Mobile Engineering is one of the hottest fields in the tech industry. Over four billion internet users currently own smartphones or tablets—a number that keeps getting larger. Even better, estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics project a thirty percent growth in job opportunities for software developers, including mobile engineers, by 2026. Simply put. If you’re looking for a career path that offers interesting projects, attractive salaries and solid potential for growth, becoming a mobile engineer is a great pick.
It’s possible to break i...more
See results by role, experience, and location.
Data is from real (not self-reported) interviews and offers on Hired.
We've got salaries for other top technical roles, too.
Explore SalariesThe job prospects and compensations for Mobile Engineers varies across cities. See where Mobile Engineers are the most sought after.
Whether you're looking for a new job or want to land your next
promotion, salary negotiation is a critical career skill.
Our complete Salary Negotiation Guide will make sure you're prepared
to land the salary you deserve, articulate your skills, and common
mistakes to avoid during the interview process.
We've collected tons of information on salaries, compensation, negotiation and more. See even more on our blog.
Unless you’re a robot, it’s all but impossible to avoid having work stress. But it’s not impossible to avoid taking those feelings home with you at the end of the day and really lean into work-life balance. True leisure time, in which anxiety and frustration over work can be set aside until you’re next at… Read More
The average person will reportedly spend more than 90,000 hours of life at work — more than any other activity outside of sleeping. You will encounter days and even extended periods when the actual act of doing your work is hard to reconcile with the other things occupying your brain. Put simply: Sometimes work is… Read More
Although we’ve made tremendous strides in gender equality, data shows we still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to pay. The gender wage gap represents the difference in salaries between men and women. Pew Research Center shared that it hasn’t changed much in the past two decades in the US. In… Read More
It felt like not long ago employers were eager to fill open roles in anticipation of accelerated growth. Now, jobseekers are feeling the pinch of tough job markets between layoffs and a hiring slowdown due to market shifts. Whether you are unemployed, underemployed, or feeling complacent in a role, it’s easy to feel the effects… Read More
One of the most undervalued but beneficial resources any professional can have during their career is a mentor. In an increasingly competitive world of work, a combination of emotional intelligence, a refined skill set, and a great network will drive your career’s growth trajectory. If you speak with any accomplished (senior) professional, the last piece… Read More
Do you dread going to work in the morning? You might not dislike your actual job, but the culture or environment of your workplace itself. Unfortunately, a toxic workplace is all too common and can be difficult to handle. You’ve got an inbox full of real work to do. Yet, you spend much of your… Read More
Can you share a little bit about your educational background? I have a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Hampshire College. I also have 40+ years of self-learning new technologies as I worked in the tech industry. My BA has had the biggest impact on my career. I was able to spend a year working at… Read More
Can you share a little bit about your educational background? I have a Master’s degree in computer control systems from 1995. I also completed some postgrad studies in visual programming (one of the fashions of the day). As a junior developer, I pursued various certifications (Java, SQL, HTML, etc). Eventually, my work history became a… Read More
Can you share a little bit about your educational background? I graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Brandeis University. I also worked at the IT Help Desk while at school, and had an engineering internship my junior year summer. Having a solid foundation during my B.S. Computer Science degree made the biggest impact… Read More
Answer a few questions to complete your profile.
Companies request interviews with upfront compensation.
Find your dream job!
Mobile Engineering is one of the hottest fields in the tech industry. Over four billion internet users currently own smartphones or tablets—a number that keeps getting larger. Even better, estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics project a thirty percent growth in job opportunities for software developers, including mobile engineers, by 2026. Simply put. If you’re looking for a career path that offers interesting projects, attractive salaries and solid potential for growth, becoming a mobile engineer is a great pick.
It’s possible to break into the field of mobile engineering without a college degree, but you’ll have a much easier task landing a job with one. Recruiters typically prefer mobile engineers with degrees in computer science, software development or a related field. In 2017, over 67 percent of the job postings in Apple, Facebook, Cisco System and Intel required that candidates had a degree; and a 100 percent of the openings at Mozilla and Twitter listed a degree as a core requirement. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a job without a degree—it just means you’ll have to work harder. The question of a degree matters less if you’re looking to be your own boss as a freelance mobile developer.
As a mobile engineer, you’ll be designing and building applications for mobile devices, but not all mobile devices run with the same operating system. This means, your technical skills will affect what class of devices you can work on. Learning more about the platforms gives you a clearer idea about the direction your studies will need to take. In 2018, the two major platforms (with over 90% of the market) were iOS and Android. Each of these platforms has its own core language and development environment. For instance, Android is written in Java and iOS’s core language is Objective-C and Swift.
In addition to a college degree, you can boost your skills and qualifications by signing up for a boot camp program or enrolling in a developer’s academy. Sites like Coursera, Udemy and Lynda offer intensive programs designed for specific mobile platforms. You can also learn more by using resources online, following blogs, reading books and watching videos.
Develop an app. It doesn’t really matter what you develop, as long as it works and is functional. Having a portfolio of apps that you’ve developed comes in useful when you apply for jobs, especially entry-level positions. Employers want to see candidates who display an ability to work on their own without supervision. If you're short of ideas, another way of expanding your resume is by taking on freelance mobile development jobs on sites like Guru or Upwork.
