Gemma Lara Savill
Why enter a developer competition?
By Gemma Lara Savill
Published at August 15, 2024
When Google announced the Gemini API Developer Competition, I knew I couldn't resist entering. AI is everywhere, I have been using it, I have finished different courses about it ... but this was the perfect occasion to test my skills with this new tech.
It has been a great experience and I have learned some interesting lessons on AI integration in apps, and I will write about the lessons learned in another post. For the moment I just want to write about why, why enter a developer competition?
Why enter a developer competition?
I have an easy answer, I am a professional software developer because I won a competition back in 2001. My partner and I had jobs that were not related to software development, but we loved music. And over the years, we started in 1998, we had built this enormous fan website for a Spanish rock band. When the band's manager discovered the site, it was branded as the official site. This is all in the pre-social-network world. So when we saw that a big record company was announcing a competition to build a website for an emerging band, we thought it would be fun. The money prize sounded great, but the thrill of making a great website on time was the motivation. It was just an excuse with a remote promise of a reward to work on our hobby.
So I would say that is the first good thing about a competition: you get a mission and a deadline.
Anyway, we managed to enter. I sent off the website on a CD via snail mail, yes, the website was submitted to the competition by postal package!
We were lucky and won! And more luck, the record company demanded an invoice for the prize, so one of us went self-employed to be able to do this and get the cheque. The record company kept giving us more assignments, so our business was born and it grew.
So, the second good thing about entering a competition: it could turn into a great opportunity for you. You never know!
And the challenge... The third great thing about entering a competition, oh! The challenge!
What to create? How do we make these ideas come true? And all of it must be within the competition rules and before the deadline. You have a good challenge on your hands.
You will spend a lot of your free time thinking about your competition submission, talking about it, working on it, so I recommend linking it to something you love. In the first competition for me, the drive was music and programming. This time around we chose a bird watching theme, another of our passions.
The challenge is where you grow, it will give you what you take away from the competition, the real prize. This was the hands-on experience I needed with AI, to get it to do what we planned. Understand for real how to make it add value to your app, integrate a Gemini API, a Large Language Model AI (LLM) into the user experience. The technical challenge of making your idea work.
Conclusion
Entering a developer competition is more than just a shot at winning a prize. It's an opportunity for growth, innovation, and potential career opportunities. By setting clear goals, embracing challenges, and leveraging your passions, you can turn a competition into a stepping stone for personal and professional development. So, if you're considering taking the plunge, I encourage you to do it. You might just surprise yourself with what you can achieve.
Remember, the real reward often lies in the journey, not just the destination.
