Ask HN: As a web developer, should I learn mobile development? I'm a student with a year of web development experience (Rails/PHP). I've been thinking about learning mobile development in order to jump on the mobile bandwagon. Maybe even taking 4 months off school, take a mobile development bootcamp and pursue other interests as well. Do you think it would be worth it? Or should I not bother and simply specialize in web jobs? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks! |
Just follow these simple steps:
- Get Apache Cordova (https://cordova.apache.org/)
- Try Ionic Framework (http://ionicframework.com/)
- Try Ratchet (http://goratchet.com/)
- jQuery Mobile, obviously (http://jquerymobile.com/)
- If you need more help, try Codiqa (https://codiqa.com/)
- Try Trigger.io (http://trigger.io)
Cordova makes it super simple to deploy to app stores, and it's awesome. I make mobile apps all the time. Though not as good as native, it certainly has been improving, especially in the recent years.
Also there is a growing trend of people, or should I say major companies, using frameworks that can take html5 and javascript and deploy them as mobile apps such as PhoneGap and Ludei. After all that is the goal of html5.
I think Paper53 was built on one of these platforms.
I think I`d learn iOS first though since the general consensus seems to be Native > Web.
Yes, it's worth it.
> Or should I not bother and simply specialize in web jobs?
IMHO, if you really do want to specialize in web jobs, then perhaps mobile development is part of it.
As a student, the act of learning on your own is probably worth it regardless of which direction you choose. But if you're thinking career, you should prioritize with a little more specificity.
Edit: wrong word