Hiring an iOS developer? Need to know how and where to find the best candidates? Here is a comprehensive guide to finding the best iOS developers. Read on!
Who is an iOS developer and what does an iOS developer do? iOS Developers are professionals who are proficient in developing applications for running on Apple mobile devices powered by iOS Operating system.
An iOS freelancer is entrusted with the responsibility of improvising the features and functionalities of the mobile applications. iPhone and iPad being popular worldwide, has resulted in a significant rise in the demand for apple iOS developer.
But before you hire iOS app developer, you must be aware of the skills and qualities to look for in a freelance iOS developer along with the places to find iOS developers. In this article, we will discuss elaborately on the steps involved to hire iOS developers, the interview questions and even the tools that you must utilize to hire top iOS developers.
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Market for iOS developers
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), predicts a growth of 24% in the employment prospects of freelance iOS app developer through the year 2026. The rate is significantly higher than the average of most of the occupations in the other industrial domains. The key reason behind this growth is the increase in the demand for mobile devices and various mobile applications.
Almost 300,000 iOS developer freelance jobs are predicted to be created within the US. Payscale, a popular website conducting salary surveys, has stated the average iOS developer salary to be USD 83K per annum. As per reports by Apple, about a billion active mobile devices operate on iOS operating system.
This eventually increases the demand for iPhone developers and iPad developers. Companies are willing to pay high wages to recruit professionals with best iOS developer skills. Nowadays, people are more aligned to perform their regular activities like online e-commerce shopping, online banking, online vehicle booking etc through their mobile devices.
This necessitates continuous improvements in the operating system and applications development for their convenience of daily operations. Therefore mobile firms or app development companies are inclined more and more to hire iPhone developers or iPad developers.
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Things to note while hiring iOS developers
If you want to hire iOS developer for your company, you must verify the past experience and track record of the candidate. Let us discuss on the things that you must note while interviewing iOS app developers for hire,
- The number of years of experience in developing superior quality apps in the market, is vital for hiring professionals in remote iOS developer jobs
- A freelance iOS developer must be aware of the product to be developed with a good understanding of the design. He or she must possess sound knowledge of the algorithms utilised in the design
- Verify the on UI and graphics design when you hire iOS app developer
- Check out of the candidate is able deploy the app in Apple Store while looking for the best iOS developer.
- If the iOS freelance expert has an app or multiple apps in Apple Store, then remember you have played the right card in hiring the person.
- iOS development demands creating, maintaining and using a database for storage and providing requisite access. You must check out this aspect while recruiting best iOS developers.
- Companies nowadays hire iOS programmer who can work remotely. Hence it is vital to check out whether the candidate is capable to handle daily activities independently
- Check whether the iOS programmers for hire can interpret your requirements into the app.
- iOS developers for hire working remotely must report on the daily or weekly progress depending on the complexity of the job.
- Check if the iOS contractor or developer is aware of the audio and video conferencing tools, collaboration tools, document sharing software etc. for remote working
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Qualifications of best iOS Developer
An iOS programmer must possess a degree in Computer science for you to consider for recruitment. The educational qualifications to look for when you hire iPhone developer or iPad developer are,
- Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (CS) or IT
- Master’s Degree in Computer Science or IT
The top US colleges in US which offer courses in computer programming to aid an full stack iOS developer are,
- University of California Berkeley offering a five year program on both Bachelor’s and Master’s program in CS
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides 4 undergraduate courses on CS
- California Institute of Technology has 2 degree courses in CS and Applied plus Computational Mathematics
- Georgia Institute of Technology offers degrees in CS and Computational Media
- Carnegie Mellon University provides courses on CS and research opportunities
- Harvard University has degree courses as well as research programs on software, graphics, etc.
- Stanford University offers Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in CS
- University of Michigan has 2 colleges offering CS programs on software, networks, algorithms etc.
- Yale University, offering undergraduate courses on data structures, maths, programming, algorithms, design etc.
- University of Virginia conducts Bachelor’s degree in CS through 2 of its colleges
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Skills and qualities to look for in iOS Developers
Be it an entry level iOS developer, junior iOS developer or senior iOS developer for hire, verification of technical skills on iOS, and soft skills are mandatory. Enlisted below are the qualities that you need to check,
- Proficiency in Swift 3.0 programming language for iOS app development
- Knowledge of Apple’s Xcode IDE along with Cocoa touch frameworks
- Experienced in UI and UX design for better appearance and user navigation
- Awareness on Apple guidelines for human interface.
