From Android Engineer to Indie Developer: My Journey So Far

#android #career #devjournal

Hi, I'm Gudong.

After 10+ years as an Android engineer, I took a leap into indie development. This is my story—the good parts, the hard parts, and what I've learned along the way.

Why I Left the Comfort Zone

I spent a decade building Android apps. I was good at it. I had stability. But something was missing.

I wanted to build things that were truly mine. Products that I could ship quickly, iterate on, and have direct relationships with users. Not just features in a large corporate app.

So I started building small tools on the side. At first, it was scary. No paycheck guarantee. No team to fall back on. Just me and my laptop.

My Philosophy: Local-First & Long-Term Thinking

Two core beliefs guide my work:

Local-First: Your data should live on your device, not trapped in some server you don't control. This is why I built inBox Notes—a minimalist note-taking app that stores everything locally.

Long-Termism: Build things that matter. Things that solve real problems, even if they're small. Don't chase trends. Build slowly, iterate carefully.

What I've Built

Over the past few years, I've shipped several products:

inBox Notes – A minimalist local note-taking app
WeiMD – A Markdown formatting tool for WeChat articles
SlideNote – A Chrome sidebar note-taking extension
inBox Card – A public knowledge card app

None of them are "overnight successes." But each one has real users. Each one solves a specific problem I or people around me faced.

Embracing AI as a Coding Partner

One thing that transformed my indie dev journey is AI coding tools like Claude Code and Cursor.

I call it "Vibe Coding"—it's not about replacing developers. It's about having an intelligent partner that helps you move faster, explore ideas, and focus on what matters: building things people actually want.

AI doesn't write better code than me. But it helps me write more of the code that matters, and less of the boilerplate that doesn't.

The Hardest Part

The transition wasn't easy.

Some months, income is unpredictable. Some days, I miss having teammates to bounce ideas off. Building everything yourself means wearing every hat—developer, designer, marketer, support.

But the freedom to ship what you want, when you want? Worth it.

In Closing

If you're thinking about making the jump from employee to indie, here's my advice:

Start small. Build on the side. Don't quit your day job until you have something real. And remember—it's okay to be slow. Consistent progress beats explosive growth that burns you out.

I'm Gudong, and I'm still figuring it out, one commit at a time.

About Me