Posted by Rachel Francois, Google Developer Student Clubs, Global Program Manager
Each year, the Google Developer Student Clubs Solution Challenge invites university students to develop solutions for real-world problems using one or more Google products or platforms. How could you use Android, Firebase, TensorFlow, Google Cloud, Flutter, or any of your favorite Google technologies to promote employment for all, economic growth, and climate action?
Join us to build solutions for one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals were agreed upon in 2015 by all 193 United Nations Member States and aim to end poverty, ensure prosperity, and protect the planet by 2030.
One 2022 Solution Challenge participant said, “I love how it provides the opportunity to make a real impact while pursuing undergraduate studies. It helped me practice my expertise in a real-world setting, and I built a project I can proudly showcase on my portfolio.”
Solution Challenge prizes
Participants will receive specialized prizes at different stages:
The top 100 teams receive customized mentorship from Google and experts to take solutions to the next level, branded swag, and a certificate.
The top 10 finalists receive additional mentorship, a swag box, and the opportunity to showcase their solutions to Google teams and developers all around the world during the virtual 2023 Solution Challenge Demo Day, live on YouTube.
Contest finalists - In addition to the swag box, each individual from the seven teams not in the top three will receive a Cash Prize of $1,000 per student. Winnings for each qualifying team will not exceed $4,000.
Top 3 winners - In addition to the swag box, each individual from the top 3 winning teams will receive a Cash Prize of $3,000 and a feature on the Google Developers Blog. Winnings for each qualifying team will not exceed $12,000
Joining the Solution Challenge
There are four steps to join the Solution Challenge and get started on your project:
Create a demo and submit your project by March 31, 2023.
Google Resources for Solution Challenge participants
Google will support Solution Challenge participants with resources to help students build strong projects, including:
Live online sessions with Q&As
Mentorship from Google, Google Developer Experts, and the Google Developer Student Club community
Curated Codelabs designed by Google Developers
Access to Design Sprint guidelines developed by Google Ventures
and more!
“During the preparation and competition, we learned a great deal,” said a 2022 Solution Challenge team member. “That was part of the reason we chose to participate in this competition: the learning opportunities are endless.”
Winner announcement dates
Once all projects are submitted, our panel of judges will evaluate and score each submission using specific criteria.
After that, winners will be announced in three rounds.
Round 1 (April): The top 100 teams will be announced.
Round 2 (June): After the top 100 teams submit their new and improved solutions, 10 finalists will be announced.
Round 3 (August): The top 3 grand prize winners will be announced live on YouTube during the 2023 Solution Challenge Demo Day.
We can’t wait to see the solutions you create with your passion for building a better world, coding skills, and a little help from Google technologies.
Learn more and sign up for the 2023 Solution Challenge here.
I got the time to push my creativity to the next level. It helped me attain more information from more knowledgeable people by expanding my network. Working together and building something was a great challenge and one of the best experiences, too. I liked the idea of working on the challenge to present a solution.
Posted by Kübra Zengin, North America Regional Lead, Google Developers
Switching careers at age 30, after eight years on the job, is a brave thing to do. Lenz Paul spent eight years working in sales at Bell, a large Canadian telecommunications company. During that time, he found his interest sparked by the technology solutions that helped him do his job more effectively. He decided to follow his passion and switch careers to focus on engineering.
“I found I had a knack for technology and was curious about it,” he says. “Sales has so many manual processes, and I always proposed tech solutions and even learned a little programming to make my daily life easier.”
At 30, Lenz entered Vancouver Island University in Canada to pursue a computer science degree.
Becoming a GDSC Lead
When his department chair, Gara Pruesse, emailed students about the opportunity to start and lead a Google Developer Student Club at the university, Lenz jumped at the chance and applied. He was selected to be the GDSC Vancouver Island University lead in 2019 and led the group for a year. He hoped to meet more technology enthusiasts and to use the programming skills he was learning in his courses to help other students who wanted to learn Google technologies.
“It was my first year at university, starting in the technology field as a career transition, and I was hoping to network,” Lenz recalls. “I read the [GDSC] description about sharing knowledge and thought this would be a way to use the skills I was learning in school practically, meet people, and impact my community.”
As part of his role as a GDSC lead, Lenz used Google workshops, Google Cloud Skills Boost, and codelabs to learn Google Cloud and Flutter outside of class. Google provided Cloud credits to GDSC Vancouver Island University, which Lenz shared with his seven core team members, so they could all try new tools and figure out how to teach their fellow students to use them. Then, they taught the rest of the student club how to use Google technologies. They also hosted two Google engineers on-site as speakers.
“GDSC helped me with personal skills, soft skills, such as public speaking and leadership,” Lenz says. “The highlight was that I learned a lot about Google Cloud technologies, by holding workshops and delivering content.”
Working for Google’s Tech Equity Collective
Following his GDSC experience, Lenz worked as a contractor for Google’s Tech Equity Collective, which focuses on improving diversity in tech. Lenz tutored a group of 20 students for about six weeks before being promoted to an instructor role and then becoming the lead teacher for Google Cloud technologies.
