Is mobile dev still good career?
I like the nature of mobile dev, where codebase is generally all self contained inside 1 single binary, and that it gives a lot of autonomy for developers. But seems ML is much more in demand, but I think server side roles (including ML) are in generally much more about teamwork and collaboration (and multitasking) Is there another domain that's kind of similar to mobile in nature that I can transition to, and that also has good career prospect?
Not many people know mobile. Not that many jobs either
it kinda never was, its more like, mobile folks got extraordinarily lucky
I've been in mobile for over a decade. It wasn't luck at all. Rather, times change and new things surface. Before mobile I did another technology that was clearly phasing out. I read the writing on the wall and made a deliberate switch. In some ways, it doesn't matter where you focus because your core skills are transferrable. Thus, aim where you are most passionate. Because your passion will propel you more than any particular technology.
that is exactly the cope i would expect from a lucky mobile dev, but ur technically correct
Many companies don't appreciate the nuances. For example, app stores cause long deploy cycles so things like observability and feature toggles become important. Fragmentation is always a challenge, especially on Android. It's also hard to find good designers who are experienced in mobile UX. On top of this, it's easier than ever to make a half assed app, due to new libraries like Swift UI and Jetpack Compose. So I'm nervous about the market for senior devs. At least the very big companies will always need them.
Mobile is tough. iOS probably easier than Android because theres less devices to support. There’s always people trying to push cross platform or low code shit too. Just like the rest of the front end market.
it might box you in and limit your options.
Overall i still think it's a great area to be in. Just like “regular software engineering”. I feel like this whole AI hype has regrettably affected the importance and value of these roles, either permanently or temporarily. Let's see how things pan out.
These are two separate fields