Doing something that has never been done before will definitely move one closer to immortality because in this life, its very rare to come across the success story of one Kudzai Aggrey Chasinda, a second year Software Engineering student from the Harare Institute of Technology.
He was invited to attend the Google Developer Groups Global (GDC) Summit in San Francisco on May 17 followed by Google’s biggest developer conference: Google I/O 2016 from 18-20 May. Kudzai made history by becoming Zimbabwe’s first developer to be hosted by Google for the duration of his stay where the global giant was responsible for all the costs related to his visit. America has never had the warmest relations with Zimbabwe but excellent work did not stop the HIT technocrat from getting that historic recognition from world’s biggest multinational technology company.
During the recent e-Tech Africa 2016 Expo, we gave coverage to Kudzai Chasinda’s ground breaking innovation in which he developed Chase Music Player, a free music application available on Google Play for all Android devices. Chase Music Player offer free music to android devices running on Android 4.0 or higher. The application is user friendly and can be used by all age groups and is uniquely crafted to enhance playlists.
Kudzai Chasinda was part of the Harare Institute of Technology students who received special recognition from the Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Hon. Supa Mandiwanzira during the recently held e-Tech Africa Expo. That group also included Tapiwanashe Matangira who developed a Mobile Publishing System.
Reflecting on his maiden US visit, Kudzai said he was greatly inspired to learn the Tensor Flow Machine Learning API. “During the Google Developer Groups Summit, I discovered a few tools that I believe can simplify my work as a developer. We got introduced to Google’s Powerful Open Source Machine Learning tool called Tensor Flow and a window into the new Firebase”.
“Then, in the early hours of Wednesday 18 May, the Google I/O kicked off with the Chief executive Officer of Google Mr Sundar Pichai emphasizing on machine learning as he introduced the Google Home and the new voice assistant Google Assistant which allows contextual search”, said Kudzai.
“I learned how to build applications rapidly using Firebase and Database as a service platform by Google as well as more about Android. I was also able to network with the global community of software developers. My favorite showcase by various Google departments was the Virtual Reality Displays by Google Play Music and Doctors Without Borders. I also witnessed for the first time the infamous self-driving cars and cars that are controlled by Android Operating Systems”.
“I also picked up a few skills in creating progressive Web Applications, which can be optimized to work in regions of, low bandwidth and developing a cardboard Virtual Reality during the Codelab sessions”, he continued.
Looking into the future, Kudzai said he is now focused on scoring distinctions in his second year exams as he aim to land internship (attachment) in any of Zimbabwe’s giant tech companies so that he continue to sharpen his skills in a more professional environment. The after that one year mandatory attachment period, he will start working towards creating and building a blog series to develop his community, widen the Google Developer Groups circles at the Harare Institute of Technology as well as developing more applications in which he will be working with other students and some other developers in Zimbabwe.
Since its foundation in 1998, Google has become one of the foremost Web search engines in the world. Through innovative advances in search technology, Google has been able to provide Web users who conduct Web searches with quick and pertinent information. Google delivers its services through its own public site, www.google.com, and by licensing its search services to portals and commercial Web sites using Google’s Site Search and Google Web Search services. Google is currently making a major push to expand its customer base around the world. At the same time, Google has begun selling advertising for clients using its search technology and has launched a major effort to assert and build its presence in this area in the international arena.
For making the Harare Institute of Technology proud, we say thank you Kudzai,
For flying the Zimbabwe flag high, we say long live Chase Music Player. For defying all odds to become the first Zimbabwean student to get such a prestigious recognition, we say thank you once again Kudzai for providing that much needed inspiration to all the upcoming developers.
Technomag