Tag Archives: Get Inspired

Developer Journey – Women’s History Month: March 2023

Posted by Lyanne Alfaro, DevRel Program Manager, Google Developer Studio

In honor of Women’s History Month, it’s our pleasure to feature members across the Women Techmakers ecosystem for March’s Developer Journey profiles. These are community leaders who have explored, navigated and built using Google tools. They are active members of the broader Google Developers community.

In March, the WTM program will also celebrate International Women’s Day, centered on the theme “Dare To Be,” celebrating the courage and strength that this community demonstrates, made of thought leaders who are creating a world where women can thrive in tech. You can find more about the Women Techmakers program during IWD here.


Headshot of Ezinne Osuamadi smiling

Ezinne Osuamadi

Women Techmakers Mentor and Ambassador
Waldorf, Germany (A proud Nigerian!)
Software Developer/ Technical Product Manager
Twitter
Linkedln
Instagram

What Google tools have you used to build?

Android Studio, Firebase, Google Play Services, Google Analytics. I'm a mobile developer and recently started getting my hands on technical product management and agile product owner. The tools I use for development are Android as the framework and Android Studio as the integrated development environment.

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

I would say Flutter. The Flutter toolkit has a layered architecture that allows for full customization. The fact that Flutter comes with fully-customizable widgets allows you to build native interfaces in minutes. I also love the fact that some of these widgets’ features like scrolling, navigation, icons, and fonts provide a full native performance on both iOS and Android. Flutter is one code base and it makes building mobile applications much easier. I don't have to build a separate app for Android, and another separate app for IOS. Another Flutter feature I like so much is the “hot reload.” It allows me to easily build UIs, add new features, and fix bugs faster. It also allows easy compilation of Flutter code to native ARM machine code using Dart native compilers.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

The first app I built was for one of my former employers. It happened almost three years ago, and it was the first project I worked on when I started learning Flutter. I was super excited about it. It was a timesheet app targeted specifically for employees. The sole purpose of the app is for employees to be able to schedule tasks and also give a time slot to each task.

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

From my experience running an NGO called Ladies Crushing IT Africa and organizing a couple of tech events, I would say this: Don’t go into software development if you are not passionate or interested in it. Going into development because you think they pay developers well or because your friends are earning money from it is a wrong reason to start your development journey. A tech career journey should be about what you want to be in the future. Does it align with your future goals and objectives? How or what are strategies in achieving that path? Also note that the path to becoming a successful developer is a process. It is not all roses, and there are times when debugging will make it look difficult. But you should be resilient and diligent in making the most out of it when you encounter difficulties. It is always about continuous improvement. Never stop learning to keep yourself up to date with latest technologies and development tools.

 

Headshot of Patty O’Callaghan smiling

Patty O’Callaghan

GDG Glasgow and Women Techmakers Ambassador
Glasgow, Scotland
Tech Lead @ Charles River Laboratories
Twitter
Linkedln

What Google tools have you used to build?

I use the Chrome DevTools daily. I find them very helpful. I also enjoy working on projects using TensorFlow.JS and Firebase.

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

I would have to say TensorFlow.JS and its pre-made models are my favorite. I enjoy the fact that I can build cool machine learning projects directly in the browser. Even developers unfamiliar with this technology can quickly build, train, and deploy machine learning models using just a few lines of code. Some kids at my code club have used TensorFlow.JS for amazing projects, like building class attendance applications using facial recognition, or a site that checks correct form while practicing karate at home, and another for studying with the help of an AI agent.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

I've worked on several side-projects using TensorFlow.JS for my workshops. One of my favorites is an emotion recognition app, using the Teachable Machine. Additionally, for work, I used TF.JS to develop a machine learning solution that suggests taxonomies for articles based on their content. It analyzes over 30 taxonomies to find the best match for the given article.

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

First of all, focus on learning the fundamentals of programming. A strong foundation will benefit you in the long run. Practice coding regularly and find a mentor or a community to help you along the way. For example, contributing to an open-source project is an excellent way to learn. And remember: Making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process, so don't get discouraged if you encounter difficulties. Keep pushing forward!



Headshot of Alexis and David Snelling smiling

Alexis & David Snelling

Alexis – Women Techmakers Ambassador & Lead
Named as Top 10 Women founders to Watch in 2023 by Forbes Group
San Francisco, CA
CEO WeTransact.live
Twitter
Linkedln
Facebook 

David – Google Developer Groups
San Francisco, CA
CTO WeTransact.live
Twitter
Linkedln
Facebook

What Google tools have you used to build?