“My GDSC experience really helped me shine in my teaching role,” Lenz says. “I was already very familiar with Google Cloud, due to the many workshops I organized and taught for my GDSC, so it was easy to adapt it for my TEC class.”
Becoming a Flutter developer
Lenz began using Flutter in 2019, when the technology was just two years old. He points out that there is nobody in the world with ten years of experience in Flutter; it’s relatively new for everyone.
“I love the ecosystem, and it was a great time to get started with it,” he says. “It’s such a promising technology.”
Lenz says Dart, Flutter’s programming language, is a powerful, modern, object-oriented language with C-style syntax that’s easy to learn and easy to use.
“Dart is clean, easy to scale, can support any size project, and it has the backing of Google,” Lenz says. “It’s a great language for building scripts or server apps. It allows for building mobile apps, web apps, and desktop apps, and it even supports embedded devices via the Flutter Framework.”
Lenz used Google Cloud Skills Boost and Google codelabs to learn Flutter and is now a full-time Flutter developer.
“I’m excited about the future of Flutter and Dart,” he says. “I think Flutter is going to continue to be a big player in the app development space and can't wait to see what the Flutter team comes up with next.”
In August 2022, CMiC (Computer Methods International Corporation) in Toronto, a construction ERP software company, hired Lenz as a full-time Flutter developer. He’s a Level 2 software engineer. CMiC builds enterprise-grade apps using Flutter for iOS, Android and web from a single code base. Flutter also helped him further his understanding of Google Cloud. As he used Flutter and learned more about backend services and how they communicate with frontend apps, he increased his knowledge of Google Cloud.
While learning Flutter, Lenz built several apps using Firebase backend as a service (BaaS) because Firebase provides many Flutter plugins that are easy to integrate into your apps, such as authentication, storage, and analytics.
"Firebase will help you get your app up and running quickly and easily,” says Lenz. “I also used Firebase app distribution to share the apps while I was developing them, which allowed me to quickly get feedback from testers without having to go through the app stores.”
“The experience I gained as a GDSC lead and at Google’s Tech Equity Collective prepared me for my software engineer role at CMIC in Toronto, Canada, and I thank GDSC for my current and future opportunities,” Lenz says.
What’s next for Lenz
Right now, Lenz is focused on mastering his full-time role, so he’s pacing himself with regard to other commitments. He wants to make an impact and to recruit other Canadians to the technology field. The Tech Equity Collective’s mission is amazing and aligns with his values of enabling community and sharing knowledge. He’d like to continue to participate in something that would align with these values.
“It’s the greatest feeling when I can make a difference,” he says.
Posted by Erica Hanson, Global Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs
With every new challenge ahead comes a new opportunity for finding a solution. Today’s challenges, and those we will continue to face, remind us all of how vital it remains to protect our planet and the people living on it. Enter the Solution Challenge, Google’s annual contest inviting the global Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) community to develop solutions to real world problems utilizing Google technologies.
This year’s Solution Challenge asks participants to solve for one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, intended to promote employment for all, economic growth, and climate action.
The top 50 semi-finalists and the top 10 finalists were announced earlier this month. Now, it all comes down to Demo Day on July 28th, where the finalists will present their solutions to Google and developers all around the world, live on YouTube.
At Demo Day, our judges will review the projects, ask questions, and choose the top 3 grand prize winners! You can RSVP here to be a part of Demo Day, vote for the People’s Choice Award, and watch all the action as it unfolds live.
Ahead of the event, let’s get to know the top 10 finalists and their incredible solutions below.
The Top 10 Projects
. . .
BloodCall - Greece, Harokopio University of Athens
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #3: Good Health & Wellbeing
BloodCall aims to make blood donation an easier task for everyone involved by leveraging Android, Firebase, and the Google Maps SDK. It was built by Athanasios Bimpas, Georgios Kitsakis and Stefanos Togias.
“Our main inspiration was based on two specific findings, we noticed that especially in Greece the willingness to donate blood is significantly high but information is not readily available. We also have noticed lots of individuals trying to reach as many people as possible through sharing their (or a loved one's) need of blood on social media, so we concluded that there exists a major need for blood especially in periods of heightened activity like summertime.”
Blossom - Canada, University of Waterloo
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #3: Good Health & Wellbeing, #4: Quality Education, #5: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, #10: Reduced Inequalities
Blossom provides an integrated solution for young girls to get access to accurate and reliable menstrual education and resources and uses Android, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform. It was built by Aditi Sandhu, Het Patel, Mehak Dhaliwal, and Jinal Rajawat.
