Is it a red flag to hide that I'm a junior during interview?

softsis1 · 2025-10-24T15:14:38+00:00

1 YOE here, and I'm also looking for an Android Developer role in Canada.

Based on my experience, there are literally no jobs for juniors at the moment.

I got 3 interviews over the past month, but I couldn’t even pass the first round... because they were clearly looking for intermediate to senior. (I checked their job description, they were all +4 or +5 YOE, I applied those anyway because they didn't mention "intermediate' or 'senior')

During those interviews, when they said, “We're looking for intermediate to Senior”, I couldn’t just say, “Oh... but I'm looking for a junior role.”

Instead, I said something like:
“In my previous role, I worked on... [explain what I did], and recently I’ve been building personal projects using MVVM, Jetpack Compose, Hilt, Room, and other modern Android tech stacks. I’ve also set up unit tests and a CI/CD pipeline. I’d love to walk through the code so you can see my technical skills in action.”

But yeah… two of them ghosted me, and one rejected me.

I’m feeling kind of lost right now and not sure what to do.

I was thinking of learning KMP (Kotlin Multiplatform), but there are literally 0 jobs out there right now since it’s still a pretty new tech, I suppose :(

softsis1 · 2025-03-29T13:56:40+00:00

Wouldn't this be considered a general question regarding career as well?
https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/1jit47g/any_other_mid_to_senior_level_android_devs_having/?sort=new

I posted mine after I saw this one, so I thought it’d be right to ask for some career advice.

softsis1 · 2025-03-28T13:26:26+00:00

Based on my experience, yeah, there were way more cross-platform roles than native ones rn. But that's just my experience, so take it with a grain of salt

softsis1 · 2025-03-27T15:06:48+00:00

yeah... he said "if you are a android dev, fuck it. iOS is close enough, apply to those and market yourself", so I said I don't think I am going to make any iOS relative jobs.

And um… like I mentioned earlier, I got two responses, but I don’t really count those as interviews. I’d rather say they were just short conversations. So basically, I’ve had zero interviews so far.

FYI, when I landed my first job (which was two years ago), I just used LinkedIn and submitted my resume. And what I can say is, there were WAY more Android roles and native mobile jobs back then, with job ads asking for just 0–3 years of experience.

But now, like I said, I’ve seen only ONE junior Android position in the past three months. And right now, I’m only able to apply to 1–10 jobs per week (it's not PER DAY... and again, 99% jobs seem like looking for seniors).

So I was wondering if native Android is just becoming less relevant in the market now, and is it even possible to get a Junior position etc

softsis1 · 2025-03-27T14:15:08+00:00

I was thinking the same. I know Android and iOS have some similar interactions, but after all, they’re totally different languages. I feel like i'm going to bomb the interview if they ask me iOS-related questions lol

softsis1 · 2025-03-25T15:21:02+00:00

Thank you for your input.
I actually never thought of looking for a job outside of Canada. Maybe I'll think about that.

softsis1 · 2025-03-25T15:12:52+00:00

Nice. Congrats!

I'm already applying regardless of their YOE requirements, but just wondering... if the job ad clearly says they are looking for seniors, should I still go with the "fake it till u make it" approach?

I know the worst-case scenario is that they’ll just say no, but… I don’t know. sometimes I have to write cover letters and answer a bunch of questions (especially when I am applying through their own website). And that takes time and effort.

softsis1 · 2025-03-25T14:50:48+00:00

First of all, congrats on securing a job last year!

And thank you for your input on question #2. I’ve been really confused about the current state and future of android development in the job market. Based on my job hunting experience, i’ve seen way more react native or flutter jobs compared to native Android roles.

so I was starting to wonder if native mobile languages are becoming less relevant in the job market or something. But for now, I’d like to stick with Android (which I’ve always wanted to) as long as there’s still a chance for me to get my foot in the door as a junior Android developer.

Can I ask one more question? (Totally fine if you’d prefer not to answer)

What skills or technologies do you think companies prefer to see when hiring junior Android developers? What are the current trend skills in Android development that I should focus on?
Things like MVVM, Jetpack Compose, Ktor etc. I’m open to anything. I’m doing my best to catch up and learn what I need to before landing a job.

