Tag Archives: Training

Learn Jetpack Compose at a Compose Camp near you!

Posted by Kat Kuan, Developer Relations Engineer, Android

 Jetpack Compose is Android's modern toolkit that simplifies Android UI development. It's already used by thousands of apps around the world such as Twitter, Airbnb and Google Play; if you're not already using it, it's a great time to start. To make learning Compose even easier, we are launching Compose Camp, a series of in-person and virtual sessions where you can learn how to build Android apps with Jetpack Compose alongside your peers. Grab your “camping gear” and see how you can participate in a Compose Camp near you!

Jetpack Compose accelerates app development by enabling you to use and maintain less code, giving you intuitive & powerful APIs so you can leverage the best of Android when building compelling experiences for your users. Google is committed to increasing opportunities for anyone to learn Android development, so we're making learning the latest best practices more accessible in ways that suit different learning styles. We’ve heard how enjoyable and impactful it can be to learn in a group setting from many of you, which is why we’re launching Compose Camp around the world. You can learn how to build Android apps with Compose with the support of peers and “camp leaders” to guide you along the way.



Compose Camp is for beginners and experienced developers

If you’re new to Android development or just getting started with programming, check out the Beginner track where you’ll learn basic programming concepts and fundamentals of app development, including how to build user interfaces with Jetpack Compose.

If you’re an Android developer who wants to learn how to migrate from Views to Compose or are looking to learn more about building UI using advanced features, then the Experienced track is for you. You’ll start with the essentials of Jetpack Compose, and then dive deep into various Compose topics.


Learning in a group can be more effective and fun

Many of you have told us that you enjoy learning alongside others because of the support and help you get within the context of a community. Google developer communities are a great way to connect with students and peers in your industry, tackle technical challenges together, and learn skills from each other that you can apply directly to your projects. They will be hosting Compose Camps around the world over the next few months, so look for one near you!

You can lead your own Compose Camp

This is also a great opportunity to build your expertise through leading and teaching others; you can become a “Camp Leader.” We have everything you need to lead your own Compose Camp including materials to help you facilitate learning, guidance on how to run a session, sample slides, and materials to recruit a group of peers.


Learn Compose at your own pace

If “solo-camping” is more your style, check out these online courses that can be done at your own pace. The Android Basics with Compose course is recommended if you’re just getting started with Android development. If you already have some Android development knowledge, check out the Jetpack Compose for Android Developers course.

We hope these resources are helpful for your journey in learning Android development and Compose. Looking forward to seeing you at Compose Camp!

Android Basics and Training Update

Posted by Dan Galpin, Developer Relations Engineer

Android robot on a pretend video call

In October of 2021 we released the final unit of Android Basics in Kotlin, our free, self-paced programming course that makes Android development accessible to everyone. It teaches people with no programming experience how to build Android apps. Along the way, students learn the fundamentals of programming and the basics of the Kotlin programming language.

In response to feedback from educators and learners, we've continued to iterate on our course material, adding projects that allow you to apply learnings along with new topics that can prepare students for more advanced material.

A focus on basics

With these updates, Android Basics in Kotlin now covers the key material covered in Android Kotlin Fundamentals, so we will be sunsetting the latter course. More advanced learners are encouraged to work through the Basics material, skipping sections that they are familiar with and moving straight to quizzes. Focusing on basics means that intermediate and advanced learners that might be missing a key concept will have what they need to succeed with this material. This also allows our team to focus on making sure our courseware continues to represent our most recent guidance. In addition to courseware, we're continuing to provide codelabs, code samples, documentation, and video content to serve learners at all levels.

What's next?

Our team is hard at work on the next course that will teach people how to program Android applications using Jetpack Compose. We're looking forward to teaching Android’s modern toolkit for building native UI because of all the ways that it simplifies and accelerates Android UI development.

What to do now

Taking the current course will teach you the fundamentals of app development, serving as a great starting point should you want to explore the existing Jetpack Compose Learning Pathway, or jump into the upcoming Android Basics with Compose course. You'll have a foundation that you can build on as you continue to explore the world of Android development. Both versions of Android Basics are planned to coexist, giving the option of learning Android with either UI toolkit.

Whether you’ve never built an app before but want to learn how, or just want to brush up on some of our latest best practices, check out the Android Basics in Kotlin course.

