Google IO: Kampala Viewing Party
At Andela Uganda in partnership with Google for Africa and Google Developer Groups Kampala.
IO is an annual developer conference from Google. This year it was held in Mountain View, California at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. There were live viewing parties across Andela centers in Kampala, Nairobi and Lagos. This was made possible through a partnership with the Developer Relations team in Google Sub-Saharan Africa, Andela and Google Developer Groups (GDG). In Kampala, the viewing party was led at the Andela Uganda office.
As usual, the conference kicked off with a keynote by the Google CEO Sundar Pichai. He talked about all the new innovations and improvements the Google teams have been working on since last year’s IO. Some of the exciting announcements included but were not limited to:- the new Android version P, 6 new Google assistant voices for users to pick from, draft email in Gmail using AI and a lot more. Catch the entire keynote here or a quick highlight here.
After the keynote, there were many more sessions led by Googlers. These included Android, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, web, Chrome and Flutter. Flutter is platform for developing multi-platform applications such as iOS and Android apps from one codebase. I am so excited about this new technology and what it has to offer. You can check out all the recorded Google IO sessions here on the Google developers youtube channel.
As usual it is always exciting to meet new people within the local developer community and also catching up with old friends. During the viewing party I got to interact with a few people and found out why they took time off their schedules and came to watch the keynote and below are some of the responses I got.
Whenever I get in a room with other developers I get motivated when I hear about their stories and how they are positively influencing their communities. — Asa Luganda, Student at Makerere University
I always want to know what the latest technologies are from Google. Since most of the software I build is tightly tied to their platform. — Bruce, Andela Fellow
I use such events as a time to catch up with old friends and also meet new people. — Douglas, GDG member, Makerere University
I wanted to know more about Andela, I have always heard about it but I do not exactly know how I can join…..and there is too much I have heard for it to be true. — Ernest Henry, student at Kampala International University.
Overall, it was a very thrilling experience for me and I cannot wait for next year’s Google IO. Well I also need to catch up on all the other sessions since it was a 3 day event. And for all those that came, thank you very much.
If you are a developer and you want to change the world as you work with brilliant minds across the world. Do not hesitate, apply now and join the Andela fellowship today.
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All photographs in this article were taken by Aaron Sekisambu
