I am Xu Zeze, a big data engineer. Today, I would like to share with you my experience from Android to big data. I hope I can give you some help. I’d be honored if I could get you thinking.
I started Android development in 2014, during which I became the head of mobile department. At the beginning of 2019, I switched to big data development. Today, two years later, I make a review of the whole transformation process. On the one hand, I encourage myself, and on the other hand, I provide some references for students who want to transform big data. My experience is personal, but I think the thinking process is the same. \
Why big Data?
When I became head of the mobile department, I felt that Android was already a blue sea, and it would take just three months for any graduate to train. There’s nothing new about the technology, just front-end development.
And the Android technology market has been completely saturated, the market environment is not very good, specific performance is the industry average salary generally back cold. When I started out, Android and iOS development was at its peak and money was easy to make.
We technology people have a kind of fear from the new technology, Android technology updates too fast, and then a new one, do not learn, do not make the page as good as others do ah.
So I started to focus on big data, which was more popular at that time. I knew that big data was a blue ocean. More importantly, data is a must for every company in every industry, is just needed, and more importantly, the average salary is higher than Android.
So, turn! Turned without hesitation.
Career change process
Firm goals
I first write down my reasons for changing careers and my goals on a piece of paper and post them on the wall. Goals should be divided into short-term goals and long-term goals, the long-term goal is engaged in the big data industry. In the short term, I have a learning schedule where I learn a component at a certain point in time. Learning is bound to encounter difficulties and setbacks, every time I would look at the wall of the paper, to find the original intention at that time. So you don’t forget why you’re going because it’s hard.
For a given period
I have consulted many students who have made a successful transition before about the deadline for transition, and they gave surprisingly consistent answers: if it is less than 3 months, you will definitely not learn thoroughly, while if it is more than 3 months, you will easily lose your passion. Once you lose your passion for learning, you will soon give it up. So I decided to study for three months.
The specific learning arrangement is as follows: In the first stage, I will learn data warehouse, because data warehouse is the basis of big data development. In the second stage, I learned a Spark project. In the third stage, I took two projects and went out for an interview. I had to learn during the interview.
To sum up, it is theory + actual combat + interview test.
Interview oriented learning
It took me about a month to finish my two programs, and then I started interviewing for my resume. I started interviewing so early to reorient myself. At the beginning, I thought ZooKeeper was too important, so I memorized a lot of zooKeeper interview questions, but many companies didn’t ask me at all. This is to correct my learning direction through interview feedback.
When it comes to interviews, interviewers like to look at three dimensions: fundamentals, concepts and projects. Big companies add algorithms. The items and technical points on your resume should be thoroughly researched. As for concepts and basics, find interview questions online and memorize them.

I will deliberately invest in some outsourcing companies at the beginning, to practice courage. Practice reciting basic concepts by the way (I am good or bad). I made a few interviews, studied for a week, then applied again, and so on. Start receiving offers slowly, and then feel confident enough to challenge better companies. After working for 10 companies, you can get a general idea of what kind of questions interviewers like to ask. Small companies like to ask about projects, and big companies like to ask about fundamentals.
Find a study partner
I think my willpower is not very strong, so I found some wechat groups on the Internet who also want to transfer big data. We supervise each other to learn, share experience, learn when tired of each other jokes refueling, learning help is also very big. If you also want to change careers, you can add me to wechat: Reiserx, remarks learn big data to change careers.
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Turning the results
My experience in Android development and management in the past few years helped me. According to the above plans and actions, plus a little luck, I successfully transformed into big data in 19 years.
Finally, I chose to do big data development in a foreign bank with a good salary and no overtime at all. Now they’re using their free time to work on big data architecture, and the nice thing about big data is that you don’t have to worry about the ceiling.
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Review and reflection
So far, it looks pretty good, a good example of successful landing of big data, right? In fact, not all kinds of sad only I experience. If I were to give one piece of advice to my wandering self, I would say: “Boy, do it steadily, don’t be half-hearted, any technical road is difficult and endless!” \
If you’ve been in development for more than 3 years like me, my answer is “try not to change industries”.
If you’re new to the game, Android and big Data will be the latter, but if you’ve been working as a mobile developer for more than 3 years, here are three things to think about:
If Android doesn’t do well, big data doesn’t do well
Don’t believe what others say. Android is saturated, not gone, and there are plenty of jobs for mid-to-advanced Android. If you put your energy into learning big data to improve Android’s technology, you’ll get a better result in the end. To be brutally honest, it’s not Android that doesn’t work, it’s developers that don’t work.
Changing careers means giving up
When I made the transition to the new company, I really had the feeling that I had become a total white elephant. Because it’s really quite different from previous mobile development, because big data development is actually closer to the back end. Then the previous proud custom View, OkHttp, RxJava, componentization, hot update skill points are completely useless. And the middle and senior mobile engineers have become junior engineers of big data. Consider your age and decide whether you can accept the salary of junior engineers?
Moving to big data means giving up all the accumulated skills, knowledge, ranks, and even salaries. This psychological gap is really difficult to accept, I often face a long time to ask a colleague who is several years younger than me.
There are better options
For a developer with 3-5 years of experience, it’s more important to broaden. But does this breadth require learning big data? If you choose the big front end, again, you don’t have to start from scratch. Your years of experience can be used. And don’t think that the front-end framework iteration is too fast to learn, big data technology iteration is also fast yo. The market is always short of middle and senior engineers, not big data engineers. Consider your own accumulation and try to smooth the transition.
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conclusion
I went from lead Android developer to big data engineer, and I’m on my way to big data architect. \
I spent about 3-6 months in the whole transition process, during which I used Internet resources to learn, joined study groups to urge myself, and equipped myself in all aspects from the core theory of big data, project practice and interview.
Looking back after the transformation, all the way looks very successful, but the bitter tears only their own silent swallow. And the most important cognitive change after the switch is that big data is also hard to do, but also to keep learning. The only upside is that you don’t have to worry about the ceiling for a while, because the big data knowledge system is so vast that it’s impossible to learn it all
I am Xu Zeze, an engineer of Android transformation into big data. I hope my experience can give you some inspiration. If you have similar confusion, please add me to wechat: Reiserx. We will stay together and encourage each other.
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