Google I / O 2017: my impressions and comments of colleagues
Author: Elena Fedorova, Head of Human Resource Marketing, DataArt, Voronezh
Since 2009, I have been heading the Google Developer Group in Voronezh, in addition, in 2016 we organized a community for girls in IT Women Techmakers Voronezh. So, of course, I could not miss the next Google I / O conference. For me, Google I / O is not just the announcements of the coolest new products and the opportunity to look into the near future right now, but also the feeling of a general movement, communication with colleagues and friends in the community.
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Some statistics on Google community:
• About 600 active GDG groups in 102 countries.
• 3,610 thematic events over the past six months.
My report from last year’s conference can be read here . This time I collected comments from my colleagues and, complementing them with my own impressions, I tried to highlight five interesting features of Google I / O 2017.
This year, for the first time, Russia entered the top five countries with the highest activity of the GDG community; over the past six months, the Russian communities conducted 111 events. And this is really cool.
A few years ago, Natalia Yefimtseva came to Google. Abbreviated, her position is called “devrel”, and in fact, Natalya is the very person who cares about the development of the GDG community in Russia. Thanks to her, in three years the number of active groups in Russia has grown from three to 21st!
This year, GDG representatives from Moscow, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and Kazan arrived at Google I / O.
Katya Pysanka, leader of GDG Moscow, curator of GDG Russia:
“This year, at the conference, the organizers have allocated a special place for the party and communication of activists and leaders of different communities - the Community Lounge.
There we organized a mitap, where we gathered Russian-speaking participants in the conference. The leaders of GDG Russia talked about their communities, businesses, and opportunities that Google provides for IT promotion. On the eve of the conference, community leaders from different countries gathered at the summit. It traditionally begins with a party, followed by a whole day of sessions on a variety of topics: from oratory to new opportunities in the promotion of the community. The organizers added to the presentations of the game interactive and, as always, gave the participants souvenirs. ”
Excellent reports that collect stadiums, a lot of activities and sections, which you want to walk for days. And most importantly, people who are happy to discuss what ordinary users do not know yet, but what will become commonplace in the near future.
Denis Neklyudov, Android GDE Singapore, Developer at 90Seconds.tv:
“One can arrogantly say about I / O that they were not surprised: they said so many people gathered, but in the end they did not show anything that changes the world. But the highlight of the developer conferences is not that. Someone has spoiled us for the last ten years, so we used to come for loud announcements and expensive gadgets, gifts.
In fact, as a developer conference, this I / O proved to be great. The tight schedule, filled with dozens of interesting reports, did not leave me a single minute for all three days. And what a community! ”
Alexander Denisov, Lead Software Engineer, NetCracker, Lead GDG Nizhny Novgorod:
“Regarding I / O-2017, we can confidently say: Google is learning from its mistakes. A well-balanced schedule, NFC tags in the badges and the possibility of online registration made it possible to avoid lines in the pavilions. Last year, for the sake of one interesting session, we had to miss another while standing in line.
I was also pleased with the work with the community: out of more than 7,000 participants, there were about 700 invited community organizers from 79 countries. And even if the revolutionary news and not sounded, it was announced and covered a lot of interesting things. A bunch of new Firebase, AI, Clouds, and Kotlin support, of course. Although I / O, first of all, is good not with news and sessions, but with the opportunity to communicate with interesting people. First of all, with the developers of Google, having received the answers, so to speak, first-hand. It was very cool, Google, as usual, on top! "
I was again struck by the device for people with disabilities and how Google is developing this area. We conducted medtech-hakaton in Voronezh and understand how relevant this topic is.
Even such seemingly simple things as a non-turning spoon can really make life easier for people with movement restrictions.
Devices for the blind help them communicate via the Internet and mobile technologies.
Google is trying to apply the latest technology where you expect the least. For example, it turns out that with the help of machine learning one can take into account the individual characteristics of a person by selecting drinks for a cocktail.
Alexey Korovyansky, Android GDE, Technical Director Handsome (handsome.is):
“For Android developers, official Kotlin support has become the hottest and most discussed news of the conference. Communicating here with Android experts from all over the world, I can say with confidence that Kotlin is truly loved and recognized in the community. And Google demonstrates an excellent approach to the development of the Android SDK, listening to the community feedback and making key decisions based on it. I sincerely congratulate the Kotlin / JetBrains team and all those who believed in Kotlin. We will continue to popularize this language in the community and expect to see a noticeable increase in demand for its knowledge.
