2019 GDG Ilorin Year Review — Achievement and Challenges
In the fall of 2017, Kamaldeen Kehinde, along with some passionate community builders who believed in the dream that the power of technology and innovation would fulfill, visualized the future of the tech ecosystem in Kwara state. The story would have been different today if the likes of Ibrahim Zulkifli, Adeola Olaleye, Yahyah Mohammed and others didn’t take bold steps in actualizing the goal.
An article written by Kamaldeen in 2017 gave an expository view about how Kwara state was gradually becoming a home for technology innovation, considering the rate at which youths were embracing digital skills and striving to make an impact in the global economy, the benefit of which was accepted and appreciated in many ways by tech enthusiasts. Additionally, possessing the spirit of community service and volunteering is simply the best way to showcase one’s talent and improve one’s communication skills. It has helped to create mutual relationships among people of different economic status.
The approval of the GDG Ilorin community in early January of 2019 came as a blessing for every developer who resides in Ilorin. It is indisputably one of the most beneficial tech communities every tech enthusiast in Ilorin aspires to join and benefit from.
What does GDG Ilorin stand for?
It means Google Developers Group Ilorin. It is a local community-run group for developers interested in resources and technology from Google Developers; everything ranging from the Android, Chrome, Drive, and Google Cloud platforms, to product APIs like the Cast API, Maps API, and YouTube API. GDG Ilorin is an independent group; a place to meet other local developers and those interested in developer technologies. All are welcome, including those with diverse backgrounds and those from a variety of companies and industries. Our first year was highly remarkable with a lot of memories from workshops, events, and tours. The feedback and stories received from beneficiary community members were highly commendable and gave us the full confidence that 2020 will create more opportunities for everyone.
GDG Ilorin’s members went from zero to now over 955 on meetup.com, with 700+ active members and 1500+ social media followers, 10 different events were held in 2019 with 1000+ attendees in total, 7 articles were published on the chapter medium channels, more than 50 members completed code labs on Cloud, Kotlin and Flutter and over 300 members were introduced to coding and google technologies for the first time in their tech career. This was achieved through the combined effort of our organizers, tech mentors and volunteers.
The Events in review
Our events are not just about gatherings, they are about the people, how they are treated, their experiences, and their passion for learning new technologies. No matter their level of coding, they are always excited to learn and meet new people.
List of 2019 Events
- Cloud Study Jam 1
- IWD Ilorin
- Google I/O 2019 Drinks Night Ilorin
- Google I/O 2019 Extended Ilorin
- Kotlin/Everywhere Ilorin
- Flutter Study Jam
- Cloud Study Jam 2
- DevFest Abuja (Cluster)
- DevFest Ilorin
- Chrome Dev Summit Extended Ilorin
- Flutter Interact viewing party
The Testimonials and Stories from benefited members
“GDG Ilorin organized workshops and seminars that impacted my career tremendously. Thanks to GDG for being part of my journey.” — Heritage Sodiq, Machine Learning engineer
“Attending WTM Ilorin assured me that being a developer is cool as a lady. Adeola motivated me a lot. Ahmed Olanrewaju tutored me in HTML and CSS and boosted my morale. I was propelled to learn on my own and grow. Thank you GDG Ilorin!” — Nih’matallah Hammed, Front end developer
In April 2019, I started my university SIWES internship at Malhub, this was the best thing that the university had done for me so far because it gave me the opportunity to meet the GDG Ilorin organizing team, a connection that has impacted me greatly over the year. Before my encounter with this group, I had little knowledge about tech and little interest too, being around these people gave me the right motivation that I needed to push myself to learn more. I started learning web development with the team and in less than 3 months I became a pro, this skill gave me the platform for my application as the Developer Student Clubs lead for the University of Ilorin, an opportunity that has opened for me other exciting opportunities. It's never a dull moment with these lads, as they’re doing something that they enjoy doing, I started to enjoy it too. I’m really grateful to be part of this exciting community — Monsur Hussein, DSC Lead University of Ilorin
GDG Ilorin has been a great help to both young and old in Kwara state, it’s a large community that brings the latest technology to the state, joining the tech community has been one of the best thing that happen to me 2019, with the help of these amazing people I used every single opportunity on every workshop to network with people, and that has been of good help to my everyday living, I meet a couple of people who took me through the part of learning other new and latest technologies and also help pitching up projects to build amazing stuff, I’m also happy I get the chance to take others through the step of leaning just as I have — Joseph, Software Developer
Our Challenges
We were faced with a bias on the part of most workshop attendees, it could be hard getting them to take responsibilities and open up freely. Establishing such a large physical community is new in our environment. But in the past few months, they’ve got used to the ecosystem. A family bond has been formed and most people take up responsibility even before being assigned and relate freely.
