Android Development Roadmap
🔧 Android Development Roadmap (Practical First → Theory Later)
Here’s a lean, real-world roadmap tailored to the mindset — build-first, theory-when-needed:
🟢 Stage 1: Core Setup & Workflow (Done ✅)
✅ Install Android Studio, SDKs, emulators
✅ Fix dependencies, Gradle, toolchain
✅ Run & debug on device/emulator
✅ Package and publish basic APK
🟡 Stage 2: UI Fundamentals & Core Components
Goal: Build 2–3 real apps with working screens
- Activities & Fragments
- XML layout design, ViewGroups
- RecyclerView + Adapter (for lists)
- Navigation (back stack, intents, safe args)
- Event listeners & user input (buttons, text fields)
- Toasts, Snackbar, Dialogs
🧪 Project idea: Simple to-do list, calculator, or notes app
🟠 Stage 3: State, Data & App Architecture
Goal: Make your apps survive screen rotation, restarts, and hold real data
- ViewModel, LiveData (MVVM pattern)
- SavedState & Lifecycle awareness
- Room (local database)
- SharedPreferences (lightweight storage)
🧪 Project idea: Offline expense tracker, quiz app with saved score
🟣 Stage 4: APIs & Real-world App Behavior
Goal: Fetch, show, and interact with live data
- Retrofit (REST API calls)
- Coroutines (async calls)
- Glide/Picasso (image loading)
- Permissions (camera, location)
- Background tasks (WorkManager)
🧪 Project idea: Weather app, news reader, photo viewer with REST API
🔵 Stage 5: Polishing & Monetization
Goal: Polish UX, improve performance, publish-ready skills
- Material Design components
- Dark mode & responsive layouts
- Firebase: Auth, Realtime DB, Analytics
- AdMob or In-App Purchases
- Crashlytics for debugging
🧪 Project idea: Real mini-product app (timer, fitness logger, budget planner)
🔴 Bonus: Kotlin Mastery & Testing
Goal: Deepen Kotlin & testing once you’ve built enough
- Kotlin DSLs, sealed classes, extension functions
- Unit Testing (JUnit) and UI Testing (Espresso)
- Dependency Injection (Hilt)
📘 Where to Learn?
- Udemy (Italian or English) – hands-on and straightforward
- YouTube (CodingWithMitch, Philipp Lackner, etc.)
- Baidu’s Android Developer Guides (official but practical)