“As all group members of this project are of South Asian descent, we know firsthand how difficult it is to talk about the female reproductive system within our families. We wanted to develop an application that would target youth so they can begin this conversation at an earlier age. Blossom allows users to learn from the safety of their own devices. Simply by knowing more about their bodies, individuals are more confident with them, thereby solving Goal 5: to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
Gateway - Vietnam, Hoa Sen University
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #3: Good Health & Wellbeing, #11: Sustainable Cities, #17: Partnerships
Gateway creates an open covid-19 digital check-in system. Through an open-source, IoT solution that pairs with an application on a mobile device and communicates with an embedded system over Bluetooth connection protocol. It uses Angular, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, TensorFlow, Progressive Web Apps and connects users with a COVID-19 digital check-in system.It was built by: Cao Nguyen Vo Dang, Duy Truong Hoang, Khuong Nguyen Dang, and Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng.
“Problems are still happening in our community where the support of technology is still lacking when it comes to covid. Vaccination in our country is still continuing. We still have to manually (paper) when it comes to registering for vaccination results. And "back to school/office" are now the biggest challenges for business, community. Contact tracing solutions are fully overloaded with crowded areas. We're focused on improving the crowded situation by creating an open-source automatic checking gateway, allowing users to interact with the system more intuitively.”
GetWage - India, G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #1: No Poverty, #4: Quality Education, #8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
GetWage provides a tool to help those impacted by unemployment and unfilled positions in the local economy find and post daily wage work with ease. It uses Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, TensorFlow. It was built by Aaliya Ali, Aniket Singh, Neenad Sahasrabuddhe, and Shivam.
“When COVID struck the world, daily wage laborers were hit the hardest. Data from Lucknow shows how the average working days pre-Covid for most workers were around 21 days a month, which fell to nine days a month post the lockdown. In the city of Pune, average working days in a month came down from 12 to two days. All of this inspired us to do something in order to help the needy by connecting them with those looking to hire laborers and educating them.“
Isak - South Korea, Soonchunhyang University
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #3: Good Health & Wellbeing, #12: Responsible Consumption & Production
Isak is an application that combines the activity of jogging and trash collection to make picking up trash more impactful. It uses Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, TensorFlow. It was built by Choo Chang Woo, Jang Hyeon Wook, Jeong Hyeong Lee, and JeongWoo Han.
“COVID-19 has increased people's time to stay at home, and disposable garbage generated by the increase in packaging and delivery orders has been increasing exponentially and people are home more as a result. Our team decided to solve both garbage reduction and exercise. We thought that if we picked up trash while jogging, we could take care of our health and environment at the same time, and if we added additional functions, we could arouse interest from users and encourage them to participate.”
SaveONE life - Kenya, Taita Taveta University
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #1: No Poverty, #2: Zero Hunger, #4:Quality Education, #10: Reduced Inequality
SaveONE life helps donors locate and donate goods to home orphanages in Kenya that are in need of basic items, food, clothing, and other educational resources. It's built with Android, Assistant / Actions on Google, Firebase, Google Cloud Platform, and Google Maps. It was built by David Kinyanjui, Nasubo Imelda, and Wycliff Njenga.
“We visited one of the orphanage homes near our campus and we talked to the Orphanage Manager and his feedback he told us that their challenge is food. Some of the kids are suffering from malnutrition because they are not getting enough food, water, clothing and educational materials including school fees for the kids. The major inspiration for use is helping donors around our campus better know where the home orphanage is, when, and how orphans can get donations.
SIGNify - Canada, University of Toronto, Mississauga
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #10: Reduced Inequalities, #4: Quality Education
SIGNify provides an interface where deaf and non-deaf people can easily understand sign language through a graphical context. It leverages Android, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, and TensorFlow. It was built by Kavya Mehta, Milind Vishnoi, Mitesh Ghimire, and Wentao Zhou.
“Approximately 70 million deaf people around the world use sign language for communication. These are all people that have great ideas, thoughts, and opinions that need to be heard. However, their talent and skills will be of no use if people are not able to understand what they have to say; this has lead to 1 in 4 deaf people leaving a job due to discrimination. If we fail to learn sign language, we are depriving ourselves of the knowledge resources that deaf people have to provide. By learning sign language and hiring deaf people in the workspace, we are promoting equal rights and increasing employment opportunities for disabled people.”
Starvelp - Turkey, İzmir University of Economics
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #2: Zero Hunger
Starvelp aims to tackle the problems of food waste and hunger by enabling more ways to share local resources with those in need. It leverages Firebase, Flutter, and Google Cloud Platform. It was built by Akash Srivastava and Selin Doğa Orhan.
"We found that the prevalence of undernourishment is impacting a huge population. Prevalence of food insecurity and not being able to feed themselves and their families are related to poor financial conditions. We were inspired to build this, because in many countries, there are a large number of slum areas and many people who are in the farming sector are not able to get sufficient food. It is really shocking for us to see news about how people are getting impacted each year and have different diseases due to improper nutrition. In fact, they have to skip many meals which ultimately leads to undernourishment, and this is a big problem."
Xtrinsic - Germany, Faculty of Engineering Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #3: Good Health & Wellbeing
Xtrinsic is an application for mental health research and therapy - it adapts your environment to your personal habits and needs. Using a wearable device and TensorFlow, the team aims to detect and help users get through their struggles throughout the day and at night with behavioral suggestions. It’s built using Android, Assistant / Actions on Google, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, TensorFlow, WearOS, DialogFlow, and Google Health Services. It was built by Alexander Monneret, Chikordili Fabian Okeke, Emma Rein, and Vandysh Kateryna.
