Published on March 24th, 2019 | by Bibhuranjan

Can You Make a Mobile App With No Experience?

We’ve all had an interesting idea for an app at one point or another, whether it was born of frustration from some key challenge we were unable to conveniently overcome in our own lives, or whether it was conceived as a simple twist on or modification of an existing app. Either way, most of these ideas fade from memory within a few hours of conceiving them, but some of them stick—and seeing the billion-dollar companies that rose to prominence thanks to grounding with an impressive app, it’s natural to be inspired to create an app on your own.

If you don’t have any app development experience, and if you’ve never done any coding before, this can be quite the challenge to overcome. It’s not impossible to develop an app with no coding experience, but you’ll have to take an alternative path.

Two Options

There are only two options for developing an app if you don’t have any previous coding experience. You can either commit yourself to learning the fundamentals of app development in order to create the app on your own, or you can hire a professional app developer.

The former is a more complicated path than it first appears. It’s certainly possible to learn the fundamentals of app development, and by using sites like Codecademy, you can even learn how to code for free, lesson by lesson. But advancing your skills to the point where you could master all the elements of app development in a reasonable amount of time is practically impossible. For example, you’d have to learn things like:

Back-end development, creating the base architecture for your app’s functionality.
Front-end development, integrating the design and creating the UI layer for users.
QA and debugging, testing the app thoroughly and fixing any bugs or inefficiencies you find along the way.

These fields are often chosen as specialties, rather than a single individual trying to do all of them alone. That’s not even considering tasks like designing the app, writing a business plan, and other tasks that are necessary to make sure your idea is solid. If you’re learning with an experienced mentor, it’s still going to take you 500 to 700 hours to become proficient in a coding language. If you’re trying to do things all on your own, it could take you 1500 hours or more. Even working an intensive 50 hours a week, that could mean 30 weeks or more just to learn the basics of coding—and by that time, your app idea may no longer be as relevant.

Hiring a Professional

Instead, if you’re going to start from scratch, it’s better for most people to hire an existing developer. You could try to hire an individual or piece together a team of your own, but without much coding or leadership experience, you might end up struggling. Instead, it’s usually better to hire a mobile app development firm. These organizations tend to be much more experienced, and they have access to a fleet of specialists who know how to turn abstract ideas into reality.

Still, there are some challenges to overcome, including:

Funding the project. Mobile app development firms tend to charge thousands of dollars even for basic apps, due to the expertise required and the amount of time spent on each project. If you’re working on a project of above-average complexity, you might have to pay much more. And if you don’t have immediate access to those funds, you’ll need to find an alternative way to raise cash, such as seeking an angel investor or venture capitalist, which presents its own share of hurdles.
Concepting the app. Even the most talented app development agency can’t help you if you don’t fully understand your idea. You’ll need to do the upfront work of researching similar apps that are already out there, and fleshing out your core concept.
Perfecting the business model. If you want to make back the money you’re spending on the app’s development, the app must have some line of revenue. There are many ways to monetize an app, but you’ll need to think critically before you head in any one direction. Apps aren’t gateways to unlimited money; they’re businesses, and if you want to be successful, you need to treat your app like a business.

Not everyone who has an app idea can succeed—both because it’s inherently difficult to design and code an app and because every good app idea also needs to have a good business model to sustain it for the long term. However, if you spend the time upfront to learn about your idea, and the logistics of app development, you’ll have a much better chance at success than your contemporaries.

Tags: app, app development, coding, development, mobile app

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.