@noddly I have some actionable advice. You are in an excellent spot.
week 1, 2 maybe 3: search for popular android applications that have low ratings that you can implement, sort them whichever way you prefer, do some wireframes and plan your first project. Do not spend less than 3 weeks. Do not spend more.
Week 4: This is the most important week. Figure out the tech you will be using. Make lots of demos projects, fail a bunch of times, set up libraries, APIs, accounts, integrations, link them to your project, whatever you need to get this to work. You have to know what you are doing before starting the project.
month 2, 3: implement a very simple frontend and a backend for that project. Cut corners on features, but make sure it doesn't crash. Test, test, test. Plan ahead. When a feature is done, do not look back. Do not spend less than 2 months. Do not spend more. Monetize, that's why we are here. Free to download, but put 1-2 features inside the app that can be purchased via google play. Make them $10 each.
month 3 week 1, 2: Automate deployment on server side, deploy on google play, send to friends, go on reddit, HN, itch.io, spread the word. Your goal is to get at least 20 customers a month. So one person a day. Assuming you did something that has a conversion rate of 1/100 (worst case), you need 2,000 people to see it every day. Google play will do most of the work for you.
Start the next project. Hopefully the first project will start getting traction.
Repeat this 3-4 times. Let your previous project's ratings and money motivate you. Things will accumulate over time.
Things don't work? No problem. Now you have four apps on the market to show to your next employer and a bunch of new experience.
This is actually what I did, but with web application and services. I tried app development in the one of my first few projects but finally gave up for web apps because it allows faster trial and error ( mainly I can push changes in UI and UX faster to a wider audience ). My take away is that stay away from "hot" topics ( news, game app ) unless you have a solid background because you need a really polish product to compete.
What metrics do you use for web applications and services? I mean with mobile app, you have downloads and ratings. But for web apps, you have no such thing.
Good advice IMO, but I want to nitpick something: "Assuming you did something that has a conversion rate of 1/100 (worst case)"
The worst case is making something terrible that no one wants, despite all that effort. And it is definitely possible. (Don't let that hold you back though, anyone reading this! Failure is the best way to learn, because it sucks so much.)
Failure can be useful, too. I made an iOS app that completely failed to get any sort of traction, but it was useful in getting consulting work, because clients knew that I had experience in iOS, in completing a project, and in getting approved (the process was seen as more troublesome back then), plus they could look at the app and get an idea of what I was capable of. Complete failure as a product, but great success in marketing.
i think that OP should also continue applying constantly for remote jobs in US while he's doing the aforementioned. if he spends 13 months writing android apps that go nowhere (which is an extremely high probability of that happening), he'll basically be no better off monetarily than before.
A. Things break. Especially MVPs. You can't just park it and move to the next project.
B. Nothing just grows on its own. It takes constant work to market and promote your app.
It can be the most amazing thing ever and still get no traffic because you failed promoting it.
week 1, 2 maybe 3: search for popular android applications that have low ratings that you can implement, sort them whichever way you prefer, do some wireframes and plan your first project. Do not spend less than 3 weeks. Do not spend more.
Week 4: This is the most important week. Figure out the tech you will be using. Make lots of demos projects, fail a bunch of times, set up libraries, APIs, accounts, integrations, link them to your project, whatever you need to get this to work. You have to know what you are doing before starting the project.
month 2, 3: implement a very simple frontend and a backend for that project. Cut corners on features, but make sure it doesn't crash. Test, test, test. Plan ahead. When a feature is done, do not look back. Do not spend less than 2 months. Do not spend more. Monetize, that's why we are here. Free to download, but put 1-2 features inside the app that can be purchased via google play. Make them $10 each.
month 3 week 1, 2: Automate deployment on server side, deploy on google play, send to friends, go on reddit, HN, itch.io, spread the word. Your goal is to get at least 20 customers a month. So one person a day. Assuming you did something that has a conversion rate of 1/100 (worst case), you need 2,000 people to see it every day. Google play will do most of the work for you.
Start the next project. Hopefully the first project will start getting traction.
Repeat this 3-4 times. Let your previous project's ratings and money motivate you. Things will accumulate over time.
Things don't work? No problem. Now you have four apps on the market to show to your next employer and a bunch of new experience.