Last Thursday I attended Google's Android Developer Lab in Austin, TX. I find Android intriguing because it is an open source software stack built on the Linux kernel, and has many apps that rival those on the iPhone. I was hoping to learn more about how the Android UI differs from the iPhone, how Android approaches common mobile OS problems, and how to get started developing for Android. Given an opportunity to discover these things first-hand from Android developers, I jumped at the chance to attend the lab.
Android Developer Lab
Written by Jen on February 7, 2010
I walked in to the The J. Neils Thompson Commons building at about 5:30pm with butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't sure if the lab would target beginners or advanced developers and the agenda for the evening was not made explicit in the Android Developer Lab FAQ. Since I hadn't done any Android development I was counting on my Java skills to carry me through. I expected to encounter devoted Android followers, as anything Linux invariably has, so I'd anticipated feeling a bit out of place. As I approached the front entrance I saw only a handful of people milling around so I walked around to the side entrance. I opened the door and immediately realized that I was more than a little out of place- every attendee seemed to be of the male gender! I work with both male and female developers so I think I had forgotten about the imbalance of men to women in the dev community. I swallowed hard and fumbled my way through the crowd looking for the end of the line. A little scary, but hey, I'd been the only woman in many techie crowds before and ultimately, it's not a big deal. Out of 80+ attendees, three other women were in attendance.
People in Austin are some of the friendliest I've encountered anywhere so the butterflies soon disappeared and I settled in. I quickly realized that the crowd had quite a varied level of experience with Android. I met a PHP developer interested in getting started with Android app development. I met an executive with a small mobile carrier in Mississippi, looking to learn more about the Android platform. The rows behind me consisted of devoted Android bloggers, including the creators of androidandme.com, and experienced app developers. A representative from Motorola was in attendance to tell everyone about Motorola's Android developer website and MOTODEV Studio for Android, an integrated development environment with Eclipse and Android Development Tools. The skill level, interest, and experience of attendees was extremely varied.
The Developer Lab consisted of two parts: an introduction to Android app development and a coding lab designed to cover the basics of working with Bluetooth. The introduction generated a lot of questions from the audience and seemed to hit the mark but the lab was a bit advanced and didn't hold everyone's attention. In their defense, the presenters were faced with the challenge of engaging both new and advanced developers. The lab could have been more productive though, had they split people into groups and presented on multiple topics. In the end, I think most people got something out of the event- be it more information, inspiration, a sense of community, or a free Droid phone to test out applications. I walked away feeling more interested in Android, excited to check out the Droid phone and compare it to my iPhone, and inspired to learn more about the platform. For me, it was definitely worth the time to attend. Thanks to Google, Justin and his crew for an interesting evening!
