How may we cultivate the next generation of Black, Latinx and Native tech leaders better? Check out Code-Next & a few takeaways from Code Next NYC Winter 2022 Android Club.
This week, we wrapped up Code Next NYC Winter 2022 Android Club. In the 9 weeks club, coach Li, coach Shameeka & I worked with high school students as Android app engineers. Also thanks to the engineers, guest speakers & the TA, the journey had been inspirational & fun. Even we’ve to say goodbye, for now. Wish all for the great ventures ahead & may the force be with you.
The force of Prometheus
In Greek myths, Prometheus was a titan god who created men from clay. A rebel, who defied the will of gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity because he believed it was the right thing to do. A true freewill, who suffered eternally with no regret. Each night, his liver grows back, only to be eaten by an eagle the next day. I’ve seen the same inspirations & practices in this club.
Who creates
When Aaron, a guest speaker started Stanford, he was recommended to pursue mechanical engineering. But, he discovered he like to create apps in his first CS course. Now, he still finds some fun in SW engineering at Google.
In 9 weeks, engineers created their own Counter, Calculator, Random Number Generator & Dice apps by Android Studio & Android Emulator. This was amazing because some started without prior Java coding experience. Now, they can create apps to realize their ideas by mixing & matching their skills. I can’t wait to see what they will build next.
Who challenges the status quo
“When humans domesticated fire, they gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force. Unlike eagles, humans could choose when and where to ignite a flame, and they were able to exploit fire for any number of tasks. Most importantly, the power of fire was not limited by the form, structure or strength of the human body.” — Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Uchenna, a guest speaker shared her journey from a journalism major to CS, and then Google. The story inspires us that where you are, does not define where you can be. CS is just like fire, the power of CS is not limited by who you are, nor where you are from.
For anyone who dares to be an agent of change, CS may make the impossible possible. For example, Camaliot, funded by the European Space Agency is experimenting to improve weather forecasts from raw Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS) data. They develop Camaliot app to crowdsource the data by making it easy for Android users to “input” data.
During the course, engineers practiced the skills of building simple Android apps. The skills may be very basic. Each does not do too much by itself. But, we saw engineers getting better each week. Soon more skills will be mastered, and then engineers may bend or break old rules to make their universe better.
Who keeps trying
Yan, a guest speaker encouraged engineers to find something they love, double down on the endeavor they are better than others, and go to the market valuing the effort higher. If you have not found them yet, keep trying, don’t settle.
It’s always harder at the first. We all suffered from the inconvenience of working virtually because of COVID. Engineers suffered even more from the sluggish development environment because most of their computers are not powerful enough to run Android Studio smoothly. Furthermore, we spent more time waiting and troubleshooting Android Emulator because virtualization is much more heavyweight with many technical complications than any app on Windows & macOS.
Special thanks to Alwin, a Teaching Assistant who worked with an engineer for a successful experiment on Android app development via Chrome Remote Desktop powered by Google Cloud. In the end, engineers overcame all of them. Even more valuable, we learned from countless stupid mistakes as a group, including some of them from me. Literally, if you are not failing, you are not learning.
Full Disclosure
The opinions stated here are my own, not those of my company. They are mostly extrapolations from public information. I don’t have insider knowledge of those companies, nor a whatever expert.
