Last night the Philadelphia GDG held a panel with several experienced Android developers in the city (myself included). It was a pleasure to be a part of the panel. It was fun sharing my expertise and interacting with the community!

Highlights

Rule of Threes: Try everything three times before dismissing it completely. The first time you try something, you’ll probably hate it. The second time you’ll be slow, but it gets more familiar. The third time you might just start appreciating it. In short, don’t give up because it feels hard.

Diversity and Inclusivity: Showing up is important. Reach out to others and encourage them to join you. Informally and formally mentor those around you. Be kind and welcoming. Try to help those with questions find the “ah ha” moment instead of making them feel dumb for asking a question.

Getting Started: It’s still difficult to get your start, but it’s getting easier. You can join the #androidphilly channel on Philly Dev Slack. Android training and documentation can be useful as well as their youtube channel. CasterIO has a lot of great videos on the latest technologies in Android. Check out Android Weekly, Fragmented, and Android Dialogs. The Twitter hashtag #AndroidDev is a great resource.

Special shout out to Yash Prahbu for her excellent moderation of the panel.