Event speakers

GDD India featured a lineup of talks given by both Googlers and the developer community on a wide range of Google products.

Developer Advocate

Daniel leads the Android Advocacy team. In his seven-year tenure he has taken on many roles including the development of our Udacity courseware, as well as working with Game developers to make sure Android and Play meet their needs. He enjoys working with our internal teams to improve the Android development experience.

Engineering Director

Pankaj leads engineering for Tez in Google's Next Billion Users team. He joined Google earlier this year when his AI/ML startup, Halli Labs, was acquired. Pankaj was an early employee at Twitter in San Francisco where he led the Personalization and Recommendations teams that were responsible for some of Twitter's search, discovery, and relevance products. He previously founded two startups, both of which were acquired, and a tech architecture group for startups called Specialized Types. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Computer Science and B.Tech from IIT Delhi. He has published more than 30 research papers and holds more than 20 patents.

Developer Programs Engineer

Sachit works on libraries, documentation, and outreach efforts for Actions on Google as a Developer Programs Engineer. He also supported Android TV and Google Cast. Prior to Google, Sachit was a Software Engineer working at companies like Bloomberg, Intuit, and Grooveshark. Sachit earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida.

Group Product Manager

Francis is a Group Product Manager at Google and leads the Firebase Product Management team. Prior to his current role, he was a PM lead on Android focusing on building the Android developer ecosystem. Before joining Google in 2011, Francis was an entrepreneur and tech startup co-founder. And before that he worked at Amazon.com as a Software Engineering Manager. Francis earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Product Manager

Tal is a Product Manager on the Chrome for Android team. Prior to joining the Chrome team, she worked on Google Apps and Local Search. She earned her bachelor's degree in Neurobiology with a secondary focus in Computer Science at Harvard.

Engineering Director

Sowmya joined Google in 2006 where she helped develop several initiatives at YouTube and Google Maps. In her first 4 years, Sowmya led an engineering team within Google Maps using crowdsourced data to map the world's streets and businesses, and provide tools, such as MyMaps. Since joining YouTube in 2010, Sowmya has helped transform YouTube to better serve users and creators. She also worked on YouTube’s livestreaming platform that served as the backend for Olympics 2012 and won the Sports Emmy in 2012. More recently, she's worked on the launch of the YouTube Music App, YouTube Music Key subscription services, and YouTube Kids. Sowmya is also active with Women in Engineering@Google, focusing on changing the perception of women in the media. She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science at Mount Holyoke College and a master's in Computer Science at University of Wisconsin.

Developer Advocate

Kaz is Staff Developer Advocate on the Google Cloud team, focusing on Machine Learning and Data Analytics products such as TensorFlow, Cloud ML, and BigQuery. Kaz has been invited to participate in major events including Google Cloud Next SF, Google I/O, and Strata NYC etc. Kaz has also authored many GCP blog posts and has supported developer communities for Google Cloud for over 8 years.

Technical Project Manager

Anitha is a Technical Project Manager on Tensorflow at Google. She did has a Computer Engineering degree from Bangalore and a masters in Embedded Systems from UCLA. Anitha has been with Google for the past 6 years in different teams including Platforms, Cloud and Machine Learning. She plays an active role in empowering young girls to pursue computer science as a career and frequently volunteers in talks and workshops on this topic

Session speakers

Developer Advocate

Mete is a Developer Advocate at Google, currently focused on helping developers with Google Cloud Platform. As a long-time Java and a recent C# developer, he likes to compare the two ecosystems. Prior to Google, he worked at Microsoft, Skype, Adobe, EMC, and Nokia building apps and services on various web, mobile, and cloud platforms. Originally from Cyprus, he currently lives in Greenwich, not too far away from the prime meridian.

Lead for Developer Student Club

Christy Anoop is currently a 4th year, Information Science student studying at CMRIT, Bangalore. He has done over six projects in past 3 years of his undergraduate study and these projects have won multiple awards at national and state levels from organizations like IEEE, General Electric, etc. He is currently the Lead for Developer Student Club at CMRIT and has trained over 250 students till date on mobile/web development in his fun workshops. He also delivered a talk at Google’s first Mobile Developer Fest.

Developer Advocate

Jake is a human boy working on web standards. He wants the web to do what native does best, and do it fast.

Technical Program Manager

Krishnachytanya (KC) is a Technical Program Manager at Google and takes care of the startup ecosystem in India. Having previously worked at Microsoft, IBM, Thomas Reuters - he has over 10 years of industry experience and is on a mission to help startups become successful on Google Cloud. A graduate from BITS Pilani and a trained architect, he has been active in the space of cloud computing for over 8 years.

