FLUTTER-ing Away Towards His Dreams!

Adults usually have a tendency to say, ‘This field may not have a future because it’s new’ OR ‘Are you sure you’ll have a future here?’. They’re our parents, and they care, so we usually brush off these questions or brush off our interested fields from our lives altogether. Keeping this in mind, in the May 2021 Edition of Geeks Digest, we have Aditya Thakur, who instead of giving up on his field of interest altogether, worked hard and proved the world wrong!

Aditya Thakur is a 2nd-year student at SRM University, Haryana. In his two years of college as a Computer Science student, he has built a community of 3.5K+ people on his YouTube channel. He’s a Flutter Developer, building cross-platform applications for Android, iOS, and Web. Besides mentoring sessions on Flutter, Aditya believes in constant learning & sharing his knowledge with the world. Read on to know about him, Flutter Development & why it’s the most talked-about tech right now!

Q. Cross-platform mobile development is one of the very popular trends in development in 2021 and is looking forward to intensifying further. What do you think about various tools & frameworks for the same?

Ans. With increased smartphone penetration, a number of companies are now actively building for mobile. And, what better way to save on cost while also delivering a quality experience for both Android and iOS users. Cross-platform is the way to go! Companies can save on hiring developers while building for multiple platforms with the same codebase. I believe the trend would continue to intensify given the improvements in cross-platform development frameworks. There are a number of tools available to develop for the same. Flutter is my favorite, but there are options like React Native, Xamarin, etc.

Q. Flutter is just 3 years old. Why should one prefer it over React Native?

Ans. For me personally, I started out with Flutter because I had no knowledge of web development as in JavaScript, etc. Flutter was easier to start with. All I had to do was learn Dart and dive into creating my own applications. Another reason why I prefer Flutter over React Native is, Flutter has most of the native components in the framework itself. Unlike React Native, it does not use a bridge to communicate with the native modules which allows for better performance.  

Flutter is rich in development APIs and UI components while React Native is too dependent on third-party libraries. Flutter also has a very engaging community! A number of packages that you can use to lessen your work and a number of people ready to help you out.

Q. You have a YouTube channel with 3.54K+ subscribers. How do you manage your college academics with your passion & work?

Ans. I have had a YouTube channel for a long time, but only recently have started putting out content more regularly. There are a few things I optimized. The first was having a content calendar. I like to plan out activities and stay more in control of my day-to-day schedule. I have also got more time to devote to extracurriculars due to the ongoing pandemic.  

Q. What drives you towards sharing your knowledge extensively with the world & above all, at no cost?

Ans. The biggest motivation is to help my fellow developers. If I have something figured out, I like to share it with the community, so others can benefit from it. Like any other developer, I have often got stuck at long gruesome errors. Solutions on Stack Overflow, GitHub issues, and articles from GeeksforGeeks have saved me a number of times. My efforts are just a small attempt to give back to the community for all the help I have received.  

Q. What is the most exciting thing about being a Flutter Developer?

Ans. As a student developer, the most exciting thing has been the freedom Flutter offers. I can build production-ready applications over the weekend, create web apps deployable for free and even scale to desktop (Windows, macOS, or Linux). I have got to test out business ideas, connect with entrepreneurs looking to build applications, and engage with a wonderful community.  

Q. Why should a programmer consider pursuing Flutter Development as a career option?

Ans. As mentioned, a number of companies are working to build applications for mobile phones. For example, the My BMW app was made completely in-house by the largest Flutter software development team after Google’s own. Consequently, a number of companies would look to hire Flutter Developers in the future. Pursuing Flutter now would ready you for the rise in demand ahead. Also, Flutter is really easy to get started with for people looking to build projects and develop something.

Q. Can you tell our Geeks why you went into Flutter Development when it is just 3 years old? Didn’t the newness of this field scare you knowing there’s a possibility that it might not work or be accepted as much in the future?

Ans. When I first started out with app development, I had wanted to create games that I would publish to Play Store. I had initially used another cross-platform engine called GDevelop which is in fact open source too! I came across Flutter while looking for more creative freedom in the mobile applications I develop. Certainly, the idea of creating for more than one platform was more fascinating than developing natively. The newness of the field didn’t scare me. The Flutter team has always been working hard to improve performance and introduce more features. I thought of trying it out and diving right in.  

Q. What advice would you like to give to an aspiring Flutter developer?

Ans. When you first work with Flutter, there are these errors you run into. A lot of people tend to give up too soon. My advice would be to not feel disheartened when you’re just starting out. Instead, focus on solving the problems and moving up gradually. There are a number of communities you can reach out to for help. I have one of my own. A number of free resources available online to help out. Also, another piece of advice would be to get your hands dirty with code. Flutter, like any other framework, is learnt best by working on it. Try to build projects of your own, debug errors and experiment with what you know.

You can check out Aditya’s work & connect with him on YouTube & LinkedIn! For more articles like these, check out this month’s Geeks Digest.