First virtual GDG #CloudKasthiram 2020
DevFest Sri Lanka is an event organized by GDG team annually based on “by developers to developers”. It is a place where newbies and experts can gain knowledge with hands-on experience of their interest in Google products. But this year making a change, DevFest was hosted virtually for the first time with a brand new event #CloudKasthiram. This article will be talking about the experience with #CloudKasthiram 2020
Every year there were two sessions in DevFest as, workshop day and the session day. Usually, the workshop day consists of a few workshops including Google Cloud, Machine Learning and many other interesting topics. So, the participants could attend to what they really interest to.
But this year breaking the tradition, the event was hosted virtually for the very first time. DevFest Sri Lanka 2020 began on 16th October following a keynote and sessions on GCP, Knative, ML and more topics. At the end of the sessions, the ultimate #CloudKasthiram was announced.
Link for DevFest Sri Lanka 2020: GDG DevFest 2020
What and Why #CloudKasthiram?
GDG #CloudKasthiram was a session where we can learn GCP and it’s operations from the ground up. After registering in CloudKasthiram, one-month free access to Qwicklabs was provided.
Here is a quick work about Qwicklabs. Well, it is a platform where you can enrol for different quests, which includes lessons with lab sessions to enhance your knowledge on GCP and it’s operations. There are many topics related to GCP including Google Kubernetes Engine, Machine Learning, Security, Infrastructure etc. You need to complete the tasks within the given time period. During that time, you get temporary access for Google Cloud to complete the given tasks. Once you complete all the sessions in a quest, you are rewarded with a badge.
P.S.: Qwicklabs helps you to gain hands-on experience and knowledge for you when completing google certifications as well. Refer Coursera for more information on certificates and courses.
Likewise, CloudKasthiram began. Participants had to complete 6 quests from the provided list before 8th November to win the swags. There were different quests for beginners as well as for intermediates. A slack channel was also provided to share issues faced, experience, knowledge and to help each other.
First, a “How to Guide” session was conducted by Shafraz Rahim and Milindu Sanoj covering an overview of how CloudKasthiram work and how to complete quests. Link: #CloudKasthiram: How to Guide
While working on quests, an issue faced by the majority was their accounts get blocked (which I faced twice). Basically, it happens when you exceed the limited resources provided for the quest. There were some other issues as well while setting up the Qwicklabs account, the subscription, unavailability quests etc. But the slack members were very helpful. Everyone helped each other even without knowing them.
The Challenge labs were the most challenging part of the quest. Well, it’s already in the name though. Most of the quests had a challenge lab as the end of the quest. It was kinda a review of the sessions done. So, it was important to complete the guide labs while learning not just complete them by copy and pasting the commands.
Finally, two days prior to the deadline, the CloudKasthiram final webinar was conducted by Shafraz Rahim, Milindu Sanoj with a panellist of 3, myself, Pramoda Savindri and Mihindu Ranasinghe, to share the Qwiklab tips, success stories, GCP technologies, and more. Link: #CloudKasthiram: Final Webinar
After almost one month of time, according to CloudKasthiram, we danced the dance. It was a new experience and I am so happy to be a part of the first virtual DevFest Sri Lanka. Thank you GDG team for organizing the event, and giving me the opportunity to share the experience.
For the ones who are new to GCP or any cloud technology, I was in the same position two years ago. It is not what you don’t know, it is how much you want to know. Not too late to learn new technologies. Get on with them and polish your knowledge. Learn from everything and aim high. Then you can become an expert. Good Luck!
