15 Years’ Experience in Mobile App Development? I Don’t Think So

I find it hilarious when I come across a job description for an iPhone app developer or some other mobile app development position looking for someone with 15 years of experience. Now, I know it’s hard to imagine life without your smartphone, but 15 years ago a phone was just a phone and almost always attached to the wall. Most of us relied on landlines, running for the phone instead of pulling it out of our pocket. When we lost our friends in a crowd, we waited around hoping to reunite. When we forgot the grocery list, we had to drive back home to get it. There was no roaming freely with our smart phones, pulling up apps to help us make dinner reservations, download songs on the fly or give us directions to our destination.

My point is this: You simply cannot have a background in mobile app development with more than five years of experience. The technology hasn’t been around that long; it’s too new. The same applies to social media or any other bleeding edge technology. That’s not to say you can’t find someone great with a hybrid background of core programming skills and a good eye for design, animation and other elements of user experience and design.

But, if you’re looking for 15 years of straight-up mobile app development experience, you’re just encouraging people to lie.

And trust me: they will. I’ve seen the resumes.