Building communities with GDG Kolachi

Since 2015, GDG Kolachi has been organizing meetups and conferences for budding entrepreneurs, developers and tech enthusiasts in the city of Karachi. Its events have helped fresh graduates and tech professionals to network, seek guidance and counselling and help kickstart their careers in the tech ecosystem.

I attended Google DevFest 2021 where I had the opportunity to meet the core team. I expressed my interest to get involved with GDG.

That became a reality in early May 2022, when Hira Tariq, community manager of GDG reached out to me to help organize their upcoming event BLAZE 2022.

Although I had no prior experience of organizing events, I have always wanted to be part of such communities and events. I was hungry and determined to step out, provide whatever help I could to the upcoming generation who I never wanted to go through the agony which I had to endure when entering the job market.

I answered yes to Hira's call.

BLAZE 2022 was the first version of a series of events focusing on bringing together Pakistani women working in the tech industry. ‘BLAZE’ symbolizes the fire that exists within the Women of Pakistan who hold back due to the fear of trying new things in what is still a male-dominated field.

I got down to work with other GDG volunteers Samima Khan, Danella Patrick, Hassam Jawed and Mursal Furqan helping design the social media posts and the promotional material including the role cards, press wall, swag goods and other paraphernalia.

Despite the challenges we were able to secure the venue and sponsors for the event.

On Tuesday June 28, DHA Suffa University welcomed 400 participants to BLAZE 22. They all came with to connect, learn and celebrate. The event had an exciting line up of speakers including Sakina Abbas, Arbaz Pirwani, Ariba Shahid, Dr. Huma Jamshed, Imran Azhar, Numrah Khan, Wajahat Karim and Mobeen Ahmed.

There were also workshops for both tech and non tech related areas, conducted by Ishaq Hassan and Batool Aamir.

BLAZE also had a career fair where notable companies Savyour, HarKaam.com and Liquid Technologies set up their booths for aspiring fresh grads.

There was no time to celebrate as we had just few weeks to prepare for the next big event: Google I/O Extended Karachi 2022.

There was also worry if the event would ever take place as heavy monsoon rains lashed Karachi that week. Miraculously, on the day of the event, it was relatively sunny and the event pulled off successfully.

On the day of the event, when I was registering the participants, we were hit with the bombshell news that the emcee has pulled out.

Somebody needed to step up. But the entire team was pinned so everyone turned to me to take charge.

I had zero experience of hosting a show before. But instead of withdrawing I happily accepted the challenge and nailed it.

The event featured an exciting line-up of speakers. It was delightful to hear Eric ShangKuan, Eric Bhatti, Mashhood Rastgar, Khurram Kalimi, Wajahat Karim 🇵🇰, Farah Mehboob, Dr. Nadeem Qazi, Ishaq Hassan and Shamim Rajani sharing their knowledge and insights in Flutter, Android, AI/ML, tech entrepreneurship and culture.

The event also featured a community lounge and two codelabs where participants can seek guidance from professionals in AI/ML, Flutter, Android, UI/UX and Product Management.

To sum it all up, it was an exhilarating experience. I could not believe we pulled it off two events in a space of one month despite the setbacks, challenges and the extreme weather. At BLAZE, we had to deal with the scorching heat while Google I/O Extended occured when the monsoon season had started and the city was wrecked with torrential rains a week prior to the event.

For me, it has to be the highlight of 2022. Organizing community-based events and even serving as an emcee to eradicate my fears of public speaking gave me a sense of spiritual fulfilment never felt before.

This is just the beginning of my journey as a community builder with GDG Kolachi and Women Techmakers Kolachi.