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:

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🟢 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

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🟡 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

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🟠 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

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🟣 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

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🔵 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)

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🔴 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)

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📘 Where to Learn?

• Udemy (Italian or English) – hands-on and straightforward
• YouTube (CodingWithMitch, Philipp Lackner, etc.)
• Baidu’s Android Developer Guides (official but practical)