At some point, being “just a mobile developer” stopped feeling like enough.

I’ve been a Flutter mobile developer for the last 5 years, and eventually I hit that familiar feeling: plateau. I’ve always believed that constant professional growth is mandatory, but I started questioning where that growth should go next.

Native mobile? iOS / Android? Honestly, it feels like more of the same. For Flutter, knowing how to write your own plugins already covers most real needs. I don’t want to switch to native. It feels too narrow.
Also, I still don’t fully understand why two separate teams often build the same app for different platforms, when a huge amount of code can be reused. I get that sometimes there’s a massive legacy codebase that’s hard to rewrite once and for all, or companies simply can’t find a strong cross-platform team — but still, it feels inefficient.

Then there’s backend. For a long time I thought: why do I need it as a mobile developer? There was simply nowhere to apply it in my daily work.

There’s also the management side. I’ve been a team lead for the last couple of years, and I’ve already developed some management skills — communication, planning, responsibility for delivery. But if I’m honest, my focus is still much more on the technical side.

About 1.5 years ago a new thought appeared:
What if the next step is becoming a CTO of a product I actually care about?
That role gives you much more influence, responsibility, and yes — better money. But let’s be honest: if you only know mobile, becoming a CTO is extremely hard.

Even though I graduated as a software engineer and almost started my career as a Python backend developer, I realized how many gaps I had:

• deployment & infrastructure
• databases (real-world usage, not just theory)
• message brokers, microservices, system design

And then the last year happened.

Chatbots, vibe-coding, agentic coding — this wave hit me like a real wake-up call. Suddenly, improving my skills wasn’t optional anymore. At the same time, these tools made learning backend much more accessible and faster.

So here’s my current plan:

1. Go deep into modern AI tools and solutions — maximum level. I’ve got serious FOMO here I need to get rid of.
2. Build pet project, read books, watch conferences, talk to other developers to grow solid backend skills.

My backend stack right now: Python + FastAPI.
Let’s see where this road leads 🚀

PS. This post was approved by ChatGPT