“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
A wise man once said, “a problem that can be solved with money is not really a problem”. And I agree with that. As is often the case, we sometimes blindly believe that a fortune can magically erase our lifetime’s worth of existential problems. But it’s not really the case.
Before diving into further discussion of my point, let me share my story with you.
Last year, I lost my dad to covid. Since then my life has never been the same. Not only was he my mentor, but he was also my best friend who understood me more than anybody else in the entire world. Likewise, I knew who he really was since he told me how he actually viewed the world.
Throughout my father-and-son relationship, what he taught me about life was how important it is to practice kindness towards others and love someone unconditionally. Money is overrated. Chasing money doesn’t really solve our problems. The more you spend, the less you have. What really matters is to find something you can be passionate about and run with it throughout your life. Unlike money, the more you practice it, the better you’ll get. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist. As long as you love doing it, that’s amazing. That’s my dad’s teachings.
From here, let’s shift the gear back and start discussing today’s main topic: Money itself doesn’t mean much. What really matters is a skill. And here comes Android. Throughout my tech career, I’ve always wanted to be an Android app developer. My first ever Android device was a decade-old Galaxy Nexus. Since then, I’ve always been a loyal Nexus/Pixel fanboy with a few exceptions for which Galaxy and Huawei grabbed my attention for their extraordinary performances and superior design languages. I, however, fell in love again with the sleek Pixel models and probably I’ll keep being a hardcore Google fanboy.
Ever since I became a Java developer at the end of 2019, I started coding on a daily basis. My programming career, however, was not an easy start as I had to learn the basic MVC models, OOP, Spring framework, Eclipse, and many more programming-related concepts. But I didn’t give up. Especially thanks to YouTube/Udemy tutorials, I was able to practice building my own Servlet-JSP-powered web apps.
One thing I’m sure of is the undeniable fact that my coding skill has been improving because of my daily rituals. Throughout the process of my coding experiences, Android app development played a crucial role. Not only did I learn the software development process, but also I was able to gain some basic knowledge of Java. Since the coding language is what I use for my work, my daily interactions with Android app development were heavily integrated into my coding skill improvement.
Then came 2021. It was overwhelmingly the hardest and toughest year of my life when I lost my father. Elderly caregiver. Feminist. Liberalist. Human-rights supporter. Painter. Poet. Jazz Musician. Husband. Father. He had so many things to share with our world. Ever since his demise, my life has never been the same. However, there was one thing that didn’t change: my eternal curiosity toward tech, especially Android app development.
As I mentioned earlier, what really matters is what you can do. Skill is an essential part of our lives and it is what makes us shine in the crowd. Losing someone behind my back, I had to rely on my skillset to achieve financial independence more than ever, and Android was a crucial part of my coding development process. I love the OS and loved the process of coding, debugging, and testing my app. For hours and hours, I engaged myself in the process and fell in love with the OS unconditionally.
Things started to change at the end of May 2022. The Android app I was working on was almost finished, but there still were some parts I need some help for. So, I used a paid-mentor service where I can ask for some help for my price range. Within a few hours, a professional programmer who has 7+ years of coding experience responded to my request, and I decided to take his offer.
Despite the fact that he didn’t have any prior Android development experiences, his Java-coding skill was excellent, having solved some of the problems within a few hours. That was spectacular. That night, he asked me for a zoom call and discussed the app I’ve been working on.
“If I may ask, were you working on this app entirely by yourself?” He asked.
“Basically yeah. I first watched Udemy videos and learned the basic concept of Android Room Database, and I created this app based on my knowledge from scratch with some help of YouTube tutorials.” I answered.
“To be honest, this is astonishing. I’ve never seen anyone who could build this level of an app with merely 2+ years of coding experience. If you don’t mind our team really needs a programmer like you.” He said.
Even though I wasn’t sure about changing my job at that moment, his offer and his assessment of my coding skill gave me an extra level of confidence. And it was a clear sign that what I’ve been working on was not a waste of time. I was doing something meaningful, and it meant a lot to me.
The next day, he sent me a text message via Slack, saying “I talked about you with my friend who owns an Android app development business. And he was pretty much interested in your skill. You don’t have to quit your current job, but are you interested in developing a mobile app as your side job? Would you like to give it a shot?”.
In a heartbeat, I of course answered “yes”. My long-term dream as an Android app developer is almost around the corner, maybe. The side job may not start soon, but wherever his friend needs help, he will contact me. That’s how it works. I revised my resume where I wrote my relentless fascination with Android as well as my personal interactions with the OS, including rooting, installing custom ROMs, automating daily tasks with Tasker, changing the interface outlook with Nova launcher, and so many more. If I had to mention my all fascination with the amazing OS, I may have needed more than a hundred pages. Anyways, I sent my resume to my mentor, and let’s see how this journey ends up.
All in all, this is my personal journey with my eternal curiosity and my relentless fascination with Android. So, let’s get back to the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this essay: “a problem that can be solved with money is not really a problem”. What really matters is what you can do, not money. Today is the day. Ask yourself. Is there anything you can be passionate about? If you have one, what is the undeniable fascination with it? What would you want to be in five years?
Now, it’s your turn.
Life is a long journey. You don’t have to rush yourself. Step by step, you walk the long road, finding what you really want in your life. Plant a seed in your life and wait until the right time when they become the crop you can harvest. If you already have something you can be passionate about, that’s beautiful. Doubt your doubts and have faith in your journey. You’re not alone.
