There are number of technical conferences being held every year and major focus of all these conferences is to keep the crowd updated about what are latest trends in the industry & how the overall industry is surging ahead to embrace that change. Seldom do we come across a conference that can cover topics related to Open-source, Cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Analytics, etc. in one single day! We had an opportunity to attend the IBM Developer Day which was held on 14th March, 2019 in Bengaluru. True to it’s promise Build [Smart], IBM gave detailed insights into ‘all things technical‘ and ‘all things eco-system‘ at this year’s IBM Developer Day.
The audience which comprised of students, IBM partners, seasoned technologists, entrepreneurs, bloggers, etc. were excited to attend IBM Developer day had four major reasons
- Hands-on coding – A separate session for coders where you get assistance from the IBM technical team to build apps in 15-minute Code Labs session
- Technical Workshops – Exciting workshops led by their development team shared insights into the latest technologies & open-source technologies.
- Tech Talks – Seasoned IBM technologies, as well as young talent at IBM conducted 20+ sessions on Blockchain, AI, Open Source, Cloud Computing, etc.
- Ask IBM Anything – There was a sufficient amount of time given to the audience after every session so that they could interact with the speakers & other technologists of IBM.
- Eco-system Development – Major details were shared about initiatives like Call For Code, Girls of Code and more.
Opening Keynote – Sriram Raghavan, Vice President of IBM Research AI
The event commenced with an inspiring keynote by Sriram Raghavan, Vice President, IBM Research AI. He touched upon how the technological landscape is changing every single day and how this change can fuel the passion for learning new-age technologies like Machine learning, AI, Blockchain, etc. There was major thrust laid on collaborative learning and using technology for good. He particularly cited example of the ‘Kerala Floods’ where developers came up with simple apps to keep people updated about the situation.
He also spoke about open source and IBM’s commitment towards open-source. The keynote was ended at an inspiring one-liner ‘Open Source has become the corner stone of technology innovation‘.
Opening Note – Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President & CEO of IBM
The event commenced with an opening note by Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President & CEO of IBM where she spoke majorly about the work that IBM has been doing around open-source technologies. There are many developers & technologists who had the myth that IBM is not contributing much to the open-source community and this opening note was an eye-opener for everyone. Ginni Rometty stressed upon the commitment & expertise that IBM has towards open-source technologies and how the team at IBM has been contributing to open-source long before IBM acquired Red Hat.
As the crowd comprised of a mix of people with different levels of experience, it was important to let developers [especially students & newbie developers] know about the learnings they can acquire by contributing to open-source. She aptly explained the key advantages of open-source contribution and how it can help developers build knowledge & expertise by learning from the community. To summarize, in the opening key-note, the president & CEO of IBM reaffirmed IBM’s commitment to open source technologies in three guiding principles
- Open Governance
- Open Collaboration
- Giving back to the open source community
You can watch the entire opening note session by Ginni Rometty below
Panel Discussion on Development & Open Source
Since developers are the ones who are coming up with innovative applications, a panel discussion on open-source was a must have in this conference. The panelists cleared some of the myths that are associated with open-source i.e. open-source code is buggy, no particular channel is there to file bugs, contributor fragmentation, etc.
The panel reiterated on how open-source technologies can be leveraged to develop applications and how startups can use these technologies to quickly prototype their ideas. With low-cost hardware and open-source software, technologists can now convert their ideas into reality at a fraction of a cost. They are also emphasized that students & lesser experienced developers can also contribute to open-source technologies and how they can enhance their skills & knowledge in doing the same.
Last but not the least, all the panel members were of the point that developers have an exciting opportunity ahead and they should look forward to solving real business-problems to give wings to their dreams. This means that they should think out of the box as they already have innovative technologies at their rescue!
Talk on Developer eco-system & Cognitive Computing
Bob Lord, Senior Vice President, Cognitive Applications, IBM spoke about IBM’s expertise in cloud computing and how enterprises & developers can make use of cloud technologies & cognitive computing systems to solve real-world problems. There was a particular mention about code patterns that can be used by developers to get started. There are code patterns on Blockchain, TTS [Text to Speech], usage of Kubernetes clusters for usecases on Blockchain, usage of Watson services, etc.
Shraddha Sharma of YourStory who is an inspiration to many young entrepreneurs spoke about the importance of telling stories that can create a meaningful impact on everyone. She emphasized that a path breaking product needs a wining story so that it can connect with the audience [whether it is developers, entrepreneurs, or enterprises].
IBM announced its partnership with NASSCOM to catalyze the developer community. KS Viswanathan, Vice President [Industry Initiatives], NASSCOM, Bengaluru, said
We are witnessing remarkable growth in the ecosystem propelled by innovative thinking where technology plays a revolutionary role. We believe that our association with IBM will not only catalyze the developer community but will also help design path-breaking solutions for disaster management and preparedness for society at large.
IBM also announced number of programs for developers, some of the key one’s are mentioned below
- Code and Response – IBM announced that in its very first year of ‘Code and Response’, it will pilot Project Owl that won the Call for Code 2018. You can find more about Project Owl here.
- Girls of Code – IBM announced collaboration with state governments across India where the company would empower more than 2,00,000+ women & girls in government schools to create ‘new collar jobs’ over a period of next three years. More than 50,000+ participants from Girls of Code would also get an opportunity to participate in ‘Code and Response’ hackathons that are held at a global level by IBM.
- Call for Code – Call for Code is a global initiative by IBM where start-ups, technologists, government organizations, enterprise developers, etc. can be seen under one platform. The registrations for the Call for Code 2019 Global Challenge are still open and you can find more about the developer challenge here.
India Developer Champions – Recognizing contribution to Open Source
Along with the above mentioned initiatives, IBM in co-operation with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology [MeitY] and NASSCOM announced ‘India Developer Champions‘, a new multi-year program that recognizes developer contributions to the open source community.
The program will create a single, unified platform to acknowledge outstanding developer work in open source, the key driving force behind groundbreaking technologies that are impacting millions of lives every day in India and around the world. Since developers are the torchbearers of innovation in business and society, IBM expects thousands of nominations from passionate developers, as well as from enterprises & startups. If you are excited about this opportunity, you should sign up to become an IBM Coder.
Demo Booth
There were interesting set of demos by IBM developers and their enterprise partners. There were couple of demos that demonstrated how enterprises can leverage the capabilities of Watson & Cognitive computing to solve problems in different sectors like e-commerce, manufacturing, etc.
The demo that caught our attention was a Brain football game titled ‘War of Minds‘ where headsets [which had number of sensors including sensors that could read your brainwaves] were used by participants to move a football around the field. If you need further insights, we recommend you to read the whitepaper titled Can we communicate just by thinking?
Bloggers Round-table with IBM Leadership team
The IBM Developer eco-system led by Johanna Koester – Director, Worldwide Developer Advocacy answered questions on Hybrid Cloud, Red Hat acquitsition, etc. from limited set of bloggers who were invited for the round-table. Some of the questions that the IBM team patiently answered were
- IBM’s contribution to open-source and future plans of Red Hat [at a very top level].
- Advantages of using IBM’s Hyperledger which is an open source blockchain platform for business.
- Feedback from bloggers on how they can make use of individual developer communities to drive more developer engagement.
- IBM’s role in building a last mile eco-system for developers from schools, tier-2/tier-3 universities & institutions.
If you have attended the #IBMDevDay, do leave your experience in the comments section and if you are a developer, do not forget to signup as a IBM Coder.
Related read – We earlier interacted with Seema Kumar, Country Leader – Developer Ecosystem & Startups, IBM. Be sure to catch the insightful interview here.