With experience learnt as Nokia and Games developer, I had to expand my net. See the previous articles on my journey as Nokia developer and Mobile games developer. I figured out that to make a meaningful app, I had to learnt android development. This time I was a step ahead having learnt C# through unity. At least getting a refresher in Java would also boost my android development skills.

Back to YouTube, I searched for tutorials that would guide me through. I got one where you would design UI in adobe XD and code in android studio. From previous exposure to adobe products in my game development, I knew there was no shortcut to this.

Creativity was needed and my design skills were to come in handy. The tutorial was well articulated and explained to beginner's level. I found it easy to follow through. All along I though I would only use Java but I was wrong. The tutorial dived into an area that I was comfortable working. Using database was meat of the day as we will see in my journey in I.T.

My skills in SQL and MySql rely made it easy for me to integrate my apps with database. However there was a problem. I had not master python. Luckily the same tutorial explain the concepts well that at the end of the lecture I would easily query and insert data using python. It felt like I was now a born again developer.

By now I had a working app. A very simple app so to say. I toyed around with my design and made adjustments and ended up creating a fully functional app.  As they say practice makes perfect, I did few other designs and grasped the whole process flow of making mobile apps.

I would start with design in adobe XD as a sketch, advance the UI elements using adobe illustrator and photoshop. Others I would using adobe XD toolbox. I would then create a prototype of my app and how each UI element interacts with the user. This looked like a complete app. In fact I would think I have already done coding were it that the data was dummy.

By now I had developed new skills. UI design and UX design.  Nothing was simple than working with adobe suite. I am a person who likes visual designs. I don't like too much theory.

With my design and UX ready, I would export UI elements into different android sizes and prepare them for import into android studio. With UX already exported as video, I would now be in position to follow along my coding and implement what I had designed.

I would start by creating layout in android studio. After everything was in place per my design, I would then dive into coding to add my flow in the prototype. This meant at the end of the day, I have a functional app.

I would then create database on a web host. I would search for the best web host who would allow access to database with unlimited or unmetered access. I would install Mysql database and configure. I would then created database and tables. This would not require technical knowledge in database programing. The tables were very simple.

After that, I would create a small PHP app to access database, read and write data for the app. this was the simplest part of my coding as the code was very simple and straight forward. If you have used PHP, then you understand what I mean.

With database accessible, it was time to incorporate this into my app and have the user send and read data. The new challenge was how to access read data from my PHP file into the app.  Through the tutorial, I learnt the new skills and was able read and write data. I would then display the data in my UI elements.

A few tweaks were needed for the app to look more professional and unique. I went back to my design in adobe XD and made changes, came back to android studio and made the new changes. In the end I had a fully functional app.

Money was the driving force. How do I make money from my app? I integrated ads as part of my first release. I never used mediation. I would create my own logic to display ads from different providers. The app was now ready for release. As fate would be. I got few downloads and this motivated me to even do more releases.

I added in-app purchase to allow users remove ads and buy other features that were more advanced.

My first complete android app was now in store. I went further and did more apps and this motivated me a lot. I have always wanted to develop something other people are using. This was my chance and I and already achieved this.

My Take

1. It takes dedication to be an app developer. Irrespective of your background, if you are determined, your can easily make it as app developer. Tutorials are there online to guide you.
2. Always learnt from creating simple apps and progress up. We always start from hello world app. this forms the basics of learning programing.
3. It takes practice to be a good designer and developer.
4. Start from design all the way to coding. It is not hard. The problem with developers is that we what to code what we have not visualized.
5. Learn to create your own UI elements. Copyright claim is the worst thing you can get in playstore. Account can be easily suspended and all your sweat goes to drain.
6. Planning is the key to success. Plan your app through the UI design and UX design. This makes your work easier and saves time.