‘In India, we choose our career after becoming an engineer,’ reads a popular meme on digital media — and this applies to Apoorva Tiwari as well. A final year student of Electronics and Communication at Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology, app development is her forte. This deviation from her academic branch concerned her parents initially, but Apoorva’s impressive academic progress didn’t clash with her coding interests.
She was the only student from Hyderabad to have made it to the annual Google I/O conference, California this May. Thrilled to have shared stage with global leaders and developers, she says the opportunity helped her engage in fruitful discussions on building applications with Google and many open source platforms (Android, Chrome and Chrome OS, APIs, Google Web Toolkit, App Engine).
Her entry was facilitated through an app development course by Udacity. A series of contests helped her bag a Google scholarship out of a 5000-member community. Commitment levels, participant camaraderie and development prowess were the criteria. “This course has been interesting. There were contests that judged our abilities on a daily basis, I felt thrilled to have made the cut,” Apoorva says. She calls the Google I/O conference an unforgettable experience, “It was great to interact with global leaders. Though the course had us engaging with hangout calls with them regularly, meeting them at the conference was special.”
Not everything at the conference was technical, she made friends with people from different countries; it was a learning curve. “We were introduced to various Google products. I aspire to be an Android developer and I wanted to understand nuances, drawbacks and market needs before I take the plunge. The Google staff made sure we had enough opportunities to break ice — a DJ night, a magic show, performances by a few international bands and a dinner with the Indian community. It helped us get to know each other better. It was nice talking to them about aspects that could enhance our career prospects.”
Did the course and programme play spoilsport with her college schedules? “Not really. I was in my final year, so it didn’t demand my presence at college on a regular basis.” The first girl in her family to have made an overseas trip, she wishes to put her app development lessons to make the world a better place — she has ideas of an app that will help identify trash in every area that has to be disposed. “I want to create something that will help people at an individual level too, like helping people to battle depression; no current apps do a great job of it,” she points out.
For those aspiring to make it to future Google I/O conferences, she says, “Enrolling in many community programmes beyond college is necessary. It will give you a direction. One must focus on academics, but shouldn’t compromise on their true calling.”
Apoorva, currently wrapping up her nanodegree course in app development hopes to a bag a job that will further her interests.