Here’s just a few of the tools we’ve used:
  • Angular 15
  • Material Design
  • Google Cloud / Firebase
    • Authentication
    • Hosting
    • Firestore
    • Functions
    • Extensions
    • Storage
    • Machine Learning
  • PWA Standards
  • Chrome / DevTools
  • Android

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

Firestore has been our favorite due to its scalability and real-time data capabilities, through websockets and triggers, the data flexibility, plus query capabilities. This is how we’ve built out our modern event-driven architecture to allow for a completely real-time application providing immediate data and collaboration across our entire white label application suite.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

We built the WeTransact Innovation Platform: From Idea to ROI which offers a learning-based distributed social platform for learning, collaborating and presenting yourself and your innovations.

For customers, we’ve created a White Label SaaS Platform, licensed by universities, incubators, developer groups and any program looking to provide education, collaboration, and AI assisted auto generated presentation and communication tools. Our platform combines features similar to LinkedIn, Coursera, AngelList and Zoom in one simple and modern unified platform for communities to make collaboration & lifelong learning globally accessible to everyone. The WeTransact platform accelerates & scales your program’s impact to solve the world's biggest problems better together.

Here’s just a few other ways we’ve used Google tools:

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

There’s a few pieces of advice we’d offer! Among them is to start early. Find a friend who is already developing or shares your passion. Find an open source project that inspires you or represents something you're passionate about. Dig in, change stuff, break stuff and then learn why. Search is your best friend – use it to always question and reset your assumptions, learn new approaches, and practice not getting stuck in a “boilerplate” or “standard” solution to each problem. It’s not about memorizing – technology changes every day and you should too. Finally, know that it’s about the process and the journey, not the destination.

Google Dev Library Letters: 18th Edition

Posted by the Dev Library Team

In this newsletter, we’re highlighting the best projects developed with Google technologies that have been contributed to the Google Dev Library platform. We hope this will spark some inspiration for your next project!

Contributions of the month


Moving image showing SSImagePicker in different modes

[Android] SSImagePicker by Simform

See how to use a lightweight and easy-to-use image picker library that has features like cropping, compression and rotation, video, and Live Photos support.



Moving image showing overview of coroutines

[Kotlin] Mastering Coroutines in Kotlin by Reyhaneh Ezatpanah

Dive into a comprehensive overview of coroutines including tips and best practices, along with a detailed explanation of the different types of coroutines available in Kotlin and how to use them effectively.

Read more on DevLibrary


Flow Chart demonstrating Image to Image stable diffusion in Flax

[Machine Learning] Image2Image with Stable Diffusion in Flax by Bachir Chihani

Learn the uses of the Diffusion method, a technique used to improve the stability and performance of image-to-image translation models.

Read more on DevLibrary

Android


Jetpack Compose state, deconstructed by Yves Kalume

Learn how state management in Jetpack Compose is implemented, how it can be used to build a responsive and dynamic UI, and how it compares to other solutions in Android development.


Dynamic environment switching on Android by Ashwini Kumar

Find out how to switch between different environments (such as development, staging, and production) in an Android app.


Migration to Jetpack Compose for a legacy application by Abhishek Saxena

Migrate an existing legacy Android application to Jetpack Compose, a modern UI toolkit for building native Android apps



Machine Learning


Simple diffusion in TensorFlow by Bachir Chihani

Understand the benefits of using TensorFlow for image processing, including the ability to easily parallelize computations and utilize GPUs for faster processing.


Deep dive into stable diffusion by Bachir Chihani

Look into the Flax implementation of the Stable Diffusion model to better understand how it works.


Create-tf-app by Radi Cho

See the tool that allows you to quickly create a TensorFlow application by generating the necessary code and file structure.

 

Angular


NGX-Valdemort by Cédric Exbrayat

Dive into a set of pre-built validation rules and error messages for commonly encountered use cases, making it easy to quickly implement robust form validation for your application.


Passing configuration dynamically from one module to another using ModuleWithProviders by Madhusuthanan B

Learn how to pass configuration data dynamically between modules in an Angular application.


Flutter


Mastering Dart & Flutter DevTools by Ashita Prasad

Look at the first part of the series aimed at helping developers to understand how to use the tools effectively to build applications with Dart and Flutter.