Developer Relations Engineer

Todd is a Developer Advocate on the Firebase team, and previously worked on other teams in Google Cloud Platform. Prior to Google, Todd worked at Twitter and a few mobile-first startups. He spends his time helping developers get up and running with open source and Google projects on Github and StackOverflow, as well as meeting developers in person around the world.

Lead-GDG Jaipur

Vikas is a Professor, Traveler, Thinker, Entrepreneur, Dreamer, Artist, Social Activist, Foddie and Awesome

Senior Engineer

Eric is a Senior Staff Engineer at Google working with the Chrome team on web projects like Puppeteer, headlessChrome, Lighthouse, Polymer, and web components. He's the author of "Using the HTML5 Filesystem API," and has led frontend projects like the Google I/O web app, Google's Santa tracker, chromestatus.com, and html5rocks.com. Prior to Google, Eric worked as a Software Engineer at the University of Michigan where he designed rich web applications and APIs for the university's 19 libraries.

Developer Advocate

Wesley is the author of the bestselling "Core Python" (corepython.com) books, co-author of "Python Web Development with Django" (withdjango.com), and has written for Linux Journal and CNET. In addition to being an engineer at Google, he runs CyberWeb (cyberwebconsulting.com), a Python training consultancy. Wesley was one of the original Yahoo! Mail engineers and holds degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Music from the University of California. He is a Fellow of the Python Software Foundation, and can be reached on Google+ (+WesleyChun) or Twitter (@wescpy).

Program Manager

Sarah leads the Web team inside Google Developer Training, and teaches the Progressive Web Apps course. She's on the lookout for the hardest problems facing developers and always working to solve them.

Developer Advocate

Marc builds tools, demos, codelabs, and other things that make the Google Cloud Platform easier and more fun to use. Originally from New Jersey, Marc previously lived in Columbus and Seattle, and now lives and works in London, UK. He co-authored a book about Google Compute Engine and wrote the product announcement demo. In a previous life, he developed communication systems at Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies. Outside of work, he enjoys indie music, quirky films (especially documentaries), books, puzzles, and chess. He's also very interested in education, teaching, and applying technology (like spaced repetition) to enhance the learning experience.

Developer Programs Engineer

Gus is a Developer Programs Engineer who currently works on the Internet of Things. He was previously involved with Social, Identity, and Games-related technologies at Google.

Developer Advocate

Sam is a Developer Advocate based in London. Sam currently spends most of his time building training resources for web developers. He specialises in images, media APIs, and WebRTC. He also maintains simpl.info, which provides the simplest possible examples of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Developer Advocate

Anirudh leads a team of Developer Advocates that is focused on helping developers build amazing Android Instant Apps and Media consumption experiences on Android. During his 10 years at Google, he was helped developers across the world build great things with Google Developer Platforms. Outside of work, he loves traveling and practicing landscape photography.

Software Engineer

Nick has been a Software Engineer on Google Play since it was Android Market. Before joining Google he worked in everything from startups to research to finance.

Android Developer Advocate

Lyla is an Android Developer Advocate at Google. Prior to joining Google, she worked at Udacity on the Android team, where she taught introductory to advanced Android and Firebase content to over a hundred thousand developers. She's a returned Peace Corps volunteer and has taught and lived on three continents.

UX Researcher

Jenny is a User Experience Research Lead at Google where she conducts research on mobile use, facilitates design sprints, and trains others to do so. Previously, she managed the Apps, Social, and the Ads Design Research teams at Google. Prior to her time at Google, Jenny conducted research at Sun Microsystems and designed interactive experiences at a start­up, Zadu. Jenny started her career in academia and was a lecturer at the Open University, UK, where she conducted Educational Technology research. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Southampton in the UK.

Developer Advocate

As Developer Advocate for Dialogflow, Dan teaches engineers to build conversational experiences using the magic of machine learning. He’s worked with conversational UX since 2010. Before Google, Dan’s career included time as a startup co-founder and CEO, a software engineer in Silicon Valley and the financial industry, and a full-time faculty member at Birmingham City University.

Google Developer Expert

Romin works as a Principal Architect at Xoriant Solutions where he manages new technologies and open source initiatives. He is a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Cloud and Assistant. His interests lie in learning and teaching, with a passion for making developers successful. He lives in Mumbai, India.

Developer Advocate

Nasir is a Developer Advocate and Manager at Google and works on Android framework. He focuses on core OS components, as well as developer and user experience on Android. Prior to his work on Android, Nasir was a Software Engineer building and architecting products and solutions. Before joining Google in 2012, Nasir was a co-founder and CTO of a US and India based startup, AGNITY Inc. building software solutions for telecom carriers. He was also a Software Architect for BEA Systems. Nasir is a BTech from IIT-R and MTech from IIT-D.

