Mobile applications have truly revolutionized the world we live in. Perhaps the most obvious example of these is social media apps.
Social media apps are huge. To put into perspective just how big this industry segment is, consider this, the global social media app market was valued at USD 39.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.6% from 2022 to 2030. This is a nearly unparalleled growth figure that is unmatched by nearly any other industry.
The demand for encrypted messaging apps, video chat services, and augmented reality-based features such as image filters have made social media apps extremely popular among all age groups. As with all of the leading social networking applications, artificial intelligence-based features such as personalized content and improved communication tools offer an even more engaging user experience while allowing them to tailor products such as advertising for individual users.
Although social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, etc., dominate the social networking industry, there is always room for more exciting and unique social experiences via innovative app features. If you plan to create a social media app to cash in on this highly lucrative industry, you will require experienced social media app developers.
There is a high number of mobile app developers in the market, however, demand is also increasing thanks to the rush to develop more and more new mobile applications. This could make hiring expert app developers for your social media app project difficult. Choosing the right hiring platform is the key to building a successful app development team.
You might plan to hire freelance app developers to build your social media app; however, this is not a good option. When onboarding, you should opt for the most reliable option and partner with an experienced software development company like DevTeam.Space to hire app developers. More on that in just a bit.
First, you need to understand the skills requirements to hire suitable social media app developers for your app development project. Proficient social media developers need the following skills:
Primary Social Media App Development Skills
- Sound knowledge of native Android app development tech stack, including Android Studio IDE, Eclipse, Android SDKs, etc.;
- Proficiency in Java or Kotlin programming languages for Android app development;
- Expertise in iOS app development tools such as XCode IDE, CocoaPods dependency manager, RXSwift libraries, etc.;
- Proficiency in Apple-recommended Swift programming language for iOS app development;
- Understanding of hybrid app development using web-based technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5;
- Expertise in using JavaScript-based frameworks like React Native, Node.js, etc., to accelerate cross-platform social media app development;
- Deep understanding of data handling and database technologies, including NoSQL databases like MongoDB and SQL databases like SQLite, PostgreSQL, etc.;
- Knowledge of mobile app development lifecycle;
- Expertise in agile development using agile frameworks like Kanban, Scrum, etc.
- Understanding of DevOps practices like continuous integration, continuous testing, app monitoring, task automation, etc.;
- Familiarity with DevOps tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, AWS Mobile, etc., to build a DevOps pipeline efficiently.
Other Software Development Skills
Social media app developers need to have the following additional skills too:
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API Development Skills
You need app developers skilled in API design and development. They should be able to test API endpoints and apply API security techniques such as authentication, throttling, etc. Your developers should be experts in API protocols like REST, SOAP, and query languages like GraphQL. They should be familiar with tools like Postman and Swagger and be able to use them to facilitate efficient API development and testing.
You need developers skilled in API integrations and hostings. Third-party API integrations accelerate the app development process. You need developers who are experts in creating secure third-party integrations for messaging services, push notifications, location features, etc.
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Knowledge of Cloud Computing Platforms
You need developers familiar with different types of cloud computing, like private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid clouds. They should also be acquainted with multiple types of cloud services, such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service, etc.
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These cloud-based services aid the app development process. Developers can access scalable app development resources, such as development tools, networking, database technologies, etc., without the need for on-premises installation and maintenance.
You need developers familiar with the leading cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, etc. Which one exactly, depends on your specific project requirements.
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Application Security Skills
You need social media app developers experts who are well-versed in secure application development. They should be able to write good-quality code with no bugs, as low-quality code often gives way to security breaches, performance issues, and maintenance problems.
You need developers familiar with common cybersecurity threats such as spyware, phishing scams, malware, etc. They should also be experts in threat mitigation techniques like source code encryption, database encryption, authentication, etc.
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Advanced Technologies
Social media applications retain the target audience by offering them unique and highly appealing app experiences. You need experienced developers to create cutting-edge features for your social media app. The reason for this is that many innovative app features are based on the latest technologies, these include augmented reality, virtual reality, and machine learning.
You should look for developers familiar with the underlying working of these technologies including a basic understanding of machine learning algorithms and the tools used to build them. This will help your social media developers work closely with your AI, ML, VR, AR, etc., developers efficiently.
For example, AR-based tools such as ARToolkit will help your developers create filters to offer enhanced user interaction. Similarly, your developers should be able to utilize machine learning tools like Core ML to create a personalized social media app feed, etc.
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Code Review
You need expert developers to perform a mobile app code review. A thorough code review ensures you deliver a high-performance mobile application to your target audience. Senior developers with enough coding experience can effectively detect flaws in the code. They will be able to ensure that your code meets all your functional and non-functional requirements.
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Good Communication and Team Skills
Social media app developers also need soft skills, some of which include the following:
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Communication
You need social media app developers with good writing and verbal skills. Software developers work with abstract concepts and technical solutions. They need excellent communication skills to explain problems and solutions to end-users or stakeholders.
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Commitment
The social media application development process can get quite challenging with frequently changing market trends and end-user requirements. You need developers committed to overcoming all challenges, meeting app requirements, and, ultimately, delivering an excellent social media application to your users.
