My Journey as a Google’s Android Study Jams Facilitator at Kalyani Government Engineering College (KGEC)
Hello Everyone !
I am Aryan Barnwal , one of the campus facilitators of Google’s Android Study Jams Programme. I am currently pursuing my B.Tech in Information Technology from Kalyani Government Engineering College (KGEC) , Kalyani.
What is Google’s Android Study Jams all about ?
The Android Study Jams program is an opportunity for students to become a campus facilitator and organize study groups for members of their chapter and teach how to build Android apps in the Kotlin programming language using the curriculum provided by Google.
The curriculum offers two tracks :
1. New to Programming Track : This track covered everything from writing your first lines of Kotlin code to Object Oriented Programming Concepts and at the end of track you even make a Tip Calculator !
2. Prior Experience Track : This track is suitable for people who have prior experience with Kotlin , OOPS and the Android Ecosystem or those who covered the previous track . This track covered a lot - — from building complex layouts using RecyclerViews , Navigation , how to use Architectural components , the ROOM Database, Connecting to Internet using Retrofit and even Material Design !
The Beginning :
15th November 2020 , I was told by our DSC KGEC’s Lead Ankit Kurmi Bhaiya about this programme and asked me to fill up the referral form. I was reluctant at first , as I didn’t have in-depth Android knowledge then and wasn’t confident enough to take study jams.
The day after he sent me a reminder to fill up the form and said that it was the last day of submission. I realised that as an Android enthusiast , it would be an oppurtunity too good to miss ! Neverthless , I filled the form just 5 mins before the submission time xD
The next day i.e. 17th Nov , I got the confirmation mail from Siddhant Agarwal Sir that I have been selected as a facilitator from my DSC .
On the same day , we had a ‘train-the-trainer’ session with Developer Advocate Kat Kuan from the Android team where she gave us an overview of the programme and conducted a Q&A session.
The Facilitator Journey :
As a Facilitator , I was instructed to take 3 or more Study Jams on Android Development using Kotlin over a period of around 2 months.I would like to thank my DSC KGEC’s members who helped me to get started with the programme — they designed the posters and even put up a dedicated channel for the Study Jams on our Discord Server.
DSC KGEC’s Discord Server : http://dsck.ml/discord
Now it was the time to conduct the Study Jams!
29th Nov was the day , I took my first Android Study Jam (my first Webinar too !) , where I told the attendes on why and how to get started with Android Development in general. I also discussed the fundamentals of the Kotlin Programming Language , give them an understanding of the Android Studio and even gave tips on how to make your gradle build faster !
I took my second Study jam on Dec 7 , where I discussed about Object Oriented Programming in Kotlin and how we can make simple layouts using Android Studio.
On Dec 22nd I took my third Study Jam , where I showed how we can render a list of items in our app i.e. using a RecyclerView. I also discussed on how RecyclerViews work in depth through code.
On 24th January , I took my last Study Jam of the programme and I discussed on how we can use libraries like Retrofit and Volley to connect to the Internet and make API calls.
Other than that I was active on Social media such as Linkedin and Discord where I helped the attendees if they had doubts and problems.
Android Playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR8A-CoOp8t8OLcerU0r8lpbnI3oK5-ys
End Notes :
The journey of facilitating Android and learning came to an end with the Certificate of Appreciation from Google Developers India.
As a token of appreciation, Google sent me the box of Android related swags which had an Android hoodie as well !
Overall, It was an amazing experience to be a facilitator on my campus. Kotlin became my language of choice for Native Android Development and I learned new things like Architectural Components and ROOM Database. This programme helped me in landing an internship at a startup !
I would like to thank DSC KGEC’s members , juniors and seniors as without their support it wouldn’t be such a fantastic journey.
