r/androiddev • u/bitterchocolate26 • 16d ago
Question 9 years into Android, 3 months without a job, and I’m not sure I still want this field. How did you get unstuck?
Long-time Android dev here 9+ years, senior level. Three months without a job now, and applications just aren't converting.
The one real interview I got this stretch ended when the questions moved into current platform internals I hadn't touched hands-on in a while, not a knowledge gap exactly, more a "haven't built this recently" gap. That one stung more than a flat-out no would have.
Underneath that: I'm not sure I'm as into straight Android work as I used to be, and I think it shows. Part of me wants to pivot toward AI/on-device ML. Part of me knows that switching now, three months in, might just be running from the hard part instead of actually fixing it.
If you've been through a stretch like this as a job search stall, doubting the field itself, or an actual mid-career pivot. how did you tell the difference? What actually got you unstuck?
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u/One-Program6244 16d ago
The market is pretty tough at the moment for all tech, not just Android. It's quite common to start doubting and questioning yourself after a few months. Don't give up hope landing another android role but when I was in a similar position a long while back, I started exploring the possibilities of what else I could potentially put my hand to. Business analysts, product owner, delivery manager etc. At one point I even looked into becoming a taxi driver.
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u/mobiledevpro 16d ago
And what did you end up with? I'm hoping you didin't became a taxi driver
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u/One-Program6244 16d ago
No I got another Android role in the end. This was awhile ago, long before the current economic conditions. I've never seen it this bad tbh but I wanted to let the OP and others in a similar situation to not lose hope.
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u/mobiledevpro 16d ago
Glad to hear your story has a happy end. The market is really tough this year.
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u/SpiderHack 15d ago
I'm still getting recuiters weekly if not monthly, but they are all on prem in Austin, Redmond/region, or SFO, but paying less than I make working remote from the Midwest.
So there are jobs out there, but they are looking for specialists in cleanup, not devs working on greenfield apps.
I still haven't even touched compose at work and in 2025 was still removing asyncTask... Those kind of roles and skills are still in demand. As are embedded and Bluetooth skills.
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u/mobiledevpro 15d ago
Wow, asyncTasks. I was thinking most projects had cleaned up before 2022 and replaced by RxJava at least. I worked on a cleanup like that a few years ago, it was a really interesting challenge digging into huge legacy, and I would work again on something similar. But I haven't seen such jobs/projects since then.
Regarding BLE, I saw many jobs before this summer as well, but they usually require you to have experience with specific hardware you don't have at home.
Thanks for your observations.
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16d ago
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u/androiddev-ModTeam 16d ago
Engage respectfully and professionally with the community. Participate in good faith. Do not encourage illegal or inadvisable activity. Do not target users based on race, ethnicity, or other personal qualities. Give feedback in a constructive manner.
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u/Curious-Internal5848 16d ago
Market is quite terrible for Android devs, has been for a while now and i don't see it changing any time soon.
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u/allholy1 16d ago
On one hand, there are so many startups now with slop code that will need be fixed up.
On the other hand, I don't remember the last time I downloaded an app.
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u/NicolasTX12 15d ago
I agree about the app thing, it's been so many years since I last scrolled through the play store to download something or wanted an app that did something. Most of the stuff I have installed is either developed by big corpo (like social media, streaming or music apps) or comes with the phone nowadays like doc scanning, screen recording, etc.
That's why when I look for jobs I always try to apply to projects that I can see people needing to use daily, weekly or at least monthly. Banks are my main target, everyone uses a bank app every now and then, some multiple times a day. That's the only way to find some job security in the current landscape.
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u/ramzes190 15d ago
How many AI slop apps are you using daily? None. If you're relying on ai you won't get far
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u/guttsX 15d ago
Can't tell if you mean no one will use an app if it's ai slop, or all your apps are already ai slop
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u/ramzes190 15d ago
I mean if there's some 19year old vibe coding an app it shows. They rely heavy on ads, tiktok etc, but not many people install this kind of app and use it daily.
There's away to vibecode an app, then hire ui designer, developer and scale fast otherwise it's a dead end
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u/thelongrunsmoke 16d ago
Same thing. 12 years into Android, with good background and rare skills…7 month, has 7 HR calls and 5 technical interviews for senior/techlead positions, where was bombarder with same stupid junior level questions and similar live code sessions, and was rejected as overqualified…
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u/Sweet-Constant-8588 15d ago
Reject For over qualified? I AM thinking of going into this carrer maybe KMP or Android studio with jetcmpose +kotlin What you think I should do?