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Passion for Excellence
Your developers should be motivated to build a cutting-edge social networking application based on advanced technologies. They need to be 100% dedicated to doing the best job possible if you are to develop an excellent app that stands out.
How to find the best social media app developer?
You now know the general skills requirements for a social media app developer. Please note, your requirements will be specific to your project specifications.
Next, you need to hire the best social media app developers, which involves the following steps:
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Decide the kind of platform to hire education mobile app developers
It goes without saying that you need to hire the right developers to build your social media app. The choice of hiring platform is the key here.
You might think of hiring freelance developers from freelancer platforms so you can save money on your app development project. However, this approach will not work with a complex social media app development project.
The freelance market is quite saturated, which makes hiring good expert developers difficult. Freelance platforms do not provide any assistance in the screening process. You have to filter hundreds of freelancers’ profiles and select the one that meets your requirements. There is no guarantee of their actual skills and expertise.
Moreover, freelancers often work on multiple projects simultaneously. They might not have enough bandwidth to undertake your complex social media app development project. If a freelancer leaves your project midway, there is not much that you can do except look for another developer and again go through the time-consuming interviewing process.
We suggest you hire competent app developers from a respected software app development company like DevTeam.Space. You can hire developers and designers from DevTeam.Space according to your project requirements.
All our developers go through an elaborate vetting process that consists of various technical interviews and coding tests. You can rest assured that only top-quality talent will be working on your social media app development project.
Project management also gets difficult with freelancers, especially if they are in different time zones. Some software development companies such as DevTeam.Space assign an account manager to each developer or dev team they outsource. These account managers are all senior developers and so are there to help ease project management for you.
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Moreover, all our software developers follow an agile development approach that streamlines your app development process and promotes close communication with all the developers working on your project.
We also sign an NDA with our onboarding clients and uphold rigid data security and privacy guidelines. We strongly recommend hiring motivated, managed, and experienced social media app developers from a software development company like DevTeam.Space.
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Interview the shortlisted candidates
So you have started the hiring process, and several candidates have sent you their resumes. Now you have to shortlist candidates for interviews based on the above-mentioned social media app development skills.
If you do not have sufficient experience to conduct an in-depth interview, you should take help from your colleagues with skills in software app development.
You need to assess the technical skills of candidates. Therefore, go beyond theoretical questions and cover specific app development topics. You should also ask about their past work experience in a similar domain. Ask them about challenging development scenarios they faced and the strategies they adopted to overcome them.
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Provide detailed information about your application development project
Now that you have hired the best developers for your social media app project, the next step is onboarding them effectively. You should arrange meetings and introduce the new developer to existing team members.
You need to explain your project requirements in detail to your new developers. You should provide them with all the necessary documentation that helps them understand the project goals. Your new developers will also require access to the development tools and your code repositories.
You should clearly state the roles and responsibilities of each team member and share your project plan. Each developer should be clear on deliverables and timelines. Talk about expectations and establish accountability. An effective onboarding process is the first big step that will lead to a successful social media application development project.
Interview Tips to Hire Social Media App Developers
Some tips to hire social media app developers are as follows:
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Hire a competent team lead for remote developers
Remote development gives you access to a global talent pool but remote team management can be hard.
One way to effectively manage remote developers is to hire an experienced remote development team manager. A dedicated team leader will have the knowledge and experience to overcome any roadblocks and effectively manage time zone differences, etc.
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Look for flexible software app development service providers
Look for flexibility in the hiring models when you evaluate different software development companies. In some cases, you might want a fixed-price model, however, this approach is suitable for simple projects. App development projects must contend with unforeseen challenges that result in overruns.
You will need to hire developers on a time-and-material model for such projects. Flexible models help companies to quickly and effectively scale development teams.
Examples of coding questions to ask during the interview when hiring social media app developers
Ask questions that help you assess the hands-on skills of developers. The following are a few examples:
- How do you persist data in an Android app?
There are four ways to persist data in an Android app. These are as follows:
- Shared Preferences to save primitive data in key-value pairs;
- External Storage to allow users to view data saved by your app;
- Internal Storage to store data on the device and not allow users or other apps to view this data;
- SQLite database.
- What is a strong reference in Swift?
A strong reference in Swift does not allow the deallocation of the class instance it points to. ARC retains a count of strong references to a class instance.
- Write a piece of Swift code with a memory leak.
class A {
var b: B!
deinit {
print(“deinit of A”)
}
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}
class B {
var a: A!
deinit {
print(“deinit of B”)
}
}
do {
let a = A()
let b = B()
a.b = b
b.a = a
}
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The market for social networking apps is competitive. You need exceptional app developers to build a custom social networking app that stands out in the social media industry if you hope to attract a large number of users. Why risk hiring anything but the best social media app developers for your project?
DevTeam.Space is a community of field-expert software developers. All our developers are vetted for their expertise and trained on an AI-powered agile development process. We match the best suitable developers for your software project based on their skills and experience.
If you wish to learn more about how our developers or developer teams can help you undertake a successful social networking app development project, let us know your project specifications via this form. One of our account managers will get back to you to discuss further details on how we can help you.