Ultimate Guide to Hire iOS Developers
When it comes to mobile app development, we only think of two platforms iOS or Android. Well, with the 2.8 million apps, Android leads the market and iOS is successor with 2.2 million apps available to download on the App Store.
Android is an open source platform so there is no standardization in terms of design, development, etc. It enables developers with the flexibility to build and launch apps quickly.
This is not the case if you are considering the iOS platform. It is Apple’s platform and they have strict guidelines for iOS developers to follow while developing iPhone apps. One mistake and the app get rejected by the App Store.
Relax, there is nothing to scare. You can definitely avoid this situation by hiring skilled iOS developers. Now, probably you are looking for how to make sure that you are hiring or working with the right skill set.
If yes, then you are at the right place. Here you can explore everything right from identifying the requirements of iOS developers for your business to their skills, role & responsibilities, salary, and more.
Let’s dive into the details.
Identify Your Requirements before Hiring iOS Developers
Before stepping into the hiring process, it is very much important to be clear about your project inside and out. It helps you to define your expectations from iOS developers and make a well-informed decision.
Define Your App Idea
Note down your app idea by creating a short description. It could be a small paragraph or a sentence. With a focused mindset, you can nurture the app idea at an extreme extent rather than getting lost in varied thoughts.
Create a list of the app’s use cases or key problems/challenges it should solve. This practice helps you put thoughts together and concentrate on flourish the idea.
Set Up Goal
Get clarity about your goals and define a plan to achieve them in the long term and short run such as finding investors for your app idea, getting the top position on App Store, receiving thousands of downloads, and more.
Detailed analysis of your goals helps you understand the scale of your mobile app and define the pathway for iPhone app development.
Describe Features & Functionalities
Well, its pretty simple. Create a list of features and functionality you want to be integrated into your app. You can analyze similar kinds of apps and check out which functions and features they have implemented. This list gives the next level of clarity to the iOS developers about what they are going to deal with.
Define Priorities
If you have time, then you can wait until the completion of your iPhone application. But it’s not the right decision from a business point of view. Also, when you launch an app after a certain period of time, the app features become obsolete. So, everything can’t be developed in one go.
Prioritize the functions and features so developers know where they should focus on first. Using a variety of prioritization strategy, you can bring clarity on which features and functions should be developed first.
Roles and Responsibilities of iOS Developers
Most of us are unaware of the responsibilities that iOS developers carry out. The only understanding we have is, they write code to build an iPhone app. Well, it is not so. Their role and responsibilities are far beyond than coding.
They take part in every stage of iPhone app development start from planning, designing, developing, testing and launching the app on the App Store. Actually, they transform your specifications into a working mobile app or software product.
UI/UX Design
In iOS development, UI/UX design is not just the responsibility of designers. Developers also pay close attention to it as they are also in charge of delivering a good experience to the end users. Thus, they must aware of Apple’s UI/UX guidelines, understand design principles of the platform and be good at programming using the latest iOS tools & technologies.
Experience Level of iOS Developers
Junior iOS Developers
They are entry-level programmers who have around 2 years of experience in iPhone app development. Junior developers work closely with experienced colleagues to enrich their technical knowledge and improve app development skills.
Middle iOS Developers
After working on different and complex projects for a certain period of time, the junior developers move from beginners to a more advanced level. They are known as mid or middle-level iOS developers. They are capable to handle the project independently and deal with the challenges compare to junior level engineers.
Senior iOS Developers
Senior iOS developers are expert level programmers who have an excellent knowledge base of advanced iOS technologies and trends. They have successfully developed dozens of iPhone apps for varied industry verticals.
Responsibility of senior iOS developers is not limited to developing and designing the app. They also deal with API integration, security, and testing related aspects.
Select the right combination iOS developers and create an excellent team as per your project requirements.
Technical Skills of iOS Developers
iOS platform evolves almost every day with the introduction of high-tech tools and trends. By considering this, the engineers should keep updating their knowledge base by adopting advanced technologies and learning new skills.
Also, every project has different requirements or challenges that are addressed by using a specific set to iOS technologies. But, there are a few skills that are general and you can expect in every iOS developer.