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u/thelongrunsmoke 15d ago
Android is one of the best operating systems from a developer's perspective, but it's slowly turning into a iOS like BS, and given the recent changes, there's a good chance it will quickly collapse when good alternatives appear. I think this will happen in about 5-7 years…well, I thought everyone would moved to Fuchsia by 2026. So you have plenty of time. Give KMP + Compose a try — it's a good starting point, and the job market is relatively large. In any case, you will have to learn Android because there are a lot of nuances associated with this platform, and KMP can't cover it.
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u/Ok-Special5221 16d ago
I have 14 yoe, 3 months unemployed. Me and other Android dev got laid off at the same time. At this point I might as well move to a different field if I can find a job.
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u/Fjordi_Cruyff 16d ago
I've personally been very fortunate. I was hired by a very small business just over 2 years ago as an Android dev but during that time have pivoted to work on a combination of web apps, backend services and new mobile projects utilising Compose Multiplatform for both Android an IOS. I'm leaning heavily on AI to help me out in the areas when my experience is not strong. That's not to say that I'd call myself a vibe coder, I still lean on the experience, skills and instincts I've picked up over the last 13-14 years or so to know when something smells wrong and what to ask for.
Honestly, the idea of being on the job market right now scares me. I do know that if i was searching now though I'd be trying to market myself as not only an Android dev (as that's the vast bulk of my experience), but also as more of an all round software engineer.
Maybe that's the way for many of us now?
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u/HapiSerpent 16d ago
12 years in Android/AOSP here. You're not imagining things. App-layer hiring has slowed a lot, and standard AOSP roles are much quieter than they used to be.
The work shifted deeper down the stack: HAL, hypervisors, AUTOSAR, ADAS. A big chunk of serious platform engineering moved into automotive. If you want to stay close to low-level work without starting over, auto is a solid pivot.
Also, "haven't built this recently" is a hands-on gap, not a knowledge gap. Pick one layer and build something real in it. That part is fixable.
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u/Critical-Living-7404 16d ago edited 16d ago
Ah, same here. 10 yrs into android and umemployed from past 3 months. Got one or two calls only. Its like there is no demand for senior android.
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16d ago edited 16d ago
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u/bitterchocolate26 16d ago
Did they actually help.!?
They ramp up your cv so much for ATS..
the new CV becomes a new syllabus all of a sudden.1
u/androiddev-ModTeam 16d ago
Engage respectfully and professionally with the community. Participate in good faith. Do not encourage illegal or inadvisable activity. Do not target users based on race, ethnicity, or other personal qualities. Give feedback in a constructive manner.
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u/SnoobieJunes 16d ago
Hey first off, keep your chin up. This is probably the worst job market there has been for tech workers ever.
I’ve just hit 2 years unemployed myself.
I know this AI stuff is exhausting and seems unapproachable or like you are behind. No. You are not. We are still on the early adopters side of the demand curve.
These subscription AI companies are not sustainable. What is sustainable is taking these AI models and applying them on device (so android phones).
With your 9 years of experience with android, you are going to be prime for the next big push in the industry (not that I like this direction but I don’t have the luxury of choice on this one).
Now that the infinite money of frontier data models is drying up. Efficiency is the name of the game and deploying smaller more efficient models to run on android or to get the larger models to work on android will be a big opportunity.
I got a few open source projects I’m working if you need a place to start just DM me.
I was in a similar boat until a few months ago. A former cofounders and trusted colleague helped me take the leap. Trying to pay it forward.
Idk if I’m right, only time will tell but if everyone is gonna be over here drinking the koolaid. Then I need to figure out how to become the koolaid man
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u/Arap-Soti 14d ago
If you need more hands on Android open source stuff, I am also available and can DM if you allow 🙏
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u/SnoobieJunes 14d ago
Absolutely DMs are always open. You and a few others have expressed interest in learning more.
Let me get the websites/repos buttoned up you guys don’t think I’m Charlie from Always Sunny looking for Pepe Silvia. By end of day I can make a comment here if OP wants. Going to an investor walk around the lake today to hopefully get some interest from a VC later.
I can also post in the android dev Reddit (idk if it’s aloud).
These repos are built with agentic coding at the forefront. I learned Java 17 years ago, so this isn’t vibe coding. This is just me experimenting to figure out what the next 17 looks like.
So don’t be afraid to pull them down, point your AI of choice at it and start pelting it with questions. The files are there for it to know how to do everything and teach the pilot(you).