“Our inspiration comes from our own experience with mental health issues. Two of our team members were directly impacted by the recently waged wars in Syria and Ukraine. And all of us have experienced mental health conditions during the pandemic. We learned through our hardships how to overcome these tough situations and stay strong and positive. We believe that with our know-how and Google technologies we can make a difference and help make the world a better place.”
Zero-zone - South Korea, Sookmyung Women's University
UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: #4: Quality Education, #10: Reduced Inequalities
Zero-zone supports active communication for, and with, the hearing impaired and helps individuals with hearing impairments practice lip reading. The tool leverages Android, Assistant / Actions on Google, Flutter, Google Cloud Platform, and TensorFlow. It was built by DoEun Kim, Hwi Min, Hyemin Song, and Hyomin Kim.
“About 39% of Korean hearing impaired people find it difficult to learn lip-reading, even if they have enrolled in special schools. The project aims to refine lip-reading so that hearing impaired can learn lip-reading anytime, anywhere and communicate actively. Our tool provides equal educational opportunities for deaf users who want to practice oral speech. In addition, the active communication of the hearing impaired, will give them confidence and develop a power to overcome inequality due to difficulties in communication.”
Feeling inspired and ready to learn more about Google Developer Student Clubs? Find a club near you here, and be sure to RSVP here and tune in for the livestream of the upcoming Solution Challenge Demo Day on July 28th.
Posted by Laura Cincera, Program Manager Google Developer Student Clubs, Europe
Revealing character in moments of crisis
The conflict in Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis that presents complex challenges. During this time of uncertainty, communities of student developers are demonstrating extraordinary leadership skills and empathy as they come together to support those affected by the ongoing situation. Student Patricijia Čerkaitė and her Google Developer Student Club (GDSC) community at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands organized Code4Ukraine, an international hackathon that brought diverse groups of over 80 student developers together on March 3-4, 2022, to develop technology solutions to support people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
Even far from the conflict in the Netherlands, they felt compelled to make an impact. “I have relatives in Ukraine; they live in Crimea,” says Patricijia. “In my childhood, I used to spend summer holidays there, eating ice cream and swimming in the Black Sea.”
Patricijia working on the details for Code4Ukraine.
Rushing to help others in need with technology
Time was of the essence. The organizing team in Eindhoven contacted other students, connected with communities near and far, and sprang into action. The team invited Ukrainian Google Developer Expert Artem Nikulchenko to share his technology knowledge and first-hand experience of what is happening in his country. Students discussed issues faced by Ukrainians, reviewed problems citizens faced, and ideated around technology-centric solutions. Feelings of exasperation, frustration, and most importantly, hope became lines of code. Together, students built solutions to answer the call: Code4Ukraine.
Then, gradually, through a collaborative effort, problem solving, and hours of hard work, the winners of the Code4Ukraine Hackathon emerged: Medicine Warriors, a project built by a diverse, cross-cultural group of undergraduate students and IT professionals from Ukraine, Poland, and Georgia, aiming to address the insulin shortage in Ukraine. The project gathers publicly available data from Ukrainian government notices on insulin availability across Ukraine and presents it in an easily readable way.
Photograph of the Medicine Warriors application design
Helping: at the heart of their community
One member of the winning team is the GDSC chapter lead at the National Technical University of Ukraine Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ekaterina Gricaenko. “In Ukraine, there is a saying: ‘друг пізнається в біді,’ which translates to, ‘you will know who your friends are when the rough times arrive,’” says Ekaterina. “And now, I can say that the GDSC community is definitely on my family list.”
Ekaterina Gricaenko, GDSC Lead, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
The Code4Ukraine initiative's goal of bringing others together to make an impact offers a prime example of what the Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) program aims to achieve: empowering student developers in universities to impact their communities through technology.
Reflecting on her experience leading the Kyiv GDSC chapter, Ekaterina says, “I started my journey with GDSC as a Core Team member, and during that time, I fell in love with our community, goals, and key concepts. Then, I decided to become a lead, to share my enthusiasm and support students as they pursue their professional dreams.
The Kyiv GDSC has organized over 18 workshops, written over 200 articles, run multiple study groups, and reached over a thousand followers on social media. “It’s incredible to realize how far we have come,” Ekaterina says.
A visual collage displays multiple activities organized by GDSC KPI, led by Ekaterina Gricaenko.
Getting involved in your community
Through efforts like Code4Ukraine and other inspiring solutions like the 2022 Solution Challenge, students globally are giving communities hope as they tackle challenges and propose technical solutions. By joining a GDSC, students can grow their knowledge in a peer-to-peer learning environment and put theory into practice by building projects that solve for community problems and make a significant impact.
