Google Developer Groups (GDG) hosted its annual decentralized tech conference, DevFest 2022 in Jos, on Saturday at the Jos Business School Rayfield.
Held annually between November and December globally, the conference aims to bring together both large and emerging developers across different platforms of the technology ecosystem.
At the start of the event, Loreta Katok Tohomdet, co-leader of GDG Jos, told CRESTHUB what was expected of the event.
“DevFest Jos is a way to drive a community-oriented idea to see that the tech community in Jos is properly structured. This is an annual event, and we intend to see that a tenth of our attendance will be properly catered for, particularly during presentation sessions.”
“We hope to see the community have more technology-driven conversations at the end of the day as well as solution-based products in the coming months,” she added.
DevFest Jos was attended by over 300 people and featured several speakers including Joy Adah, Joshua Ajagbe and Sylvanus Joseph who are key stakeholders in the tech ecosystem from various sectors.
The event also featured panel discussions on the topic titled Digital Inclusion in Tech Communities, as well as the pitching of ideas by developers to prospective collaborators and investors.
Speaking at the event, Sylvanus Joseph, Chairman of the Plateau Association of Technology Companies (PLATEC) stated that the association is open to partnering with the GDG community and offering soft loans to developers who intend to expand.
“As an association, we are open to community-led innovations and partnerships that will build the ecosystem. We intend to partner with the GDG community and provide certain soft loans in the form of cash, laptops, and training opportunities in the various organizations we are a part of,” Joseph said.
While interacting with some of the attendees, CRESTHUB discovered that 8 out of 10 of them were from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Jos. Their participation proved that the university community is ready to grow, connect, educate, and harness technology skills, leading to more remote jobs in the future.
According to Oyale Salami, Team Lead, GDG University of Jos Chapter, DevFest plays an important role in students’ lives enabling them the opportunity to network with people and hone digital skills.
“In addition to being the team lead of the Google Developers Group, I am especially excited about this year’s event. The semester is good for us students, but events like this are also convenient ways to network, hone our digital skills, and interact with people in the same fields we plan to get into,” he said.
Reactions on Social Media
The event had a common hashtag #DevFestJos2022 which social media users used to share their experiences.
