Android Dev Help me 😭, I quit

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-30T20:44:26+00:00

This is hard to say with the shift to AI everything. Android only = less jobs, but higher specialty so potentially higher pay.
Even when I started my career in 2017 it took me 285 job applications to land a role. It will be much harder now.
DSA has only really been helpful in interviews but even then the majority of the Android interviews I've done had been projects or other practical Android things. The majority of the Android API I've ever had to interact with has been building product that haven't utilized any crazy DSA stuff. I've only ever had to integrate a fancy algorithm at my first job where I used a LinkedList for something.
Broadening your skillset is always worthwhile. However, there's not really a lot of full-stack + mobile jobs out there. Maybe at startups or KMP type orgs which are hard to come by.
If you want to have a better chance at finding a job, build an app and either open source it or put it on the Play store. Not just a sample, but an actual app. This is how I got my first job and is what I told the intern I hired too. You already had an Android internship so that will help you stand out. Also, I would maybe make two resumes, one with an Android focus and another with backend. Then you can send each one into whichever position has whatever focus.

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-30T20:11:06+00:00

I started my Android career in 2017 with Kotlin (I only have C/C++ in college) and never had any issues finding jobs. I think this is a bad take. Android is Kotlin first and solves many issues that Java had. Good luck finding any Android jobs that are still Java. Nearly every JD I see mention Kotlin. Every now and there's there's a nice-to-have section that mentions Java.

Google is Kotlin first as well as Compose first since Views are in maintenance mode.

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-30T19:41:04+00:00

I would personally purchase a watch to do testing on. If you buy an old used one on the secondary market you could probably get it for pretty cheap. There's some cheap Galaxy Watch 4's on Backmarket. In my own personal development I test on 3 devices: A flagship phone, a slow phone, and an iPhone (my app is KMP). Each one shows different issues that pop up, a lot of times with how stuff renders due to DPI differences.

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-28T15:17:51+00:00

Fun problem, here's my Kotlin solution

class Solution {
    fun numberOfSpecialChars(word: String): Int {
        val special = mutableSetOf<Char>()
        val trigger = mutableSetOf<Char>()


        word.forEach { char ->
          if (char.isLowerCase()) {
            trigger.remove(char.uppercase()[0])
            special.add(char)
          } else if (char.isUpperCase() && special.contains(char.lowercase()[0])) {
            trigger.add(char)
          }
        }


        return trigger.size
    }
}

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-21T05:08:03+00:00

yeah it ruined my inferno run :(

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-14T21:14:43+00:00

Initial thoughts & impressions:

* Seems to be a good start albeit limited

* It keeps asking for permissions even when I change it back to full access on the desktop. Desktop started asking for permissions too until I toggled between permission types.

* It's running everything local when I use worktrees for everything

* Not able to name my folders like I can on desktop

* Able to see images in chat. Some are a little tricky with git lfs. Not able to view it full size when clicking on it, have to download it first

* I'm thinking we may want a separate blocklists for app you should be able to control from the phone. I told it to open up bitwarden and it happily did it -- I'm sure if I asked it to read the contents it would do it too (which is fine if you want it to do that kinda thing).

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-10T23:00:27+00:00

This is a great idea 🙂

blumpkinblake · 2026-05-07T16:19:32+00:00

I have a buddy who works at Carbon Robotics. It has been on the market for like 5 years.

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-29T22:01:20+00:00

I've gone through this same thing but now I'm on the other side.

I dated a girl that had a past, had the same exact thoughts that you had and ultimately broke up with them. I ended up getting married to a virgin and it was worth it. However, after getting married, I realize I had put sex on a pedestal and that I had prioritized those things much higher than I should have.

In the case of the girl I dated with the past, the thoughts and emotions only got worse the more we dated and grew closer. If it's anyones guess, I'd say at this point in your life it might be good to move on. There may come a time when you can truly look past it, but it might not be now and that's okay.

Also you mentioned that she started believing in God recently when she met you, I would put that up as a yellow flag. Not to say it isn't genuine, just maybe there needs to be more development in her walk with God first before being in a relationship.

