Things to Consider While Hiring a Kotlin App Development Company
Building a custom mobile app has become a norm among businesses today thanks to the increase in the number of smartphone users over the years. If the statistics are to be believed, there are over 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world at present.
When you think of building an app for your business, you either approach your in-house development team or hire a developer or development company. Usually, the latter is preferred for the cost-effectiveness and other factors. And when you decide to hire a mobile app developer, the next dilemma is how to hire them. There are plenty of things to consider while hiring a mobile app developer, the primary one being “what kind of developer you need.” This involves the platform and programming language they specialize in and whether they would be able to meet your business requirements.
Speaking of programming languages, Kotlin is one of the most in-demand programming languages at present. Kotlin app development has seen immense expansion in recent years and as a result, there has been an increase in demand for Kotlin app developers.
Before we go into the tips for hiring a Kotlin app development company – which this blog is pretty much about, let us know more about Kotlin and why it is popular among mobile app developers.
Kotlin is an open-source, statically typed, cross-platform programming language that has been designed to work in conjunction with Java. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) with which it integrates object-oriented and functional programming capabilities. Kotlin can be used as an alternative to Java for Android app development. The programming language mainly focuses on interoperability, transparency, security, and tools.
Kotlin was released in 2011 by JetBrains – a company that is known to sell integrated development environments (IDEs) for programming languages. Kotlin soon became the developers’ favourite and has already replaced Java in many software development projects.
Initially, Kotlin was a programming language specifically for Android development. But soon, it became popular among Java app developers and has since been used to build different kinds of applications.
Kotlin was exclusively used for Android development in the beginning for the fact that developers could write more expressive, efficient and safer code using the programming language.
Majority of businesses have a mobile app for their clients today since most people access the internet using their mobile devices. According to reports, about 70% of Android applications out of 1000 in Google Play Store use Kotlin. This means that even if Kotlin was being used specifically for Android app development, it would still be in demand like it is now.
Java has always been the go-to programming language for back-end web development. However, Kotlin has found its way into server-side web development recently as developers find it easier to work with.
Kotlin involves modern features that allow developers to create quickly scalable applications on commodity hardware. Also, Kotlin being interoperable with Java allows developers to migrate an app to Kotlin one file at a time while the rest of the app continues to use Java.
Spring is one of the most popular Java frameworks used for back-end web development. Kotlin also works with Spring as well as other frameworks – this means developers can continue to work with the framework without actually changing anything they are used to. Tech giants, like Google and Amazon have already switched to Kotlin for some of their server-side development. According to reports, developers have used Kotlin for backend development of 47% of the websites available today.
Full-stack web development
As we mentioned earlier, Kotlin is used for back-end web development, mostly as an alternative to Java which has been used for the same purpose since it came into being. But that is not all. Kotlin can also be used for front-end development using Kotlin/JS.
With Kotlin/JS, developers can access powerful browser and web APIs in a type-safe manner. Full-stack developers with knowledge in Kotlin can use the same language they used to write back-end code to write front-end code and it can then be compiled to Javascript to be run in the browser.
Java is the preferred programming language of Data Scientists to crunch numbers, identify trends, and make predictions. So, we can undoubtedly say that they would adopt Kotlin in data science as well.
Cross-platform development
The recently released software development kit – Kotlin Multi-platform Mobile can be used to build cross-platform mobile apps. It allows developers to maintain a shared codebase, thereby sharing the logic of Android and iOS apps. Developers can compile apps that run across Android and iOS platforms using a single Kotlin code base.
Hiring a Kotlin app development company
Now we come to the main topic – hiring a Kotlin app development company.
Most businesses prefer hiring an app development company over a developer mainly because when you hire a company, you get a development team with roles that are necessary for your project – project manager, designers, developers, testers and so on. If you choose to hire people in each of these roles separately, it would cost you more and your app development project would go over budget.
So, what all are the things you must consider while hiring a Kotlin app development company? The most important factor is the skills, followed by experience, cost, and types of arrangements.
Technical skills are a must-have for any developer. Before hiring a Kotlin app development team, ensure that they have the following technical skills.
Expert Knowledge in Kotlin and Java
When you hire a Kotlin app developer, it is expected of them to have knowledge in Kotlin. But the knowledge of Java is also required since Kotlin is mostly used with Java and because most Kotlin development projects also involve Java. According to JetBrains, 86% of the developers who use Kotlin also use Java on a regular basis. Also, most Kotlin developers were Java developers before. They switched to Kotlin because of its extra features like native support for optional and lesser code that make things easier and also help achieve the same results as Java.
Web and Android development depend a lot on XML markup language which helps support the layout of an app or website and also in parsing data from the database server. Therefore, it is necessary for Kotlin app developers to be familiar with XML and know how Kotlin is related to XML. Otherwise, all your efforts in finding a development team will go down the drain.
Experienced in SQL and Linux
Expertise in SQL and Linux is a must-have skill for Kotlin developers to work on website backend. It is better if you hire developers who are well-experienced in AWS, REST, and Apache Kafka. You can also go to your in-house team or a software consultant to know what more tools are necessary.
Knowledge of Android Studio and other Android tools
If you are hiring Kotlin app developers to build an android mobile app, look for someone who has deep knowledge about the development environment and tools. The primary development environment they must be familiar with is Android Studio apart from other useful environments like Toolbar and Firebase. In terms of tools, the developers should be familiar with Espresso – the tool for automated testing and the like.
When you hire Kotlin application development company based on skills, it does not mean just the technical skills. You have to collaborate with the development team to get the best outcomes that align with your business needs. Also, you should be able to communicate with them and vice versa regarding the changes and improvements until you receive the expected results. Therefore, the following soft skills are necessary for Kotlin app developers to ensure good team work.
It is necessary for your app to match the latest trends to stay ahead in the competition. If you have noticed, users mostly prefer apps that undergo constant improvisation in terms of designs and features that are currently trending. Therefore, the developer you hire must be someone who always keeps an eye on the latest design and functionality trends to come up with innovative and creative apps.
The ultimate goal of any business is customer satisfaction. Most end-users of an app need not be tech-savvy. So, a user-friendly interface and features are usually what work for them. Therefore, when you hire a Kotlin app developer, make sure that they are capable of building apps by considering the end users’ points of view.
Time management and adaptability
A development team’s job does not end with creating codes. They are also responsible for providing technical support, especially for back-end developers, planning and developing new functionalities and features, testing applications, and much more. And sometimes, even after doing everything perfectly, some issues or errors might arise. Kotlin developers must be able to adapt to the situation quickly and fix the issues as soon as possible.
It is necessary to hire a team of dedicated developers to build Kotlin apps. After all, you cannot risk your money, time, and efforts to end up with an app with errors leading to lesser productivity and your organization’s reputation at stake. You can hire our developers who are well-versed in Kotlin and other programming languages and are capable of working across all popular platforms and will be with you through the development process and beyond. If you would like to hire us to build your dream Kotlin app, do get in touch with us.