Another challenge was also settling logistics for the venue for our large events. With the relationships GDG Ilorin has formed with local organizations and businesses, this challenge is being curbed.
Future Projection
As a new year beckons, we are striving hard to create a much more enabling environment for developers and tech enthusiasts in Kwara.
Therefore, the desire possessed by our members to achieve expertise and world-class excellence is obvious. We hope to collaborate with more organizations and communities to provide opportunities for our developers in the form of projects, jobs, and internships to help achieve expertise.
We will be focusing a substantial amount of our energy and resources towards opening our community to the Open Source community. We’ll feature workshops and coding sessions to encourage and guide developers towards contributing to Open Source.
Support We received
A popular saying in Nigeria is that a tree cannot make a forest. We appreciate all local and global communities and organizations that have contributed to our success in the past few months of our existence.
We can’t thank Google Developers enough for the all-time support in finance, strategy, and encouragement. Noteworthy is the effort of the SSA team, Aniedi Udo-Obong, Auwal MS and Ada Nduka Oyom for the great work they have done with us since our inception.
Also, we received maximum support and hype from the Kwarabuild Tech Community. Thanks for the love!
Special thanks to the tech communities at Kwara State University, Kwara State Polytechnic and the University of Ilorin, most importantly, the Developer Student Clubs (DSC) chapters in the two schools. Their members volunteered to speak, handle code sessions, help with logistics and carried out a lot more activities. In addition, we appreciate Plat Technologies, GatsbyJS, and other organizations for their support as well.
Also, we would like to say a big thank you to all members of our community. You guys rock!
Appreciation
GDG Ilorin would like to thank everybody who participated in any of our workshops, events and made it a huge success. We offer sincere gratitude to our distinguished keynote speakers for their inspiring and timely insights. Thank you to the Kwarabuild family for their wonderful contributions and continuing support. Most of all, we’re immensely grateful to all the participants, without whom, the success of the GDG Ilorin would not have been possible.
A special shoutout goes to our volunteers and well-wishers, we all look forward to seeing all of you again soon in the near future.
Meet Our Team
Our team is amazing and they are your team as well. When you need to achieve a creative dream, you need a mindset that can build and inspire other people to do more good for themselves. It’s the power of the dream that helps the community to strive. With their love for humanity. Our team embodies excellence and they are ready to change the world!
Leading the GDG Ilorin team of organizers is Kamaldeen Yusuf Kehinde, a web developer, and Manager of Mal Hub. Zainab Bolanle Abdullahi, Adeola Grace and Ajadi Abiola coordinate our Women Techmakers chapter. Tech Contractor coordinates programmers while Mohammed Abiola handles technical sessions. Cole Eremoh Solomon and Ahmed Olanrewaju are our community advocates. Areous Ahmad is the Lead UI/UX designer and Dare Akolade Omiyale leads the product/brand design team. Jekayinoluwa Olabemiwo and Raheemat Babajide organize events. Solomon DaSilva, a cinematographer, and Jamiu Abdullateef, a photographer do the awesome work of creating and documenting memories.
Our Partners and Sponsors
Our vision at GDG Ilorin would not have become a reality without the huge commitment and active contribution from our sponsors and partners. Due to their support, we are now able to offer the opportunity to startups, developers, business professionals, service providers and of course students. We appreciate your support and we want to say THANK YOU! “Tag the companies”
Conclusion:
At GDG Ilorin, people with different ideas, different approaches, from different backgrounds come to grow the community and help people learn tangible skills through resources provided by Google. It was such an extraordinary experience for us as organizers to witness the collaborations between those passionate learners, volunteers, and mentors. We love the atmosphere, we adore the people, and above all, we saw some transformation from within, in a positive way.
