DEV Community: Anusha

Why I'm Focusing on Indie Dev While Navigating a Tough Job Market

Anusha — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:32:24 +0000

It’s been a little while since I last posted. My last update was in late July, and now it's almost September.

I had intended to keep up with weekly dev logs for Itty Bitty Bites, my first mobile app. But life had other plans. And I want to talk about that honestly — not just the code I’ve written, but the stuff that happens around it, and how that shapes what I build (and when).

🎯 The Opportunity That Knocked, Then Closed

A few weeks ago, I got invited to a coding assessment for a new grad software developer role. It was a well-known company, and I was excited. The OA included four 1-hour technical assessments, plus required surveys. It was intense, especially as someone with limited daily time. I’m balancing parenthood, household responsibilities, and solo app development.

I studied whenever I could. I did LeetCode. I carved out time between toddler naps and late evenings. I passed all four coding rounds.

And then came the rejection.

No interview, no next steps. Just a “we’re moving in a different direction” email.

📉 That Familiar Low

I wish I could say it didn’t affect me. But it did — not just emotionally, but logistically.

Rejections like that don’t just sting. They disrupt.

As a recent CS grad (2025), I’ve already spent over 16 months in the industry across two strong internships (Samsung R&D, Article). During school, I was receiving interview invites from places like Rivian, Boeing, Samsung, and RBC, and I had fewer skills than I have now.

But somehow, now that I’ve grown, shipped more code, and taught myself full-stack and mobile dev, the market is quieter. Or harsher. Or both.

The rejection itself wasn’t new, but the disconnect between where I am now as a developer and the response I’m getting from the job market was hard to process.

🧭 Why I’m Refocusing on My App (For Now)

After the rejection, I took a step back to reset.

I realized how much switching gears — from indie app development to job applications and coding tests — was draining my momentum. Every time I paused work on Itty Bitty Bites to prepare for an opportunity, I’d come back days or weeks later feeling behind and disconnected from my own project.

And when the end result was just another auto-reply, it didn’t feel worth the cost.

So I’ve shifted my energy, at least for now, to focus fully on finishing my MVP.

Itty Bitty Bites is a mobile baby food recipe generator app built with React Native, Expo, TypeScript, and Supabase. It’s a solo build. I'm doing the UI, the backend, the prompt engineering, the state management, and the data shaping. All while learning how to ship a mobile app properly, step by step.

It’s not just a learning project anymore. It’s my real project. It’s something I want to release, polish, grow, and eventually earn from.

💡 This Doesn’t Mean I’ve Given Up

I want to be clear. I still want to work with a great team someday.

I still believe in the value of mentorship, collaboration, and working on larger-scale systems.

But I’m learning that self-sufficiency is also a career path, and that creating something end-to-end isn’t a fallback. It’s a skill. One that teaches you how to manage product scope, own your technical decisions, and stay accountable.

🧠 Things I’m Learning (Beyond the Tech)

Indie dev is not a step down. It’s a step sideways with autonomy.
Shipping something start to finish builds confidence like nothing else.
The job market is not always merit-based, especially for new grads right now.
It’s okay to protect your creative momentum, even while staying open to opportunities.

🧺 So What’s Next?

I’m finishing up the MVP flow for Itty Bitty Bites.

Once that’s done, I’ll focus on App Store prep, QA testing, and writing launch copy.

And yes, I’ll probably still apply to jobs, but more selectively. Not at the cost of burning out or losing progress on what I’m building.

If you’re also trying to navigate job hunting while building your own thing, or you’re a new grad feeling discouraged, I see you.

Thanks for reading, and if you’re building something too, I’d love to hear about it. 🧡

Why I Chose Supabase for My First Mobile App Backend (with React Native + Expo)

Anusha — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 08:30:34 +0000

After figuring out how to wrestle with native date pickers in my last post, this week I tackled something bigger: the backend.

I’m building Itty Bitty Bites, a baby food recipe app using React Native + Expo + TypeScript + NativeWind, and I finally made a call on my backend stack.

I chose Supabase — and if you’re working on your first mobile app, here’s why it might work for you too.

🧠 What I Was Looking For

This is my first mobile app, and I wanted something that felt modern, powerful, and not too overwhelming. I considered:

Firebase
PocketBase
A custom Django backend

But Supabase stood out because it gave me structure without too much setup, and let me stay in one lane while learning mobile dev.

✅ Why Supabase Felt Right

PostgreSQL: Structured, relational data makes sense for recipes, baby profiles, etc.
Auth included: Magic link and social login support
Built-in storage: Helpful for profile photos and recipe images later
Typed APIs: Really nice when you’re working in TypeScript
Good docs and community: Super helpful when you hit snags
Expo-friendly (especially if you use a custom dev client — more on that below)

⚠️ What Tripped Me Up

No backend is perfect, and here’s what I ran into:

🔐 Row-Level Security (RLS) is powerful, but there’s a learning curve. You’ll need to write policies carefully.
🧱 Auth UI is DIY: Supabase gives you auth functionality, not components — so you build the login flow yourself.
📷 File uploads in Expo need extra setup: You’ll need a custom dev client to handle native modules (e.g., expo-image-picker + Supabase storage). Not hard, but not plug-and-play either.

🆚 Why Not Firebase?

Firebase is great — especially for quick onboarding. It has ready-to-use SDKs, nice analytics, and built-in auth UI.

But the NoSQL data model felt like it might get messy as the app grows.

Supabase’s Postgres setup felt more natural for how I think about relationships between babies, ingredients, and saved recipes.

Also, I liked that Supabase gave me a better foundation to learn backend principles — not just rely on magic.

🛠️ What’s Next

I’m wiring up the recipe generation flow which includes shaping requests, validating inputs, and making sure only real ingredients go through (no "glitter" or "hot cheetos" lol).