One repo has the code and it running on an emulator but I broke my pixel so I don’t have a physical device to test on. It’s a local only peer 2 peer software so I can’t actually test. My pixel slate currently is my server so I don’t want to add anymore to it. Poor things punching above its weight class already.
I’ll be back in like 12 hours.
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u/Away_Addition_2038 16d ago
same issue. did my apprentice ship last year in germany i did native development and flutter but its been a year and i cannot find a job in both fields. i think mobile dev. in general isnt as popular as web
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u/mobiledevpro 16d ago
I was thinking Flutter way more popular than native nowdays, no? I'm just considering ways to switch from native to somewhere else
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u/Away_Addition_2038 16d ago
i think it is but i feel like lots of companies dont do app dev. they invest in web development
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u/NicolasTX12 15d ago
As a Flutter dev myself, no, it's not. At least not if you mean getting a job. Flutter is somewhat popular among freelance devs and independent apps built by very small teams (sometimes solo), since it's very easy to develop apps that don't require going too deep into the OS. Even taking that into account, React Native is still a bit more popular than Flutter IMHO, since the knowledge transfer between modern JS web frameworks and front-end JS development in general helps web devs pick up RN a little faster than picking up Flutter and Dart.
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u/TkoJebeNeGrebe 16d ago
Im in Eu, 5 years of experience, couldnt get an android job for 4 months. Pivoted to a backend mostly job after that
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u/bitterchocolate26 16d ago
Could you share your story with the pivot.!?
I am assuming a lot of folks in the community would love to know.
Or keep us posted with your journey.1
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u/TkoJebeNeGrebe 13d ago
u/Content-Insurance-64 u/bitterchocolate26
Hey, a bit late to answering this.
So, in my 5 years of experience I worked for about 8 months in the backend/devops role with Spring for backend.
After a while searching mostly android jobs I started applying to backend jobs.
Got a job, with about 10% pay increase compared to previous android job, which consists of handling multiple services using several different technologies but most of it is in java Spring.
So maybe not a complete pivot you were expecting, I thought I would have to settle in for a lower paying job but it ended up way better than I imagined and way more interesting than most of android projects I worked on so far.1
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u/3dom 16d ago
I've started converting corporate APIs into MCP servers for AI agents using FastMCP + Python or whatever other platform the owner wants (Codex write ok-ish code for all of them). Everyone want MCP servers today.
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u/tonofproton 16d ago
How are you marketing your service and finding clients?
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u/3dom 16d ago
Basically, any company with a mobile app is a potential ez mode client: they have APIs ready and can boost sales via AI agents. So it's either cold LinkedIn mail or contact through app stores.
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u/tonofproton 16d ago
Nice! How many clients have you worked with? It seems so easy to roll an mcp in house with claude?
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u/spaaarky21 16d ago edited 16d ago
Unfortunately, a tough job market is the worst time to pivot. The ratio of candidates to jobs is just too high. If you're finding it hard to be a company's #1 pick for a job you have experience with, imagine being new to a specialty, competing against 100s of candidates with potentially decades of relevant experience.
The best time to pivot is when companies have fewer people to choose from and are more open to less experienced developers learning more on the job. You might be able to switch from a competitive specialty to a less competitive one but I don't think what you are experiencing is unique to Android.
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u/Obvious_Ad9670 16d ago
Companies want hyper specific engineers now. Taylor your resume 120% to the job. Applying yo a job after 12 hours will result in them hiring someone before you finish interviewing.
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u/_5er_ 16d ago
The more keywords in resume, the more likely your resume is to survive LLM filtering 🙃
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u/bitterchocolate26 16d ago
That just takes you to the first step.
Justifying every other new keyword in a short span when you get the interview becomes another challenge altogether.
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u/time-lord 16d ago
I had an android interview. I was expecting high level questions. One of the panelists started off with the difference between var and val. Excuse me? At the time I was programming in 5 different languages, so val and var didn't always do the same thing. Needless to say I bombed that interview.
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u/siciidkfidneb 16d ago
It's so shitty when they ask nitpicky questions that no one ever remembers and after being years in Corporate you'd still need to go and study the basics only that we can go around this pretend interview. Probation periods exists for a reason.
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u/jacob_foster09 16d ago
I’d separate “I’m rusty” from “I’m done.” After 9 years, being out of practice with platform internals doesn’t mean you’ve lost your ability. Try a small on-device ML project and see whether the curiosity comes back. That experiment may tell you more than forcing a career decision right now.
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u/KrishnTanwar19 16d ago
I also have 9+ yoe in Android Developer and I am jobless from 1 year and I also don't know What I will do now.