Learn Android and Kotlin with no programming experience

Posted by Kat Kuan, Developer Advocate, Android

Many people today are considering career paths that enable them to work remotely. App development allows for that style of work. For people who want a new opportunity, it’s possible to start learning Android today, even without prior programming experience.

In 2016, we released our Android Basics curriculum, which assumes no programming experience, and the response has been tremendous. Hundreds of thousands of students have been learning Android development and programming concepts simultaneously as they build apps. Since then, there have been big platform changes with four major releases of Android and support added for the Kotlin programming language. We also introduced Jetpack, a suite of libraries that make it easier to build better apps with less code. With all these new updates, it’s time to release the next generation of training content for beginners.

Today we’re announcing the launch of Android Basics in Kotlin, a new online course for people without programming experience to learn how to build Android apps. The course teaches Kotlin, a modern programming language that developers love because of its conciseness and how it increases productivity. Kotlin is quickly gaining momentum in industry. Over a single year from 2018 - 2019, Indeed Hiring Lab found a 76% increase in Kotlin jobs.*

Google announced that Android development is Kotlin-first, and 60% of professional Android developers have already adopted the language. In the Play Store, 70% of the top 1,000 apps use Kotlin. To keep pace and prepare for the future, there has never been a more opportune time to learn Android with Kotlin.

Learning to code for the first time can feel intimidating, but it is possible to learn without a technical background. From a recent Stack Overflow Developer Survey, nearly 40% of the professional developers who studied at university did not receive a formal computer science or software engineering degree.

To build your confidence, the Android Basics in Kotlin course offers step-by-step instructions on how to use Android Studio to build apps, as well as how to run them on an Android device (or virtual device). The goal is to expose you to the tools and resources that professional Android developers use. With hands-on practice, you learn the fundamentals of programming. By the end of the course, you will have completed a collection of Android apps to start building a portfolio.

Object detection & tracking gif Text recognition + Language ID + Translate gif

App screenshots from the course

This course is split up into units, where each unit is made up of a series of pathways. At the end of each pathway, there is a quiz to assess what you’ve learned so far. If you pass the quiz, you earn a badge that can be saved to your Google Developer Profile.
Object detection & tracking gif Text recognition + Language ID + Translate gif

Badges you can earn

The course is free for anyone to take. Basic computer literacy and basic math skills are recommended prerequisites. Unit 1 of the course is available today, with more units being released as they become available. If you’ve never built an app before but want to learn how, check out the Android Basics in Kotlin course.

If you already have programming experience, check out the other free training courses we offer in Kotlin:

We can’t wait to see what you build!

*from US tech job postings on Indeed.com

Strengthen your cloud skills with Google Cloud training

Posted by Yuri Grinshteyn, Site Reliability Engineer

We know many of you are looking for ways to keep learning and connecting with other developers virtually right now, and we want to help. Below you can check out our top on-demand Google Cloud training webinars and resources where you can take hands-on labs and learn, at no charge, more about everything from the basics of Google Cloud to more advanced topics like building robust cloud architecture.

Starting with the basics

You can tune in from May 19-20 to watch instructors in Cloud OnBoard break down what it takes to migrate to Google Cloud and explain the basics of the Google Kubernetes Engine, a managed, production-ready environment for running containerized applications. After the sessions, you’ll have a chance to test what you’ve learned by participating in hands-on labs and challenges with the Cloud Hero Online Challenge. Missed the live recording on May 19-20? No worries! You can view it on-demand starting May 21 and still participate in hands-on labs.

Gaining more hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of Google Cloud products

Ready to gain more hands-on cloud experience and deeper product knowledge? We have webinars where Googlers will walk you through more hands-on labs on Qwiklabs and share product tips and tricks.

If you’re interested in big data and machine learning, you can do a lab I recorded in the Baseline: Data, ML, AI webinar to get more experience using tools like Big Query, Cloud Speech API, and Cloud ML Engine. You can also learn how to use BigQuery and other Google tools to draw insights and visualize data from the public health data sets Google released to support the COVID-19 research process in our Data science for public health: Working with public COVID-19 datasets webinar.