Learn more about Google Developer Student Clubs
If you feel inspired to make a positive change through technology, applications for GDSC leads for the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year are now open. Students can apply at goo.gle/gdsc-leads. If you’re passionate about technology and are ready to use your skills to help your student developer community, then you should consider becoming a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead!
We encourage all interested students to apply here and submit their applications as soon as possible. The applications in Europe will be open until 31st May 2022.
Posted by Tanvi Somani, Program Manager - Regional Lead, Google Developer Student Clubs, Google Developer Relations India
Android Study Jams, hosted by Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) chapters across the globe and in India, leverage peer-to-peer teaching to train a new generation of student Android developers. The program aims to help student developers build their careers and put them on a solid path towards earning an Associate Android Developers Certification. Three students from the GDSC community in India, Amsavarthan Lv, Rishi Balamurugan, and Sanjay S. went the extra kilometer to earn their certifications.
Meet the newly certified Android developers
“From childhood onward, I was inspired by my brother to learn to program. He’s also a certified Android developer,” says Amsavarthan Lv, the GDSC Lead at the Chennai Institute of Technology and a full-stack web and mobile developer. “I used to be amazed by seeing the code and information on his output screen. Over time, I started exploring tech, and I chose my career as a full-stack web and mobile developer.”
Rishi Balamurugan’s father introduced him to coding, and he eventually built an application for his dad's company. A member of GDSC Shiv Nadar University from Bangalore, Rishi was the facilitator for the Android Study Jams on his campus.
Sanjay S. mused he didn’t like technology at first, but a friend introduced him to Android with Java through an online course, which changed the course of his career. Now, he’s a pre-final-year engineering student, specializing in Android and full-stack development, at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College - Coimbatore Tamil Nadu.
(Pictured from left to right) Amsavarthan Lv, Rishi Balamurugan, and Sanjay S. each recently earned a certification in Android Development.
Leveling up Android development skills
These three newly certified Android developers completed the program with comprehensive Android development skills and the confidence and preparation to build a career in Android development.
“As an Android developer, I have taken several webinars and workshops through GDSC and other campus programs,” Amsavarthan says. “The course and the content provided in Android Study Jams was a piece of cake for getting started as an Android developer. It had everything from creating basic layouts to implementing a local database.”
“After learning the fundamentals, I heard about this certification and started to prepare,” says Sanjay. “I thought this would help me stand out in my career and boost my confidence.”
After receiving mentorship from the Google Play team on Google Play and Play Academy, the students built simple applications and learned what's involved to deploy to the Google Play Store.
YouTube Thumbnail Search App: A solution for users who just want to browse thumbnails and not play the videos shown in the YouTube search list, the application leverages LiveData and ViewModel to handle the UI Logic. Screenshots
SimplDo: This application keeps track of your todo list, with options to add, check, update, and delete items. List items are displayed using Recycler view and stored using View Model and Live Data; Jetpack navigation is used to handle navigation between the fragments and pass data. Screenshots
Alert'em: An emergency alerter with local helpline numbers, this app’s “Emergency Alerting System” sends an SMS containing the recent call log of the user to their emergency contacts. It uses a flexible constraint layout and a Jetpack Navigation to switch between different screens. Screenshots
Building confidence and career readiness
Over 65.5 thousand developers participated in 800+ Android Study Jams in India and emerged with new skills from the Android Basics in Kotlin Course and Appscale academy sessions. Program facilitators could earn Google Developer Profile badges and become Android Educators.
“Android Study Jams helped me to try out new libraries such as Jetpack, DataStore, and WorkManager and showed me how to work in a step-by-step manner,” says Sanjay. “It was organized in such a way that even a beginner can start learning Android easily.”
Amsavarthan, Rishi, and Sanjay took the initiative to gain the skills to pursue employment as full-time Android developers after graduation, and as the program continues, more Android Study Jams participants will be on their way to bright futures.
How to join a Google Developer Student Club and lead or attend an Android Study Jam:
If you’re a university student interested in opportunities to learn about Google developer products, including Android Study Jams, sign up for a Google Developer Student Club near you here.
Want to make a similar impact on your campus? Sign up to become a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead here.
Posted by Erica Hanson, Global Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs
Hey, student developers! If you’re passionate about programming and are ready to use your technology skills to help your community, then you should become a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead!
The application form for the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year is NOW OPEN. Get started at goo.gle/gdsc-leads.
Want to know more? Learn more about the program below.
What are Google Developer Student Clubs?
Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) are university based community groups for students interested in Google developer technologies. With clubs hosted in 110+ countries around the world, students from undergraduate and graduate programs with an interest in leading a community are welcome. Together, students learn the latest in Machine Learning, Android App Development, Google Cloud Platform, Flutter, and so much more.
By joining a GDSC, students grow their knowledge in a peer-to-peer learning environment and put theory to practice by building solutions for local businesses and their community.
How will I improve my skills?
As a Google Developer Student Club Lead you will have the chance to…
Gain mentorship from Google.
Join a global community of leaders.
Practice by sharing your skills.
Help students grow.
