Appwars : The Path to Glory

Our previous event Appfluence was an intra-college hands-on training event which was completely funded by our college. Hence all the preparations went smoothly and on the final day we were running all over the place attending to the novice attendees. However, Appwars was very different. This was an inter-college design sprint and android app development hackathon where the participants didn’t have to deposit any kind of registration fee and the winners were promised cash prizes and certificates and a chance to upload their apps to Google Playstore.

Our GSA, Meghna, wanted to make this event a huge success. We collaborated with Mohonish and Soham, the GSAs of Academy of Technology and Jadavpur University on this one. We all had our own visions as to how to make the event triumphant. However to convert our fantasies into reality we needed funds. Unfortunately the college was unable to extend much help financially but our director promised to support us in any other way needed. Being a very reserved person, I have never imagined having to approach strangers for money! However watching Meghna and Nishant convincing companies to be our sponsors, and negotiating with them on the sponsorship amount, was absolutely mesmerizing and was a wonderful learning experience. The days leading to our event were packed with various preparations like designing posters, flyers, certificates and getting them printed, collecting money from the sponsors, sketching out the event schedule, promoting the event and many more, followed by reaching home late at night to the rebukes of our guardians. On the final day we were busy decorating the rooms till the participants started arriving. Till the very last moment even though we were well prepared it felt like minute but important details were escaping our minds.

We finally began our event on March 21st with ten very enthusiastic teams with students from colleges across the state and beyond. After the short incipient introduction Mohonish conducted the design thinking session. The participants were expected to develop apps that would have a positive impact on present society. Every team came up with brilliant innovative ideas. The GSAs personally attended to every single team occasionally suggesting ideas to improve their apps. This was the first time any of us have been a part of such a unique design thinking session. This was followed by the lunch break. Having worked hard all morning, every participant was delighted on being treated to personal pizzas and coke from Dominos. After lunch, they went back to working on their apps with rejuvenated zeal. Koushik Sir from Google Developers Group, Kolkata, and our very own Rajarshee mentored the participants and steered them in the right direction whenever they got stuck. The contestants continued with their work the next day too. By lunch time all of them had successfully completed building working prototypes of their apps. Sukumar Sir, the teacher coordinator of Phoenix, our official tech club and Koushik Sir had a tough time judging those apps and finally declared the names of the three winning teams.

The winning teams were rewarded with cash prizes and certificates and were guided to upload their apps on Google Playstore. Every student agreed that the overall experience although exhausting was very enjoyable, informative and knowledgeable. In the end we were satisfied that all our hard work had paid off and that every participant felt like a winner having been a part of the very first inter-college design sprint and android app development hackathon of West Bengal. We are proud to be the trend setter for the future of android app development. The GSA program has truly touched numerous lives giving a learning platform to true enthusiasts.

Appfluence, the maiden venture of GSC, NSEC

The morning of 3^rd November 2014, was a very busy one for the members of the GSC aka Google Students’ Committee of Netaji Subhash Engineering College. At 8am in the morning the deserted corridor by the DBMS Lab echoed with the voices of the GSC members making the final arrangements and decorating the lab before the inception of their very first event, Appfluence.

While Nilabhra and Avishek were busy loading the software into all the desktops and ensuring that all the machines were in proper running condition, Nishant, Sourav and Ashish were putting up posters inside the lab and Pritha, Iman and I were busy decorating the hallway. The only person who was earnestly trying to be in all these places at once was Meghna, the Google Student Ambassador, the person leading our team. Time seemed to be flying unnaturally fast. Around 9.30am the students from various departments like CSE, IT, ECE, BME and MCA etc. started arriving. Iman busied himself at the registration desk. Nilabhra, Avishek and Rajarshee started updating the software on the laptops of the students. Soon afterwards, the trainers from Ardent Computech Pvt. Ltd. arrived and the rest of us started putting up their posters while Meghna went around explaining the course of the event to the trainers, occasionally shouting words of encouragement to her team.

Around 10.30am we started our program. Meghna and I presented the slideshow we had prepared. We introduced the participants to our team, our plans for the year and chalked out the schedule for the one day interactive workshop on android app development, which the students got to attend absolutely free of cost. We updated the participants about the various cool products of Google, like Google glass and Google balloon which they immensely enjoyed. Following that, Amitava Sir, empanel trainer of Wipro and Cognizant, from Ardent, took over and introduced the students to the various aspects of android technology. After he was done, Dipanjan Sir, empanel trainer of Wipro, also from Ardent, began the practical workshop. Android technology, being a subject in high demand, attracted loads of enthusiastic students who wanted to make the most of this opportunity to learn the basics of android app development hands on.

However, like every great venture, ours too faced various hurdles. To begin with, most of the students were novices when it came to android technology. As a result, they panicked and tried to confine themselves into their limited knowledge on the subject. Also it turned out most of the laptops as well as desktops were rejecting the software due to lack of compatibility with the machine. But this did not lower our spirit. We insisted that this was an interactive session and communicating with the trainers and organizers were of utmost importance. Slowly the participants let go of their inhibitions and individually told us their problems. The trainers gave personal attention to each and every student. The members of GSC also went around attending to the needs of the participants. Rajmohan Sir, director of Ardent, personally went around giving every student a compatible version of the software being used.

The students initially had to develop a basic calculator app. Time was flying but progress was relatively standstill. Participants were getting restless. Meghna decided that it was time for a break as clearly everyone needed to get some fresh air and come back recharged and rejuvenated. Lunch break was declared and the students gladly left. The technical team stayed put and personally checked each and every machine to ensure that after recess everything should run smoothly like a well oiled machine. Their hard work paid off! After lunch was over the students returned more determined than ever to at least make one application. Everyone concentrated and toiled very hard and finally each and every person successfully built their very own Calculator app. It was a relief for everyone and the moment was celebrated by distributing KitKats to all the students and trainers. However, the plan for the day was to develop two apps. The second app was a media app and was definitely a more complicated one. We were unsure if there was enough time to implement it. Nevertheless, we began.

Already having made one app the participants by now had got the basic idea on how to go about it. And it was unbelievable when the students successfully built the music player app in a very short time compared to the previous app. The music player being a media app had a much more complex built. But the enthusiasm of the students and the relentless labor of the trainers made it possible. In fact, students who completed building their apps started helping the ones who still haven’t. By the end of the day a vast majority of the students had successfully built two basic apps whereas every single student definitely had built the calculator app. It was a proud moment for every single person in the lab.

The students were then instructed to upload their apps in the Google Drive by the following afternoon. They were promised that the three best calculator apps and the three best music player apps would be uploaded to the Google Playstore! In the end, the students were shown videos of various android technologies by Google, like Android Wear and Android Auto. They were informed about upcoming events like Hackathon and MOOC. Everyone enjoyed being a part of the workshop. They had come in as neophytes and were leaving with two apps to boast of. The GSC inspired everyone and showed great team work and organizing capabilities.

All in all, the first venture of GSC was a huge success. We maintained our schedule and managed to deliver on every single promise we made to the participants. We were thankful to the College for supporting us throughout the event. Our event was graced by the presence of our Principal, our Director, our Dean, our ex-Dean, Anupam Sir (the Head of Department of Computer Science Engineering), Saurav Sir and Runa Ma’am. We look forward to organizing many such events in the near future and to make latest technology available to the students.

-Oyndrila Majumder
  GSC, NSEC.