Getting role-based training and preparing for certification

For those of you who are already cloud professionals, our top webinars this year so far are Professional Cloud DevOps and Professional Cloud Architect.

You can learn how to improve the way you build software delivery pipelines, deploy and monitor services, and manage incidents in the DevOps webinar. The Cloud Architect webinar will discuss how to ensure you’re designing, developing, and managing effective solutions.

Both webinars will also help prepare you to earn Google Cloud certifications. If you’d like to learn more about the certification program, you can attend our on-demand webinar Why Certify? Everything to know about Google Cloud Certification.

More no-cost resources to check out

We’re also offering our extensive catalog of Google Cloud on-demand training courses on Pluralsight and Qwiklabs at no cost when you sign up by May 31, 20201. You can learn how to prototype an app, build prediction models, and more—at your own pace by registering here.

We hope these webinars and resources help you continue learning new skills and stay connected with the broader Google developer community.

1. Your 30-days access to these Google Cloud training courses at no cost starts when you enroll for your courses. These offers are valid until May 31, 2020. After your 30-days, you will incur charges on Pluralsight; for Qwiklabs, you will need to purchase credits to continue taking labs.

Learn Business Best Practices at the “Open for Business” Livestream Workshop

If you made a New Year’s resolution to grow your business online in 2018, we’re here to help. Tomorrow, February 21, Google is teaming up with the Small Business Administration (SBA), Facebook, Constant Contact, and Square to host a livestream workshop.

“Open for Business” Livestream Workshop
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
9:30am - 11:00am PST | 12:30pm - 2pm EST

There are two ways you can watch:
1. Register for a partner-hosted viewing party to watch the workshop with fellow businesses in your community. These events are hosted by local organizations that partner with Google to help small businesses grow. There is no charge for you to attend.

2. Don’t feel like leaving the house? Can’t find a viewing party near you? No problem. Register here and we'll send you details on how to access the livestream online.


Experts will share best practices for keeping your business competitive, tips for creating a positive experience for online and in-person shopping, steps for expanding your reach, and advice on building brand loyalty using email. We’ll finish the workshop with a live Q&A. You can post your questions in the comments section of the Facebook Live broadcast. 


Be sure to follow and post using the hashtag #SBAOpen4Biz on social media to see how other businesses are tuning in. 

Posted by Whitney Cox, Marketing Manager, Get Your Business Online

Live from the Firebase Dev Summit in Berlin: Firebase, six months after I/O

Posted by Francis Ma, Firebase Product Manager

Originally posted to the Firebase blog

Our goal with Firebase is to help developers build better apps and grow them into successful businesses. Six months ago at Google I/O, we took our well-loved backend-as-a-service (BaaS) and expanded it to 15 features to make it Google’s unified app development platform, available across iOS, Android, and the web.

We launched many new features at Google I/O, but our work didn’t stop there. Since then, we’ve learned a lot from you (750,000+ projects created on Firebase to date!) about how you’re using our platform and how we can improve it. Thanks to your feedback, today we’re launching a number of enhancements to Crash Reporting, Analytics, support for game developers and more. For more information on our announcements, tune in to the livestream video from Firebase Dev Summit in Berlin. They’re also listed here:

Improve App Quality to Deliver Better User Experiences

Firebase Crash Reporting comes out of Beta and adds a new feature that helps you diagnose and reproduce app crashes.

Often the hardest part about fixing an issue is reproducing it, so we’ve added rich context to each crash to make the process simple. Firebase Crash Reporting now shows Firebase Analytics event data in the logs for each crash. This gives you clarity into the state of your app leading up to an error. Things like which screens of your app were visited are automatically logged with no instrumentation code required. Crash logs will also display any custom events and parameters you explicitly log using Firebase Analytics. Firebase Crash Reporting works for both iOS and Android apps.

Glide, a popular live video messaging app, relies on Firebase Crash Reporting to ensure user quality and release agility. “No matter how much effort you put into testing, it will never be as thorough as millions of active users in different locations, experiencing a variety of network conditions and real life situations. Firebase allows us to rapidly gain trust in our new version during phased release, as well as accelerate the process of identifying core issues and providing quick solutions.” - Roi Ginat, Founder, Glide.

Firebase Test Lab for Android supports more devices and introduces a free tier.

