How people use technology has drastically changed over the last two decades. While it’s still critical for businesses to have a strong online presence, connecting with users through mobile applications is non-negotiable for organizations today. Apple products such as iPhones and iPads connect users to the Apple App Store which requires that applications are developed within a specific operating system called iOS. Learning how to develop iOS applications takes a specialized skillset, and for Ravil Khusainov, mastering iOS development has forged his career path.
Though organizations could skip the Apple App Store, as of 2022, Apple has cornered 18% of the smartphone market globally and 50% of the market within the US, so opting out of their ecosystem would cut off a significant portion of end users. For Ravil, working in iOS development was a challenge at first, but his ability to adapt quickly and learn new skills helped turn iOS into an advantageous focal point in his career.
His first experience with iOS development was working on a side project at BossNote, an application that was designed to make note-taking easy. Since this was a startup, the organization was operating with a lean model; when Ravil first started, he was one of 3 employees. After 2.5 years of experience at BossNote and the team growing seven-fold, Ravil went on to find a new challenge.
While roles and responsibilities shift from job to job, Ravil’s consistent dedication to excellent mobile development and ability to lead development teams have been prominent characteristics of his favorite roles. Now, Ravil works for Lattis, a service that connects people with available scooters and bikes in their area, making micromobility more accessible than ever.
At Lattis, Ravil is the sole iOS developer. He has supported the company since 2016 and played an integral role in bringing its application to The Apple App Store. Responsible for the entire lifecycle of new changes or additions to the application, Ravil works with product managers, quality assurance professionals, backend development teams, and the Android developers to ensure consistency.
Lattis O&M was built from scratch by Ravil; this feature allows customers to track and report maintenance issues with bikes and scooters, giving owners the opportunity to get issues resolved quickly. The most challenging aspect of this implementation was coordinating its Bluetooth compatibility, but by implementing a separate framework, Ravil made it possible for the iOS app as well as the Android app.
To make bike rentals more secure, Lattis developed Ellipse, a smart bike lock application that gives users the chance to control bike locks from their phones. When Ravil got involved, the structure for this app already existed, but it used a legacy codebase that was old and needed to be cleaned up. Ravil got to work combing through the code, making changes, resolving bugs, and even adding new features to the application.
On top of offering his skills as an expert iOS developer, Ravil is a natural leader that has always found it rewarding to lead development teams. He knows what it’s like to work for team leads that struggle to offer support without stifling a developer’s creativity, and he strives to do the exact opposite. He manages to perfectly balance his own time as a developer with his time as a leader, and both roles make him better at the other one. He fosters an environment of creativity, collaboration, and cross-training because he believes that learning new skills and taking on new challenges leads to stronger developers, better applications, and happier customers – and he’s right.