- Good knowledge on artificial intelligence and machine learning is beneficial while hiring a senior iOS developer
- Expertise in JSON – JavaScript is one of the iOS development requirements for networking
- iOS programmers must be aware of core data for providing a seamless user experience
- Possess good written and verbal communication skills
- Good analytical skills define the expertise of an iOS mobile developer
- Skilled in integrating multiple data sources and databases are one of the crucial iOS app development requirements
- Possess testing and debugging skills
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Certifications to look for in iOS Developers
For recruiting iOS developer entry level or senior level specialists, enlisted are the certifications to look for,
- Swift Developer certification for entry level developers iOS individuals. The training is conducted by Coursera with a duration of 5 weeks.
- iOC Certified Associate Developer (ICAD) certification is for Associate level developer iOS individual for preparing and advancing to the professional level. It is a 5-day course led by an instructor, offered by iTrain
- iOS App Development certification for Professional level of freelance iOS development offering courses on Swift, Networking, Core Data etc.
- App Development with Swift certification by PearsonVue for Professional iOS developer app level comprising of courses on Swift and developing an app in iOS.
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iOS developers rate per hour
Before you hire iOS programmer for your company, you must be aware of the freelance iOS developer salary to be offered. The freelance iOS developer rates vary based on experience, skill set and regions of the world.
The iOS developer hourly rate varies between USD 50 and USD 150 for North America-based developers. In South America or the LATAM countries, the freelance iOS developer rate is about USD 50, lesser compared to the countries of North America.
The rate of Australia based iOS developer cost is also quite high about USD 110 per hour. United Kingdom comes next in the rank of hourly iOS developer rate, approximately offering USD 70. Eastern Europe and India are the major contributors of outsourcing when it comes to best place to hire iPad app developer or iPhone app developer.
You can recruit at a much lesser cost but with the much talent and skill of iOS develop expertise. The junior iOS developer salary in Eastern Europe is USD 35 per hour and the senior iOS developer salary rises up to USD 100 per hour. In India, the freelance app developer salary varies between USD 25 per hour and USD 50 per hour, far lower than the other countries.
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Places to find best iOS developers
You must now be wondering what is the best iOS developer website or job board for searching an iOS app developer for hire. Here is a list below for you to search for iOS developer contract, full time or part time professionals,
- Upwork
- unremot.com
- Hired
- GitHub Jobs
- Dice
- Indeed
- Toptal
- Authentic Jobs
- Stack Overflow
- People per hour
You can specify the job description of the iPad or iPhone developer for hire and submit the job listings in the above websites. Mention the iOS freelance rate to be offered hourly along with the expectations on iOS developing activities.
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Steps involved in hiring best iOS developers
To recruit work from home iOS developer, it is essential to follow the key steps as enlisted below for seamless and smooth recruitment.
- Write out the Job description with clear duties and responsibilities and the expectations when you hire iOS developers
- List out the iOS developer interview questions, focusing on both technical and soft skills while looking for iPhone or iPad developer
- Fix the iOS consulting rates and programming rates, depending on the roles, mode of employment, location and years of experience.
- Post your job listings in the websites for iOS developer hire mentioning the job description, the expected salary, location, and mode of employment.
- Search for app dev apple proficient candidates in the job boards by scanning through the profiles
- Shortlist the candidates after viewing their resume, analyzing their experience and expertise and appropriateness for the roles
- Schedule an iOS developer interview session with the shortlisted candidates, comprising of both technical and managerial or HR evaluation
- Finalize the candidates to be recruited and circulate the offer letter. Never forget to get the contract agreement signed.
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Top 10 interview questions for iOS developers
As recruiters, you must be aware of the iOS developer interview question to ask when you hire iOS developers. Here are the top 10 interview questions for your easy reference:
1. Do you know the JSON framework supported by iOS?
Rationale: To verify the knowledge level and programming efficiency of the candidate
Expected Answer: Ensure the candidate mentions about SBJSON framework which has controls and flexible APs.
2. State the different ways to achieve concurrency in iOS
Rationale: To check the candidate’s awareness on the basic concepts of iOS.
Expected Answer: The candidate must specify about threads, operation and dispatch queues for you to tick mark as accurate.
3. Elaborate on the various types of iOS application states
Rationale: To verify the candidate’s proficiency in understanding the significance of each of the application states and act accordingly.
Expected Answer: Not running, active, inactive, background and suspended are the expected answers.
4. Which framework is used to create an UI in iOS?
Rationale: The questions helps to validate candidate’s expertise in creating UI/UX screens.
Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions about UIKit framework and its related concepts, you can consider for recruitment.
5. Mention the difference between atomic and non-atomic properties?
Rationale: To judge whether the candidate is able to use the correct properties for controlling the performance
Expected Answer: For returning an initialized object, atomic properties are the best. For retrieving uninitialized value, non-atomic properties must be used.