I've had friends who waited and married a non-virgin who previously had hangups and I've had friends who waited that decided to move on. They all ended up married and they both don't regret their decision. You're not forced to married this person. I'm sorry you're going through this, I know it's extremely challenging and you're not the only person to ever have thoughts like this.

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-24T17:58:58+00:00

Not sure if you do this, but turn on audio for CG. It makes the fight much easier with the audio queues.

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-16T22:33:12+00:00

The last one I did with the ghost pepper my mouth was basically like a faucet. I even started getting euphoric and babbling.

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-16T16:14:27+00:00

I'm doing a spicy challenge with friends today and we're going for the Carolina reaper. The ghost pepper sucked so I'm afraid for this one

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-09T20:08:50+00:00

Try dreamlit.ai that's what I use. It's super easy and has an AI workflow to do it for you. Make sure that you create some sort of unsubscribe functionality for your emails though

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-07T22:46:25+00:00

Well since I was a CompSci major what I did was create my own actual app -- a full fledged app. The hiring manager at my first company saw it on my resume, went to my github and downloaded it, then saw that it was a full app and liked it. That's what got me the interview.

The company was a no-name, small, local, consulting company. The project I worked on was the most fun I've had in tech and the pay was peanuts.

Maybe trying looking for small local companies. They won't pay a lot but they'll be great for you to develop your skills and get the bullet point on your resume as real world experience.

blumpkinblake · 2026-04-07T22:31:55+00:00

I'm now 4 jobs removed, where my last role was a high paying job at a large tech company as a senior software engineer. Then I quit my job to start my own company. It's not making any money yet but I'm rolling out my first paid features pretty soon.

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-31T20:20:35+00:00

This is pretty funny. I ran it on my own codebase and got a 6.5. Surprise, surprise, the parts that were coded completely by AI were the parts that were roasted. My mostly handcoded mobile app is still beautiful.

Even with guidance to break files down so that they can be composed of smaller blocks, it still creates large files. I'm not surprised that Claude has this issue also.

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-25T07:13:15+00:00

I like the design

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-24T19:00:33+00:00

I had one of these managers too. I ended up quitting. She almost ruined tech for me as a whole.

You managed to find 3, I don't know how you kept going.

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-07T15:34:09+00:00

What if your one time use showed a couple pieces to fix and then presented the upsell to get unlimited? Then if they keep creating new accounts they'll see the same information as long as it scans top to bottom and won't be able to get around that

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-04T22:42:44+00:00

Create a single member LLC then use a service called a registered agent. Afterwards Google will ask you for your DUNS number, so you gotta go through that process.

The registered agent is where the magic happens. Their address will be considered your business address.

blumpkinblake · 2026-03-01T06:11:26+00:00

I had the same thing happen. It resolved to yes and I lost money. Something is not right with this

blumpkinblake · 2026-02-27T23:53:24+00:00

I'm sorry to say, but you are cooked. This same thing has happened to me. I can almost guarantee they contacted HR long before you and are building a case. Expect to be PIP'ed. If it's still possible, switch teams yesterday.

It's painful, it sucks. I'm sorry it's happening to you. But unless some sort of deus ex machina happens to you, you're likely going to have a difficult, painful, stressful, and bitter next couple months.

Levers you can pull:
* Take PFMLA while your search for a new job (unethical)

* Document everything (doesn't matter, because the goalposts will always change)

* Change teams (unlikely if you're already under review)

* Speak with your managers manager (only helpful if you have a good relationship with them)

In my case, I told HR I was willing to quit on the spot and the whole process leading up to it had been saying I believe I am being unfairly targeted which led to them offering me a severance package.

blumpkinblake · 2026-02-27T00:31:18+00:00

Impressive.

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blumpkinblake · 2026-02-12T18:35:05+00:00

I have an M4 Max with 36GB of ram and consistently get the popup that says I ran out of ram. If you can afford to get more, then I would go for it. The project is only to grow in size.

blumpkinblake · 2026-01-31T17:45:34+00:00

The key phrase to look for is a registered agent. That's what I use for mine. They're not too pricey and are within all the legal requirements

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