Server-driven UI in Flutter - an experiment on remote widgets by Akshat Vinaybhai Patel

Learn the insights, code snippets and results of the experiment for readers to better understand the concept of Server-Driven UI and its potential in Flutter app development.


Flutter Photo Manager by Alex Li

Learn an easy-to-use API for accessing the device's photo library, that performs operations like retrieving images, videos, and albums, as well as deleting, creating, and updating files in the photo library.


Firebase


How to authenticate to Firebase using email and password in Jetpack Compose? By Alex Mamo 

Here’s a simple solution for implementing Firebase Authentication with email and password, using a clean architecture with Jetpack Compose on Android.


Google Cloud


Google Firestore Data Source plugin for Grafana by Prasanna Kumar

Learn how it allows users to perform operations like querying, aggregating, and visualizing data from Firestore, making it a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing real-time data in a variety of applications. The repository provides the source code for the plugin and documentation on how to install and use it with Grafana.


Cluster cloner by Joshua Fox

See how this project aims to replicate clusters across different cloud environments and examine these varying infrastructure models.


Getting to know Cloud Firestore by Mustapha Adekunle

Learn how this post covers the basic features and benefits of Cloud Firestore, and how this document database is a scalable and versatile NoSQL cloud database.


Google’s Mandar Chaphalkar has submitted Data Governance with Dataplex

Discover how Dataplex can be used to transform data to meet specific business requirements, and how it can integrate with other Google Cloud services like BigQuery for efficient data storage and analysis.

Developer Journey: February 2023

Posted by Lyanne Alfaro, DevRel Program Manager, Google Developer Studio

Developer Journey is a monthly series to spotlight diverse and global developers sharing relatable challenges, opportunities, and wins in their journey. Every month, we will spotlight developers around the world, the Google tools they leverage, and the kind of products they are building.

This month, it’s our pleasure to feature three members spanning communities, including Women Techmakers, Google Developer Experts and Google Developer Groups. Enjoy reading through their entries below and be on the lookout on social media platforms, where we will also showcase their work.

Deepa Subramanian

Headshot of Deepa Subramanian smiling

Google Developer Group, Women Techmakers
Road to GDS Candidate, Web Technologies
Freelance Software Engineer
Find me on: LinkedIn


What Google tools have you used to build?

I am a frontend engineer, having used Angular framework for building single page applications, and using Chrome dev tools, like Puppeteer, Lighthouse, and more. I have also built progressive web app projects using project Fugu API’s to add to homescreen, badging, file share API etc. I am excited to see more API’s in the future.

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

I enjoy using Firebase for authentication and realtime database as it makes my life easier as a frontend engineer.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

In the past, I have built small applications using Android and Java. My first Google tool that I used was Android studio where I built small Android applications using Java (this was back in 2017). Then, I moved to the web. Currently, I am also using the Flutter web platform.

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

If you are a beginner, start building small projects. You will need to be consistently learning. I would urge everyone to join a developer community like GDG. It helps you grow and network with other developers.

Burcu Geneci

Headshot of Burcu Geneci smiling

Former Women Techmakers Ambassador
Co-Founder & CTO at Monday Hero, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
Find me on: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter


What Google tools have you used to build?

As a CTO and technical founder, I’ve used various Google Cloud services, including Cloud Run, Cloud Build, Cloud Storage, Google Maps Geocoding API, Kubernetes Engine, and Secret Manager.

At my startup Monday Hero, we’re building a solution that converts Figma design to code and generates Flutter widgets from design. I’m using Google tools related to Flutter almost every day. Dartpad.dev is always open and pinned on my browser. I find Flutter docs very clear and concise.

I also usually explore other Google tools in personal projects. For example, I’ve used ML Kit and Firebase for one of my hobby projects to recognize texts in images.

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

My favorite tool so far is Google's open-source framework Flutter. It's very straightforward to create mobile, web, and desktop applications from a single codebase. The coolest part of Flutter is that applications written on Flutter are natively compiled. Creating natively working applications is very important for user experience. Before using Flutter, I built applications for both iOS and Android natively, but being able to build a mobile application for both platforms at least 30% faster is a game changer. Flutter is a life-saver for startups that want to create mobile solutions.