Working as an intern or junior-level developer, your duties will largely be of a supportive category, including tasks like troubleshooting apps and tracking design requests. In addition to technical skills, some of the qualities that will help you quickly grow in your role include:
To become a senior mobile engineer, you must have extensive skills in mobile software development. Enrolling in online courses or coding boot camp programs is a great way of achieving this, You'll also need to spend a lot more time engaged in developing different applications. Being involved with a variety of projects across different platforms provides invaluable exposure to the software development process as well as the 'design-develop-test-release-and-maintain' life cycle that goes into building and maintaining applications. In addition to this, some of the core development skills that you need to master include:
Learn more about the platforms that you’ll be working with. Unlike traditional software engineering, mobile app development occurs within platforms that help counter the restrictions on storage, memory and bandwidth in mobile devices. Some of the popular development platforms include Como, Accelerator, Appery.io, DojoMobile, SAP, GameSalad, AppMachine, Sencha and jQuery Mobile.
Learning a platform will not only help you understand how it works, but it will also give you an opportunity to expand your library of resources. Most skilled engineers have a rich suite of training materials, help files and developer forums that they can turn to. Take advantage of the web and review open codes to learn by example and shorten your learning curve.
Always keep an eye out for potential employment opportunities. Expand your network by joining forums or signing up with professional associations. Search job boards to see what openings are available as well as the requirements. This way you’ll know if you’re on the right track towards getting the position. Reviewing job boards and online forums will also keep you knowledgeable on industry trends, emerging technologies and salary margins.
Part of your duties as a senior mobile engineer will likely include providing mentoring for junior developers as well as collaborating with a larger team of UI designers and software engineers—and these responsibilities will require good leadership and communication skills. You must also be able to work towards tight deadlines, be capable of multi-tasking and have good analytic skills. Work on your personal relationship skills while working as a mid-level developer.
We’ve done the research for you. After evaluating numerous job descriptions, we’ve written our own representative job description for a mid-level software engineer with between 2 and 5 years of relevant experience.
As a Senior Mobile Engineer, you’ll be tasked with heading the creation of innovative solution across various projects. You’ll work alongside a team of inspired IT professionals, dedicated to designing, coding and testing high-quality mobile applications. You’ll also be required to keep key stakeholders and senior-level personnel updated on project progress alongside other duties.
With more than 10 years of experience, your career in mobile engineering can go in different directions. For instance, you can make the decision to switch from being a mobile applications engineer to a systems software developer. Unlike application engineers (who build custom apps for different platforms), mobile systems software engineers designed the systems that run on mobile devices (like iOS or Android). A career in this direction will require strong programming skills in related core languages and extensive experience with the platform.
Another possible career move involves the transition towards project management, where you’ll supervise software projects from the planning stage to the finish. If you are interested in this field, you’ll likely need an MBA to pair with your degree and experience. Recruiters will also review your work history to see if you’ve lead teams or departments in the last five years as well as if you’ve been involved in any major projects.
If you love games and have no problems learning new things, pursuing a career as a mobile gaming engineer could lead to interesting positions such as a games producer, creative director, lead engineer and more. Yet another option is to explore new technologies associated with mobile engineering. An advanced degree in physics or applied math could lead to interesting employment opportunities with augmented reality or virtual reality companies. You could even opt to pursue a career in emerging adaptations of mobile blockchain projects.
Not all paths lead to working for companies. After five to ten years, you’ll have enough experience to consider the bold option of becoming your own boss. Launching your own tech company will require more capital, especially if you plan to hire a team, but the potential rewards make it a worthwhile investment—provided you have the leadership and business skills to run a business.
Swift is a programming language created by Apple Inc. for macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS development. It is meant to work well with the large body of existing Objective-C (ObjC) code written for Apple products. Some of the core concepts it supports...
Android is an open source mobile operating system created by Google. Globally, it is the most popular operating system, followed by Apple's iOS. Applications for Android are typically developed in Java, though Kotlin may also be used. Limited supp...
Java is a statically-typed, cross-platform language. It is concurrent, class-based, and object-oriented. It has minimal implementation dependencies and compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilat...
C++ is an object-oriented language derived from C, and invented by Bjarne Stroustrup, while working at AT&T's Bell Labs. It is widely used for systems-level programming, and building applications on Windows and various Unix operating systems (Lin...
C is a widely used low-level, static-typed, compiled computer language known for its efficiency. Developed in the late sixties, C has become one of the most widely used languages of all time. It provides direct access to memory and due to its de...
Python is an object-oriented programming language notable for its clarity, power and flexibility. Python is an interpreted language, meaning that an interpreter reads and runs the code directly, rather than compiling down into static lower level c...
PHP is a widely-used open-source scripting language that has seen wide use in web application development. PHP code must be processed by an interpreter like the Zend Engine. With a strong open-source community and large adoption world-wide, PHP ...
"Agile Methodologies" or "Agile" are ways of describing an iterative approach to software development. Often adopted as an alternative to waterfall and other traditional sequential development practices. It is meant to help teams work quickly to i...
JavaScript is a scripting language, originally implemented in web browsers, but now widely used server-side via the Node.js platform. It supports a runtime system based on numerical, Boolean and string values, with built-in, first-class support f...
The retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Retail was once a brick-and-mortar industry, comprised of small, independently owned-and-operated businesses and large chain stores with multiple outposts throughout the c...
The Electronics Industry has grown into a global industry with a value of billions of dollars. Most commonly when referring to the electronics industry it is understood the industry is consumer electronics which produces items used in everyday lif...
The education industry involves working in an environment that implements and teaches various skills and applicable material. Formal education typically involves various levels of education, including preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary, vo...