Getting Certified as Associate Android Developer by Google

Associate Android Developer Certification

In Google I/O '16 several certification programmes were introduced which would help developers showcase their talents and set a criteria which seperates them from the rest of the developers.

My journey as an Android Developer (short story) (skip)

It started out with learning basics of Java when I stumbled across this book named 'Java for Dummies by Doug Lowie' in a book store and right next to it was another book named 'Android App Development for Dummies'. I grabbed these books and head straight to my home. Filled with excitement and enthusiasm I start learning and practicing basics of Java.

It was a familiar language and easy to start off with since I had already learnt basics of C/C++ in my +2(PU). In about a week or two, I was able to complete the basics of Java and some OOP concepts. With the Android book next to this one and an inquisitive head of mine I quickly skimmed through the Android App Development for Dummies book and I found it to be really interesting and intriguing at the same time. After I was done with a couple of initial pages I came to the conclusion that I must try this out in my phone. I installed all the necessary tools (Android Studio, JDK, etc) and went through the basic steps, Run Android Studio, Start New Project (Hit every Next button I possibly can) and I see a phone preview with a simple Hello World! app. I connected my phone and hit run...and voila! I see a Hello World! app on my phone.

At that point I said to myself "Is it that easy to make an Android App?". I quickly chug through the book and googled some Android Tutorials and I came across this fantastic Android tutorials by Udacity that would change my course of life for coming years. Within a week of learning from those tutorials I could make an App that can have multiple pages with forms. As my interest in Android grew in I was constantly learning more and more about Android Development and I loved it. And thanks to our Google Student Ambassador and guidance from other seniors in our college, My skills in Android grew better every day. Fast forward couple of years of dedication, working with lot of projects, looking into lot of open source codes and most importantly great zeal towards Mobile App development I am an AAD (Associate Android Developer) and I am still learning more on Android day by day since new technologies and new APIs keep popping up every day and I need to keep myself up-to-date with all this tech that I care about.

About AAD Certification

It a pretty straight forward process. I'll try to explain each step in detail in below section.

Just Sign up for AAD Certification Test
Study & brush up with the topics
Pay the fee & Take the exam
Complete the Exit Interview
If all goes well, you'll be an AAD certified by Google.

Certification Exam 👨🏻‍💻

After you have paid the fee (which is roughly around ₹6500), and hit the start exam button, You'll be given a project (partially complete) which you need to download and a set of functional requirements, bugs and other required wireframes etc. to complete the app in a stipulated time of 12hrs (which is now apparently reduced to 8hrs) and making use of best practices and guidelines for Android.

After I hit the start exam button, I came across this App details page and I started reading all the requirements, bugs etc. carefully. Since the project was partially complete I quickly fired it up on Android Studio (after waiting for Gradle build... of course 😉). I ran the app from the initial project and I cross-checked with the requirements and made a note of what needs to be done and prioritized things that need to be fixed first and the one's which would require a quick fix.

I start off skimming through the existing code and going through the comments trying to figure out the operations of the app. Whenever I needed to look though an issue I searched for it in StackOverflow and tried to understand how to fix it. The requirements were neither difficult nor easy. I was up to the level I'd say! (Intermediate).

After some hours (6hrs approx.) of bug fixing, coding, adding features as mentioned in the requirements. I switched gears and checked for memory leaks and tried to implement best practices and wrote a couple of tests too.

"There are times where you will scratch your head 🤯, tear some sheets, smash some potatoes🥔, just to fix a nasty lil' bug/error, It's all part of the process. Keep calm and code warm!"😊

In about 8hrs I was able to complete the project and made sure I had cross-checked all the functional requirements and features that were supposed to be added and bugs that were supposed to be fixed (Of course I took 15-30min brakes in between 🥤). I zipped the project and submitted it and hoped for it to work.

After a week or so I got a mail saying I had passed and had qualified for the next round a.k.a Exit Interview. Yayy!! 🎉

Exit Interview

In a following mail I had to pick a date of my convenience for the interview (online). Since my birthday was next week I chose that day to be the day for exit interview (around 9:30 PM). When the clock hit 9:25PM I logged in and I was asked to show a Government Approved Proof ID and later on I was asked about the project that I had worked on and other things about Android etc. It was quite easy and straight forward and didn't last more than 10 mins. After the interview was done I was told that the results would be announced by next week.

By the end of next week I got a mail saying that I had successfully completed the exit interview and was now certified as an Associate Android Developer. A couple of more details to fill in and I had my Digital Badge that said Associate Android Developer certified by Google. 🏆

Certificate

Credential Link

If you wish to get into Android development and want to start making apps and a name for yourself, firstly be consistent, there are tough times when code breaks, nothing seems to work and everything just falls apart. You've got to stay strong and believe in yourself. I'm not an expert Android Developer either, I rectify my errors, learn new stuffs every day because Android platform is always evolving and there's a certain thrill in developing for a mobile platform that has over millions of users and growing.

Start with the basics like Creating new Activities, Sending data from one activity to another and try different styles by changing accent colors.

What's the whole point of this post?

By now you probably might think this post is all about me bragging my AAD certification. Well, the answer is : Yes and No, and No Again!😐

All I ever want from this post is to 'inspire you' and make one thing clear that, If you have interest and passion towards something, make sure you follow your passion and work on it. I usually get a lot of questions like, "How to make an App?", "How do I start with Android?" etc. and I usually reply with "If you want to start, just go ahead. But be Persistent, don't stop learning and always appreciate open-source code."✌🏻

All the best and thanks for reading!🤗

Any grammatical mistakes here or any queries, just feel free to comment down below or hit me up!

Do you have an interesting experience to share? Feel free to open a pull request with your article to our GitHub repository.