We want to help you deliver high-quality experiences, so testing your app before it goes into the wild is incredibly important. Firebase Test Lab allows you to easily test your app on many physical and virtual devices in the cloud, without writing a single line of test code. Beginning today, developers on the Spark service tier (which is free!) can run five tests per day on physical devices and ten tests per day on virtual devices—with no credit card setup required. We’ve also heard that you want more device options, so we’ve added 11 new popular Android device models to Test Lab, available today.

Illustration of Firebase Crash Reporting

Make Faster Data Driven Decisions with Firebase Analytics

Firebase Analytics now offers live reporting, a new integration with Google “Data Studio”, and real-time exporting to BigQuery.

We know that your data is most actionable when you can see and process it as quickly as possible. Therefore, we’re announcing a number of features to help you maximize the potential of your analytics events:

  1. Real-time uploading of conversion events
  2. Real-time exporting to BigQuery
  3. DebugView for validation of your analytics instrumentation
  4. StreamView, which will offer a live, dynamic view of your analytics data as we receive it

To further enhance your targeting options, we’ve improved the connection between Firebase Analytics and other Firebase features, such as Dynamic Links and Remote Config. For example, you can now use Dynamic Links on your Facebook business page, and we can identify Facebook as a source in Firebase Analytics reporting. As well, you can now target Remote Config changes by User Properties, in addition to Audiences.

Build Better Games using Firebase

Firebase now has a Unity plugin!

Game developers are building great apps, and we want Firebase to work for you, too. We’ve built an entirely new plugin for Unity that supports Analytics, the Realtime Database, Authentication, Dynamic Links, Remote Config, Notifications and more. We've also expanded our C++ SDK with Realtime Database support.

Integrate Firebase Even Easier with Open-Sourced UI Library

FirebaseUI is updated to v1.0.

FirebaseUI is a library that provides common UI elements when building apps, and it’s a quick way to integrate with Firebase. FirebaseUI 1.0 includes a drop-in UI flow for Firebase Authentication, with common identity providers such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. FirebaseUI 1.0 also added features such as client-side joins and intersections for the Realtime Database, plus integrations with Glide and SDWebImage that make downloading and displaying images from Firebase Storage a cinch. Follow our progress or contribute to our Android, iOS, and Web components on Github.

Learn More via Udacity and Join the Firebase Community

We want to provide the best tool for developers, but it’s also important that we give resources and training to help you get more out of the platform. As such, we’ve created a new Udacity course: Firebase in a Weekend! It’s an instructor-led video course to help all developers get up and running with Firebase on iOS and Android, in two days.

Finally, to help wrap your head around all our announcements, we’ve created a new demo app. This is an easy way to see how Analytics, Crash Reporting, Test Lab, Notifications, and Remote Config work in a live environment, without having to write a line of code.

Helping developers build better apps and successful businesses is at the core of Firebase. We work hard on it every day. We love hearing your feedback and ideas for new features and improvements—and we hope you can see from the length of this post that we take them to heart! Follow us on Twitter, join our Slack channel, participate in our Google Group, and let us know what you think. We’re excited to see what you’ll build next!

Build your DoubleClick Bid Manager expertise with our new training platform

Becoming a digital advertising expert takes time, and it’s important to get off to a good start. Only 50 percent of marketers say they’re confident in their knowledge of digital advertising,1 despite the wide range of educational materials available. Sometimes “more” isn’t the same as “better.” Many advertisers start learning about AdWords in our help centers, which offer an enormous trove of product information. But you’ve told us that you want quick, bite-sized training in more interactive formats. And we heard you.

We’re pleased to announce Academy for Ads, a new digital training platform designed to help you learn how to use Google’s ad products in a mobile-first world. We built Academy for Ads to promote learning on-the-go, whether you’re on a laptop, a desktop, or a mobile device.

Grow your Google product know-how

Guided by input from our team of product experts, Academy for Ads courses cover the topics that matter most to DoubleClick and Google advertisers – from Bid Manager and AdWords basics and the essentials of campaign management to bid strategies, reporting, optimization and more ways to successfully advertise with Google. We’re adding new content all the time, including a DoubleClick Campaign Manager Learning path in just a few weeks.

