G-Ife day 2010 in pictures

G-Ife day 2010 was held at the Computer Auditorium of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) on May 6^th, 2010. The event lasted a little over 2 hours and despite the public holiday; the turnout exceeded expectations with over 150 people in attendance. The initial idea was to launch programs I'm implementing as Google Campus Ambassador at OAU but evolved into something bigger.

The event kicked off with a presentation titled “Google Products for the University Community”. The presenter was Segun Adetimehin, a third year student of Computer Science who discussed the use and relevance of Gmail, Google Alerts, Sites, Adsense & Adwords, Blogger for the academic community.

Next was Dipo Fasoro, an experienced software developer and presenter at Google Bar Camp Nigeria and Google Nigeria Day whose presentation was on “The need for an ICT-based Cultural Shift”.

After this was my presentation titled “Life of a Google Intern” which covered my experience at Google.

Next was a presentation on the programs being launched on the day; “The Developer Tech Talks”, “Go! Mentorship Programme” and the OAU Computer Students website powered by Google sites. The presenter was another third year CS student, Tayo Fagbowore.

Up next was the special address by the Head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Prof. E. R. Adagunodo who spoke about the need for greater collaboration amongst academic and technology institutions.

Google branded T-shirts were given as prizes during the “How Googley are you quiz” that rounded up the event.

The event due turned out very engaging and informative as indicated by the feedback obtained from participants.

Special guests for the day (L-R) H. O. D of Computer Science, Prof. Adagunodo, Dr. Saibu (lecturer, Department of Economics, OAU), Mr Aladesanmi (Coordinator, Cisco Networking Academy, OAU) and Dr. Oluwatope (lecturer, Department of Computer Science & Engineering).

Some participants at the event

I also acknowledge the support obtained from the team I put together to implement these Ambassador programs. They served as master of ceremonies, presenters and where also in charge of logistics on the day.

A product of the programs launched on G-Ife day was the first in the series of the OAU Developer Tech Talks held the next day, Friday, May 7^th at another location on Campus. It had over 35 people attending and the topic was “History of UNIX and Introduction to Linux” and the instructor is a classmate who specializes in Unix/Linux System Administration, Korede Aguda. Feedback was awesome and we are planning to have an advanced session.

buukWorm Mobile is launched!

It is with great pride that I announce the launch of buukWorm Mobile.

buukWorm Mobile is a mobile application tool designed to help students boost their academic performance whilst making the student experience more enjoyable.

Lets have a quick count down and then we "scream" buukWorm! :-)

5 things you should know about buukWorm Mobile:

It is designed to work on the most common phone screen resolutions around. ((240 X 320) and (128 X 160)).

It runs on Java powered mobile phones.

It can be transfered/installed via bluetooth or USB.

It can be installed and removed by the user anytime.

Its installation file size is only 153kB.

buukWorm Mobile comes with 4 key functionalities:

- GPA calculator:

makes GPA computation faster, easier and mobile.

- A Books Section:

contains a study guide to help student achieve excellent grades plus a dictionary of quotations to keep the mind focused and motivated.

- A Planner Section:

contains a Lecture Timetable and Event Manager which make storage & retrieval of schedules and events easier and accessible anywhere, anytime.

- A Games section.

3 striking features of this product are:

bW. An intuitive and easy to use interfaces with very cool graphics.

bW. Its value driven design and content.

bW. A well documented Help Section.

2 facts you should know about buukWorm Mobile is that it's the first application of its kind in Nigeria and its also free :-).

Finally, 1 place you can get buukWorm Mobile is here: download buukWorm

We hope that students across Nigeria seeking academic excellence find buukWorm very useful.

A BIG Thank You to all those who played a role in the birth of this product!

I guess we can now scream buuuuuuuuuuuuuuukWorm!!!

buukWorm Mobile is product of Extracens Limited.

Contact: info@extracens.com

Join buukWorm Page on facebook here: buukWorm Facebook Page

The future is born!

It was an awesome opportunity to stretch over 40 bright minds at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and the platform was the 6 week Java Professional Course organized byExtracens Consulting.

The program had participants from various faculties including the Social Sciences, Science and of course, Technology. The course work covered basic Java syntax and Control Structures, Java Applets and Multimedia, Object Oriented Programming concepts, GUIs, Data Structures, Java ME programming and Accelerated Career Development Tips.

All participants were encouraged to develop projects applying concepts taught. The Computer Science (CS) students developed interactive games and applications while the Non-CS students came up with brilliant applications in their fields of study.

