Summer bash at Button's rooftop

A few hours before our meetup’s summer rooftop bash, it started pouring torrentially. We were worried – meetup members even commented on our page and asked, “Sooo about that rooftop…” Luckily, the Android gods smiled down on us and cleared the skies just in time for our July meetup at Button. Our members were treated to sliders, copious amounts of wine and beer, and pizza from the awesome Button team. We also had Android tech talks from Uber, Instagram and LinkNYC.

Meetup organizer and touchlab President Kevin Galligan greeted the group with his usual finesse and started the night with chuckles: “It’s a bit crowded in this room so nobody move. We won’t sweat this way.”

Kevin captivates the crowd with his welcome. Kevin and Sveinung with Button give the host welcome. Scroll to the bottom if you’d like to enter their contest, you could win an Amazon Echo!

Jeff Hu with the Uber Android team was our first speaker. He introduced Uber’s internal Octopus automated test framework and dove into details of UberRUSH’s unique end-to-end testing. His pro tip for the group: “‘Make Magic’, one of the Uber culture values. Uber is built on the magic of pressing a button and having a car appear. As a mobile engineer, let’s develop forward-thinking ideas, and produce high quality work that raises the bar. #alwaysbetesting.” Thank you Jeff for speaking, even with the 9pm flight he had to catch right after!

Jeff Hu, Uber

Blake Arnold and Justin Taylor took the floor after and walked us through the LinkNYC project. They described the history of the wifi kiosks and how Android played a critical part in development. They also gave a special shout out to our very own Izzy Oji of touchlab, for her part in the project since the very beginning. For Android beginners, Blake and Justin advised, “Get a solid foundation in computer science, whether from formal schooling or on your own. Make a couple applications in your spare time, open source them, and be open to learning other platforms like web dev. That’ll get your foot in the door at most companies. The rest can be learned on the job.”

Izzy (touchlab), Blake and Justin (Intersection)

Kang Zhang with Instagram finished off the night with a talk on Android Client Architecture. He shared the team kept the app’s performance reliable and lean as their client infrastructure evolved over the past few years. Kang’s #1 tip for our group? “Do simple thing first.” He pointed us to “Instagram + Android: Four Years Later” if you’d like to read more about Instagram’s recent mobile development.

Kang Zhang, Instagram

Our July meetup was a huge success – thanks to Button for generously providing booze and food. From our host: “Reminder to submit your Button for your Android app by 7/21 to enter to win an Amazon Echo for the best Button implementation! Email screenshots or an APK, even if it’s a test build, to android@usebutton.com to apply! Button makes it easier for app developers to monetize by helping users discover their next action. By connecting the apps where users spend time, with the apps they spend money, Button provides a monetization strategy where everyone wins.”

Thanks to everyone who made it out, and to the Button team (Stephanie, Sophia, Kevin & Sveinung) for coordinating.
See you at our August 9th meetup with Israel Comacho and Donn Felker at AMEX!