As the world is shifting towards smartphones and apps, it has become crucial for every business to have an app for promotion and branding. Mobile apps have lately become a huge industry, with almost every business relying on them. Research states that Android users have 2.2 million apps to choose from.

Due to recent technological advancements and innovations, the demand for android developers is at the peak. Today, every business needs an android developer to develop and manage their business app to attract more users.

But how to hire an android developer?

As a recruiter from a non-technical background, you might fail somehow to assess a developer’s skills whether the candidate is the right fit for your organization or not. But, you can still hire an android developer with no or least technical knowledge. Yes, you read that right!

In this article, we will discuss how you can assess, interview, and screening without having technical knowledge. Let’s begin!

Understand Your Company’s Requirement

Knowing your company’s requirements before initiating the hiring process can help you narrow down your searches. You need to consider which type of app your business wants to develop, including native, cross-platform, or hybrid.

For example, suppose your organization wants to create an app from scratch, including third-party integrations such as CMS, CRM, API, etc. You hire someone who is well-experienced in several android programming languages. And, if your organization wants to make some minor changes in the existing application, you can consider hiring freshers for that.

Knowing your company’s requirements can have a great impact on the company’s budget.

Conduct An Online Coding Test

A simple resume is not enough to assess a candidate’s technical skills. Conducting a coding assessment for android developers will give a deep idea of whether a candidate is fit for the job role, fits in with your company’s style, or is the right person you want to work with.

That’s why conducting a coding test is better than an interview. You can conduct these tests online, and it says a lot about a prospective candidate. The goal is not to prove that the candidate is a genius and has extraordinary skills but to evaluate him/her for his technical skills and expertise.

Make sure you choose the right online testing software with ready skill assessment tests for android developers.

Go Beyond Recruiting Sites

Using recruiting sites for hiring is not enough. You need to think out-of-the-box.

If recruiting sites are not an option, you can leverage social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to find the right talent for your organization.

However, LinkedIn is a platform that every recruiter must use to hire employees. It is a most trusted resource to find developers, and more than millions of users search for jobs on LinkedIn every week. So, create your brand page today and start promoting your job position.

Look At Their Portfolio And Work Experience

A portfolio for every developer is important to showcase their technical and programming skills to the recruiters and hiring managers.

While reviewing the candidate’s portfolio, keep an eye out for apps with excellent user interfaces. A good android developer must possess excellent UI/UX skills.

Don’t limit yourself from reviewing their portfolio; ask the candidate to show his GitHub or Stack Overflow profile to assess what kind of problem-solver he is. In this way, you can easily identify whether a candidate caters to your company’s requirements or not.

Coding Interview

After the candidate passes all the screening processes, the next step is the interview. During the interview, you can ask some general questions, such as your experience, why you left your previous organization, which tools you used there, etc.

For this round you can use remote coding interview tools or online code editors. They will help the interview panel have deeper and more productive discussions.

In an interview, you will assess the candidate’s soft skills, including communication skills, team player, cultural fit, time-management skills, creative skills, and more.

Essential Skills Of An Android Developer

Good Knowledge Of Java And Kotlin

An ideal candidate should be well-versed in Java and Kotlin, as there are the most prominent languages for Android apps. Having hands-on experience in at least one of the development languages is a must for an android developer.

Important Android SDK Concepts

As android developers are great at using the Android Software Development Kit (Android SDK), here are some areas a developer must be aware of:

• Fundamental of Views, View Groups, and Layouts
• User input
• Storing data
• Action bars
• Ways to get data from the web
• Using apps for different devices, such as phones, tablets, etc

An android developer you hire must be aware of Android documentation and several third-party resources that will help quickly comprehend any parts of SDK that are still unknown.

Experience In Working With SQL

Every android app needs to store its data. Correspondingly, your app should be integrated with a database so that you can manage the data.

Hence, it is important to hire a developer with decent knowledge of working with SQL. The developer you hire will be responsible for database management to store the data.

XML Fundamentals

XML is known as Extensible Markup Language, which is used in the development of web solutions. Nevertheless, it is an important technology for app development, as XML is used to access web data. As android apps require transferring data to the web and vice versa, XML is a skill to consider when hiring an android developer for your organization.

Backend Programming Skills

A great android developer must be well-experienced in working with backend programming languages such as Python, Java, JavaScript, Node.js, .Net, etc.

However, your developer shouldn’t develop the backend, but he/she must have a clear understanding of the backend part of your application.

With the introduction of new technologies and advancements, the need for developers is increasing daily. But to find the right talent for your organization, you need to put some effort into finding a suitable professional.

The tips mentioned above will help you streamline the recruiting process and find a great android developer for your organization who can justify the form of mobile application development.

Happy Hiring!!