Considering new technologies like Flutter, the community around that specific technology is essential to adopting and improving the technology with honest feedback. I think the huge and welcoming community was one of the most important reasons to adopt and start using Flutter for my new projects. I want to thank the community builder and program managers for building the Flutter community worldwide.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

After learning about ML Kit capabilities at Google IO 2018, I implemented ML Kit’s Text Recognition API on one of my iOS applications. It was surprisingly easy to build the solution, and the confidence rate was very high. Later that day, I also wrote a blog post for the Google Developer Community about the project and how smooth the integration was.

Knowing how to use technology to build creative solutions and what is possible with this kind of tech is a powerful skill. In the startup's early days, my cofounder and I attended a hackathon, and we won first place with the project in which we used ML Kit and Firebase. One of the project's key features was detecting the indicator number on the counter, which is used for utility usage via ML Kit's text recognition and alerting the user when there is water leakage.

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

Improve analytical and problem-solving skills early in your developer journey, and continuously invest in these skills!

A good developer should be able to identify and solve problems. Problem-solving is about using logic and imagination to analyze a situation and then develop smart solutions to that problem. Follow the tech leaders and influencers in your area of interest and learn something new every day!

Katerina Skroumpelou

Headshot of Katerina Skroumpelou smiling

Google Developer Expert, Angular, Web Technologies, and Google Maps Platform
Senior Software Engineer at Nx
Athens, Greece
Find me on: Twitter


What Google tools have you used to build?

I have used Firebase, Google Cloud Platform, Google Cloud Functions, Google Maps Platform, Angular, Google Cloud Run.

As part of my previous job, our whole infrastructure was built in Firebase, using Cloud Firestore, and Google Cloud Functions used for microservices and also for custom Firestore queries. We also used a combination of Google Cloud Run and Cloud Storage for scheduled backups. In a previous position, I used the Google Maps JS API, which now has evolved into so much more as part of the Google Maps Platform. Today, I build demos and POCs mostly in my free time, using the Google Maps Platform which I love so much. My current role does not involve Google tools at the moment.

Which tool has been your favorite to use? Why?

My favorite tool by far is Firebase. I love the robustness and reliability that it offers in developing and publishing a web application. It offers a solution for every part of the process, be it the backend, storage, database, microservices, hosting, authentication, even analytics. All in one place, easy to use and implement. What is also amazing with Firebase is the scalability that it offers. I would opt to use Firebase whether it is a small demo app I am building for a conference, or a large scale application which involves a huge user base, data, and hits per second.

My second favorite tool is, of course, the Google Maps Platform. Maps excite me, and the Google Maps Platform offers much more than visualizing data on a map - which it does in an amazing way. It has become almost a game engine, in a way, providing access to so many different APIs and features of the map itself for the user to tweak.

Please share with us about something you’ve built in the past using Google tools.

I have used Firebase and the Google Cloud Platform to build and ship applications. A few years ago, a couple of friends and myself had an idea that we turned into a product, which we built and scaled solely using the Google Cloud Platform, and specifically the following features: Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, BigQuery, Maps Platform, Authentication. That’s all you really need to build any app today.

What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

Be social: Connect with other people by going to on-site conferences. And always be kind.

Continue skill-building: Build small apps and demos to test out different things, and see how they work. Don’t worry about learning all technologies, and don’t “marry” one technology, either. Get a solid foundation of the basics (JavaScript/TypeScript), and then, at your new job, you will learn the technologies they are using there.

Finally, don’t get discouraged by bad days! If you love what you do, you’ll get there in the end, no matter what!

Google Dev Library Letter: 17th Edition

Posted by the Dev Library Team

We are highlighting the best projects developed with Google technologies that have been shared on the Google Dev Library platform. We hope this will spark some inspiration for your next project.


Android - Content of the Month



Transformers by Daichi Furiya

See the Android transformation library providing a variety of image transformations for Coil, Glide, Picasso, and Fresco.



Camposer by Lucas Yuji Yoshimine

Learn how the camera library in Jetpack Compose which supports taking photos, recording videos, flash modes, zoom ratio, and more.

Read more on DevLibrary




ChatGPT Android by Jaewoong Eum

Integrate ChatGPT on Android with Stream Chat SDK for Compose.

Read more on DevLibrary




Continue reading →

Introducing the Earth Engine Google Developer Experts (GDEs)

Posted by Tyler Erickson, Developer Advocate, Google Earth Engine

One of the greatest things about Earth Engine is the vibrant community of developers who openly share their knowledge about the platform and how it can be used to address real-world sustainability issues. To recognize some of these exceptional community members, in 2022 we launched the initial cohort of Earth Engine Google Developer Experts (GDEs). You can view the current list of Earth Engine GDEs on the GDE Directory page.

