Tag Archives: google developers community groups

Solution Challenge Winner Update: Samuel’s mission to get children vaccinated in Uganda

Posted by Aniedi Udo-Obong, Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Lead, Google Developer Communities

Samuel Mugisha has been very busy since we first shared his story in 2019. Back then, Samuel was a university student from Uganda who was inspired to create a mobile Immunization Calculator app to help keep track of children’s vaccinations after he saw his community using handwritten paper cards that were difficult to read and keep intact. Samuel kicked his idea into gear by forming a team with friends from GDSC Muni University, and they ended up winning the 2019 Google Developer Student Clubs Solution Challenge. The Solution Challenge is an annual event hosted by Google developers, inviting students from all over the world to develop solutions for local community problems using Google technology. Thanks to their win, Samuel and his team secured office space in Uganda and got up to speed with crucial tools like Android, Firebase, and Presto, with mentorship from some of Africa’s best at Google and other companies, as well as Google Developer Group community organizers.

Still, their project was in its earliest stages of development, and Samuel had a long way to go on the path to fixing a flawed healthcare system.

The immunization tracker’s progress

Fast forward to today, and Samuel and his team have made huge strides in building out the functionalities of their Immunization Calculator app. Lately, they’ve been working to increase the number of vaccinations the app can track and expanding to include other vaccines as well. These important updates will bring Samuel one step closer to his goal of increasing tracking and vaccinations of infants and children under a year old. Samuel and his team are also putting extra focus on improving functionality and user experience, making it easier than ever for parents to use the app to track their children’s vaccination status.

Vaccine tracking in-app

Thanks to the mentorship they received from Google Developer Experts as Solution Challenge winners, Samuel’s team was able to embed SMS messaging capabilities directly into the app. With this new functionality, the app now has the ability to remind parents to schedule their child’s next vaccine, and can provide accurate dosing information.

Vaccine reminder text alerts

In the app’s initial phase, the team relied on a simple user interface using NativeScript integrated to run on Gradle in Android Studio. Through mentorship, they found that implementing Kotlin instead was a more stable option that ran on most mobile devices. Since 2019, Felix Egaru, the core developer behind the project, has done a lot of work to add more features using Firebase. The app uses Firebase Authentication to authorize system users, Firebase Cloud Messaging to send push notifications, and Cloud Firestore to securely store user data. It also includes coverage and dropout rates, dosing instructions, and other important information thanks to Firebase. All of these new features let users access the data they need to make informed decisions about getting vaccinated. In a country with remote areas that have little to no internet access, Firebase’s offline capabilities have also proved vital for allowing healthcare workers to use the app in the field regardless of internet connectivity.

An app user joins the team

Despite all their progress, Samuel and his team still lacked the help they needed to get the app out into the world for real-time testing. Enter Kabagweri Fionah, a busy parent and small business owner who had started using Samuel’s app to keep track of her son’s vaccinations. She first discovered the Immunization Calculator app after seeing the Solution Challenge online and learning about the finalists.

Fionah immediately saw the app’s potential and knew that it could go a long way towards making a real difference in people’s lives, so she reached out to Samuel directly to see if she could join the team and help get the app out into the world. Not long after, Fionah was hired as a public relations officer, tasked with handling marketing, advocacy, and communications efforts to grow the app even further.

Kabagweri Fionah and Samuel Mugisha

Fionah joined the team at just the right time. Through her outreach efforts, Samuel and his team gained access to a local hospital in Kampala where they could actually put the Immunization Calculator to the test. Beyond just spreading the word, testing at the hospital helped them identify and fix bugs in the system and prepare their app for future, larger-scale testing. Recently, Samuel and his team reached an even bigger milestone. Thanks to Fionah’s persistence, the team was given an opportunity to deploy their project at the biggest health center in Kyegegwa District. Samuel and his team are currently working to raise funds so that they can complete a full year of system testing at the center.

Samuel at the health center in Kyegegwa District

As Samuel explains, Google Developer Student Clubs has helped his team get their foot in the door all along the way:

“Mentioning that the project was globally awarded by the GDSC program prompts someone's attention to listen to the innovation, and this has helped us during the pitching.”




Setting himself up for success

Samuel credits the Solution Challenge and Google Developer Student Clubs for helping him transform his brilliant idea into a life-changing application. He puts it best when explaining why winning the Solution Challenge was such a huge motivation for him and his team.

“It gave us a tremendous understanding of what we had on our laptops and how much it can save children's lives out there.”