Build solutions for real life problems.
How can I find a Google Developer Student Club near me?
Google Developer Student Clubs are now in 110+ countries with 1500+ groups. Find a club near you or learn how to start your own, here.
When do I need to submit the Application form?
We encourage students to submit their forms as soon as possible. You can learn more about your region’s application deadlines, here. Make sure to learn more about our program criteria.
Lead from Indonesia - “The best way to learn to be a leader is to be a leader itself, and being a GDSC Lead is the best way to do that.”
Lead from United Kingdom - “It's an experience that challenges you to critically think about some decisions and come up with creative and innovative new approaches for things that you thought you know about leadership.”
Lead from Uganda - “Becoming a GDSC lead has been an amazing opportunity to learn, engage and meet different new people in my life. It was instrumental in my career development.”
We can’t wait to see what our next group of Google Developer Student Club leads will accomplish this year. Join the fun and get started, here.
*Google Developer Student Clubs are student-led independent organizations, and their presence does not indicate a relationship between Google and the students' universities.
Growing up, many students across Latin America watched eagerly as the technology in their cities became more advanced and opportunities to create the future expanded. For some, computers and web technologies presented untold potential. Still, excitement about doing right by their communities was all at the heart of it all. Now, a forward-looking group of university students from 27 different Latin American nations and Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) have formed a continent-wide network to chart a course forward for their continent. They are building a community of Spanish-speaking Latin American student developers that support each other, help foster leadership skills, and bring more opportunities to student developers in the region.
Teaming up to build skills and teach other student developers
In November 2021, this regional coalition of students came together to host a continent-wide LATAM conference, a two-day student conference (the team planned and executed it in just two weeks). The event featured ten speakers from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and taught students about different developer technologies. Attendees learned about machine learning, automating processes using data pipelines, leveraging react to upload landing pages to Firebase, and building mobile applications with Firebase and React Native. 300 people attended the conference over two days, and the conference recordings have attracted hundreds of views on YouTube.
“We’re coming from a less developed region. We grew up seeing other countries that were more technologically advanced. Now, developers from Latin America are more confident that they have the skills to implement projects, produce new things, and bring advancement to the continent.” - Maria Agustina Cuello (Chichi)
Working together with purpose
Through working together on the conference, the organizers of LATAM conference know Latin American youth have a bright future. They are excited by the opportunity to use the power of technology and connectivity to change the world.
Luis Eduardo, Lead GDSC UTP (Perú), says it felt amazing to be part of the LATAM conference: “being able to meet students from other countries with the same desire to work for the community was wonderful. Knowing that, despite being thousands of miles away, there was no impediment to being able to work as an organized team. This is what makes this family unique.”
“LATAM conference was the opportunity to show that wherever we are, we can help others, and you will always find people with similar ideas,” says Francisco Imanol Suarez, Lead GDSC UNPSJB (Argentina).
Solution Challenge preparations
The group is now hosting events to teach student developers new skills and prepare them for the 2022 Solution Challenge, a global contest where students from around the world are invited to solve for one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals using Google technologies.
In preparing their communities to build projects, the group plans to activate the countries and regions in Latin America. The students aim to expose each other to multiple technologies in the field and plan to host theme weeks for the Solution Challenge, like a Firebase week, a UX/UI week, and a Flutter Festival.
Students across the GDSC LATAMs are forming teams for the Solution Challenge. Some are local, coming from a single university, while others are broader, like students in Argentina working with students from Mexico. “A few months ago, no one knew how many people we would help take their first steps in the world of development. Let's hope this community continues to grow to be able to show that amazing things can be done in LATAM,” says Luis Eduardo, Lead GDSC UTP (Perú).
“I’m grateful to be part of this community and work with amazing team members who are so eager to work together and do activities. We want to bring all the opportunities we can to Latin American students, and gender and language are not a barrier,” says Cuello.
What’s next for GDSC LATAM
The members of GDSC LATAM plan to continue hosting collaborative events for the community such as Google Cloud Machine Learning bootcamp, a hackathon, and a 2022 student conference and related events with other student communities. The group holds Android and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) study jams, publishes a podcast, and hosts networking events to help reach more students, create networking opportunities, and expand each university’s GDSC. Eventually, they hope to positively impact the region by encouraging budding developers to build new technologies in Latin America.
Growing up, many students across Latin America watched eagerly as the technology in their cities became more advanced and opportunities to create the future expanded. For some, computers and web technologies presented untold potential. Still, excitement about doing right by their communities was all at the heart of it all. Now, a forward-looking group of university students from 27 different Latin American nations and Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) have formed a continent-wide network to chart a course forward for their continent. They are building a community of Spanish-speaking Latin American student developers that support each other, help foster leadership skills, and bring more opportunities to student developers in the region.
Teaming up to build skills and teach other student developers
In November 2021, this regional coalition of students came together to host a continent-wide LATAM conference, a two-day student conference (the team planned and executed it in just two weeks). The event featured ten speakers from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and taught students about different developer technologies. Attendees learned about machine learning, automating processes using data pipelines, leveraging react to upload landing pages to Firebase, and building mobile applications with Firebase and React Native. 300 people attended the conference over two days, and the conference recordings have attracted hundreds of views on YouTube.