Learning paths, Assessments and Achievements

We’ve organized the courses into “Learning paths” that you can walk through at your own pace. At the end of each path, take an Assessment and earn an Achievement to show that you know your stuff. Earning an Achievement for Bid Manager or Ad Exchange helps you prepare for the more advanced training in the Help Center.

A few example Learning paths:

  • Digital concepts: Learn the essentials of online ads — from third-party ad-serving to real-time bidding, programmatic media buying and remarketing. Get started with DoubleClick Bid Manager*: Learn your way around Bid Manager, what it offers and how you can use it to manage your online marketing campaigns.
  • DoubleClick Ad Exchange: Learn how real-time bidding works in an open auction sale on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. This learning path also covers the available programmatic deal types, along with the types of inventory available for mobile, video, display and television buys.

*Only accessible to DoubleClick Bid Manager clients

Academy for Ads is useful for anyone getting started with Google or DoubleClick training, and can help pave the way for the AdWords Certification program offered by Google Partners, as well as the Google Best Practices program, which offers more advanced AdWords education. DoubleClick users may also find additional training in DoubleClick’s help centers.

Get started

If you already use Google Partners, you can sign in through the Partner portal at g.co/learnwithpartners — or, you can go directly to g.co/AcademyforAds to sign up and start sampling courses and Learning paths. We’re constantly adding content, including advanced DoubleClick training. So if you like what you learn, keep coming back for more.

Posted by Tracy Bizelli
Head of Academy for Ads

1 6 Fundamentals to Managing Digital Marketing in 2015, TFM Insights (January 2015)

Academy for Ads: On-The-Go Training for Google’s Ad Products

Becoming a digital advertising expert takes time, and it’s important to get off to a good start. Only 50 percent of marketers say they’re confident in their knowledge of digital advertising,1 despite the wide range of educational materials available – sometimes “more” isn’t the same as “better.” You’ve told us that you want quick, bite-sized training in more interactive formats. And we heard you.

We’re pleased to announce Academy for Ads, a new digital training platform designed to help you learn how to use Google’s ad products in a mobile-first world. We built Academy for Ads to promote learning on-the-go, whether you’re on a laptop, a desktop, or a mobile device.

Grow your Google product know-how
Guided by input from our team of product experts, Academy for Ads courses cover the topics that matter most to Google advertisers – from AdWords basics and the essentials of campaign management to bid strategies, reporting, optimization, and more ways to successfully advertise with Google.



Learning paths, Assessments, and Achievements
We’ve organized the courses into “Learning paths” that you can walk through at your own pace. At the end of each path, take an Assessment and earn an Achievement to show that you know your stuff. Earning an Achievement for AdWords helps prepare you to take the AdWords Certification exam in Google Partners, or try deeper education offerings such as AdWords Academy.


A few example Learning paths:
  • Digital concepts: Learn the essentials of online ads, including third-party ad-serving, programmatic buying, remarketing, and more.
  • Get started with AdWords: Learn the basics of AdWords and prepare for the AdWords Certification exam offered by Google Partners.
  • Get started with AdWords Display: Learn how you can show ads to your online audience via the Google Display Network.
  • Get started with DoubleClick Bid Manager*: Learn your way around Bid Manager, what it offers and how you can use it to manage your online marketing campaigns.
*Only accessible to DoubleClick Bid Manager clients

Academy for Ads also offers training for DoubleClick clients, with Learning paths covering Bid Manager and Ad Exchange – and more to come.

Get started
If you already use Google Partners, you can sign in through the Partners portal at g.co/learnwithpartners — or, you can go directly to g.co/AcademyforAds to sign up and start sampling courses and Learning paths. We’re constantly adding more content, so if you like what you learn, keep coming back for more.

Posted by Tracy Bizelli, Head of Academy for Ads

1. 6 Fundamentals to Managing Digital Marketing in 2015, TFM Insights (January 2015)

Academy for Ads: On-The-Go Training for Google’s Ad Products

Becoming a digital advertising expert takes time, and it’s important to get off to a good start. Only 50 percent of marketers say they’re confident in their knowledge of digital advertising,1 despite the wide range of educational materials available – sometimes “more” isn’t the same as “better.” You’ve told us that you want quick, bite-sized training in more interactive formats. And we heard you.

