“Choose A Job You Love, And You Will Never Have To Work A Day In Your Life”
— Confucius
Nothing can probably sum up the mindset of mobile app developers who are passionate about their jobs better. Getting the charge of new projects is akin to exciting new challenges for them – and from that point on, it’s all about completing the job in the best possible manner. A good app (visually and qualitatively) can deliver happiness (‘satisfaction’ would be a weaker term) to all parties concerned, be it the clients or the concerned app companies. In this week’s AppBoard Tuesday (ABT), we point out a few ways in which well-made mobile applications make people happy:
- Happiness of not losing a good idea – App ideas that are both innovative and practical are not the most common things in life. A person would, understandably, be elated if (s)he finds a company which can transform his/her ambitious ideas into workable, interesting applications. At app agencies, employees are, in fact, encouraged to come up with new, unique app ideas and concepts. A good app is, in essence, a well-thought out idea in the physical form.
- Happiness in getting new projects – For newbies, working on dummy iOS/Android app development projects is all very fine – but nothing beats the thrill of being assigned to an actual project. For experienced app developers too, most projects present opportunities to learn something more, something new. Generally, a team is given the responsibility of working on an app – and that fosters the spirit of collaboration and the willingness to help out each other. The result? A ‘better’ app.
- Happiness in showcasing sincerity – This one is for the heads of app development companies. Quick bucks might be earned in the short-run by including a couple of shady clauses in the app contract agreement documents – but real happiness lies in ensuring a transparent way of operating. Right from providing free app quotes and abiding by clients’ precise requirements & budgetary preferences, to remaining accountable right through the app development period and providing post-submission support – each of these little things build up the trust factor about a mobile app company. And when a company has a positive buzz about it among its clientele, CEOs are invariably happy!
- Happiness in showing off creativity – Creating a custom mobile app for kids (e.g., a game, or a storytelling app with illustrations) is the perfect opportunity for professional graphic designers to show off their creative skills. Working in tandem with animators (and obviously, as per the instructions of clients), they can create layouts and splash screens and characters and actions that would make the app truly appealing to potential end-users. Yes, directions have to be followed – but app designers can bring in their own inputs too.
- Happiness in getting value on investment – Someone randomly chances upon an original app idea and thinks about hiring app developers to give shape to it. Do you what holds them back in many cases? That’s right, the uncertainty of whether doing so will be worth the investment (mobile app development costs are not exactly insignificant!). A bug-free, properly usable, nicely customized app delivers the ‘VALUE’ on investment that a client always looks for – and it justifies the expenses incurred on making it. ROI figures matter in all lines of business!
- Happiness for programmers – This is a type of mental bliss those from non-technical backgrounds can never quite appreciate fully. App coders get a supreme sense of achievement on being able to write out a program snippet without any errors or warnings, and/or debugging the programs written by him/herself. There are people in our very own company who take pride in completing apparently tough coding assignments overnight. With the arrival of Apple Swift and the gathering of momentum of WatchKit app development, programmers now have more opportunities to enjoy themselves at work than ever before.
- Happiness for app marketers – Putting in the hard yards for making an iPhone app can all go to waste, if it is not marketed properly (there are, after all, more than 1.5 million other applications in the iTunes store). If an app is indeed a ‘good’ piece of mobile software, those in charge of promoting/marketing it will be more confident about it. The publicity campaigns and pitches will be more…shall we say, from the heart…and the marketers would enjoy the feeling that they are sharing information they too believe in.
- Happiness at not being kept out of the loop – A good mobile app company will make it a point to regularly share app wireframes, rough sketches, mockups and other related stuff with its clients. There will be meetings and feedback sessions held at pre-specified intervals as well. For people who have invested money on making apps, this is important. They have the right to know exactly how his/her project is being handled, who and how many developers are working on it, and whether it will be completed on time. ‘A good mobile app is being made from my idea’ – this belief itself is nice.
- Happiness at quick approvals – The average time for getting an iOS app approved at the App Store is 9-12 days. No matter how quietly confident developers might be about a recently submitted application, they get a massive kick out of seeing the status of their app change from ‘In Review’ to ‘Ready For Sale’. For really well-made apps that have been developed in accordance to all the Apple guidelines, the approval can be complete within a week. Now, that’s some extra motivation for iPhone app developers to pursue excellence in what they do!
- Happiness at the lack of uncertainties – Free app quotes are provided by most app companies upfront. Clients generally get the option of specifying their budget preferences. Some of the leading multinational app agencies have the provision of signing non-competing agreements too, to protect the intellectual property rights of the customers. On top of all this, if a client gets the constant assurance that his/her app would be of top quality – (s)he would surely feel happy. No uncertainties and apprehensions whatsoever.
- Happiness due to recognitions and awards – The logic is straightforward: good apps have more chances of picking up awards and professional recognitions, while lousy ones remain confined to a corner at the online app stores. Winning a prestigious app award (or even being shortlisted for one) makes the owner of an application happier than almost anything in the world. Getting to work, switching on the computer, and chancing upon a 5-star review on a popular app review site/portal/magazine has a decided ‘pick-me-up’ effect as well.
- Happiness at not having to work – Ever studied the faces of people with mundane, 10 to 6 jobs? No matter how fat their pay packages might be, most of them are bitter about the workload, the workplace conflicts, the ‘impossible’ deadlines and targets, and if nothing else, the sheer boringness of it all. A mobile app developer hardly ever feels like that – simply because working on new, challenging projects is exciting, something to look forward to, something that they love to do. Employee-oriented app companies provide developers plenty of training and on-the-job learning opportunities. In essence, and just like Confucius had stated, what they do is not ‘work’ per se. Who wouldn’t love to be in a profession that is exciting AND financially rewarding?
Speaking of monetary matters, the revenue-earning potential of good apps is yet another source of happiness for its makers/owners. Provided that a proper app monetization strategy has been implemented and the app analytics are being tracked, the payoffs from a successful mobile application can be handsome indeed.
On that happy note, let’s bring today’s AppBoard Tuesday to a close. If you (developers or general readers) can think up of any other excitement related to the profession of app development – do share it with us. We would love to hear why you love making apps.
Some other app-related topic would be put under the scanner in next week’s AppBoard Tuesday. Till that time…oh well…you know you should love thy apps!
Hussain Fakhruddin
CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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