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Dalia Faria
CST300 Writing Lab
19 January 2019
Expecting Success

When most people think of a mobile app, they instantly think of the apps that they

frequently use on their cell phone. Consider the kind of apps you may have on your phone for a

brief second. Most people will immediately think of their collection of social media apps or

gaming apps. Many do not realize that the mobile app and software industry has the ability to

offer much more than a simple game or social media to entertain one during their ten-minute

break at work. Some of the front faces of these mobile apps that we use daily, like multinational

market corporations such as Google and Apple, are typically not the major developers. The

superheroes behind the scenes come from several discrete companies like Raizlabs, Hedgehog

Lav, ArcTouch, Intellectsoft, Dom & Tom, Iflexion, Atomic Object, and 10Pearls (“Top 100

Mobile App Development Companies | January 2019 | The Manifest”, ca. 2019). One of the top

mobile app development companies worth investigating is WillowTree, Inc., to examine an ideal

approach to cultivating a career as a mobile application and software developer.

WillowTree Inc. started in 2008 in Charlottesville, Virginia, with three original founders,

Michael J. Prichard, his wife Monica Prichard, and business partner Tobias Dengel. The

company later grew to open two branch offices located in Durham, North Caroline and New

York, New York. Within an interview with Michael J. Prichard, the Tom Tom Foundation, a

non-profit organization that commemorates business innovators and entrepreneurs, questioned

Prichard about the inception of WillowTree, Inc. in which Prichard claims that the company

started as “one of the first mobile app development service companies and evolved into a leading

digital products agency” (2017 Founding Cville Awards - Michael Prichard., ca. 2017). Today,

with over 200 full-time employees, WillowTree Inc. has become a leading mobile app and
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product development agency, designing mobile software for leading brands and enterprises

(“Willow Tree | About Our Mobile App Development Services”, n.d.).

In mid-2007, Michael J. Prichard and his wife, Monica Prichard, founded the concept of

WillowTree. The company began as a general consulting group that was named, WillowTree

Interactive, Inc. Prichard began experimenting with mobile app development on the side from his

day job, in 2008. As the demand for mobile apps grew, Prichard began employing his friends as

contractors for mobile app development. By 2009, WillowTree Interactive, Inc. was striving with

about a third of their work focusing on app development. In 2010, Prichard and Dengel became

business partners that decided to fully emerge into the mobile app industry, and later renamed

WillowTree Interactive, Inc. to WillowTree Apps, Inc. which then became today’s WillowTree,

Inc. (“2017 Founding Cville Awards - Michael Prichard”, ca. 2017)

Although the founders never imagined their small start-up would become one of the

prime companies within the mobile app industry, they each had extensive experience within the

technology field and entrepreneurship to contribute to the success of WillowTree, Inc. In 1997,

Michael J. Prichard had obtained his B.S. in Environmental Engineering at University of Central

Florida. Prichard was the former Founder of Deoji Mobile Events Company LLC, and the former

Founder and President of WillowTree Interactive, Inc. where he later became the Founder,

President, and Chief Technology Officer of WillowTree, Inc. In November 2016, Prichard

peacefully resigned from his position with WillowTree, Inc. and pursued his current position as

Founder & CEO of Metis Machine LLC, a company that focuses on machine learning (Prichard,

M. J., n.d.). His wife, Monica Prichard, graduated from Virginia Tech in 1996 with a B.A. in

Communications and Media Studies. She has limited professional experience in the technology

industry other than previously acting as the Founder and former Vice President of WillowTree,
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Inc. Currently, she is the President of a company called Upwind Holdings and has continued to

pursue entrepreneurship (Prichard, M., n.d.). Tobias Dengel obtained a B.S.E. in Finance and a

B.S.E. in Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Dengel was previously

the Vice President of AOL, the Founder and former President & Chief Operating Officer of

Leads.com, the former Executive Vice President then former Senior Vice President for Business

Development of Web.com. Today, Dengel is the Founder & CEO of WillowTree, Inc. (Dengel,

n.d.), and has been ranked Glassdoor’s #2 highest rated CEO for the Small & Medium

Companies 2015 Employee’s Choice Award (“Willow Tree | About Our Mobile App

Development Services”, n.d.). Beyond their education and background, each of them had

different skills with an ambition to collaborate on one idea that commenced the start of

WillowTree, Inc.

Today, WillowTree, Inc. offers specialized application and product design for media

delivery, enterprise, retail, healthcare, travel & hospitality, manufacturing & distribution,

consumer packed goods, and banking & finance (“Willow Tree | About Our Mobile App

Development Services”, n.d.). They prioritize mobile analytics, strategy, and marketing, user

experience (UX) strategy and design, web development including React and Node.js, app

development for iOS, Android, and Xamarin, mobile web technologies, Interactive TV and game

platforms, emerging tech & prototyping such as the Roku, Chromecast, PlayStation, Apple TV,

and the Universal Windows platform (UWP) (Dengel, n.d.).

WillowTree, Inc. has an outstanding reputation with external clients and its own

employees that is expected to prosper for the foresee-able future. Currently, they are recognized

as partner-certified developers with some of the world’s greatest technology leaders such as

Google, Microsoft, Roku, SAP Consulting, and Adobe, and consistently work for Fortune 500
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companies, which are some of the largest grossing revenue corporations in the U.S. With

countless awards to showcase, they are highly supported by many of the world’s leading

innovative tech and business corporations, which suggests that they are a trusted development

agency and can maintain lasting relationships with their clients. This new 2019 year,

WillowTree, Inc. has already been awarded Glassdoor’s Employee Choice Award Best Places to

Work, which was also received back in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In the past, it has been recognized

as Best Workplaces for Millennials in 2017. In 2018, WillowTree, Inc. made it on the Inc. 5000

list for the seventh consecutive year by maintaining a fast-growing revenue from 2014 to 2017.

