Google I/O

I didn’t intentionally aim to create a rhyming title, but there you have it. Each year, I look forward to Google I/O like a kid going back to school. This year was no exception. I watched as many videos as I could that were related to App Quality, Firebase Crashlytics, and Jetpack Compose. Here’s what I think engineering leaders should know.

Key takeaways

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning dominate. Hiring these engineers will remain unbelievably competitive
App quality matters and will impact your success on Google Play
Large screens aren’t going away any time soon. Designers will need to adapt
User data privacy changes are coming fast and furious
Jetpack Compose: learn it or get left behind

This was my second time attending Google I/O and it was once again a great experience. I put together a few highlights of the event below:

Venue

So the event took place at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. It was my first time in Mountain View and it’s such a beautiful city. On Day 1 of the conference it was a bit “toasty” outside so that proved to be challenging, but eventually the remaining days were pleasant and breezy. The majority of the talks took place inside tents and there tended to be a lot of interest on the part of attendees.

Surprisingly I am told no developers have passed out from the heat yet at #GoogleIO2016 #io16 pic.twitter.com/YaDTNxL3Mn

— Ina Fried (@inafried) May 18, 2016

Attendees

For me one of the best parts of attending I/O this year was getting to meet so many of the people that I have interacted with online. Most of them were really cool people and managed to keep their spirits up despite putting up with the heat and long lines.

Most of the Android ladies I know of in the world. Who’s missing?!? #AndroidDev #io16 pic.twitter.com/in8KjFnVHS

— Corey Latislaw 🐞 (@corey_latislaw) May 18, 2016

Takeaways

I was completely impressed with the updates to Android Studio. Some of the things that I felt would be nice to haves, like showing Gradle dependencies clearly or having the Espresso Test Recorder were released. Definitely one of the major highlights for me.

The latest @androidstudio is amazing!!! Merged Manifests, better support for updating dependencies, and more. #io16 pic.twitter.com/3Chc5zJq84

— Annyce Davis (@brwngrldev) May 19, 2016

Something that surprised me though was how Firebase has become the de facto standard of all things mobile for Google. In fact, several products were renamed “Firebase X, Y, Z”. The following tweet summarizes it best:

#io16 so far… pic.twitter.com/AEIauhNekM

— John Mahoney (@jjmiv) May 20, 2016

Also there were several talks on developing applications for emerging markets. I especially enjoyed the one titled, “Building for Billions”. The speakers talked about the best strategies for making sure your application is always interactive and responsive for users regardless of network and memory conditions.

All in all, I am very thankful I was able to attend; I know that everyone doesn’t get this opportunity. I learned a lot, I drank a lot of coffee, and I met some awesome folks.