Tools, Frameworks & Implementation Proficiency Topics
Practical proficiency with industry-standard tools and frameworks including project management (Jira, Azure DevOps), productivity tools (Excel, spreadsheet analysis), development tools and environments, and framework setup. Focuses on hands-on tool expertise, configuration, best practices, and optimization rather than conceptual knowledge. Complements technical categories by addressing implementation tooling.
Cross Platform Code Sharing
Design and engineering strategies for sharing code and logic across multiple native platforms such as iOS and Android. Topics include what to share versus what to keep platform specific, sharing business logic, utilities, data models, and when to reuse user interface components. Common approaches and frameworks include Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, React Native, Flutter, and Compose Multiplatform. Candidates should be able to discuss architectural choices, trade offs in performance and native look and feel, techniques for bridging to platform APIs, build and release implications, dependency and version alignment across platforms, repository and monorepo versus polyrepo organization, team responsibilities for shared layers, testing implications for shared code, and strategies for gradual migration or platform specific override. Also include considerations for continuous integration pipelines, packaging, native module management, feature flagging, and monitoring instrumentation across multiple runtimes.
Mobile SDK and Library Development
Best practices for designing distributing and maintaining software development kits and libraries used by mobile applications. Topics include public API design and discoverability, semantic versioning and backward compatibility policies, packaging and distribution mechanisms for each platform, minimizing integration friction, providing examples and documentation, automated testing across host applications and platform versions, telemetry for SDK usage and upgrade patterns, and deprecation and migration plans.
UIKit/SwiftUI and UI Development
Comprehensive knowledge of UIView hierarchy, view controllers, navigation, and animations. Understanding of SwiftUI declarative syntax and when it's appropriate vs UIKit. Knowledge of Auto Layout, constraints, and responsive design for different device sizes.
Apple Frameworks & APIs
Knowledge of Apple native frameworks and APIs for iOS/macOS development, including commonly used frameworks (UIKit, SwiftUI, Foundation, Core Data, Combine, AVFoundation, Core Animation, Core Location, CloudKit, and more), bridging between Swift and Objective-C, memory management with ARC, and platform-specific integration patterns.
Cross Platform Architecture Concepts (React Native/Flutter)
If you have cross-platform experience, understand how React Native bridges native code or how Flutter's Dart compiles. Know the differences between native and cross-platform approaches and their trade-offs. Understand widget-based architecture in Flutter or component-based architecture in React Native. Be able to discuss when to use cross-platform vs. native development.
Mobile Platform Knowledge
Understanding the iOS and Android mobile platforms, their development ecosystems, and the practical tradeoffs of native and cross platform approaches. Topics include platform languages and toolchains such as Swift and Objective C for iOS and Kotlin and Java for Android, platform architecture and application lifecycle, user interface frameworks and design guidelines, performance and memory considerations, platform specific security and permission models, testing strategies and device fragmentation, build and release processes including app store distribution and versioning, continuous integration and continuous delivery for mobile, and interoperability with backend services. Candidates should be able to explain when to choose native versus cross platform solutions, discuss debugging and profiling tools, and describe how platform constraints influence design and operational decisions.
Advanced Android Architecture Patterns
Deep Android specific architecture and engineering patterns for maintainable scalable applications. Covers Clean Architecture and modularization, reactive programming with RxJava and Kotlin Coroutines, dependency injection with Dagger or Hilt, Jetpack component patterns such as ViewModel and LiveData, lifecycle and navigation concerns, concurrency and threading patterns, memory management, testing strategies including unit integration and instrumentation tests, Gradle multi module builds, and migration strategies for evolving legacy Android codebases.
Cross Platform Framework Experience
Discuss hands-on experience with React Native and/or Flutter, understanding of trade-offs between native and cross-platform development, and scenarios where each approach is optimal. Be prepared to explain why a company might choose cross-platform frameworks for certain products.
Technology Stack Knowledge
Assess a candidate's practical and conceptual understanding of technology stacks, including major programming languages, application frameworks, databases, infrastructure, and supporting tools. Candidates should be able to explain common use cases and trade offs for languages such as Python, Java, Go, Rust, C plus plus, and JavaScript, including differences between compiled and interpreted languages, static and dynamic type systems, and performance characteristics. They should discuss application frameworks and libraries for frontend and backend development, common web stacks, service architectures such as monoliths and microservices, and application programming interfaces. Evaluate understanding of data storage options and trade offs between relational and non relational databases and the role of structured query language. Candidates should be familiar with cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, infrastructure components including containerization and orchestration tools such as Docker and Kubernetes, and development workflows including version control, continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines, testing frameworks, automation, and infrastructure as code. Assess operational concerns such as logging, monitoring and observability, deployment strategies, scalability, reliability, fault tolerance, security considerations, and common failure modes and mitigations. Interviewers may probe both awareness of specific tools and the candidate's depth of hands on experience, ability to justify technology choices by evaluating trade offs, constraints, and risk, and willingness and ability to learn and evaluate new technologies rather than claiming mastery of everything.