The majority of time that people spend online is now spent on mobile. This is thanks largely due to Google’s ubiquitous Android platform. Google revolutionized the mobile space with android and now almost everything we do and need online is available via an Android app. Nowhere does this apply more than in the financial services industry.
From multi-billion-dollar banking conglomerates to small Fintech start-ups, everyone is investing heavily in Android app development. After all, that is where the customers and the battle for retaining those customers is being fought on mobile app platforms across the world. Because of this demand, there are plenty of Android app developers – but there is a crippling shortage of quality Android app developers. People who can take charge, show innovation and leadership when it comes to developing these foundational apps.
That is the gap that needs to be filled and these courses and certifications have been hand-picked to offer just that. Not to just teach you Android development, but to make you a quality Android app developer whom all the big companies are looking for.
1. Android Kotlin Developer from Udacity
Course Review
This is an intermediate level course that requires some basic prior programming experience. If you are totally new to programming, I suggest you start with the basic course mentioned earlier and then come to this one to learn advanced Android development techniques. This Nanodegree built by Udacity in collaboration with Google is really meant to take your Android development skills to the next level.
You start right away by learning to develop apps with step-by-step instructions to keep you on track. You will be met with a blend of theory and practice as you get your hands dirty to make several apps within the first couple of weeks itself – like a fully featured shoe store inventory app or an asteroid radar app.
The first few weeks are spent on learning about basic UI, handling user input, creating dynamic and navigable interfaces, data persistence, use of APU to store and retrieve data and the best practices of material design.
After that satisfying intro, you move on advanced Android app development. You will learn to enhance the functionality of your app and drive user engagement using Android’s notification system. you will learn to build custom views, simple animations to enhance presentation and usability, location awareness, scaling app functionality, and so on. Everything you need to be build a professional app, is in here.
As always, Udacity provides excellent support for its Nanodegree users. This includes technical mentors support, CV and LinkedIn profile reviews and so on.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 4 months depending on your weekly commitment and prior experience.
- Offered fully online and on-demand.
- By the end of this Nanodegree program, you would have built several test apps and even a few fully functional ones.
Click here to unlock your Personalized Discount for this course
2. Android Basics by Google
Course Review
This course was built in collaboration between Udacity and Google, the creators of Android. It’s a beginner friendly course that requires no prior experience and should be your first step towards becoming an Android developer. It’s meant to teach you real-world skills necessary to accelerate your journey to becoming a professional Android developer.
You start off with he very basics like building the user interface and allowing for user inputs in Android. You will lean about using XML markup language to build layouts, and use Vies and ViewsGroups to display images and text on screen. You will also use Java to build an actual app, use variables to add interactivity to said app and learn the basics of powerful object-oriented programming techniques.
Next you move on to multi-screen apps and networking. Here, you will learn how to show multiple screens to users and add audio and images to your app. You will also learn how to handle touch events and make visual changes to your app and polish it. Learning to use web APIs is also critical and you will learn how use them along with the basics of networking in Android including HTTP networking, JSON parsing, threads etc.
There are several apps you will be building along the way to really turn theory into practical experience. For example, there is a news app, quiz app, score keeper app. Musial structure app, tour guide app, coffee ordering app etc. that you will build as part of this Nanodegree.
Udacity also provides many value-added services that should help your career along. These include interview prep, CV and LinkedIn profile help, access to career coaching, technical mentor support and so on.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 3 months depending on your weekly commitment and prior experience.
- Offered fully online and on-demand.
- The ultimate beginner friendly course for Android development for those serious about this career path.
Click here to unlock your Personalized Discount for this course
3. Android App Development from Vanderbilt University
Course Review
Another beginner friendly course that focuses on Java and its advanced features to help build Android apps. This course has been designed by Vanderbilt to help you master the skills and knowledge necessary to build and maintain Android mobile apps using core Java programming language features. No prior programming experience is necessary.
You start off by learning Java as it is used for Android development. You will learn about features that control the flow of execution through an app, enable access to structured data, group related operations and data into classes and interfaces, customize the behaviour of existing classes via inheritance etc. You will also learn about the components of an Android app like intents, activities, broadcast receivers. These are core components and you will lean by example how to programme these core components.
The second half of this comprehensive specialisation focuses on Android app components like service, local IPC, content providers etc. With the help of test apps, you will lean how to program these including the material design paradigm. Lastly, you will focus on engineering maintainable Android apps. The idea is to create apps that have inbuilt extensibility and clarity and have been build using the best practices of good software engineering.
There are several case and test apps that you work on along the way. Not to mention a comprehensive capstone project that must be completed prior to earning your certificate. This certificate from Vanderbilt should add some serious firepower to your CV.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 80 hours for most people depending on your skills.
- Offered fully online and on-demand via Coursera’s excellent eLearning platform.
- A quality beginner friendly Android dev program that focuses on core Java concepts for Android app development.
4. Advanced App Development in Android from Imperial College, London
Course Review
This is an intermediate level course that focuses on graphics and virtual reality in Android. If you are a total beginner, you should take one of the other courses first as you do need some basic experience for this one. But if you want to improve the graphics quality of your Android apps to make them more appealing, then this is the course for you.
You will start with a deep dive into Android’s graphics system including 2D and 3D objects. You will learn how to implement these practically in Android and how to use them in a variety of scenarios. The theory will be accompanied by practical exercises. You will also lean about the fundamental of OpenGL pipelines and shading language and OpenGL ES in Android. You will draw simple 2D and even complex 3D object using these.
The second half of the specialisation focuses on 3D graphics in Android including sensors and VR. You will learn to create a virtual environment and lean about all the tools and techniques to make it immersive. VR is growing at triple digital these days and it is a vastly untapped area that needs quality developers to fill that gap.
There is a massive capstone project at the end consisting of four assignments. This project will really drive home all that you have learned and make you use that theory in a practical setting and really push your knowledge to its limits. At the end of this course, you should have the confidence and the skills to build the best looking Android apps and a certificate from one of the worlds’ top universities that you can use on your CV and LinkedIn profile.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 90-95 hours for most people depending on your skills.
- Offered fully online and on-demand via Coursera’s excellent eLearning platform.
- An intermediate Android course that focuses on graphical design and virtual reality for making your apps look stunning and be ready for the future.
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