As 2025 comes to an end, I wanted to pause for a moment and reflect on the year gone by.
A Year of Quality Android Engineering
On the CodeTutor YouTube channel, the year began with a strong focus on writing high-quality Android code. We spent time revisiting core engineering principles through topics like Dependency Injection and Unit Testing, which naturally built upon the SOLID principles we had explored in 2024.
As the year progressed, my focus slowly shifted toward CI/CD. We dived into mocking frameworks for Android, writing meaningful unit tests, and measuring code coverage. By the end of the year, it was clear that the direction was moving more towards Continuous Integration and Continuous Development. This is a direction I expect to continue exploring further in 2026.
That said, 2025 wasn’t just about Android development.
Exploring AI and Agentic Development
This was also the year I started creating content around AI. I published videos on working with LLMs to build RAG systems and shared my thoughts on agentic development — what it really means, how developers should approach it, and what best practices matter.
I also explored working with MCP servers and discussed how developers can responsibly and effectively use these tools in real-world software projects.
Launching CodeTutorHub
One of the most important milestones for me this year was the launch of my personal website, CodeTutorHub — the very place where you’re reading this post.
The goal of this site is simple: to go beyond video content and provide well-thought-out written material that developers can read, revisit, and reflect on at their own pace. Going forward, I hope this becomes a place where you regularly find useful, high-quality content.
A Challenging Year for Developers
From an industry perspective, 2025 has been anything but calm for developers.
We’ve seen a lot of turbulence globally, and India — being a major offshore hub — hasn’t been immune to it. There’s constant discussion around over-hiring during the pandemic, productivity gains driven by AI, and rapid advancements in agentic systems.
Regardless of how much we agree with these narratives, they are clearly influencing the industry. For fresh engineers especially, entering the job market has become increasingly difficult, largely because AI is significantly amplifying the output of experienced developers.
AI as a Productivity Multiplier — With Responsibility
I’ve personally experienced this shift. Using AI tools, I’ve been able to build solutions that would traditionally have required a team of engineers working for six months, in roughly half that time. CodeTutorHub itself is a good example of this.
I built this website end-to-end on my own over six months, working on it as a side project during weekends and holidays. While it might be tempting to label this as vibe coding, that wouldn’t be accurate.
As a professional developer, I had a clear vision of what I wanted to build and how it needed to be built. The system was planned, scoped, and architected upfront. AI agents helped with execution, but they also made mistakes — and it was my responsibility to catch those issues and correct them. That human judgment is what still matters most.
I don’t believe this kind of work can be reduced to vibe coding. Vibe coding has its place, especially for quick experiments or throwaway prototypes where long-term consequences are minimal. But building production-grade, maintainable software requires intent, discipline, and experience. Even when using AI, those core software engineering principles don’t go away.
Looking Ahead to 2026
In the hands of experienced developers, AI can be an incredible productivity multiplier. At the same time, it raises an important concern: how do new developers gain the depth of understanding needed to operate at this level?
Experience still matters, and with fewer opportunities for junior engineers to learn and grow, this could become a serious challenge for the industry in the years ahead. I genuinely hope the industry finds a way to course-correct.
Looking ahead to 2026, my goal is to be more consistent and explore a wider range of topics on the CodeTutor YouTube channel. I also want this website to grow into a strong repository of high-quality content — not just limited to Android development, but extending into architecture, system design, career growth, and broader engineering practices.
That’s my reflection on 2025. I’m curious to see where 2026 takes us.