Thanks to Google Developer Student Clubs, Samuel found a team of bold thinkers with the same passion to help others, and the drive to turn an idea into reality. Google Developer Experts were crucial in helping them bring the app’s functionalities to the next level. Samuel and his peers were given access to the tools they needed to grow: Coursera, Qwiklabs, Pluralsight, and Google Cloud credits to polish their development skills.

This year’s Solution Challenge Demo Day is right around the corner on August 26th, where the top 10 finalists will showcase their projects to Google and developers around the world live on YouTube for a chance to be named one of the final 3 winning teams. Samuel knows what the pressure feels like, and he’s got some great advice for the current finalists:

“Be the mastermind of your project and dwell most on the change or impact it can bring to the world. Not how big it is, or how expensive it is, or how technical it is. Success is not final and failure is not fatal. Identify what went wrong, correct and implement it, then prepare for another shot.”

Thanks to Samuel’s focus on the goal and drive to make a difference, he and his team are well on their way to making healthcare more accessible for Ugandans in his community and beyond. Google Developer Student Clubs are perfect for building solutions to help your community with other students who share your passion. Equip yourself with the knowledge you need to bring your best idea to life. Click here to find a Google Developer Community Student Club community near you.

Incarcerated people learn to code: How one community organizer is changing lives

Posted by Kubra Zengin, North America Regional Lead, Google Developer Groups

When asked to speak to a room full of incarcerated individuals about becoming developers, Danny Thompson didn’t bat an eye. Danny is an experienced software engineer and community organizer for Google Developer Groups Memphis.

But for the first ten years of his professional career, he worked in a gas station frying chicken. If anyone knows how to beat the odds and choose a different path in life, it’s him.

(Left) Danny Thompson working in a gas station (Right) At work in the tech industry

Danny Thompson is a big believer in the power of community. Over the years, he’s grown a vast network of thousands of aspiring developers, tech industry professionals, and career development experts through the Google Developer Group community and across social media. So it was no surprise when Danny was contacted to speak at an event hosted by Persevere, a non-profit that teaches justice-involved individuals how to code and helps them find careers as developers. By teaching skills like programming, Persevere has seen a decrease in recidivism rates. Through their job placement efforts, they are helping those that get out, stay out.

For Danny, signing up to help out was an easy decision. His biggest motivator in life is helping others succeed, no matter their hardships or where they come from.

“If someone wants to learn, that’s someone I want to help. Simple as that.”

In March of last year, Danny spoke to a room full of incarcerated people at the non-profit’s secure facility in Memphis, Tennessee. Incarcerated individuals from Tennessee prisons are brought to this offsite location for hands-on training with coding instructors. For hours, Danny taught Javascript concepts, gave career guidance, and shared his best tips for growing in the tech industry with program participants.

Thanks to Danny’s role as community organizer for GDG Memphis, he was able to share many learning materials that came directly from Google Developer Group events. Those enrolled in the program were also given access to Google Developer Group events online to help them learn new concepts and network with other developers.

Danny recognizes how difficult it can be for incarcerated individuals to reenter society without a helping hand and the skills they need to attain a well-paying job. As a result, many previously incarcerated people return to prison because they are unable to find employment and have higher chances of falling back into bad habits. But when they learn to code, recidivism rates drop dramatically.

Program participants continue learning at a transition center in Memphis, Tennessee

Anyone can be a developer

Danny knows what it’s like to not fit the mold of a typical developer. After working ten years as a fry cook at a gas station, he never considered that transitioning to a career in technology was even possible. However, everything changed for Danny when he began attending Google Developer Group meetups.

“There are zero chances I would have made it in this industry if it wasn’t for meetups.“

By networking with other developers, Danny gained the skills he needed to grow his early interest in coding into actual opportunity. Fast forward to today, and Danny is using his connection to Google Developer Groups to break barriers for anyone and everyone interested in pursuing a career in the tech industry. As an organizer for GDG Memphis, Danny designs mentorship opportunities with experts in the tech industry and hosts meetups that connect aspiring developers to hiring managers. Through opportunities just like these, Danny has helped over 600 people land jobs in tech, and he’s not stopping anytime soon.

GDG Memphis meetup event

“Your beginning doesn’t have to be your end. You do not have to be defined by the set of circumstances you’ve walked into.”

It’s never too late to join your local Google Developer Group. Learn new skills, advance your career, and meet other developers who share your interests. Anyone interested in tech is welcome, and joining is completely free.

To find your local chapter, click here.

Recap: Build Actions For Your Community

Posted by Leon Nicholls, Developer Programs Engineer

In March, we announced the "Build Actions for Your Community" Event Series. These events are run by Google Developers Groups (GDG) and other community groups to educate developers about Actions on Google through local meetup events.

