Meet the Programmer: Inside the Career Path of a Mobile Software Engineer

What's your current role, and what do you like about it?

At this moment, my main focus is mobile development — not just “button painting,” but mobile architectures, system aspects, and solution design for business. While my background is generally connected to Android software development, I'm also keen on investigating KMP and Flutter as cross-platform frameworks for mobile development, which allow us to extract and move a common codebase and rely on it from other parts. I'm really passionate about resolving business problems or enhancing user experience in their daily routine using a compact device that people interact with on a daily basis. On the other hand, I get charged after spending hours thinking and finally getting a solution that works as expected — it's a highly exciting feeling, and I adore that.

My additional role involves being responsible for developing a pool of talented programmers, assigning them to projects, conducting their assessments, and salary reviews. This role allows me to improve my soft skills, such as communication and leadership, and grow horizontally.

How did you get into Programming?

I've been passionate about programming since high school. Around 15 years ago, I remember one challenge that involved automating an alarming system in the school. At that time, I was taking my first steps into the world of software development using the Delphi platform. In that moment, I realized I had the necessary competence to design the system and resolve the issue — in fact, my first real business problem to handle. Initially, I applied the architecture and all the necessary algorithms that were used in the future application. I used a special tool to draw some diagrams and made notes with my thoughts connected with the future solution. Then, I created some static forms that represented the UI, which allowed me to decompose the entire idea into smaller tasks. In the final stage, I implemented the application that fully automated the alarming process, which motivated and inspired me even more. That first project was so successful that it was used as my course project later in college while diving deeper into Computer Science.

How did you get into writing about Programming?

I commenced a mentoring activity a couple of years ago, and I noticed that some basic topics had to be repeated. Moreover, students tend to ask similar questions, and it dawned on me to write some articles to share insights and give them the opportunity to refer to the resources. I prefer a practice-based approach, and I usually use my open-source project and describe theory using the ready-to-use codebase.

What's your earliest memory of learning to code?

In low–middle school, I first encountered Turbo Pascal when I was learning informatics. I don't remember why — either I understood it incorrectly, or I was told that Turbo Pascal is not just a programming language to communicate with a computer but, in particular, a tool to resolve quadratic equations — or so I mistakenly thought. Obviously, in that case, the discriminant had to be above 0 ;)

When Elon Musk achieves his dream of getting us to Mars, what technology do you think would be important on Mars and why?

I'm not a specialist in this particular field; however, I assume the following several technologies matter to investigate. Primarily, it's crucial to come up with a mechanism that would protect us from radiation. I heard there are some initiatives that involve diving into the ground and building our camp under there. Additionally, we have to figure out how to run photosynthesis in that environment to have the opportunity to generate oxygen as well as support growing vegetation. Finally, we must think about a source of energy to use for the life support of our future potential colony. The most promising and efficient energy technology I see under those conditions is nuclear-based, and we will need to build a nuclear reactor there.

What's a programming language that you would build EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in and why?

I wouldn't separate programming languages from particular frameworks or platforms, which allow us to create specific products or solve business problems. Furthermore, other frameworks are good for their specific purposes, making them valuable in themselves. However, expanding the question, everything in software development can be recognized as a tool for development, such as compilers, IDEs, frameworks themselves, and others. Nowadays, C++ still remains a standard for system programming since it allows direct memory manipulation, as well as offering performance, predictability, determinism, and much more. So, if I had to select, I would choose C++.

What's something you think Software developers do not do enough of?

Some programmers do not pay enough attention to developing soft skills. While obviously technical skills play a crucial role in software development, it's impossible to imagine creating a bigger project solo. In the meantime, communicating within a team, planning, brainstorming together, and so on involves the ability to explain and listen. That's just a small example of only a part of soft skills.

What is your least favorite thing about programming?

I wouldn't say my least favorite thing is directly related to programming, but rather to development in general. It's the undetermined things, which involve piecing together step by step all the information from other departments and so on. The human brain is wired so that uninformed things feel dangerous. On the other hand, when everything is cleared up, we usually tend to get endorphins, which always feels cool.

What’s a technology you’re currently learning or excited to learn?

While my main focus is Android, I'm passionate about delving into cross-platform mobile software development, in particular, Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP). Additionally, I always follow trends, so AI is an additional interest that allows me to delegate some technical and non-technical tasks. I use GitHub Copilot and JetBrains Assistance in my daily work, which is an ideal combination — AI + KMP :)

What’s your favorite Programming story of all-time on HackerNoon?

A story I definitely loved on HackerNoon was about image handling using TensorFlow for Android. I was really inspired by the approach and results the author demonstrated, which helped me define the tools for my own solutions. Since I'm currently working on an educational project involving skin-condition recognition with on-device AI, the article resonated with me on a practical level.

Time travel 10 years into the past or 10 years into the future? What does technology look like? Give reasons for your answer.

Since my main expertise is in Android development, I would prefer to slightly focus on that technology in the context of AI.

Talking about the past, I remember we had a lot of “technical freedom” in Android development, which meant we had a variety of opportunities to manipulate the OS's resources. For instance, we could run operations in the background without informing our users. Nowadays, the tendency is to limit such aspects, and I believe this trend will continue.

When it comes to the future, my vision is that the mentioned trend will proceed — more regulations from governments and more limitations from Google. We will need to use resources carefully and expect approvals from users to access sensitive data. Additionally, AI will finally find its particular niche to be used where it’s truly needed, instead of being incorporated everywhere unnecessarily.