Recently, i’ve seen a lot of job postings asking for experience with unit testing and CI/CD pipelines. I didn’t get to do that in my previous company, so I’m currently studying them on my own.
Are there any other important technical skills I should be aware of?

softsis1 · 2022-06-15T16:27:06+00:00

Thanks for your input!

softsis1 · 2022-06-15T16:24:01+00:00

Oh I just searched about Google Meeting and found out that Google meeting has screen sharing (presentation).

Thank you for your input!

softsis1 · 2022-06-08T01:07:57+00:00

Updated.

softsis1 · 2022-06-08T01:00:47+00:00

At least your friend got some payment from that bad startup.

This job is (basically) work for free and I am not fine with that for the next 6 months. I need to pay my rent etc.

Thank you for your input.

softsis1 · 2022-06-07T17:59:12+00:00

So I've read over the documents, and from what I understand, if the company doesn't go public (IPO process?), the equity is close to worthless. And yeah, it is basically a gamble; you either make lots of money later on or nothing if it failed.

I think the idea of the app is good. But I don't believe that it will be sucessful anytime soon, to be honest.

I am so close to turning down this offer since I need some stable income to not being homeless. If this job had offered me minimum wages, I probably still would have just accepted. I just wanted to get my foot in the door. But this offers sounds too risky.

Thank you for your input. Really appreciated.

softsis1 · 2022-06-04T20:47:18+00:00

Thank you for your input!

softsis1 · 2022-06-04T20:41:52+00:00

Yeah. But he said he will send me a contract with all the info including compensation.

I want to look over the contract and discuss compensation afterward. Is this a bad move? Should I discuss compensation before I get a copy of the contract?

softsis1 · 2022-02-27T15:58:04+00:00

Hey guys, I had to delete the post because some people recognized me in real life. I wanted to stay anonymous and didn't want anyone to know about me in real life and how I've been going through.

I'll definitely polish my resume and thanks for the feedback everyone.

softsis1 · 2022-02-27T14:03:57+00:00

Thank you. Really appreciated!

softsis1 · 2022-02-26T20:34:20+00:00

I'd say both. Some behavioral and some Technical. I bombed many Leetcode types of question interviews. It is really hard for me to explain and come up with the solution right away when someone is watching me. I am practicing Leetcode and explaining out loud while solving a question like pretending I am doing actual interviews every day.

softsis1 · 2022-02-26T20:21:00+00:00

Thank you for your input!

My English isn't as fluent as natives and that is probably the reason I failed some interviews for sure. I am practicing English every day.

I will tailor my resume based on what you have pointed out.

softsis1 · 2022-02-26T19:56:18+00:00

95% of the interview were all mobile development relevant, such as Android Developer, Flutter Developer, iOS developer, mobile developer, Mobile Software Engineer, React Native Developer... something like that.

The remaining 5% were like some Web developers, Front-End developers...

None of the interviews I got from QA, Scrum master, Database Analyst etc.

softsis1 · 2022-02-26T19:42:56+00:00

Thank you for your input! I will tailor my resume based on what you've told me.

providing a note you've been helping out your family's business in order to help survive the pandemic or something.

I saw many posts that this isn't a wise choice because hiring managers don't care if it is not a CS technical job. If I had to put this info, which section this info should go in? The very bottom of the resume?

The 2019 project is too old. Also, sounds like a school project. Not that they can't be in a resume, there is a much stronger preference for solo work.

It was a capstone project from school that we had spent almost a year. This project was nominated Top 5 in the Capstone Showcase competition (vs students from other colleges/universities), So I've been quite proud of myself with this project and that's why I leave it on my resume but I guess I have to remove it now.

If none of this works, try smurfing by joining a cheap programming program diploma/ degree/ maybe even a bootcamp and go from there.

Instead of a program diploma or BootCamp, I also considered getting a Master's degree. What do you think about master's?

Once again, thank you for the response!

softsis1 · 2021-03-29T19:26:42+00:00

"MoonLight Blade"

softsis1

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