Moving 3D image of earth rotating showing locations of members belonging to the initial cohort of Earth Engine GDEs
The initial cohort of Earth Engine Google Developer Experts.
What makes an Earth Engine expert? Earth Engine GDEs are selected based on their expertise in the Earth Engine product (of course), but also for their knowledge sharing. They share their knowledge in many ways, including answering questions from other developers, writing tutorials and blogs, teaching in settings spanning from workshops to university classes, organizing meetups and conference sessions that allow others to share their work, building extensions to the platform, and so much more!

To learn more about the Google Developer Experts program and the Earth Engine GDEs, go to https://developers.google.com/community/experts.

Now that it is 2023, we are re-opening the application process for additional Earth Engine GDEs. If you’re interested in being considered, you can find information about the process in the GDE Program Application guide.

GDE Digital badge logo - Earth

Solution Challenge 2023: Use Google Technologies to Address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

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:

  1. Register at goo.gle/solutionchallenge and join a Google Developer Student Club at your college or university. If there is no club at your university, you can join the closest one through our event platform.
  2. Select one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals to address.
  3. Build a solution using Google technology.
  4. 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.

    ~2022 Solution Challenge participant

    From GDSC Lead to Flutter developer: Lenz Paul’s journey

    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.”

    Lenz encourages new developers looking to advance in their careers to try out Google Cloud Skills Boost, codelabs, six-month certificates, and technical development guide.

    “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.

    —

    If you’re a student and would like to join a Google Developer Student Club community, look for a chapter near you here. Interested in becoming a GDSC lead like Lenz? Visit this page for more information. Don’t have a GDSC at your university, but want to start one? Visit the program page to learn more.

    Meet Android Developers from India keen to learn and inspire

    Posted by Vishal Das, Community Manager

    This year the Google Developer Educators India team launched the “Android Learn and Inspire Series” for Android Developers who were eager to learn Jetpack Compose and inspire others to upskill. Meet the developers who completed the series and hosted workshops on Jetpack Compose to find out their motivation to teach others!

    Alankrita Shah, Lead Android Developer, Bolo Live

    How did you get started with Android Development?

    My journey with Android started back in my 3rd year of my undergraduate studies. I got an internship in a startup where I learned to develop an application that lets users watch videos. It was a simple application but that helped me start exploring android development. I was always in awe of the capabilities of Android applications.

    What keeps you motivated to learn and stay up to date ?

    In Android development, there are frequent updates that help developers write fast and efficient code. Keeping up with it would help build good quality products. Becoming part of communities where you can discuss and share best practices is an interesting way to learn and grow.

    Which method of knowledge sharing did you find most effective?

    I experimented with a few methods in the Android Learn and Inspire series. There are a few that I found quite effective.

    • Adding some fun activities helps in bringing energy to the session. You can put up some fun activities that will include the learnings of the session in a fun way.
    • Write up for the topic covered : Post the session, you can share a blog and/or code for the same. The members can access it if they want to revisit what they learned.”


    Amardeep Kumar, Android Engineer, Walmart

    How did you get started with Android Development?

    I completed my Engineering in Information Technology from Siliguri Institute of Technology back in 2011. I was one of those unlucky 10% of students who graduated without any job offer. After a few months of struggle, I got a job offer from a company called Robosoft (this time I was one of the 3 selected out of 2,000+ candidates). Hence, I started as an Android developer from day 1 of joining Robosoft from the Honeycomb and Ice cream sandwich.

    What keeps you motivated to learn and share?

    One thing was consistent in my Android journey and that was connecting with good Android developers. BlrDroid, GDG Bangalore, Udacity Nanodegree and the Android community helped me to connect with people and learn every day. Solving tech problems and Android tech discussions are part of daily life. I like to develop Android apps because of its reach in countries like India. Open source is also one of the reasons to love Android. I got trained in my first job from my seniors on Android and that motivated me to share my Android knowledge in the community.

    Which method of knowledge sharing did you find most effective?

    One tip I would like to share is let’s bring those good engineers in Android who are expert in solving Android problems but shy in sharing knowledge.

    Meet Android Developers from India keen to learn and inspire

    Posted by Vishal Das, Community Manager

    This year the Google Developer Educators India team launched the “Android Learn and Inspire Series” for Android Developers who were eager to learn Jetpack Compose and inspire others to upskill. Meet the developers who completed the series and hosted workshops on Jetpack Compose to find out their motivation to teach others!