With a great start to the new year, WillowTree, Inc. is likely to see increasing revenue in

business as they continue their mission to “amaze [their] clients by delivering high quality

software, and ensuring [their] projects run smoothly, strategically, and predictably” (“Willow

Tree | About Our Mobile App Development Services”, n.d.).

Of numerous top-performing mobile app development companies, WillowTree, Inc. is

one that is familiar with the importance of regularly reinventing its products and services to

accommodate the shifting demands of the industry. Within the mobile application and software

development industry, there are several trending areas of development, such as augmented &

virtual reality, wearable apps (for wearable devices like smartwatches), instant apps, lazy loading

& AMP (accelerated mobile pages), IoT (internet of things), machine learning & AI (artificial

intelligence), cloud computing and integration, blockchain, mobile payments and security, and

beacon technology. According to an article from an online source Net Solutions, the mobile app

industry has indicated an estimated $188.9 billion global revenue by the year 2020 with an

increasing interest in the trend of augmented & virtual reality, machine learning & AI, and

wearable apps (Manchanda, 2018).

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With a high demand for new mobile applications and software within a vast growing

industry that rapidly changes, comes a desperate need for adaptive and qualified software

developers. According to another online source Hackernoon, the mobile app development

industry is actively looking for software developers and programmers that have skill, experience,

and can “keep themselves updated with the latest trends”. With the lack of experienced

developers and programmers, some companies are subject to hiring underqualified individuals to

satisfy the position. Along with knowledge and familiarity with the latest technology trends,

some required skills that future mobile app developers should have practice, “test driven

development, mobile app security, scripting languages, robotic applications, big data

applications, cloud-based mobile apps, swift programming, enterprise app development, and

beacon technology for iOS” (Malhotra, 2017). Therefore, to be a successful mobile app

developer, one must be open to new challenges and able to adapt to new environments beyond

one’s own experience.

Along with its many challenges, the mobile app development industry is attractive and

inspiring for its innovation and opportunity for new, advanced technology that supports multiple

aspects of humanity. Supporting the mobile application and software development industry in a

manner that contributes to the population on a global scale would be extremely fulfilling. So far,

it seems that becoming a software developer requires much more than just a degree to be

successful. Several employers are looking for developers that have experience in the field,

surpassing their education.

A college education may be the foundation to encouraging and rectifying one’s skills as a

programmer and career as a developer, but one’s learning should not stop there. It is important to

know that anyone can become a developer or programmer without a college degree; however, as
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a developer, one should expect to always be learning. Enrolling in classes, taking electives, or

pursuing certifications that study a facet of the field is a great step to building one’s depth of the

field collectively. When it comes to obtaining real-world experience within the field to prepare

as a developer, it is incredibly important to network with professionals that are already in the

field as important contacts can provide an opportunity or a sense of direction. Growing

relationships with experienced individuals in the field can also help one learn the industry in

ways that an education cannot provide. Internships are another option that can provide entry-

level opportunities to begin one’s journey in any industry. Involving oneself in an internship may

also open more networking connections. Participating in an organization or association that

promotes a computer science field, such as GirlsWhoCode, can assist one in discovering other

beneficial ways to further one’s education, knowledge, or qualifications.

With this understanding, anyone planning on pursuing a career as a mobile app developer

or software developer should know that one’s education will help in feeling more prepared and

confident as a programmer, but it is also necessary to establish a resume or portfolio and actively

seek out other outlets to advance one’s career. Since the mobile app development industry needs

developers, that also means that there is a huge opportunity for internships. One that is

particularly interesting is The NSA (National Security Agency) Computer Science summer

internship. This internship is active every summer and takes place in Washington D.C., and

Hawaii. The deadline for the application is in October each year for the next year’s summer

internship. A great website to look up local or remote internship opportunities is,

internships.com. If one is actively seeking techniques to improve oneself, loves and adapts to

learning, appreciates challenges, and finds the right connections, then one should expect no less

than to be successful within the mobile application and software development industry.
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References

2017 Founding Cville Awards - Michael Prichard. (ca. 2017). Retrieved January 13, 2019, from

https://tomtomfest.com/foundingcville-michaelprichard/

Dengel, T. (n.d.). Tobias Dengel [LinkedIn page]. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasdengel/

Malhotra, M. (2017, December 06). Top 4 Hiring Trends for Mobile App Developers in 2018.

Retrieved January 13, 2019, from https://hackernoon.com/top-4-hiring-trends-for-mobile-

app-developers-in-2018-e6ce5277c460

Manchanda, A. (2018, October 24). 12 Mobile App Development Trends to Watch Out for in

2019. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/12-

mobile-app-development-trends-to-watch-out-for-in-2019/

Prichard, M. (n.d.). Monica Prichard [LinkedIn page]. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from

https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-prichard-b0b44028/

Prichard, M. J. (n.d.). Michael J. Prichard [LinkedIn page]. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelprichard/

Top 100 Mobile App Development Companies | January 2019 | The Manifest. (ca. 2019).

Retrieved January 13, 2019, from https://themanifest.com/app-development/companies

Willow Tree | About Our Mobile App Development Services. (n.d.). Retrieved January 13, 2019,

from https://www.willowtreeapps.com/company