Google Developers Roadshow Sofia was an awesome event created by team, organizers, and participants. It was the closing of the touring to meet Developers Communities from 10 countries around Eastern Europe. I don’t remember Eastern Europe being involved in any Google Community events of this kind before.
Schedule of the Google Developers Community Roadshow Sofia
The schedule was intense, including Introduction to Machine Learning with a quick tour of the machine learning basics. Machine Learning Crash Course and the ability to write and understand Python code were the prerequisites to take part in the workshop, led by Oleksandr Zakharchuk, Google Developer Expert.
There was a considerable interest from IT specialists and other occupations related to Google products and services such as Google Digital Garage as well as from leaders of the largest Marketing and Webmaster online Community. I have captured the atmosphere of the event by creating this Photo Story
The Community as an Exchange of Innovative Ideas
Google Developers Community Roadshow has been in preparation for quite some time and it was announced early in 2018. I have noticed that in the events of Google Developers apart from the developers there is another focus: Doers and Makers. I learned from Justyna Politanska, Developer Ecosystem Program Manager at Google that in the 10 countries they visited there are people who do something for others. That encouraged me to ask my question:
Would you comment on what this means for innovative solutions and the introduction of new technologies in the light of the exchange that takes place through the Community?
Watch my interview with Justyana Politanska, Developer Ecosystem Program Manager:
Learning with Google Developer Community Groups
I was glad to meet with the organizer of the event from Google Developers Groups Sofia, Sofia Lyateva, and learn more how “GDG Sofia” operates as part of Google Developer Community Groups Program . Here are the insights Sofia Lyateva shared:
“GDG Sofia is the group of enthusiasts that gather around Google technologies. We want to make the community feel like home for all the Google developers in Bulgaria and, moreover, we strive to enrich their knowledge and provide them with more opportunities to grow professionally. The implementation of Google’s innovative solutions is always a hot topic for a discussion, a workshop or just a regular meet up where we share knowledge. We aim to grow our community but we also want to make sure the people in it get access to the latest innovations provided by Google.
Another goal for us is to promote the Google Developer Expert program due to the fact that as GDG/WTM organizers we have the resources to nominate developers for it. We encourage our community to be active so that we have more GDEs from Bulgaria.
After launching Women Techmakers Sofia as a motivational hub, we also got a chance to provide visibility, community, and resources for women in technology. We were totally aware of the fact that Bulgaria is a leader in EU when it comes to women in tech, however, there are still biases in the workplace in some companies and in various regions of the country, outside of Sofia.
This community roadshow was an amazing opportunity for us to showcase why, how and what we do in the best possible way. It also provided us with a chance to network & collaborate with other IT communities in Bulgaria which, in my opinion, was the most important part. Having various topics & talks and collaborating with experts who use or express interest in using Google technologies would surely add value to all IT Communities here. Most definitely such exchange of knowledge & know-how is a win-win situation for all of us.
My second question to Sofia: In the light of Community collaborations has the time come for us to leave behind the old school thinking” Who is driving the train, they are ordering the music too”?
Yes, definitely. The fact that we are organizing these communities do not make us the experts and the teachers. We strive to make the community active and that’s why most of the content on our events comes exactly from people in the community. It takes time & patience to motivate & inspire them to loosen up and take that step, but so far I can surely say it’s worth the wait. We also regularly ask them about feedback & topics that they wish to hear about the next events, so we also want to provide valuable content for them to use & implement in their professional lives.
Technology innovations demonstrate how experts, doers, and makers thrive in collaborate Community environment both online and in the physical world. Join my project for proof of concept “One”, “On e Board”