Technical Writer

Meggin is the Lead Technical Writer on the Google Web Developer Relations team. She's a member of the MDN Product Advisory Board and a proud Chromium committer. Meggin earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, and two children, Amelia and Patrick. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the web developer community.

Developer Programs Engineer

Jonathan is a Developer Programs Engineer at Google working on Android Things, Google's premier IoT platform. His mission is to make developers more effective by building code samples and libraries, creating training materials, leading hands-on workshops, and engaging with developers face-to-face to understand their motivations. He also works on projects aimed at easing adoption of Android Things through better tooling and support. Prior to IoT, Jonathan spent five years writing Android apps and libraries.

Developer Advocate

Pete helps web developers build the next generation of web apps. As a Developer Advocate working on the web team, he likes taking the sharp edges off cutting edge technologies and making it easy for developers to use them. Pete helped create Web Fundamentals, Google’s resource for web development best practices. He also hosts the "New in Chrome" video series on YouTube and has taught two Udacity courses, "The Fundamentals of Responsive Web Design" and "Your First Progressive Web App."

Developer Program Engineer

Silvano is a Developer Program Engineer currently working on Actions on Google. He has previous experiences working on Firebase, Google Cloud, Google Apps, Google+ and AdSense. When he's not working you’ll probably find him spending time with his toddler twin daughters or cooking for them.

Search Outreach Specialist

Aaseesh is part of the Trust and Safety Search team, which evaluates the quality of Google search results and protects users from being exposed to spam and other types of abuse. He is primarily responsible for educating webmasters on the various tools and resources Google provides to help make user-friendly websites. He also works with the Safe Browsing team helping to prevent users from being affected by malicious content on the web.

Product Manager

As a Product Manager and iOS Engineer on the Firebase team, Mike helps developers build better mobile apps. He has been working on Firebase for three years, and has worked developing iOS apps at the Omni Group and building microprocessors at Texas Instruments. In his free time Mike enjoys spending time outdoors, cooking, and hacking on embedded hardware.

Google Developer Expert

Patrick is the Chief Generalising Specialist at Newgen Digital, where he embodies a culture of continuous learning. A Google Developer Expert on the Cloud and G Suite, he has the privilege of interacting with some of the most intelligent people in the world. His current research is on the confluence of AI and DLT in the scholarly publishing sector. He cannot wait to hear what you have to say.

Developer Advocate

Sean is a Developer Advocate at Google. Prior to joining Google, he gained a decade of experience as a startup engineer in San Francisco. He is passionate about using great tools to build great products.

Developer Advocate

Ben is a Developer Advocate at Google, where he’s working to help the web be faster and more beautiful. Prior to Google, he worked at the New York Times and AOL. Before that he was a full-time musician. Ben earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science at Harvard and a PhD in Music at the University of California. Rumor has it that he still runs a band called Ancient Babies.

Soham is the founder of Triveous and the creator of the audio recording app Skyro Voice Recorder. He is also a Google Expert for product design and a mentor at the Google Launchpad Accelerator program.

Developer Advocate

Rowan is a developer advocate for the web with a particular focus on e-commerce. That means he looks at how we can take all the exciting new functionality on the web platform and show how those can be applied in real-world businesses to show a clear return on investment. Before Google, Rowan was building back-ends for ISPs, payment systems, and more. Let him know if you find his beacon at some point during the event.

Product Manager

Dan is the Product Manager for Google’s NoSQL databases, Cloud Datastore, and Cloud Firestore. Previously he was a Product Manager for Google Drive. Dan joined Google from Rocket Software where he was the Managing Director for NoSQL databases. He has a background in banking software, databases, and information security. Dan has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Developer Advocate

Florina is an Android Developer Advocate at Google, helping developers architect clean, testable apps using the Architecture Components libraries. She has been working with Android for 8 years. Previously, Florina has worked covering news at Upday, payment solutions at Payleven, and navigation services at Garmin.

Program Manager - Lead

Karthik leads Developer Relations programs for Google in India, North Africa, Middle East and Central and West Asia. Prior to Google, he worked at IBM & Microsoft in Product management & Business Development roles. He had co-founded a startup. Karthik currently serves on the board of a Clean tech startup and advices a leading NGO who train and find jobs for people with disabilities

Developer Advocate

Wayne is a Developer Advocate at Google, focusing on the Internet of Things and the Google Assistant. He has 15 years of experience in academia and industry in the areas of wearable computing, outdoor augmented reality, and mobile devices. Wayne works to get developers excited about new Google technologies through conferences, social media, and training materials. He also advocates for developers within Google, ensuring they have the right tools and information to support their work.

