Have you forgotten something? Do you want to learn more about something? Well, ask anybody for an answer about your queries and they will give you the same answer, “Google it up!” This is the 21st century, and Google knows everything we as humans need to know. Thanks to Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Well, Google is not only a search engine, there is much more cool technology behind it and that’s why GDGs (Google Developer Groups) exist. These are regional developer groups made up of Google technology enthusiasts.
This year, GDG Egerton in conjunction with GDG Kabarak brought you #DevfestNakuru on the 17th of October 2015 at Egerton University. Being the first Devfest to happen in Kenya this year, all the young and Google-enthusiastic developers from Nakuru County embraced the opportunity and turned out in large numbers. Their main agenda; learning and sharing on some of the latest trends in Google technologies.
The Devfest courtesy of Google, was organized by Egerton University’s GDG lead +Eric Kimathi alongside his assistant +Dennis Muoki and Kabarak University’s GDG lead +Eve Kilel. Some of the main Speakers for the day included Dennis Muoki from Egerton University, DeKUT’s Eve Kaberere and Ngesa Marvin, Kabarak University’s Eve Kilel, Egerton University’s Cliff Moturi, Kabarak’s Brian Musau, John Ibare from Taita taveta University college and Kimathi University’s Eric Warui.
Attendance
Out of the 80 people who were expected and who had signed up for #DevfestNakuru, a whopping 139 Google enthusiasts showed up! Of these 139 attendees, Egerton University, Dedan Kimathi University and Kabarak University were among the universities that attended the Devfest. The great success in attendance of the event was attributed to the tireless efforts of the event organizers.
The attendance was composed of mostly students, who were from different disciplines; Agriculture, Business, Computer Science, IT, Medicine, Engineering among others. Among the students taking degree and diploma courses in attendance were also some taking certificates courses.
The Event
The event kicked off a few minutes past 9.00 am and was officially opened by Eric Kimathi who invited the guests and got everyone in attendance in the Google Developer mood. He was followed by Dennis Muoki who gave a clearer and more concise understanding of what GDG is all about and what Devfest is and what it’s all about. Later on stage was Dedan Kimathi’s Eve Kaberere who talked about women in technology and women in science. She shared some encouraging insights on why and how the ladies in the house could be involved in technology alongside their male counterparts.
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| Google Cast by Dennis Muoki |
Egerton University’s Dennis Muoki took the stage again after Eve with one of the coolest Google technologies for developers, Google Cast. He explained that Google Cast is a way a connecting your existing application to the biggest and most beautiful screen in the house. Ideally, Google Cast enables a multi-screen experience to users in shared areas like living rooms. He went ahead and explained how the whole technology works using the cast protocols and how to integrate into an existing application. Dennis also gave useful links that could help kick start development using the cast SDKs available for developers.
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| Ngesa Marvin talking about Open Source Communities |
Next on stage was Dedan Kimathi’s Ngesa Marvin who talked about the open source community, IoT (Internet of Things) and NodeJs. Marvin encouraged people to join some of the available open source communities where they could learn and share more on Google technologies. He also talked about IoT which is the next big thing in the tech world. This includes smart communication of objects with each other without necessarily involving human beings. He also mentioned how Google is getting involved in the IoT movement and the massive steps Google technologies and developers across the world have taken in the same. Lastly, Marvin talked about NodeJs which is a JavaScript framework and a product of Google. He gave an overview of NodeJs and how developers can kick start in development using the framework.
The morning session was closed by Eve Kilel from Kabarak University who also talked about yet another JS framework; AngularJs and jQuery. Using the two technologies, she showed how it was possible to optimize the UI/UX of an app and give the app users the best experience. By then, people were already yawning and this was a good indicator that we needed to break for a good and savory meal which was served at the University’s best wing of the “Mess”.
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| Lunch Session |
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| Marryane talking about Digital Marketing |
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| Virtual Reality by Cliff Moturi |
Egerton’s Cliff Moturi gave a deep insight on Virtual reality, a very interesting technology. He explained how virtual reality has been used in controlled environments to perform otherwise hazardous tasks and how the same technology has been used in the gaming industry as well.
Kimathi University’s Eric Warui graced the stage talking about android app development. Well, a fun fact, did you know most of the Google's Android mobile operating systems are named after desserts and sweet treats in an alphabet order! With great expertise and skills he took the audience through the android app development process.
Next on stage was Brian Musau, who tackled android material design and polymer. With great humor, he definitely concluded the event presentations with a bang!
Well, being a devfest, it’s usually mainly celebrating google technologies. To extend the celebrations, we had to celebrate the active participants during the session and on social media too. One of the main winners of the day was Faith Kadzo; an Egerton University student, who was the most active on twitter. She walked away with a GDG branded t-shirt and a 32 flash disk GDG offline developer kit.
Throughout the event, participants won various Google branded merchandise such as T-shirts, stickers, developer kits, wristbands among others. Kimathi University’s Bradley, Michael and Mike Ikua ensured the participants celebrated the day in style by taking them through the fun games.
The event ended at around 5.30 PM and was officially celebrated by sharing 3 cakes to the participants to spread the Google Love! Two cakes branded with the hosting GDGs (GDG Egerton and GDG Kabarak) and one #DevfestNakuru cake!
It will definitely be an event to remember in future. The hosting GDG Egerton would like to give a vote of thanks to the main organizers for their tireless effort to ensure the event was a success. A major appreciation to GDG communities - Egerton University, Kabarak University and Kimathi University, for their attendance and the roles they played too.
-If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. - Margaret Fuller
Check out more more photos of how the event went down here