If you're a web dev getting into mobile for the first time, I’d honestly recommend giving Supabase a shot. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great way to grow beyond just frontend.

Thanks for reading 🧡

IttyBittyBites- From Divs to Date Pickers

Anusha — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:50:16 +0000

I thought building a baby app would be mostly forms and buttons — the kind of stuff I could knock out in a night.

I was wrong.

React Native is mostly like React… until it’s not.

When React Native Got Real

My first bump? A date picker.

I wanted to let parents select their baby’s birthdate. Simple enough, right?

Turns out DateTimePicker on iOS pops up as a modal with invisible “Cancel” and “Done” buttons. Styling it? Not straightforward. Android renders it differently, and accessibility was a whole other thing.

This wasn’t just passing props to a component. This was my "welcome to native development" moment.

What I Built

I paused before reaching for yet another library.

Instead, I built a custom wrapper: DateOfBirthPicker.

A trigger button styled to fit the rest of the UI
Platform-specific handling: modal for iOS, inline for Android
Custom "Done" and "Cancel" buttons
Min/max dates (to avoid scrolling to the 1990s)

It’s not flashy. But it works — and I understand it inside and out.

Why This Matters

I’m not just building this app for other parents. I’m building it so they don’t have to go through what I did.

Not in the kitchen. Not in the code.

Every hour I spend figuring out invisible buttons or writing character limit logic is an hour another tired parent saves. That feels worth it.

What I’m Building

If you're new here, I’m working on Itty Bitty Bites — a baby recipe generator that works with what’s in your fridge.

No fancy ingredients. No blog-scroll before the actual recipe. Just fast, simple, safe ideas for tiny tummies.

Built with:

React Native + Expo Router v5 (custom dev client)
NativeWind (Tailwind in RN)
Supabase for storage, auth, and baby profiles

What’s Next

Right now I’m focused on:

Smarter form validation
Cleaner UI for baby profiles
One-hand-friendly input for busy parents

The baby’s asleep. The code is compiling. And the mission is still the same:

Build tools for parents that make life just a little easier.

Thanks for reading 🧡

Itty Bitty Bites — Week 2: Wearing All the Hats

Anusha — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 22:31:14 +0000

Week 2 of building Itty Bitty Bites is officially done!

If Week 1 was all about wireframes, goals, and setting the tone, Week 2 was a whole different beast - equal parts messy, energizing, and full of tiny wins.

👩‍💻 The Solo Dev Shift

At internships, I always had a clear role: you own this feature, this ticket, this slice of the pie.

But working solo? I'm the entire bakery.

This week, I bounced between:

🧠 Ideation — imagining how features should feel, not just function
✍️ Planning — scoping what can realistically be done in a sprint
🧪 Testing — manually checking flows and thinking through edge cases
🛠️ Implementation — breaking down logic, fixing bugs, getting stuck and unstuck
🎨 UI/UX tweaks — trying to make everything feel delightful on top of functional

And all while keeping my target user in mind: busy parents who just need a quick solution at mealtime.

💡 What I'm Learning

Constraints spark creativity. Sometimes the best solutions come from not having everything figured out.
Momentum > perfection. Some things can wait - polish will come once the core functionality works.
Solo doesn’t mean alone. Sharing these updates helps me feel more connected to the dev/indie hacker community.

🌱 What’s Next

Next week, I’ll start laying the foundation for user profiles so the recipe generation can be more tailored.

And I’ll be inching toward the fun stuff which is building out the actual recipe generation flow.

If you missed the Week 1 origin story, you can check it out here:

👉 Week 1: Building the app I needed as a new mom

You can find me here:

💼 LinkedIn
🐦 X

Thanks for reading 🧡

Itty Bitty Bites – Building the App I Needed as a New Mom

Anusha — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 21:04:20 +0000

When my baby was starting solids, I remember standing in the kitchen thinking:

“Okay... I have an apple and some oats. What now?”

I searched online for baby recipes and every result either called for an avocado I didn’t have, a list of 6 ingredients, or came buried beneath a three-minute scroll through someone’s life story.

I didn’t have time for that. I had a baby in one arm, chores piling up, and CS assignments breathing down my neck.

I just wanted a simple recipe based on what I had. Something I could trust was safe for a 6-month-old. Nothing fancy — just helpful.

The Idea That Wouldn’t Let Go

That moment stuck with me.

I didn’t build anything back then — I was too deep in my final semester, juggling code, baby naps, and everyday chaos. But after graduating, the idea came back.

What if I could build the app I needed that day?

So I opened up VSCode, installed Expo, and began building something I now call Itty Bitty Bites.

What I’m Building

Itty Bitty Bites is a baby recipe generator that works with your fridge, not against it.

No grocery trip required.

Tech Stack

Here’s what I’m using so far:

📱 React Native + Expo Router v5 (with a custom dev client)
🎨 NativeWind for styling with Tailwind classes
🛠️ Supabase for user profiles, saved recipes, and authentication
🍎 Sign in with Apple, Google, Facebook, and email (coming soon!)

What’s Next?

I just wrapped up the initial setup, navigation, and wireframes. Next, I’ll focus on:

Recipe input and generation screen
Loading animation
Saving & displaying recent recipes
Profiles for multiple babies

Why I’m Sharing This

I’m new to mobile app development. This is my first post-grad project and my first solo build from scratch. Sharing the process helps me stay accountable, but I also hope it resonates with someone else out there — a dev, a parent, a solo builder, or someone just trying to solve a small, real-life problem.

Let’s Connect!

If you’ve built something similar, love talking about UX for parents, or just want to follow along, feel free to say hi 👋

You can find me here:

💼 LinkedIn

Thanks for reading 🧡