7 Traits of skilled iOS freelance Developer

By siliconindia  |  Tuesday, 14 July 2020, 03:11:13 PM IST

7 Traits of skilled iOS freelance Developer

An iOS developer works as part of a team that defines, designs, and implements features in applications for Apple devices. They are responsible for developing and maintaining apps for Apple mobile phones and tablet computers. Objectively, a freelance iOS developer, should be proficient in either of the programming languages for Apple, that is, Objective – C or Swift. They also identify and rectify deficiencies and errors that may cause bugs in the applications.

With the rapid changing tech landscape as elaborated by DevsData and increasingly high demand for Apple products such as the iPhone, iPod, and Ipad iOS, freelance developers have sharpened their skills. Some of the qualities an iOS freelance developer must pose today as follows:

Proficiency in objective – C or Swift

These are the primary programming languages for iOS applications. Objective-C is the previous programming language that was formerly used by apple. They have since upgraded to Swift, which is the starting point for anyone intending to develop an app for an iPhone or Ipad. It is relatively simple to use and more flexible, therefore providing several features and easy programming. Swift is compatible only with iOS and OS X; it conveniently extends and maintains with dynamic libraries; it is more refined compared to Objective – C and is the future of Apples' development framework. A freelancer with Cocoa tech proficiency is an added advantage.

Experience with iOS frameworks

Experience is essential to ensure the iOS freelance developer is conversant with the Apple platform. Experience in Core Data, Core Animation, and Xcode, is vital for the development of basic features as; App Clips, Widgets, Augmented reality, Machine learning, and Siri. Experienced iOS freelancer with relevant work experience is well aware of the demands of the job and is ready to take up the responsibilities of this creative task, to add, they require little or no training.

A demonstrated understanding of Apple's design principles and interface guidelines

Understanding Apples' design principles is a key quality since these apps built to perform on Apple products must be compatiable. The human interface ranges from themes, App Architecture, User Interaction, System Capabilities, Visual Design, Icons and Images, Bars, Views, Controls, and Extensions. Therefore, the iOS freelancer must be able to adhere to Apples' guidelines as they create applications.

Knowledge of offline storage, threading, and performance tuning

Threading enables better performance of apps, and understanding how it works will help create the main thread to perform at its best. A skilled iOS freelancer should realize that making your app execute a task faster is excellent, more importantly, is how quickly the user perceives your app to be. Threading prioritizes functions, so users don't feel wasted waiting for things they don't notice or care about to load.

Low-level C-based libraries proficiency is a plus

C library is best and necessary for the performance of some basic tasks since they are inbuilt functions in C programming. These functions have gone through multiple rigorous testing and are easy to use. C library performance maximumly; it saves a lot of development time and is compatible with all devices.

knowledge of cloud message APIs and push notifications

APNs and APIs is the centerpiece of remote notification feature for Apple; it is an efficient service for iOS developers to propagate information to Apple devices. This knowledge is essential to help in configuring remote notification support.

Benchmarking and Optimization skills

An efficient iOS freelance developer should be able to create apps that match the best industry standards in terms of performance, quality, time, and cost. These apps should also perform optimally and meet user expectations.

Apart from the superior technical skills, strong collaborative and problem-solving abilities are essential. Because these apps are developed for integration on an existing platform and work in the back end, the iOS freelancer is required to work collaboratively with other software developers working on the same platform while quickly responding to any challenges that users and developers encounter during usage of the apps. An iOS developer requires to attain at least a bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Information Technology with some training in iOS Development. An iOS freelance Developer must keep up with trends in technology as they incorporate such patterns and practices in iOS platforms.

ON THE DECK

siliconindia