    Alankrita Shah, Lead Android Developer, Bolo Live

    How did you get started with Android Development?

    My journey with Android started back in my 3rd year of my undergraduate studies. I got an internship in a startup where I learned to develop an application that lets users watch videos. It was a simple application but that helped me start exploring android development. I was always in awe of the capabilities of Android applications.


    What keeps you motivated to learn and stay up to date ?

    In Android development, there are frequent updates that help developers write fast and efficient code. Keeping up with it would help build good quality products. Becoming part of communities where you can discuss and share best practices is an interesting way to learn and grow.


    Which method of knowledge sharing did you find most effective?

    I experimented with a few methods in the Android Learn and Inspire series. There are a few that I found quite effective.

    • Adding some fun activities helps in bringing energy to the session. You can put up some fun activities that will include the learnings of the session in a fun way.
    • Write up for the topic covered : Post the session, you can share a blog and/or code for the same. The members can access it if they want to revisit what they learned.”


    Amardeep Kumar, Android Engineer, Walmart

    How did you get started with Android Development?

    I completed my Engineering in Information Technology from Siliguri Institute of Technology back in 2011. I was one of those unlucky 10% of students who graduated without any job offer. After a few months of struggle, I got a job offer from a company called Robosoft (this time I was one of the 3 selected out of 2,000+ candidates). Hence, I started as an Android developer from day 1 of joining Robosoft from the Honeycomb and Ice cream sandwich.


    What keeps you motivated to learn and share?

    One thing was consistent in my Android journey and that was connecting with good Android developers. BlrDroid, GDG Bangalore, Udacity Nanodegree and the Android community helped me to connect with people and learn every day. Solving tech problems and Android tech discussions are part of daily life. I like to develop Android apps because of its reach in countries like India. Open source is also one of the reasons to love Android. I got trained in my first job from my seniors on Android and that motivated me to share my Android knowledge in the community.


    Which method of knowledge sharing did you find most effective?

    One tip I would like to share is let’s bring those good engineers in Android who are expert in solving Android problems but shy in sharing knowledge.

    Dev Library Letters: 16th Issue

    Posted by the Dev Library Team

    Welcome to the 16th Issue! Our monthly newsletter curates some of the best projects developed with Google tech that have been submitted to the Google Dev Library platform.  We hope this brings you the inspiration you need for your next project!

        Content of the month

    How to exclude stylesheets from the bundle and lazy load them in Angular

    by Dharmen Shah

    Learn how to load stylesheets only when needed without making them part of an application bundle.


        Check out content from Google Cloud, Angular, Android, ML, & Flutter


    Android

    • Check out this Android library that offers dialogs and views for various use cases built with Jetpack Compose for Compose projects by Maximilian Keppeler.

    • Learn how to create and publish your own Android Library with JitPack by Matteo Macri.

    Angular

    • Dive into into composition and inheritance in Angular by Dany Paredes featuring an example focused on forms that highlights why you should be careful using inheritance in components.

    • Read “Angular dependency injection understood” by Jordi Riera to gain a broader perspective of how it works, why it is important, and how to leverage it inside angular.

    Cloud

    • Learn how Iris automatically assigns labels to Google Cloud resources for manageability and easier billing reporting in this post by Joshua Fox.

    • Check out Glen Yu’s hack for those in regions without access to native replication in “Pulumi DIY GCS replication” - some of these solutions will require understanding of the fundamental building blocks that make up the Google Cloud Platform.

    Flutter

    • Learn how to make Flutter projects scalable by using a modularization approach in R. Rifa Fauzi Komara’s article, “Flutter: mastering modularization”.

    • Check out Let’s Draw by Festus Olusegun, a simple app made with Flutter that enables users to draw art with freehand, line, and shape tools.

    • Explore how to use Cubits from the Bloc library to manage states and get the benefits and drawbacks of this approach in Verena Zaiser’s article.

    Machine Learning

    • Get an overview on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs, ConvNets), why they matter, and how to use them in Henry Ndubuaku’s tutorial, “Applying CNNs to images for computer vision and text for NLP”.

    • See why you should add deep learning framework Jax to your stack and get an intro to writing and training your own neural networks with Flax in this introduction tutorial by Phillip Lippe.
    Want to read more? 
    Check out the latest projects and community-authored content by visiting Google Dev Library.
    Submit your projects to showcase your work and inspire developers!