The event series has now ended and spanned 66 countries with a total of 432 events. These events reached 19,400 developers with 21% women attendance.

Actions on Google is of interest to developers globally, from Benin City, Nigeria, to Valparaíso, Chile, Hyderabad, India, Košice, Slovakia, and Omaha, Nebraska.

Developers in these cities experienced hands-on learning, including codelabs and activities to design and create Actions for their communities.

Developers consider creating Actions for the Google Assistant as a way of applying machine learning to solve real world problems. Here, for example, are the winners of the #IndiaBuildsActions Campaign:

You can try Meditation Daily to help you relax, English King to learn about grammar, or Voice Cricket to play a game of cricket.

We also got valuable feedback directly from developers about how to improve the Actions on Google APIs and documentation. We learned that developers want to do Actions for feature phones and want the Assistant to support more languages. Developers also asked for more codelabs, more workshops and more samples (subsequently, we've added a 3rd codelab).

It was exciting to see how many developers shared their experiences on social media.

"Event series was impressive, Awesome and amazing. Knowledge well acquired" (Nigeria)

"The experience I had with the participants was unforgettable. Thank you" (Philippines)

It was also very encouraging to see that 76% of developers are likely to build new Actions and that most developers rated the Actions on Google platform better than other platforms.

Thanks to everybody who organized, presented, and attended these events all around the world. For even more events, join a local GDG DevFest to share ideas and learn about developing with Google's technologies. We can't wait to see what kinds of Actions you create for the Google Assistant!

Want more? Head over to the Actions on Google community to discuss Actions with other developers. Join the Actions on Google developer community program and you could earn a $200 monthly Google Cloud credit and an Assistant t-shirt when you publish your first app.

Let’s hit the road! Join Google Developers Community Roadshow

Posted by Przemek Pardel, Developer Relations Program Manager, Regional Lead

This summer, Google Developers team is touring 10 countries and 14 cities in Europe in a colorful community bus. We'll be visiting university campuses and technology parks to meet you locally and talk about our programs for developers and start-ups.

Join us to find out how Google supports developer communities. Learn about Google Developer Groups, Women Techmakers program and various ways how we engage with the broader developer community in Europe and around the world.

Our bus will stop in the following locations between 12.00 and 4pm:

  • 4th June, Estonia, Tallinn
  • 6th June, Latvia, Riga
  • 8th June, Lithuania, Vilnius
  • 11th June, Poland, Gdańsk
  • 13th June, Poland, Poznań
  • 15th June, Poland, Kraków
  • 18th June, Slovenia, Ljubljana
  • 19th June, Croatia, Zagreb
  • 21st June, Bulgaria, Sofia

Want to meet us on the way? Sign up for the event in your city here.

What to expect:

  • Information: learn more about how Google supports developer communities around the world, from content, speakers to a global network
  • Network: with other community organizers from your city
  • Workshops: join some of our product workshops on tour (Actions on Google, Google Cloud, Machine Learning), and meet with Google teams
  • Fun: live music, games and more!

Are you interested in starting a new developer community or are you an organizer who would like to join the global Google Community Program? Let us know and receive an invitation-only pass to our private events.

Google Developers team

Let’s hit the road! Join Google Developers Community Roadshow

Posted by Przemek Pardel, Developer Relations Program Manager, Regional Lead

This summer, Google Developers team is touring 10 countries and 14 cities in Europe in a colorful community bus. We'll be visiting university campuses and technology parks to meet you locally and talk about our programs for developers and start-ups.

Join us to find out how Google supports developer communities. Learn about Google Developer Groups, Women Techmakers program and various ways how we engage with the broader developer community in Europe and around the world.

Our bus will stop in the following locations between 12.00 and 4pm:

  • 4th June, Estonia, Tallinn
  • 6th June, Latvia, Riga
  • 8th June, Lithuania, Vilnius
  • 11th June, Poland, Gdańsk
  • 13th June, Poland, Poznań
  • 15th June, Poland, Kraków
  • 18th June, Slovenia, Ljubljana
  • 19th June, Croatia, Zagreb
  • 21st June, Bulgaria, Sofia

Want to meet us on the way? Sign up for the event in your city here.

What to expect:

  • Information: learn more about how Google supports developer communities around the world, from content, speakers to a global network
  • Network: with other community organizers from your city
  • Workshops: join some of our product workshops on tour (Actions on Google, Google Cloud, Machine Learning), and meet with Google teams
  • Fun: live music, games and more!

Are you interested in starting a new developer community or are you an organizer who would like to join the global Google Community Program? Let us know and receive an invitation-only pass to our private events.

Google Developers team