My Experiences at Developer Conference Zambia 2019 - Dalitso Kasonde

Written by Dalisto Kasonde

Having attended DevConZM in 2018, I was definitely looking forward to this years (maybe because I like collecting stickers). Right before the conference, I came across the form for volunteers to help out at DevConZM19 and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Even though I received two free tickets to attend the event, I declined them as I figured it would be a more fulfilling experience to work with and learn from the organising team of DevCon and boy was I right!

DevConZM19 took place on 19th & 20th September 2019. The two day conference was both insightful and informative and the best part was being part of the team, working together to host a memorable event.

Day one had the ICTAZ (Information Communication and Technology Assocaiation of Zambia) talk to developers about career development and also encourage all Computer Science practitioners to join their association. The Zambian Gaming Community emphasised on how game developers need more recognition within the community and at national level too. Dennis then gave an in depth talk on how to handle and deal with asynchronous requests in applications we build. Gilbert Mwale, CEO of Emsika gave many helpful tips on how to start and run a successful business that leverages on technology as well as the soft skills required to properly marketing your business. An inclusion of health and tech for better human life sustainability was also an emphasis as the combination of health and technology would improve the health care systems for the world at large hence diversify tech to agriculture, health and other human problems makes technology more sustainable. A talk on Azure and how it's helpful in the development and tracking systems for developers.

Here are a few pictures of what went down on Day 1

Day two started off with Cobus giving a run through of Amazon Web Services and Mobile App Development in the cloud. Twaambo from Mvesesani gave a talk on building a Zambian Tech Company and how to stay sane during the process. Sekayi of Mafashio spoke about how to be involved with the product you build so that the created product is useful to the person using it, I could not think of a better way to have ended the conference.

Aside from all the information attained, attendees were able to network with one another and of course the food was amazing too.

Here are a few pictures of what went down on Day 2

All in all, I was so excited to just be part of the conference. I'm so happy I was able to network with members of the community as well as having the opportunity to learn more about team work. And like any other developer… of course I was excited to add to my collection of stickers. I cannot wait to attend the next one.

Catch up with the conference by following the Official Hashtag.

Till next time ❤️