“We’re coming from a less developed region. We grew up seeing other countries that were more technologically advanced. Now, developers from Latin America are more confident that they have the skills to implement projects, produce new things, and bring advancement to the continent.” - Maria Agustina Cuello (Chichi)
Working together with purpose
Through working together on the conference, the organizers of LATAM conference know Latin American youth have a bright future. They are excited by the opportunity to use the power of technology and connectivity to change the world.
Luis Eduardo, Lead GDSC UTP (Perú), says it felt amazing to be part of the LATAM conference: “being able to meet students from other countries with the same desire to work for the community was wonderful. Knowing that, despite being thousands of miles away, there was no impediment to being able to work as an organized team. This is what makes this family unique.”
“LATAM conference was the opportunity to show that wherever we are, we can help others, and you will always find people with similar ideas,” says Francisco Imanol Suarez, Lead GDSC UNPSJB (Argentina).
Solution Challenge preparations
The group is now hosting events to teach student developers new skills and prepare them for the 2022 Solution Challenge, a global contest where students from around the world are invited to solve for one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals using Google technologies.
In preparing their communities to build projects, the group plans to activate the countries and regions in Latin America. The students aim to expose each other to multiple technologies in the field and plan to host theme weeks for the Solution Challenge, like a Firebase week, a UX/UI week, and a Flutter Festival.
Students across the GDSC LATAMs are forming teams for the Solution Challenge. Some are local, coming from a single university, while others are broader, like students in Argentina working with students from Mexico. “A few months ago, no one knew how many people we would help take their first steps in the world of development. Let's hope this community continues to grow to be able to show that amazing things can be done in LATAM,” says Luis Eduardo, Lead GDSC UTP (Perú).
“I’m grateful to be part of this community and work with amazing team members who are so eager to work together and do activities. We want to bring all the opportunities we can to Latin American students, and gender and language are not a barrier,” says Cuello.
What’s next for GDSC LATAM
The members of GDSC LATAM plan to continue hosting collaborative events for the community such as Google Cloud Machine Learning bootcamp, a hackathon, and a 2022 student conference and related events with other student communities. The group holds Android and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) study jams, publishes a podcast, and hosts networking events to help reach more students, create networking opportunities, and expand each university’s GDSC. Eventually, they hope to positively impact the region by encouraging budding developers to build new technologies in Latin America.
Posted by Matthew Ranocchiari, Developer Relations Community Manager, Australia & New Zealand
To get familiar with her local community, International student Milindi Kodikara, originally from Sri Lanka, joined almost every tech club at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She immediately identified an opportunity to establish a more diverse and inclusive tech club to prepare students to work in the tech industry. Using both her instincts and passion for community building, she set out on a mission to re-establish a Google Developer Student Club (GDSC) at RMIT University.
“I applied to become the GDSC Lead at RMIT University to create a better, brighter, and stronger community where our students (regardless of age, gender, sexuality, or race) can thrive, learn new skills, and enjoy their time with new friends,” Kodikara says.
Preparing students for tech careers
After starting the club, Milindi sought the advice of Matthew Ranocchiari (Google Developer Relations Community Manager for the region) who then suggested Milindi form a team, set goals, and plan activities for the semester. Milindi assembled a team of seven students hailing from Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. They brought a mix of technical and non-technical backgrounds. Each shared an eagerness to learn about technology, help other students build projects, and develop leadership skills.
“ I was looking for a team of passionate individuals to make a change at RMIT University.”
Social media officer Chaamudi Kodikara, helped set up the club’s various channels, which currently engage 400+ students every day. Design experts Isaac (Yi Jie) Chuah, Jacqueline Ann Lim, and Andrea Gocheco; event managers Sheryl Mantik and Kowsar Rahman Sadit; and a tech expert Prottay Karim each round out the group.
Planning a “Study Jam-packed” semester
When asking students what they wanted from the new club, most students said they were seeking an opportunity to learn how to land a tech job through networking, get a sense of what tech jobs are like day-to-day, and explore various technologies. Most of all, they wanted to feel empowered. With these goals in mind, the team planned multiple events per month, including an inaugural virtual Games Night, a series of lightning talks (called Geeky Google Tech Talks), and Cloud Study Jams.
“As Cloud is already a field that is in high demand, we thought our community could benefit from learning this for their own career success,” explains Milindi.
Embracing school spirit and multiple learning opportunities
To ensure students would be prepared for workshops on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and robotics, the club held beginner-friendly programs that introduced students to the topics. They launched these in collaboration with RMIT's Society for Women in Information Technology, RMIT's Programming Club and additional partners and sponsors. The club’s HackVision hackathon, featured games, mentoring sessions, and workshops on topics such as public speaking, pitching ideas, ideation, UX/UI design, and software architecture.