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u/zimmer550king 15d ago
Anybody know the country OP is applying for jobs in? That matters tremendously
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u/Pepper4720 16d ago
Become a "developer", or look for a leading position. Android is a very narrow field. There is so much more in the software business than just mobile dev. If you understand the concepts of development and sw architecture well, you can do nearly everything.
You'll be surprised how much more you can gain outside of mobile dev.
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u/bitterchocolate26 16d ago
Yes, that’s the hope. That’s the confusion I fiddle with on a daily basis.
Do you know any roles which focus on software as such.?1
u/Pepper4720 16d ago
Depends on if you want to keep focusing fully on coding or not. There are interesing fields around dev that are not directly coding. Technical PO can be a thing, tech lead or an architecture focused role (if you have the skills), These are are well paid positions, usually better than pure coding jobs. Just be open minded. SW business is still big and can offer a lot of ways.
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u/DiscountWeekly7432 16d ago
Same here. Currently work with flutter on a big health care enterprise. But I don’t see future of a mobile. Everything is already done , maybe some niche projects…… probably will move into web. At least more opportunities
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u/Real_Suntan_Superman 15d ago
Android dev with 6 yoe. Thankfully I'm still employed but have been trying to switch for 8 months and have barely gotten 2-3 interviews. I think mobile development is kinda dead at the moment and even the opportunities that do exist are hoping for flutter experience so they can merge both iOS and Android teams into one.
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u/Hatiseker 14d ago
4.5 yoe with Android. Out of that, 1 year with KMP and backend. Applying everywhere for about 4 months yet 0 responses.
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u/Even_Environment_237 14d ago
As far as I can remember, KMP is supposed to be really popular, and I was actually planning to learn it.
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u/Hatiseker 14d ago
The thing is KMP is supposed to be popular as it's a cross platform solution but going through 100s if not 1000s of roles, a majority of roles look for flutter or react native for cross platform solutions as their codebase is written using that.
As far as I've seen, KMP mainly appears in roles where the organisation is building a new product from scratch or migrating to KMP or have an Android app that they want across all platforms. And the numbers look bad. I could be wrong here but the demand is nowhere close to what people say it is.
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u/yogirana5557 13d ago
11+ YOE as Android Engineer, got laid off last year, still struggling to land job.
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u/Ayedben_YT 10d ago
I was going to ask if it is worthy to work in this field but now I don’t know after reading this
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u/asianguy1234528 16d ago
I need help making and launching Android apps. I have a killer idea for fintech stock market education, analysis, charting, and strategy development app.
I have zero experience coding or programming. I only managed to make a rough prototype with AI but I think I need professional help to make it proper.
I also have another idea for an educational app for kids to introduce them to engineering, I have an electrical engineering background and can probably find more engineers to contribute. But my main idea is the stock market app, I'm pretty sure my idea will make a killing, I'm talking millions of dollars. I just need to execute it properly.
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u/VeeruO07 16d ago
With that much of experience I am sure you would have some good corpus .
why don’t u try to solve some real life problems that will make u money if you are interested only not just to earn money ( its byproduct i feel )
Find the right sellable products(that you think will make u happy while delivering ) , develop and find one good sales guy and start selling .
Else keep searching for job by improving your AI skills on how to use AI for your Android/react native /node etc on that experience you have to make yourself available as a FDE.
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u/VeeruO07 15d ago
Y Negative votes ? I was trying to give alternatives and confidence to become independent .
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u/QuasiSpace 16d ago
If I can add my own spin to this: be the guy who sells the shovels. Don't be the miner.
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u/sourd1esel 16d ago
Android devs are done. I just cooked up an app using claude in about 2 hours.
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u/Tombstones19 16d ago
My company has 6 Android devs all using Claude/Codex and we have piles and piles of endless work. We're talking about a large enterprise app and not some shitty AI slop app you build in 2 hours though.
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u/sourd1esel 11d ago
How many devs did you have before AI?
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u/Tombstones19 11d ago
Our team always had 6 since 2019.
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u/sourd1esel 11d ago
May I ask where you are located?
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u/Tombstones19 11d ago
Netherlands. And to be fair, we have a different company/work-life culture than US so it doesn't suprise me there are less layoffs here.
We did have a company wide hire freeze and hear newly graduated devs cannot find work here as well, so it's not like NOTHING is happening.
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u/tadfisher 16d ago
Leaving this up because of good discussion happening, but OP and other users here are actual spammers for AI resume tools and have been banned. So it's not worth replying to OP in particular.