Build native iOS and Android apps for free with Xamarin and Visual Studio

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Pierce Boggan, Student Program Manager at Xamarin.

The world we live in is rapidly changing. Ten years ago, people were using their phones to compose texts, send emails and call family members. Today, we use them to fly drones, pay bills, schedule travel, order coffee and much more. We can hardly imagine our lives without them.

Mobile’s expansion to every area of our personal and professional lives creates a huge need for mobile developers – and organizations everywhere struggle to staff mobile teams. By the end of 2017, demand for mobile apps will grow at least five times faster than IT organizations’ capacity to deliver them (Source). In addition, a mere 6 percent of enterprises report enough mobile app developers on staff (Source). Learning mobile development skills now gives you a huge edge over the competition – and virtually ensures job hunting success after you graduate.

Students have big imaginations, even bigger dreams, and the potential to change society. Mark Zuckerberg was still a Harvard undergrad when he invented Facebook, which has changed the way we connect and communicate. Sergey Brin and Larry Page conceptualized Google while PhD students at Stanford; Matt Mullenweg was only a freshman when he invented WordPress, a blogging engine that powers of 20 percent of the web.

Build iOS, Android and Windows Apps in C# for Free

Students already have world-changing ideas. Xamarin and Microsoft are working together to empower students everywhere with the skills and tools necessary to bring those ideas to life. With Xamarin, students learn and get the tools necessary to create native iOS, Android and Windows apps for free.

You’re busy. You have limited spare time between completing assignments, studying for midterms or finishing projects, and Xamarin and Visual Studio make it fast and easy to get started with mobile development. Rather than having to rewrite the same app in three different languages, one for each platform, with Xamarin you use just one - C# - to ship native apps on all platforms, in less time. You can focus on learning native APIs to make your apps amazing, not learning languages and IDEs for each platform. You can even share up to 95 percent of your code between iOS, Android and Windows, making you an extremely happy, productive and successful developer.

Getting started with native mobile development has never been easier. Xamarin is now completely integrated with Microsoft DreamSpark, so you can get started building mobile apps in C# immediately, for free. New to mobile development? Check out our free eBook on creating mobile apps with Xamarin.Forms to help you get started.

With Xamarin, students get everything they need to become skilled mobile app developers before they graduate. You’ll rapidly create amazing native iOS and Android apps using Xamarin and Visual Studio Community 2015. In an increasingly competitive job market, Xamarin gives students a significant advantage over their peers – free of charge.

There are still many Ubers, Instagrams and Snapchats yet to be launched. What will you create?