Also this year I / O has a lot of great content about Firebase and the latest innovations in Cloud Functions, Performance Monitoring, SMS Authentication, Fabric / Crashlytics integration, Cloud Integration, which allow you to better and faster solve typical mobile development tasks and make fire applications.
Of course, this year there is also a lot of interesting about Machine Learning - for example, using the Magenta project you can create a simplified analogue of Prisma in a few hours. The keynote of the entire conference was the statement "Mobile First to AI first", and this will fundamentally affect the future of Android and the whole world of technology.
Alexander Zatsepin, Android Developer, MAPSME, Mail.ru:
“The overall impression is that progress is evident in all directions, especially in the field of machine learning (TensorFlow), now everyone can build and train models based on the data that Google collects. And he collects them a lot and everywhere. As for Android, an excellent improvement of the main Android developer tool is Android Studio. Application profiling should be a little more fun. Also, Android architecture components, I think, is another step forward in the standardization of application architecture, since now everyone is writing their MVP / MVC bikes, and so will be one, but from the developers of the platform.
Official Kotlin support is also a nice bonus of this Google I / O, but it put me on my guard more than pleased. ”
It is always amazing to meet leaders of different communities with whom I haven’t seen for a long time or, in principle, only online. For example, fly over the ocean to chat with the coolest GDG leader from Lviv, Vitaly Zasadny.
For reference - the guys from Lviv are organizing one of the largest DevFest conferences in the world!
Community leaders not only managed to get families, some have already brought their children to the conference.
Aigul Zagidullina was the leader of GDG in Ufa, then she developed GDG in Berlin, now in London.
Denis Neklyudov, Android GDE Singapore, Developer at 90Seconds.tv:
“So many friends from all over the world, and all are cool specialists with whom there is something to talk about. And while it was all very well organized, even fed from the heart. I wish that next year, people would not come for announcements, but for new knowledge, acquaintances, experience, and just pleasure to be in the Valley in fine weather. ”
Denis Neklyudov even shared his own video report with us.
Alexey Korovyansky, Android GDE, Technical Director Handsome (handsome.is):
“In addition to getting acquainted with technological innovations, I / O is a great place for communication and new interesting acquaintances. Google knows how to make communities, allowing you to get a lot of positive emotions, and a lot of benefits. ”
Since 2009, I have been heading the Google Developer Group in Voronezh, in addition, in 2016 we organized a community for girls in IT Women Techmakers Voronezh. So, of course, I could not miss the next Google I / O conference. For me, Google I / O is not just the announcements of the coolest new products and the opportunity to look into the near future right now, but also the feeling of a general movement, communication with colleagues and friends in the community.
')
Some statistics on Google community:
• About 600 active GDG groups in 102 countries.
• 3,610 thematic events over the past six months.
My report from last year’s conference can be read here . This time I collected comments from my colleagues and, complementing them with my own impressions, I tried to highlight five interesting features of Google I / O 2017.
1. GDG Russia in the top 5
This year, for the first time, Russia entered the top five countries with the highest activity of the GDG community; over the past six months, the Russian communities conducted 111 events. And this is really cool.
A few years ago, Natalia Yefimtseva came to Google. Abbreviated, her position is called “devrel”, and in fact, Natalya is the very person who cares about the development of the GDG community in Russia. Thanks to her, in three years the number of active groups in Russia has grown from three to 21st!
This year, GDG representatives from Moscow, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and Kazan arrived at Google I / O.
Katya Pysanka, leader of GDG Moscow, curator of GDG Russia:
“This year, at the conference, the organizers have allocated a special place for the party and communication of activists and leaders of different communities - the Community Lounge.
There we organized a mitap, where we gathered Russian-speaking participants in the conference. The leaders of GDG Russia talked about their communities, businesses, and opportunities that Google provides for IT promotion. On the eve of the conference, community leaders from different countries gathered at the summit. It traditionally begins with a party, followed by a whole day of sessions on a variety of topics: from oratory to new opportunities in the promotion of the community. The organizers added to the presentations of the game interactive and, as always, gave the participants souvenirs. ”
2. A busy schedule
Excellent reports that collect stadiums, a lot of activities and sections, which you want to walk for days. And most importantly, people who are happy to discuss what ordinary users do not know yet, but what will become commonplace in the near future.
Denis Neklyudov, Android GDE Singapore, Developer at 90Seconds.tv:
“One can arrogantly say about I / O that they were not surprised: they said so many people gathered, but in the end they did not show anything that changes the world. But the highlight of the developer conferences is not that. Someone has spoiled us for the last ten years, so we used to come for loud announcements and expensive gadgets, gifts.
