I'm an airline pilot with no programming experience, but I'd like to build a small weather app for my own use. The first version would display radar imagery and METAR/TAF information for selected airports, with possible ADS-B integration later. Ideally, I'd like it to run on Android, and perhaps iOS in the future. I currently use a Windows PC, so I was considering learning Kotlin and starting with Android development.
I have about 15–20 hours per week available, but I'm stuck in tutorial hell. Some courses recommend starting with Python or broad computer science fundamentals, while others say to learn the language and tools needed for the project. I've tried introductory courses, but they cover bits of Python, Java, and general theory without helping me build what I actually want.
Android Studio setup, emulators, APIs, project structure, and fixing configuration errors have also taken more time than writing code. Many tutorials begin with downloadable starter projects instead of showing how to create and organize everything from scratch. Am I approaching this incorrectly? Should I continue with fundamentals, start directly with Kotlin, or prototype the idea another way first?
4 Answers
Don’t feel obligated to build the full mobile app immediately. A basic HTML and JavaScript prototype can run in your browser and may be enough to test the idea. You could make one page that calls a weather API and displays radar or METAR/TAF data, then later turn it into a progressive web app or move to a native Android implementation. This lets you focus on the product instead of fighting the emulator and build system on day one.
Split your time between fundamentals and the project instead of waiting until you feel fully prepared. Spend perhaps half your time learning basic programming and Kotlin, and the other half building tiny pieces of the app. Start by sketching the screens and defining the smallest useful version: choose an airport, request its weather data, and display the result. You’ll learn much faster by repeatedly getting stuck on specific problems and solving them than by trying to absorb every concept first.
AI tools can help explain errors or generate small examples, but treat their output as a learning aid rather than something you can blindly trust. If you don’t understand the code, diagnosing a bad weather report, incorrect unit conversion, stale data, or a failed API request will be difficult. That matters even more for aviation-related information, so verify every data source and never treat a hobby app as an operational flight tool.
For the first attempt, make the ugliest working version possible. Even a screen with hard-coded weather text is useful because it teaches you how the project is structured and how the interface works. Then add one real API call, handle loading and errors, and improve it step by step. Avoid worrying about perfect architecture or integrating ADS-B until the basic workflow works on your actual phone. Android setup problems are frustrating for nearly everyone, so getting a simple test app running on a physical device can be more motivating than relying on an emulator.
That makes sense. I jumped into the tools before deciding exactly how the app should look and behave, so I’ll start by planning the screens and reducing the first version to one simple feature.