6. Which API do you use to test the UI elements?
Rationale: To understand the candidate’s experience and knowledge in testing the application UI
Expected Answer: If the candidate mentions about UI Automation API with examples on automated testing, then you can be rest assured of the person’s expertise.
7. Find out the bug in the code and fix it (provide a sample code to the candidate)
Rationale: Check the programming skills of the candidate and the capability to rectify errors.
Expected Answer: The candidate must be able to point out all the mistakes in the code and correct them.
8. What is the key difference between app ID and bundle ID?
Rationale: Allows you to verify the app development capabilities and expertise of the candidate.
Expected Answer: If the candidate is able to elaborate about app ID being a string and bundle ID is to uniquely define an app, you can consider the candidate for hire.
9. What are weak references and strong references?
Rationale: Question to judge whether the candidate understands the concept of memory leakage and retain cycle.
Expected Answer: If the candidate explains which reference breaks the retain cycle and causes memory leakage, you can consider for hire.
10. Mention the rendering options for JSONSerialization?
Rationale: To check whether the candidate is aware of the advanced concepts of iOS development.
Expected Answer: Ensure the candidate mentions about MutableContainers, MutableLeaves and allowFragments.
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Top 10 tools to use while hiring iOS developers
While you hire iOS developers for your company, a good amount of research is required to select the right candidate. Several recruitment tools have evolved substantially to aid the entire hiring process. Enlisted are the top 10 tools that can be used to hire iOS developers,
- Job Boards – You can post your iOS developer requirements in the job boards like Indeed.com, unremot.com, Upwork, Flex Jobs etc.
- Assessment tools – Utilize assessment tools like Pymetrics, HackerRank etc. for conducting aptitude tests
- Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots – Use digital like Zoom.ai, Textio, Ideal etc. to shortlist candidates via analysis and data collection.
- Social Media Platforms – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc. are powerful social media platforms to hire iOS developers.
- Tracking system for applications – Use a tracking system to track the applications received from candidates, screening out candidates and other processes.
- Recruitment Portal or Tools – Leverage recruitment tools like Yello, SmashFly, Avature etc for communication and collaboration with the candidates.
- Audio and Video Conferencing Tools – Utilize audio and video conferencing tools like Zoom, GoogleMeet, Microsoft Teams etc to conduct interviews when you hire iOS developers.
- Tools to aid advertisements – Leverage tools like Textio assist in creating the right content for job advertisements.
- Onboarding tools – Use tools like Click Boarding, Applicantstack, BambooHr etc. for conducting the onboarding process.
- Background Check Tools – Tools like GoodHire, Intelifi, Sterling etc help in background checks of the candidate.
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Dos and donts while hiring iOS developers
It is advisable to be aware of the Dos and donts when you hire iOS developers. Else you may land up in recruiting candidates who are inefficient or harmful to the company’s progress and future growth.
List of Dos,
- Check the proficiency of the candidate in Python language concepts, AI and machine learning, JavaScript, CSS, HTML and web frameworks
- Verify the soft skills of candidate
- State concisely and clearly the job expectations to the candidate
- Recruit a person with excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Hire candidates who are backed by good references and strong credibility
- State the vision and objective of your company to the candidate
- Verify the prior roles and experience of the candidates
- Conduct a thorough background check for security verification
- Video or in person interview must be the norm for selecting candidates
- The resume details must be validated by asking the appropriate questions
List of Donts,
- Never offer incompatible iOS developer salary to the candidate
- Avoid compromising quality when you hire iOS developers
- Do not recruit a candidate who fails to provide the relevant supporting documents
- Never recruit a person without a credible prior work experience
- You must not wrongly state the job role and description as it may lead to dissatisfaction in future
- Health and insurance benefits must never be stated incorrectly
- Salary negotiation must not be avoided as you may lose out on talents
- Never be rude or unprofessional while interviewing candidates
- Do not risk hiring candidates with zero knowledge in data science and neural networks
- Avoid recruiting candidates who have never used any iOS developer software or tool
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How do I hire iOS developer?
First check out how many iOS developers are there in your company and how many additional experts are needed for a development project. Fix the entry level iOS developer salary, Jr iOS developer salary and the senior level as per the market rates. List out the interview questions and then initiate the hiring process.
Where can I find iOS app developer?
iOS app developers can be searched in all major job websites and job boards like Upwork, Unremot, Indeed.com, LinkedIn etc. You can check out the social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Fiverr etc for finding out the best iOS developers for hire. Several technical blogs and forums are also a good place to find iOS app programmers.
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