- Proven experience in iOS development
- Have launched one or more apps in the App Store
- Knowledge of Apple Human Interface Guidelines
- Understanding of Apple’s UI/UX design standards
- Deep familiarity with Objective C, Swift and Cocoa Touch programming languages
- Knowledge of OpenGL and Metal
- Experience of working with iOS frameworks such as Core Animation, Core Data, Core Text, and Core Graphics
- Understanding of code versioning tools like Git
- Experience of integrating third-party libraries and APIs
- Knowledge of RESTful APIs to connect the iOS app to back-end services
Different Options to Hire iOS Developers
Hope now you got clarity about roles and responsibilities and skills of iOS developers.
Now, it’s time to explore what are the different options available for you to hire iOS developers. Three different approaches available across the software development industry and you can pick one that suits your project needs.
- Hire a software outsourcing company
- Hire an in-house team of iOS developers
- Hire freelance iOS developers
- Software Development Company
This is the best approach to hire reliable iOS developers. Most of the companies, including SMEs to large scale organizations, prefer to hire iOS developers from an experienced iPhone App development company.
They have proven expertise in delivering the best solutions for diversified industry domains and expertise to work with the latest iOS technologies and trends.
Following the Agile and DevOps approaches, they ensure the timely delivery of high-quality products to the clients. If the project fails, the software development company takes accountability of failure and put extra efforts to match your expectations.
In-house Team
Setting up an in-house team is definitely a better option than working with freelancers. They can work by coordinating with other teams. Hiring in-house iOS engineers, you can build quality iPhone apps as they in line with your goals.
It costs you more as you need to set up IT infrastructure for single app development and brings the iOS developers on the payroll. It will be a challenge for you to find the right talents that address your requirements and deliver the best solution.
Freelancers
They work individually and don’t have a well-defined process in place for iPhone app development. There is a lack of accountability if they fail in delivering the quality product. It’s quite tough to judge the skills and knowledge of freelancers as no one guarantees you about their expertise. Freelance iOS programmers are not the best option if you are looking for a long term association.
Interested to explore the difference between a software development company, in-house team, and freelancers in details? Learn more about which the best option for you and why.
Key Factors You Should Consider Before Hiring iOS Developers
Expertise
Expertise all about how the iOS developers deal with the different types of apps and projects. Every industry and business specific requirements or challenges to deal with. iOS developers must understand and the pain points of the client’s business and have insights on how to resolve it. To learn about the developers’ expertise, you can check out their portfolio. It speaks about their excellence in managing the projects.
Experience
Most of the time we confuse experience with expertise. But both of them are completely different from each other. Code writing capabilities of iOS developers cannot be considered as experience.
You need to pay attention to how many projects the iOS developers have successfully delivered, how they addressed the clients’ challenges, etc. If you focus on coding skills only, then you can end up by selecting the wrong candidates.
Exposure/Portfolio
The most important aspect that you should consider before hiring iOS developers. Check out the portfolio of mobile app development company or iPhone programmers to get clarity about their technical expertise, industry exposure and level of experience.
You can check out case studies available on a software development company’s website or you can check the blogs that talk about the specific projects delivered by them. It helps you to evaluate attention to detail and overall proficiency of iOS engineers.
Communication
Communication is an essential factor when you hire iPhone app developers from other continent and country. There are issues of language barriers and time zone differences that affect the communication channel.
Make sure they are well versed with the language you are using and ready to adjust their time zone as per the changing project needs.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire iOS Developer?
The cost of hiring iOS developers directly connected with their salary standards. Of course, the salary standards vary as per developers’ experience and expertise. But. you can get an overview of iOS developer’s salary in varied regions.
Source: Codementor
The above graph suggests that the hourly rate of iOS developers in North America is $150. While programmers from Indonesia charges $10 per hour.
Source: Codementor
If you hire freelance iOS engineers, then it will be a more affordable deal for you. The above graph displays the average hourly rate of freelance developers that ranges between $81-100.
In the Nutshell
Credencys has a team of experienced iOS developers who not only develop the apps but also involved in end-to-end project development process starts from consultation to design, development, testing, deployment to launch.
They make sure to deliver exact solutions that match clients’ expectations, solve their pain points and provide delightful experiences to the end user. To learn about technical expertise and experience connect with us. Let’s work together to bring your idea to life through iPhone app development.
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