divTimer – dividend manager - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

As I am studying Computer Science, I have some major coding experiences in JavaScript, CSS and HTML. Additionally I have good knowledge in Java and some basic experience with Python and C. But my favorite or prior development experience is in JS, CSS and HTML via the Cordova-Framework.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

In my mind, there were several parts in developing a mobile app that weren't as simple as they seemed. The fact, that the concept is changing during the whole development complicates the process. Moreover the Beta-testing and coverning all edge-cases was pretty time-consuming.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

Actually I only have 2 favorite apps. The first one is Instagram. There are so many inspirations in sports, development and life in general. I really like to browse through this for inspiration. The second one is my own app: divCalender. For me, as a private investor with a focus on dividend growth, this app is pretty useful. It helps me keep track of all of my dividends and dividend related dates. It also saves me some time, as I don't need to analyse this stuff via Excel anymore. Even though I am an IT-Person I do not spend much time using apps, so these two are actually the apps I use most often.

How long have you been working on this app?

So we had some meetings at the beginning to create a good concept and the development started in September. We were a team of five. We were split on Android and iOS. I developed the Android party by myself and the others the iOS one.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

The idea of the app was just to simplify the overview of your dividend growth invests. It was basically to combine all dividend related information of your depot or the stocks you are interested in by using this application.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

At the beginning of our development, we already checked some similar apps and found that these were pretty messy, as there was too much information (such as the actual stock price or some other information that does not matter if you follow 'buy & hold' or the 'dividend-strategy'). So we just wanted to create an easy tool which is simple to handle and that's neat. And I think we actually nailed it.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

Most important for now is an API to get good data. At present, we collect the data from different sources and insert them manually in our database which is very time-consuming. An API is also pretty expensive, so we are trying to find some investors so we don't need to invest that much of our own money and go full risk. For the functionality itself, we are considering how to create an easier way to insert your data.... something like an import or export function. But we are also likely to refer to some customer wishes.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

Most important for me is to simplify your dividend-investments. And if you like the app we'd love to get a recommendation or feedback. We'd also thank you a lot if you would recommend this to other investors.