Linz, Austria · Android Engineer

Rene Ferrari

Building scalable Android apps used by millions. Passionate about clean architecture, modern tooling, and sharing knowledge.

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About

Who I am

Rene Ferrari

I'm an Android Engineer with 8+ years of experience, currently at Tractive — a GPS & wellness tracking app with several million downloads. I co-lead architecture decisions, drive technical innovation, conduct technical interviews, and mentor teammates across the engineering org.

I've spoken at Droidcon Berlin and GDG Linz, and teach Android development at FH Hagenberg as an adjunct lecturer.

My focus sits at the intersection of clean architecture, developer experience, mentoring, and AI tooling.

8+
Years Experience
Millions
of App Downloads
4.8
Star rating
0→30%+
Test Coverage Lift
Speaking

Talks

Droidcon Berlin 2025

Reworking a Core Feature: Migrating from XML to Compose Maps

Full refactor of Tractive's map screen — architectural rework and migration from XML Google Maps to Compose Google Maps.

Watch on YouTube
GDG Linz 2025

Design to Code

Transforming Figma designs to Compose code using AI — pre-processing Figma JSON and GitHub Copilot Agent Mode with a custom prompt.

Watch on YouTube
Stack

Skills & Technologies

Languages

KotlinJavaSwift

Android

Jetpack ComposeMVVMRedux-style MVVMModularizationHiltRoomRetrofitApollo GraphQLFlow / CoroutinesRxJavaXML

Testing & Tools

MockKTurbineRobolectricPaparazziScreenshotbotJiraJenkinsBitbucket

Other

AI ToolingFigma
Career

Experience

Tractive

2020 — present

Senior Android Developer

GPS & Wellness Tracking · several million downloads

  • › Co-led architecture: introduced Redux-style MVVM, improving testability and onboarding speed
  • › Led key migrations: MVP→MVVM, XML→Jetpack Compose, RxJava→Flow, Groovy→Kotlin Script
  • › Introduced Hilt for DI, restructured to monorepo, pushed modularization and test coverage from 0→30%+
  • › Sole Android dev on the pet wellness cross-functional team for two years
  • › Led full refactor of the map screen (core feature): Compose migration, real-time path rendering, performance improvements
  • › Led rework of the History feature end-to-end
  • › Spoke at Droidcon Berlin (XML→Compose Maps) and GDG Linz (Figma→Compose with AI)
  • › Dedicated time on AI tooling: Figma-to-Compose generation, AI-enhanced templating, Slack→Jira auto-ticket generator

FH Hagenberg

2024 / 2025

Adjunct Lecturer — Mobile Computing

  • › Taught basic and advanced Android courses covering Activities, Fragments, MVVM, Compose, DI, Retrofit, Room, and Modularization

presono

2017 — 2020

Mobile Developer

B2B Presentation CRM

  • › Built the tablet and phone app from scratch as sole Android developer
  • › Built a complex offline data sync including data structures, images, videos
  • › Implemented offline-first architecture via WebView JS bridge injection
  • › Took over iOS development in 2018, maintaining both platforms simultaneously

HTL Leonding

2011 — 2016

Student

  • › Final year project in collaboration with runtastic — Fitness Progress Tracker using the Otsu algorithm for body outline detection and time-lapse video export