In fact, as a developer conference, this I / O proved to be great. The tight schedule, filled with dozens of interesting reports, did not leave me a single minute for all three days. And what a community! ”
Alexander Denisov, Lead Software Engineer, NetCracker, Lead GDG Nizhny Novgorod:
“Regarding I / O-2017, we can confidently say: Google is learning from its mistakes. A well-balanced schedule, NFC tags in the badges and the possibility of online registration made it possible to avoid lines in the pavilions. Last year, for the sake of one interesting session, we had to miss another while standing in line.
I was also pleased with the work with the community: out of more than 7,000 participants, there were about 700 invited community organizers from 79 countries. And even if the revolutionary news and not sounded, it was announced and covered a lot of interesting things. A bunch of new Firebase, AI, Clouds, and Kotlin support, of course. Although I / O, first of all, is good not with news and sessions, but with the opportunity to communicate with interesting people. First of all, with the developers of Google, having received the answers, so to speak, first-hand. It was very cool, Google, as usual, on top! "
3. New devices.
I was again struck by the device for people with disabilities and how Google is developing this area. We conducted medtech-hakaton in Voronezh and understand how relevant this topic is.
Even such seemingly simple things as a non-turning spoon can really make life easier for people with movement restrictions.
Devices for the blind help them communicate via the Internet and mobile technologies.
Google is trying to apply the latest technology where you expect the least. For example, it turns out that with the help of machine learning one can take into account the individual characteristics of a person by selecting drinks for a cocktail.
4. Kotlin support and machine learning progress
Alexey Korovyansky, Android GDE, Technical Director Handsome (handsome.is):
“For Android developers, official Kotlin support has become the hottest and most discussed news of the conference. Communicating here with Android experts from all over the world, I can say with confidence that Kotlin is truly loved and recognized in the community. And Google demonstrates an excellent approach to the development of the Android SDK, listening to the community feedback and making key decisions based on it. I sincerely congratulate the Kotlin / JetBrains team and all those who believed in Kotlin. We will continue to popularize this language in the community and expect to see a noticeable increase in demand for its knowledge.
Also this year I / O has a lot of great content about Firebase and the latest innovations in Cloud Functions, Performance Monitoring, SMS Authentication, Fabric / Crashlytics integration, Cloud Integration, which allow you to better and faster solve typical mobile development tasks and make fire applications.
Of course, this year there is also a lot of interesting about Machine Learning - for example, using the Magenta project you can create a simplified analogue of Prisma in a few hours. The keynote of the entire conference was the statement "Mobile First to AI first", and this will fundamentally affect the future of Android and the whole world of technology.
Alexander Zatsepin, Android Developer, MAPSME, Mail.ru:
“The overall impression is that progress is evident in all directions, especially in the field of machine learning (TensorFlow), now everyone can build and train models based on the data that Google collects. And he collects them a lot and everywhere. As for Android, an excellent improvement of the main Android developer tool is Android Studio. Application profiling should be a little more fun. Also, Android architecture components, I think, is another step forward in the standardization of application architecture, since now everyone is writing their MVP / MVC bikes, and so will be one, but from the developers of the platform.
Official Kotlin support is also a nice bonus of this Google I / O, but it put me on my guard more than pleased. ”
5. Meeting friends
It is always amazing to meet leaders of different communities with whom I haven’t seen for a long time or, in principle, only online. For example, fly over the ocean to chat with the coolest GDG leader from Lviv, Vitaly Zasadny.
For reference - the guys from Lviv are organizing one of the largest DevFest conferences in the world!
Community leaders not only managed to get families, some have already brought their children to the conference.
Aigul Zagidullina was the leader of GDG in Ufa, then she developed GDG in Berlin, now in London.
Denis Neklyudov, Android GDE Singapore, Developer at 90Seconds.tv:
“So many friends from all over the world, and all are cool specialists with whom there is something to talk about. And while it was all very well organized, even fed from the heart. I wish that next year, people would not come for announcements, but for new knowledge, acquaintances, experience, and just pleasure to be in the Valley in fine weather. ”
Denis Neklyudov even shared his own video report with us.
Alexey Korovyansky, Android GDE, Technical Director Handsome (handsome.is):
“In addition to getting acquainted with technological innovations, I / O is a great place for communication and new interesting acquaintances. Google knows how to make communities, allowing you to get a lot of positive emotions, and a lot of benefits. ”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/329304/
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