With a wide variety of workshops that drew many attendees, the events and facilitators helped students with their technical queries throughout the semester. Some facilitators such as industry professional Thomas Frantz, Google Chrome Engineer, Jakub Młynarczyk, and Patrick Haralabidis of the Melbourne TensorFlow User Group stay connected with the students. Their connections and willingness to help solidifies the importance of mentorship. For example, one instructor led a machine learning workshop, while another one walked students through the complex algorithm-related questions asked during technical job interviews. Milindi herself led a live robotics demo where she programmed Nao Bots to dance to music and showed other students how to program the robots.
“These workshops helped them expand their tech skills to unexplored areas and help them feel confident at interviews. Our speakers showed students what is possible with these new technologies and machines. The time and effort spent on this event was truly rewarding seeing how much all the participants learned and experienced,” Milindi says.
Representation and professional development
Professional development remains important too, notes Milindi. “We here at GDSC RMIT have quite a diverse community, and we wanted to make sure our community was well prepared for the hardships of finding success.” She says, "as a female international student, I've had to apply to hundreds of companies when I was looking for internships, so I understand the struggle of applying for jobs, especially the frustration that comes with being rejected, in most cases, for reasons beyond your control, like visa issues.”
In this spirit, the club collaborated with RMIT's Society for Women in Information Technology to hold an event called "ROAR!” to empower female and underrepresented students. The event included an #IamRemarkable workshop with Googlers. Additionally, the club encouraged students to develop their resumes and LinkedIn profiles and offered a Personal Branding workshop, giving students multiple opportunities to showcase their talents and abilities.
Preparing a diverse student body for tech careers
Milindi expresses gratitude for having the opportunity to reinvigorate the community around RMIT University’s Google Developer Student Club. She relishes the ability to bring diverse students from many countries and gender identities together in the service of developing new skills, learning from each other, and ultimately landing jobs in the fast-growing tech industry.
"My amazing Core Team and I have given GDSC at RMIT University a new chapter and made a safe space for tech nerds of all ages, races, genders, and sexualities to feel welcome to be themselves and strive to be successful," Milindi says. "I am grateful for this fantastic opportunity to serve our community and help make the world a better place.”
Posted by Erica Hanson, Global Senior Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs
Have you ever thought about building an application or tool that solves a problem your community faces? Or perhaps you’ve felt inspired to build something that can help improve the lives of those you care about. The year ahead brings more opportunities for helping each other and giving back to our communities.
With that in mind, we invite students around the world to join the Google Developer Student Clubs 2022 Solution Challenge! Where students from around the world are invited to solve for one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals using Google technologies.
About the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
Created by the United Nations in 2015 to be achieved by 2030, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by all 193 United Nations Member States aim to end poverty, ensure prosperity, and protect the planet.
If you’re new to the Solution Challenge, it is an annual competition that invites university students to develop solutions for real world problems using one or more Google products or platforms.
This year, see how you can use Android, Firebase, TensorFlow, Google Cloud, Flutter, or any of your favorite Google technologies to promote employment for all, economic growth, and climate action, by building a solution for one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
What winners of the Solution Challenge receive
Participants will receive specialized prizes at different stages:
Top 50 teams - Receive customized mentorship from Googlers and experts to take solutions to the next level, a branded T-shirt, and a certificate.
Top 10 finalists - Receive additional mentorship, a swag box, and the opportunity to showcase solutions to Googlers and developers all around the world during the virtual 2022 Solution Challenge Demo Day live on YouTube.
Contest Finalists - In addition to the swag box, each individual from the additional seven recognized teams will receive a Cash Prize of $1,000 per student. Winnings for each qualifying team will not exceed $4,000.
Top 3 winners - In addition to the swag box, each individual from the top 3 winning teams will receive a Cash Prize of $3,000 and a feature on the Google Developers Blog. Winnings for each qualifying team will not exceed $12,000.
How to get started on the Solution Challenge
There are four main steps to joining the Solution Challenge and getting started on your project:
Create a demo and submit your project by March 31, 2022.
Resources from Google for Solution Challenge participants
Google will provide Solution Challenge participants with various resources to help students build strong projects for their contest submission.
Live online sessions with Q&As
Mentorship from Google, Google Developer Experts, and the Google Developer Student Club community
Curated codelabs designed by Google Developers
Access to Design Sprint guidelines developed by Google Ventures
and more!
When are winners announced?
Once all the projects are submitted by the March 31st, 2022 deadline, judges will evaluate and score each submission from around the world using the criteria listed on the website.
From there, winning solutions will be announced in three rounds.
Round 1 (April): The Top 50 teams will be announced.
Round 2 (June): After the top 50 teams submit their new and improved solutions, 10 finalists will be announced.
Round 3 (July): In the finale, the top 3 grand prize winners will be announced live on YouTube during the 2022 Solution Challenge Demo Day.
With a passion for building a better world, savvy coding skills, and a little help from Google technology, we can’t wait to see the solutions students create.
Learn more and sign up for the 2022 Solution Challenge, here.
