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Mobile Starter

If I’m hiring a mobile developer (let’s say Android or iOS, native or cross-platform like Flutter), and I want them to be immediately valuable, here’s what I’d require beyond CS fundamentals—specifically focused on what separates high-leverage mobile devs from average ones:

🚨 Must-Have Domain Expertise (Mobile-Specific)

Section titled “🚨 Must-Have Domain Expertise (Mobile-Specific)”

1. App Architecture Patterns (MVVM, Clean Architecture, etc.)

Section titled “1. App Architecture Patterns (MVVM, Clean Architecture, etc.)”

  • Understands how to organize large apps:

    • Separation of concerns (UI, domain, data).
    • Dependency injection (e.g., Hilt/Koin/Dagger).
    • Reusability and testability.

  • Why: Poor architecture kills long-term velocity and leads to spaghetti UI code.

2. State Management

Section titled “2. State Management”

  • Knows how to handle UI state:

    • In Jetpack Compose, SwiftUI, or Flutter (e.g., Riverpod/Bloc/Provider).
    • Can deal with lifecycles, view states, error/loading/data.

  • Why: Good state management makes apps feel snappy and bug-free.

3. Offline-First + Sync

Section titled “3. Offline-First + Sync”

  • Knows local storage (Room/Realm/SharedPrefs/SQLite).

  • Understands:

    • Delta sync.
    • Conflict resolution.
    • Background sync (WorkManager, background fetch).

  • Why: Real-world apps don’t always have a network. This is make-or-break for reliability.

4. Animations + UI Polish

Section titled “4. Animations + UI Polish”

  • Can implement:

    • Material/SwiftUI transitions.
    • Gesture-driven UIs.
    • Loading skeletons, micro-interactions.

  • Why: Apps are a product. UX is the product. A dev that gets UI polish saves tons of design hand-holding.

5. Deep Linking + Navigation

Section titled “5. Deep Linking + Navigation”
  • Knows nav stacks, URI parsing, app intents/schemes.
  • Handles push notification routing, dynamic links.
  • Why: Real apps don’t just open at the home screen. Users come in mid-flow.

👑 Bonus That Makes Them Senior Fast

Section titled “👑 Bonus That Makes Them Senior Fast”

- Release Management

Section titled “- Release Management”
  • Knows beta/internal/release channels.
  • Understands store guidelines, review edge cases, crash rollout strategies.
  • Handles CI/CD with Gradle/Fastlane/Github Actions.

- Performance Optimization

Section titled “- Performance Optimization”
  • Profiling slow renders, memory leaks, jank.
  • Tools like Android Profiler, Instruments.

- Accessibility + Localization

Section titled “- Accessibility + Localization”
  • Proper text scaling, screen reader support, right-to-left layout handling.
  • App is for everyone, not just ideal users.

Summary: If I had to require just one domain, it’d be app architecture patterns + state management. Everything else builds on that. You can teach animations or CI later, but a messy architecture ruins product velocity.