I applied to teach at Treehouse five years ago with a singular goal in mind: create high-quality training material to help people learn how to make Android apps. App development was still relatively new in early 2012, and I saw an opportunity to do meaningful work on something I really enjoyed, with people I was excited to both work with and learn from.
Five years later, smartphones and apps have more power than ever to transform people’s lives. My team and I have developed an outstanding step-by-step curriculum that students can use to learn how to make apps for Android, even with no prior knowledge about programming. And we just announced in May that Treehouse is now a Google Developers Authorized Training Partner, which means our content can be used to prepare students for the Associate Android Developer Certification exam.
Why earn the Associate Android Developer Certification?
The Associate Android Developer Certification was introduced by Google Developers in May 2016 as a global program recognizing developers who have reached a level of proficiency in Android programming. Google has defined a good baseline for Android development with this certificate, which means that employers have confidence that people who have earned it are capable Android developers who can contribute immediately on projects.
Earning a certification is an excellent way to demonstrate your commitment to meeting a goal and to highlight your skills. Employers want to know that their new hires will be able to learn quickly and help on projects right away. Google’s support for this certificate makes this achievement more meaningful to both individuals and employers.
Why learn at Treehouse?
Our Treehouse curriculum was designed from the very beginning to teach you what you need to know to get a job making apps for Android. We did this by combining our own experience with research about job postings and conversations with Android developers and hiring managers. We then capped it off with a thorough review with Google where we identified everything we needed to cover to give a comprehensive overview of the core competencies needed for the certification.
The best way to learn something is to do it, especially if you have someone explaining the reasons behind it and helping you be aware of best practices and things to avoid. Our teachers draw on years of professional experience to guide you through all things Android in the context of real-world projects, and our Android Techdgree challenges you to create a portfolio of 12 projects that highlight in-demand skills for Android app developers.
What will I learn?
Java has long been the primary and most important programming language for creating Android apps. Our content starts at the very beginning, teaching you the basics of programming in Java. We then move to simple Android apps to build an understanding of the tools and ecosystem, and then progress to more and more complex topics like networking, saving data, using sensors and the camera, and more.
In May 2017 at Google I/O, it was announced that Kotlin is now a fully supported programming language for Android app development. We’ve been excited about Kotlin since it was first announced and already had material in our library. Our Android content will also show you how to work with this new, dynamic, and exciting language, and we continue to add more and more Kotlin material as its popularity grows.
You can see more details about our Android curriculum on the Android Techdegree page.
Why develop Android Apps?
My first ever post on this blog was about why developing apps for Android was important. I just re-read that post (and its follow up on why it’s also fun), and I’m glad to see that many of those reasons still apply. Programming is a career that lets you solve problems, play with cool technology, and potentially help a lot of people.
Android programmers continue to be in high demand. Google developed this certification and has worked with partners like Treehouse to create educational material because they recognize that more and more developers are needed for this platform that is used on billions of devices around the world.