift 3.0 as a cricketer is in catching a ball.
Perfect knowledge of the Syntax, inheritance, classes, and switch statements at a beginner level will give you an upper hand over your competitors.
8. Spatial Reasoning Ability: Spatial reasoning ability is the main prerequisite for application development. All the apps are created bearing in mind the perspective of the user.
How will the user use that specific app? This is another important consideration of mobile developer skills needed when you search for developers. Brainstorm to get all the essential facts and parameters to provide an unparalleled user experience.
If you think from the user’s viewpoint, you will be able to design a more intuitive interface and compute better functionalities. Being a developer, it’s your ultimate responsibility to design a profitable and productive app.
9. Knowledge of Design Guidelines: Your iOS app will catch the attention of the users only when it is highly intuitive. The reason is their strict adherence to the design guidelines.
A highly skilled professional knows how to exactly handle and display the data to the audience. So, the knowledge of the designing guidelines is a must for intuitive iOS applications.
10. Proficiency in Grand Central Dispatch: If you wish to run multiple tasks simultaneously and without any hindrance, GCD or Grand Central dispatch allows you to add concurrency to the apps.
As iOS applications perform multiple tasks at the same time that include pulling data from the network, displaying relevant information on the screen, reading touch inputs, and a lot more, running all these at the same time can be quite stressful on the handset.
This might lead to slowing down of the phone or even crashing. Concurrent programming from the developer’s end will prevent a crash and improve the user experience.
11. Hands-on experience with the Integration of Data Assets:
Data is the most important entity when assessing experienced ios developer skills. Data integration offers robust ways to use all the available data to ensure the right application development.
The iOS developers must have sound experience of working with different data integration systems. He/she must have a deep understanding of data capability models, data roles, and data governance.
12. Knowledge of Integration with Third-party APIs: Not relying on third-party apps will make the task for iOS app development an easy task. This can speed up the development cycle to a large extent.
Also, one can choose the ones that are well tested and that get updated and maintained consistently.
13. Experience in Unit Testing: Working with the team of developers one realizes that multiple developers submit their codes one over the other on a single project and this might lead to breaking of functionality. And to discover a broken functionality late, and unraveling it can be a nightmare.
So, for being a professional developer one must be well acquainted with these iOS mobile app development skills to create a test suite for validating the functionality of the app.
14. Skilled in Source Control:
This is one of the important skills in the ios developer skills list. Source code means keeping control of all the changes that are made in the source code.
There are different source code management systems that help the developers reduce and resolve all the conflicts that arise during the source integration. Source control is an integral element of application development.
A good hands-on experience in source control helps the developers to collaborate with the team and streamline the development phase.
15. Knowledge of Concurrency: Dealing with lots of things simultaneously is what is required from a well-curated iOS application. Lack of concurrency can lead to the freezing of apps while performing heavy tasks.
Multithreading helps you to incorporate a blend of concurrency and parallelism into your program.
16. Experience in Memory Management:
This is the last but important iOS professional key skill in the iOS developer requirements list. iPhone and iPad devices are resource-constrained on memory.
An iOS app developer must have appropriate knowledge that an app might terminate in case it crosses the established per-process limit. So, successful memory management can be vital for implementing an iOS app.
Other than these highly technical ios developer skill set, iOS developers must possess many non-technical abilities to satisfy employers and ensure the timely delivery of effective outputs.
6 Non-Technical Must-have Skills for iOS Developers
When we think of any iOS developer requirements then only the technical skills and abilities come into our mind. But any kind of software development needs both technical and non-technical skills.
In the above points, we have described the iOS developer’s hard skills but if you want to maximize the professional growth then you have to consider an iOS developer’s soft skills parallelly.
Here is a list of some iOS developer nontechnical skills that a developer must-have.
1. Great communication skills: When you are able to communicate with the client or the business owner, you can present the best possible outcomes as per his expectations.
Undoubtedly, great communication skills are also a part of iOS engineer skills and it does not only help the developers to understand the clients’ requirements but to present better suggestions in any scenario.
2. Problem-solving ability: This is one of the most important skills of an iOS developer. While making a successful mobile app, one comes across multiple challenges that might creep in at any point of development.
The right mindset and problem-solving ability with a positive attitude can do miracles.
3. Team player attitude: Developing a well-curated iOS app is not a task that can be handled single-handedly. Perfect scalable teamwork goes behind meeting clients’ expectations and getting the desired outcome as the iOS developer’s key skills. One must be a good team player to bring out the best meeting the client’s needs.
4. Ability to Innovate: It is not always that your client will have a clear image of what he expects from his/her iOS application.
You will have to use your innovative skills as an iOS developer to come up with the best application that is both user-friendly and profitable from the business point of view.
5. Discipline and dedication: These qualities cannot be replaced whether you work independently or with a team of developers. Meeting the deadlines and working with utmost dedication is always demanded from every professional.
A disciplined approach towards work will not only produce better outcomes but will also leave an ever-lasting impression on your employer.
6. Clear Thinking Ability: An iOS developer should have a rational thinking approach. He/she must be able to recognize and analyze all the questions and find the solutions thereof.
One should be able to introspect ideas critically and then come up with valid arguments to justify his/her suggestions.
How to Screen an iOS Developer?
Now that you’re done with knowing what are the skills required for ios developers, now, you need to understand how you are going to make the right choice.
Recruiting the right iOS developer may seem a daunting task. It is important to have a basic idea of the technical know-how of iOS to find the right talent. Make sure you ask the right questions that come under the iOS developer skills test and conduct the right tests to procure the best candidate.
Here is a sneak-peak at some of the important questions you must ask iOS developers:
- What is iOS? Ask the developer to give an insight into the iOS programming.
- What type of iOS projects has the candidate executed? Has he/she developed any application?
- Does the developer know other programming languages such as C++? What is his/her knowledge experience about different databases and frameworks?
- Choose some technology that the developer has mentioned in his resume. Ask the developer to explain it in detail to find out how well-versed he/she is with that technology.
- A comparison between Objective-C and Swift is another good question.
- How does the candidate see the future of iOS development? What changes can he/she predict in the industry?
- They must qualify for the iOS programming skills test including Swift 3.0 programming language, Apple’s Xcode IDE, Spatial reasoning, etc.
Apart from asking these technical questions, it is essential to ask a few behavioral questions to the developers. Ask them if they have some mentoring experience. This can help you decide if you can deploy that specific person to train the newcomers.
An online coding test of the developer will help you understand and test your coding skills. Make sure the ios developer skills assessment bears a close resemblance to the natural development process.
As the iOS environment keeps on changing with time, an iOS app developer should keep himself up to date. UI kit and Foundations are two useful libraries that a developer must be aware of. So, when you hire an iOS app developer make sure that they have enough skills to use these libraries effectively and frameworks to build and set up the required software.
Choose iOS Developers now
Hiring an iOS developer is crucial and hence you must know all the above ios developer technical and non-technical skills, responsibilities, and questions that you can consider before hiring iOS developers.
If you are on the verge to select some iOS developers, we’ve got some brilliant ones. Share with us the exact requirements you have and let’s discuss how our iOS developers can be the right ones for your iOS app development.