WTM Manipal Lead

Sukriti is the lead of the Manipal chapter of Women Techmakers, Where she works towards proliferation of women participation in technology. She is a scholarship recipient of the 2017 APAC WTM Scholars Program and a GHCI’16 scholar. She is a final year undergraduate student at the Manipal Institute of Technology and will be shortly associated with IISc Bangalore for her project work.

Developer Training Engineer

David is a Developer Training Engineer excited by the technologies and the potential of mobile web. He works to develop training content and courses that help developers master modern skills and push the web platform forward.

India and South Asia Search Outreach Lead

Malik Mairaj is the India and South Asia Search Outreach Lead. He is dedicated to creating a better search experience for users, influencing high-quality content on the web, and enabling publishers and webmasters to leverage Google Search by helping them create search and mobile-friendly websites. Syed is also a Google Certified Trainer, an active proponent of Google Search best practices for webmaster, and appears on various platforms. Although he studies Commerce as a graduate, Malik has been hooked on web technologies since his college days. He was a successful freelance web developer before joining Google in 2006.

Product Manager

Vinamrata is the Product Manager for Lighthouse on Google Chrome's Web Platform team. Before that, she was a Product Manager on the Next Billion Users team at Google, building new products for emerging markets. She has a degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Global Developer Certification Program Manager

JP is the Global Developer Certification Program Manager for Google. Previously, he supported online developer training for GCP and developed courseware for Firebase and GCE. Prior to Google, he developed training at Cloudera and ran training and documentation at RightScale and Openwave Systems, Inc. JP earned master’s degrees from Colorado State University and Pacifica Graduate Institute. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Penn State University.

Product Manager

Taylor is a Product Manager on the Chrome team. To help web developers build better sites, Taylor focuses on building open source products like Polymer, Lighthouse, DevTools, and more.

Mobile Solutions Consultant

Thomas is a Mobile Solutions Consultant at Google Hamburg, focused on all things mobile web. For more than ten years he has worked on building and architecting technically challenging solutions for some of Google’s largest advertisers and publishers. He blogs at https://blog.tomayac.com/ and tweets as @tomayac. Thomas holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Polytechnical University of Catalonia, Spain.

Developer Advocate

Paul leads developer relations for Android Wear, TV, Auto, and media. He is focused on teaching developers how to bring their apps to as many screens as possible with as little work as possible. Paul is a champion of excellent design, and is passionate about putting users (developers and end-users) first when developing software. He's been involved in a variety of projects during his seven years at Google. However, Android has always been a big part of both his work and hobbies.

Senior Developer Advocate

Amrit is a Senior Developer Advocate on the DevRel Partnerships team at Google and manages the Developer Advocacy initiatives for top partners in India. Prior to working at Google, he worked with companies like Intuit, Philips Research, and IBM. Currently at Google, he focuses mostly on Android, Firebase, and Identity products.

Technical Lead Software Engineer

Raghu is an NYC-based Technical Lead Software Engineer on the AMP team at Google, responsible for the tools and infrastructure used by AMP engineers and external contributors. Prior to AMP, Raghu worked on various projects in Chrome and Hangouts. More recently, he did a Product Management stint on Maps, where he launched in-navigation voice commands. He holds a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

UX Designer

Johannes is UX Designer for the Google Play Console. He designs developer tools that help app publishers build excellent apps. By providing technical data about the app's performance to developer, he and his team help improve the app quality of the Google Play app ecosystem.

Developer Programs Engineer

Arthur is a Developer Programs Engineer on the Firebase team where he focused on Firebase growth products like Firebase Cloud Messaging. Before Firebase, he worked on other developer facing products at Google including Gmail, Google Drive, and Android.

Developer Programs Engineer

Shailen is a Developer Programs Engineer at Google. He works on Android, and his recent focus has been on location and context, background processing, and accessibility.

Program Manager

Prateek is a Program Manager on the Developer Relations team at Google, and has prior experience working on Developer and Community programs. He is passionate about working on programs that help developers build amazing apps for the benefit of the ecosystem.

Senior Program Manager

Sebastian has been at Google since 2007, where he currently leads Developer Ecosystem teams across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. His mission is to make Google technologies the tools of choice by developers and startups. Sebastian previously worked as a strategy consultant for various firms, as well as in business development at Dell. He holds an engineering Master's degree from Centrale-Supélec and an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs.

Technology Analyst

Kamal is a Technology Analyst. He has a Master of computer applications (MCA) and 5+ years industry experience