...with CS students

Olumide (Geology) and Micheal (Building) individually created GUI applications to calculate Stress Analysis and other useful quantities in their fields.

Bolaji (Pharmacy) developed an application that would give users details of possible drug interactions for a given drug. Femi (Physics) developed a desktop GUI application that shows the course list for students in his Department. He also has plans to develop a mobile version.

The program was creatively designed to not only pass on knowledge but empower people with application ideas & opportunities and printed lecture notes and relevant practical exercises were given for each session.

Micheal, Oduntan, Femi, Olumide and Bolaji

The whole crew! :-)

A message from one of the most outstanding students, Femi reads: “Thanks for the Java training. Your light will continue to shine brighter….I’m doing this because I know you gave us more that what we gave you for the training…”

I strongly believe that these guys will go on to develop life changing applications cutting across the mobile, web and desktop platforms in Nigeria and indeed Africa.

All Glory be to God for the opportunity to influence lives.

*Watch out for the launch of BuukWorm Mobile!

GNigeria Day 2010 in Pictures!

Google Nigeria Day 2010 was great! I wasn't planning to attend but I later got involved and must confess it was a very good decision adjusting my schedule.

There was lots of networking, information, ideas, and of course FOOD!

I believe my presentation was well received and was able to encourage and inform a few people.

Everyone who came learnt something and had fun! I'm already looking forward to the next one!!! :). Enjoy the pictures!

Students from my university in a chat with Nyimbi (Google Office Lead West Africa)

Two brilliant Googlers from Nigeria; Uju and Lola.

Oduntan with schoolmates

The hall fully packed :-)

Chewy, Oduntan and Chris with some participants.

Chewy and Chris give a presentation.

Bob and Chewy on a break.

Live on "stage"

Visit http://sitescontent.google.com/gnigeriaday2010/ for more information on the event.

Cheers!

My Google Story

Reading “The Google Story” in November 2008 made me value education more, feel the power of technology in a new way and improved my business sense.

Never did I imagine that I would be working at the world’s largest internet company in a few months. The experience was amazing as expected but 5 things stood out for me during my internship at Google Zurich and I list them below:

1. The People:
Googlers - as they are called - are mostly exceptionally talented and experienced people with a knack for solving problems. But more interesting is the fact that they were very approachable. It didn’t matter what Google office they worked at or what their background was, they were almost always willing to teach, share and help out in any way possible. That was the most incredible revelation I had there.

2. The Culture:
One word – Unconventional!!! It is definitely one of the few places where you can truly be yourself. No dress code, no fixed working hours, no unnecessary monitoring of how you carry out your work. All you’re required to do is be responsible and deliver! And yes, there is mutual respect between Googlers and no discrimination whatsoever. Even Interns get treated like full-timers.

3. Innovation:
Emphasis is place on innovation so there’s just no time for competition. Everyone sought out improved and more efficient ways of doing things. This kept me on my toes all through.

4. Organization:
Very well organized for a company its size. This was made possible by the work attitude of the employees who take on responsibility for things freely.

5. Welfare:
Well, the whole world knows that there is free food and drinks at Google. The fact that extra care is taken by the people and the company to ensure that you are well taken care of was great for me!

The downside is that after working at Google , it becomes a challenge working at other companies because of the difference in culture and values.

Now, what am I taking away from Google? 2 things – Mentorship and Collaboration.

I really liked the idea of having a manger who was assigned to oversee my work and provide me with overall mentorship. I was able to greatly tap into this opportunity especially towards the mid-part of my internship.

I have therefore decided therefore to launch a Student Mentorship Program at my University (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria). The idea is to connect students in advanced levels with those who are pretty new in the system. The mentees would share similar academic and career goals with the mentors and they in turn must be capable of greatly influencing the mentees in those areas. It is my hope that this venture will bring out superstars who will build innovative solutions in Nigeria.

Secondly, collaboration was key to solving problems at Google. There was always sharing of ideas and information in decision making and in creating solutions to problems.
In the light of this, I intend to hold a bi-weekly Developer Forum where students who share similar career interests can come together, share information and teach others what they know in those areas. For instance, several Google technologies and tools are available for free on the internet such as Google open source code, sites, project hosting, app engine and more. People need to be aware of these opportunities.

A big thank you to those who made my time at Google count and to those who've worked hard to make it what it is today.

Thank you for reading!


If you have any ideas or comments concerning this article please feel free to email me at:

oduntanodubanjo@gmail.com or call me on +234 805 223 6096.