We’re pleased to announce Academy for Ads, a new digital training platform designed to help you learn how to use Google’s ad products in a mobile-first world. We built Academy for Ads to promote learning on-the-go, whether you’re on a laptop, a desktop, or a mobile device.

Grow your Google product know-how
Guided by input from our team of product experts, Academy for Ads courses cover the topics that matter most to Google advertisers – from AdWords basics and the essentials of campaign management to bid strategies, reporting, optimization, and more ways to successfully advertise with Google.



Learning paths, Assessments, and Achievements
We’ve organized the courses into “Learning paths” that you can walk through at your own pace. At the end of each path, take an Assessment and earn an Achievement to show that you know your stuff. Earning an Achievement for AdWords helps prepare you to take the AdWords Certification exam in Google Partners, or try deeper education offerings such as AdWords Academy.


A few example Learning paths:
  • Digital concepts: Learn the essentials of online ads, including third-party ad-serving, programmatic buying, remarketing, and more.
  • Get started with AdWords: Learn the basics of AdWords and prepare for the AdWords Certification exam offered by Google Partners.
  • Get started with AdWords Display: Learn how you can show ads to your online audience via the Google Display Network.
Academy for Ads also offers training for DoubleClick clients, with Learning paths covering Bid Manager and Ad Exchange – and more to come.

Get started
If you already use Google Partners, you can sign in through the Partners portal at g.co/learnwithpartners — or, you can go directly to g.co/AcademyforAds to sign up and start sampling courses and Learning paths. We’re constantly adding more content, so if you like what you learn, keep coming back for more.

Posted by Tracy Bizelli, Head of Academy for Ads

1. 6 Fundamentals to Managing Digital Marketing in 2015, TFM Insights (January 2015)

Teaching the teachers: the new Google for Education Certified Trainer Program

Posted by David Chen, Education Program Manager

While teachers are hard at work planning lessons and engaging students, they’re simultaneously learning new tools and methods. By teaching the teachers, education trainers play a critical role in schools, especially today when education technology is changing so rapidly.

For the last few years Google has provided a program for people who wanted to earn an official training certification from Google for Education. Today we are announcing the launch of the new and improved Google for Education Certified Trainer Program.
The new Certified Trainer Program
The new program still aims to equip people to provide training and support to teachers using Google tools to transform their classrooms. However we’ve made three major changes from the past program:

  • New Trainer Course: 7 new units of curriculum that help trainers improve their skills 
  • New membership benefits: updated resources and perks for Trainers 
  • More development opportunities: Stronger connections with Trainer community and exclusive look at new product launches

The Certified Trainers
There are already 1,800 Google Certified Trainers around the world who offer a range of professional development. For example, in Taiwan, Certified Trainer Mike Jung leads small after-school workshops to help teachers use Forms to conduct formative assessments. In the United States Certified Trainer Chris Walsh works closely with district leaders to plan and design professional development. Trainer Donna Teuber from South Carolina loves being able to work with educators over longer periods of time. She shared, “I love helping educators move from where they are to the place that they want to be. I love hearing the success stories from teachers and seeing their students’ work.”
Google for Education Certified Trainer Donna Teuber
A global community
Although Trainers are often leading the teaching, they’re simultaneously supporting each other. Certified Trainer Allison Mollica shared, “I live in New Hampshire -- a relatively small part of the world -- and now work globally. Just recently I have worked with Trainers from Thailand, Czech Republic, UK, Bulgaria, Tanzania, Philippines, Australia, and all over the US. I am always learning and creating new materials to share with them and help adult learners.”
Google for Education Certified Trainer Allison Mollica
Organizations around the world look to Certified Trainers for professional development. Luis Hernandez, from the Secretary of Education's office in Baja California, Mexico has employed Certified Trainers to support the teachers of the millions of students in the state. Hernandez said that the Trainers help teachers learn Google tools but, “most importantly, transmit their passion and motivation.”
Luis Hernandez, the Project Manager for the Baja California Secretary of Education
Get started
Join the community of Google for Education Certified Trainers. Visit the Certified Trainer website to learn more about the program and apply. Use the hashtag #GoogleET to share your ideas on social media.

Below are the key application dates:

  • October 12- Membership application open 
  • December 5- Deadline to apply 
  • End of December- notifications