With the boom of cross-platform development, there has been a hype about flutter and react-native. But this doesn’t mean that Android Development is dead.
React Native was launched in 2015 and the internet was flooded with posts on how it is the new big thing and how it’d make Native Android Development obsolete. But as we’ve all come to know, this is far from truth.
Android Development as prominent now as it was 5 years ago, if not more. In fact, some companies have shifted from using React-Native to native development.
Most prominent of them has been AirBnb which published a series of 5 posts on why they migrated from React-Native to native development. I suggest giving it a read.
As of Flutter, it’s still very early to make a comment on it as it hit stable release just last year in December. But as of now, native Android Development is here to stay.
So, if you’ve wanted to learn how to develop android apps, time couldn’t have been better. Here’s a list of top 10 resources to learn Android Development.
TheNewBoston’s Android DevelopmentTutorials (YouTube)
After 4 years into Android Development, I can safely say that this series has stood the test of time. This was my first tutorial series on Android Development and I still recommend it to anyone who asks me how to start android development.
Much of it because of the instructor’s exceptional way of teaching. Bucky Roberts is the best instructor I’ve ever come across on any of the platforms. His witty humor, unconventional variable naming conventions (Tuna, Ham and what not…) keep you engrossed in the tutorials. It’s almost like binging on a Netflix series.
He has made 2 video series, I recommend watching the latest playlist. Here’s the link to it:
Mindorks Online Course
If you’ve been into Android Development, you’ve probably read a Mindorks publication article on Medium or watched a video from Mindorks on Youtube.
Mindorks is probably the world’s largest community of Android Developers and is solely related to Android Development. This is what makes it different from all the other online communities.
People in Mindorks community talk and breathe android development and eat Java and Kotlin for breakfast 😛
They have hundreds and hundreds of great articles and tutorials on their website on Android Development. But they recently launched a program specific for Android Developers: The Android Development Bootcamp.
It’s a 9 week intensive online course and will cover the most advanced topics such as RxJava, Dagger, Android Architectural Components and what not. It’s also suitable for people with regular jobs who can devote just 6-8 hours a week.
In my opinion, this is the most complete and well rounded course on Android Development that I’ve come across. They have courses for beginners as well as android developers looking to take their skillset to a whole new level.
It’s definitely worth a look. Here are the links:
- For experienced people: https://bootcamp.mindorks.com/
- For beginners: https://bootcamp.mindorks.com/android-training-for-beginners
Udacity
The course on Android Development on Udacity has been prepared by the engineers at Google itself. What more needs to be said!
It’s a great course which takes you from a beginner to an expert level developer while building many applications along the way.
This course is regularly updated and contains some of the best practices in the industry. It even contains a dedicated section on Android’s Architecture Components, which would be very beneficial for you if you plan to get a job as an Android Engineer.
Here’s a link to the course: https://www.udacity.com/course/new-android-fundamentals–ud851
Learn Kotlin
Kotlin was announced as the official language for Android Development in 2017. It offers many benefits such as null-safety, it’s much more concise than Java, it’s interoperable with java.
Here’s a comparison of Kotlin vs Java, you might wanna have a look at it: http://ayusch.com/kotlin-vs-java/
Although you can learn kotlin from many different resources, if online courses is your type, I can safely vouch for this one by Antonio Leiva: https://antonioleiva.com/online-course/
Antonio Leiva is the author of the book: Kotlin for Android Developers, he is a mentor and is the host of DroidKastLive a podcast dedicated to Kotlin and Android. Go have a look!
Udemy
You can pick up any course on Udemy. Just read through the reviews before getting one. I’ve taken many courses on Udemy and absolutely love the User Interface of their mobile app as well as web classroom.
Books
Books were my go-to resources along with the video tutorial. Any concept which you’re unable to grasp via the tutorial you should read it up.
For beginners, I wouldn’t suggest going into the documentation as it can be overwhelming (at least it was for me). Hence, I’d suggest picking up a good book on Android Development and using it as a side resource.
Here’s a list of 10 Best books for learning Android Development. This includes books for beginners, intermediates as well as experts: http://ayusch.com/top-10-android-development-books/
Go check it out!
Official Docs
What’s better than the official docs! The developer docs are the holy grail of Android Development and are the industry standard.The documentation has become even better with Google recommending a host of training courses, codelabs to get started with Android Development.
I don’t recommend diving right into the Android APIs as it can be overwhelming, but just follow the process laid out.
Here’s a link: https://developer.android.com/courses
AndroidVille
Last but not the least, the website you’re on! AndroidVille is a community of Android Developers which started in September 2018 with the sole aim of bringing together Android Developers together from all over the world.
The website includes articles on Android Development, Flutter, some tips and tricks of Android Development and some topics related to the Android OS. These articles are meant for anyone on the path of Android Development or looking to begin their journey.
All the articles, tutorials provided on the website are free of cost and will remain free of cost in the future at all times.
There’s no cost to Join the AndroidVille community. It can be joined by any developer who wishes to learn and grow with other like-minded developers.
We have a Slack Channel and a Facebook page where we regularly post updates about latest articles, Job Openings, Internships and what not.
You can Join the community via the links given below:
- Slack: https://rebrand.ly/73lbl3
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/androidville/
Conclusion
This articles outlines a list of resources to learn Android Development. Let me know if I missed out on any other good resource in the comments section below and I’ll be happy to include that.
*Important*: Join the AndroidVille SLACK workspace for mobile developers where people share their learnings about everything latest in Tech, especially in Android Development, RxJava, Kotlin, Flutter, and mobile development in general.
Click on this link to join the workspace. It’s absolutely free!
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