Mobile Application Developer Interview Preparation Guide

If you’ve chosen App Developing as a career, chances are you’re always in the know of the latest apps. The recruiting manager will expect you are always trying out and testing different apps and you have a solid criteria about what’s well done and what should improve. Be sure you take some of your favorite apps on your smartphone, be prepared to talk about them from functionality and developing context.

This is by no means an unreasonable question to ask in any interview. In fact, mobile app developers should be more than willing to provide examples of their previous work.

Test drive the apps they’ve developed in the past. It’ll give you an idea of what they’ve done and if it’s aligned with what you’re asking for.

Mobile app developers should give you a tour of the apps on their phone, or happily provide links to the apps on the App Store or Google Play store. They should go into detail about their involvement and how it directly relates to what you’re looking for.

Not all mobile app developers will have built an app from scratch, but rather worked on different aspects of the app.

Once an app has been developed and is thoroughly tested, it’s time to launch. Your app developer should have experience submitting the app to various app stores.

The submission process is a long one, and it can be frustrating. Your developer should know how the process works and guide you along the way.

The app should be submitted under your name, not under your mobile app developer’s name. The app store must know who is responsible for the app in the event that you are no longer in communication with the mobile app developer you hired. Without it, new versions of the app cannot be submitted to the store, and you’ll be forced to release a brand new app under a different account or name.

Native or responsive is usually the first question people ask when they find the terminology unfamiliar. What is the difference from a design perspective?

Mobile apps can be developed natively or as hybrid apps, while mobile-friendly websites can be developed as adaptive or responsive. The basic design process behind all of them is more or less the same. The only thing we need to consider when designing for mobile is that we have a specific set of rules we need to follow. Apple has its own, and so does Google.

When you’re designing for iOS or Android, the underlying process is the same. First, we do research that will outline best practices and show us what we can do on a certain platform and what not. Basically, research helps us we learn restrictions and take advantage of possibilities a given field.

Designers are likely to work on both native app and responsive web designs. Native apps are important because we want the user to have them on their dashboard, and this way we want to help users in their everyday activities. Some native apps can work offline while others can’t.

Responsive web design is important for SEO and Google indexing. So, if we want to have your project well-ranked on Google, you definitely go for a mobile-friendly responsive design.

As technology advances, designers have to deal with fewer and fewer restrictions, and can employ a variety of new solutions to enhance user experience. The new iOS 3D Touch gesture poses some physical challenges for users. Designers should take advantage of it to enhance user experience by making pages previewable and supporting quick access to frequently used features.

There are two main actions supported for now: Peek and Pop.

Peek and Pop allow apps to let users preview content and perform related actions within the app, before deciding if they want to view the full content. For instance, peeking can be used to provide live, content-rich previews. Ideally, peeking gives enough information about an item to augment the current task or helps you decide whether or not to fully engage the item. For example, preview a link in an email before deciding to open it in Safari or share it with friends. Peeking is often used in tables to view detailed row information before the row is selected.

3D Touch is an emerging technology, and is not supported by pre-2015 Apple devices. However, as older devices are phased out, it will be available on most, if not all, Apple platforms. In addition, Force Touch technology is coming to Android devices as well, and other platforms are bound to follow.

Tabs are one of the most frequently used components of mobile UIs, and for good reason.

They allow users to quickly move between a small number of equally important panes and bring a real-world element to the web and mobile applications. When implemented correctly, tabs can be an excellent user interface control element that can greatly improve usability.

They are considered to be very intuitive and easy to use. Well-designed tabs clearly indicate the user’s current location using a different visual appearance that sets active tabs apart from the others.

If you need a practical example, look no further than your desktop browser.

User interface and user experience are key to successful mobile applications, so expect a lot of UI/UX questions. State your opinions and tips on getting the most out of the mobile’s interface. You may point out which apps you think have a great UI and which ones don’t. Also, some recruiters may ask you to quickly draw a scheme of an interface –be prepared to do it.

The features and functionality within the app are going to drive the app’s operations. Having said that, it should also be pleasing to the eye, easy to use from a navigation perspective, and offer a unique experience.

The app you build must stand apart from the rest because there is heavy competition.

You want your app to be memorable.

Mobile app design isn’t as simple as choosing pretty colours and images to use. The right design will make all the difference. Take a close look at the developer’s portfolio to see if creativity has been built into the app, and if the user interface and user experience is something you enjoy.

Remember we mentioned the part about not being in communication with your mobile app developer? If all goes well, you will have hired a professional mobile app developer with whom you can establish a professional working relationship. More importantly, they will be there for you long after the app is sent to the app store.

Keeping users engaged, keeping up with bug fixes and updating app versions is part of the maintenance process. No one knows the ins and outs of your app better than your mobile app developer.

Ask them how maintenance support programs are structured, and how they will address changes to the app as needed. Also, find out how much it costs. Most developers will charge by the hour.

Cards are fast becoming one of the best design patterns for mobile devices. They collect individual pieces of content aggregated together into one experience.

We are currently witnessing a re-architecture of the web, away from pages and destinations, towards completely personalized experiences built on an aggregation of many individual pieces of content. This is a result of the rise of mobile technology, which resulted in billions of new connected devices, using different resolutions, pixel densities, and form-factors.

The idea behind cards is to show the user only relevant information at the right time. This way user focuses solely on the most important message, while most clutter is removed.

The best time to use cards would be when we need to show a particular bit information, deemed important to the user at a given time. While the card approach could be used all the time, the way Twitter separates tweets one from another, this is not always practical.

There are many services and websites already using the card system to display information. This way they visually separate or highlight information.