An under-discussed topic: how the hottest software engineering job of the early 2010s is seeing a steady but ongoing decline the last few years. I'm talking about the native iOS and Android positions. Outside of Big Tech, few startups/scaleups hire for this. Since ~2022?
62
39
43
531
I analyzed it back in 2022, and don't see this trend being reversed at all: newsletter.pragmaticengineer… A few Staff+ level native mobile engineers I know at Big Tech are moving away from native mobile, into fullstack or Ai engineering, due to lack of professional growth and opportunities.

Is there a drop in native iOS and Android hiring at startups?

Fewer startups seem to be building native applications from day one. Why is this, and what does it mean for where native mobile engineering is headed?

newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
5
2
63
React Native is definitely the tool of choice for most startups and scaleups (save for a very small number of ones that care very much about e.g. performance, and don't mind spending 2-3x as much on their mobile app as RN would cost)
Guillermo Rauch
 @rauchg
Nov 3
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
After building the @v0 mobile app in React Native & Expo we’re never looking back. Look out for the incoming eng blog post by @FernandoTheRojo

Nov 3, 2025 · 3:31 PM UTC

10
4
95
Yes, most cross-platform development is done using React Native of Flutter. There's always the question of what is more popular, and there's no simple answer. React Native seems to be more popular in US and UK, and w scaleups and larger companies. More: newsletter.pragmaticengineer…
2
1
1
32
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
It definitely makes sense in terms of team and resource allocation, but there's a user-perceivable lag in React Native apps that just feels wrong.
1
1
This is increasingly argumentative (which shows how RN keeps improving compared to native perf) eg
Aditya Vashisht
 @vashishtaditya_
Nov 3
Replying to @rauchg @GergelyOrosz @v0 @FernandoTheRojo
What!? Didn’t know it was built with Expo/React Native. Felt so native 🤯
3
1
5
more replies
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
We can tell
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
I disagree as I still see way more hiring for native positions than I do for RN or Flutter positions. More RN than Flutter for sure but more Android than both of those.
1
1
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
Native iOS Dev here for 16 years as of this November. I didn’t understand is RN 2-3 times cheaper than native? If yes, can I ask where this metric came from? Was there a study of two identical teams working on identical projects to measure that?
1
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
As someone that never got warm feelings for both RN and Flutter I still struggle with the choice what to use for every project. Does anyone have a comparison with 2+ years of experience in both side by side?
2
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
Any specific reasons why React Native / Expo have become better at this in the last 3-4 years?
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
Ues, for ugly apps, where speed and price is the driver.
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
Interesting, do LLMs and Agents change that course, when smaller native teams could make the same without additional layer on top of native system.
Replying to @GergelyOrosz
Might be interesting to read How Zenjob moved to RN and some things (OTA updates combined with CD, one codebase, one language across stack..) improved a lot: medium.com/zenjob-tech-blog/… medium.com/zenjob-tech-blog/… medium.com/zenjob-tech-blog/…

From silos to platform

How we reorganized mobile engineering to unlock speed, ownership, and scale.

medium.com
Load more