Four undergraduate students teamed up to participate in the 2021 Microsoft Student Hackathon, they eventually emerged winners and have received and accepted offers to join Microsoft as full-time software engineers. The students Gloria Keya, David Lutta, Christine Wambui, and Audrey Njenga will start their professional careers at Microsoft when they graduate from school.
They are all final year students pursuing computer science at universities located in Kenya and Rwanda. Firstly, Gloria and Christine are students at the University of Nairobi(UoN) in Kenya. Whilst David is a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT). Finally, Audrey is a student at the African Leadership University(ALU) based in Rwanda.
The students who had just completed their summer internship with Microsoft learned about the hackathon and decided to extend their Microsoft experience. By forming a team to participate in the student hackathon. Which was concurrently taking place with the Microsoft Global Hackathon for Microsoft employees. The hackathon event was to hack solutions for Sustainability, Society, Education, and Ability using Microsoft technologies. In all, there were students from 22 other countries participating in the virtual Microsoft student hackathon. Over the course of just a week, they conceived, built, and tested their idea.
“We wanted to create an opportunity after their Microsoft internship for the students to stay connected to Microsoft and use the skills and knowledge they acquired in a new project and challenge that reflected their own passion,” says Steve Scallen, Senior Director of University Engagement at the Microsoft Garage. “They were all summer interns at Microsoft, and they all have offers to come back, which they’ve accepted. We are very excited they have chosen to start their professional careers at Microsoft.”
The students won the grand prize-winning project with their idea Forest Guard. Which falls under the hack for earth challenge and sustainability category. Forest Guard is a real-time on-site deforestation sensor and alert system that detects and reports dangerous or illegal activity in protected forests. It will be able to detect illegal logging and forest fire, using an IoT tool and Azure cognitive services.
Microsoft says they will have the opportunity to continue hacking the Forest Guard at The Garage when they begin work as full-time software engineers at Microsoft Nairobi in 2022. Microsoft is bringing The Garage program to Africa and will be opening new locations on the Microsoft Lagos and Nairobi campuses. The Garage is a Microsoft resource for employees to connect, experiment and be creative outside of their day job.
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Mesh for Teams is how Microsoft is planning to keep up with the Metaverse space. For Microsoft though, it will only mark the beginning of its Metaverse solutions which will cut across a host of its products. Mesh for Teams is an immersive 3D meetings experience enabled by the integration of Mesh and Teams. It is the next evolution of Microsoft’s mixed-reality product Mesh and collaboration tool Microsoft Teams. Preview will start rolling out in the first half of 2022.
Microsoft says Mesh will enable users to meet in traditional Teams meetings and immersive virtual spaces using personalized avatars. Using either a Personal Computer, mobile device, HoloLens or virtual reality headset. The avatars will enable participants to maintain a presence without turning on their cameras. Employees will also be able to collaborate using all of the Microsoft 365 productivity tools even in immersive spaces.
I can’t overstate how much of a breakthrough this is.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft metaverse, Mesh for Teams announced
Speaking at the Keynote event of Microsoft Ignite 2021, Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, announced the company’s plan on the metaverse space. Introducing two new solutions; Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces and Mesh for Teams.
He noted that “as the digital and physical world come together we [Microsoft] are creating an entirely new platform layer which is the metaverse. The metaverse is not just transforming how we see the world, it’s changing how all of us actively participate in it“, he adds.
We are bringing people, places and things together with the digital world in both the consumers space as well as in the enterprise. When we talk about the metaverse we are describing both the new platform and new application types. We are building the metaverse platform for you to build upon. In a sense, the metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing, bringing real presence to any digital space. I can’t overstate how much of a breakthrough this is. It’s no longer just looking at a camera view of a factory floor, you can be on the floor. It’s no longer just video conferencing with colleagues, you can be with them in the same room. It’s no longer just playing a game with friends, you can be in the game with them.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft says Mesh builds on the Together mode and Presenter mode features to keep meetings engaging and fun. It will roll out with a set of pre-built immersive spaces including meetings to social mixers. Organizations will get the opportunity to customize the spaces in future.
Facebook metaverse compared to the Microsoft metaverse
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Samsung and IBM invite developers to participate in the 2021 Call for Code challenge dubbed honouring everyday heroes challenge. To encourage the development of new technology solutions to help everyday heroes who are invaluable to society. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $15K USD, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and get deployment support to bring their solution to life.
The hackathon event is part of the broader Call for Code global program with contributions from over 179 nations. Inviting problem-solvers around the world to build and contribute to sustainable, open-source technology projects that address social and humanitarian issues.
Submissions for the Call for Code Honoring Everyday Heroes Challenge must be able to run on a Samsung tablet, smartphone, and/or wearable device. It must also make use of one or more IBM open hybrid cloud technologies such as IBM Cloud or IBM Watson. Participants will also have access to Samsung toolkits, as well as data from The Weather Company.
The deadline for submissions is November 20th and evaluated by a judging panel from IBM and Samsung. It will announce the winner on December 9th.
The Call for Code Honoring Everyday Heroes Challenge starts now. Get more information on how to register and participate here: ibm.biz/CallforCode-Samsung.
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Microsoft Build 2021 is all about developers! Throughout the event, over one hundred new services and updates across various areas of the Microsoft technology stack are going to be announced. But there seems to be one area on the Microsoft CEO’s mind, Windows. During the keynote address, he makes a passionate appeal and call to developers. Satya mentions a significant update is coming to Windows to make it the most innovative new open platform to build and distribute applications.
In the closing stages of his keynote, Satya Nadella talks briefly about Windows and notes “Windows is implicit, it’s never been more important.” He goes on to talk about how developers need to embrace windows as a dev box. By saying, Windows brings together all the developer collaboration tools in one place irrespective of platform or hardware.
No one will want technology that rapidly scales but breaks the world around us.
Satya Nadella
Satya however did not get into the specifics of how the company is going to do this or what the update is about. He said more will be coming soon. But you can get a hint of what is to come from what he shared. Read it below.
Windows as a dev box, the innovative new open platform
No one will want technology that rapidly scales but breaks the world around us. Our ambition is to be the platform for platform creators. We want to help you help the world, that is at the core of our mission.
Across all the opportunities I’ve highlighted today Windows is implicit, it’s never been more important. Windows 10 is used by more than 1.3 billion people to work, learn, connect and play and it all starts with Windows as a dev box. Windows brings together all your developer and collaboration tools in one place. It lets you choose the hardware you want, works with Linux and Windows as one, and has a modern terminal. Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunities for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months. Our promise to you is this; we will create more opportunities for every Windows developer today and welcome every creator who is looking for the most innovative new open platform to build, distribute and monetize applications. We look forward to sharing more soon.
Next generation Windows update including developer and creator monetization, Here is what to expect.
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Watch Microsoft developer conference Build 2021 and get all the latest in Microsoft technology announcements. Where CEO, Satya Nadella will highlight how Microsoft is creating new opportunities for developers across the modern tech stack.
The free digital viewing of Build 2021 event starts at these times worldwide 3 PM GMT, 6 PM EAT, 5 PM 8 AM PT, May 25th to 27th 2021. Microsoft says this year the developer event is focused on empowering developers to help solve real-world problems.
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How do you become a software developer? What are the skills necessary and the pathways available to becoming a software developer? If you have these and many other questions like these then keep reading.
It is Microsoft Build this week and Microsoft is hosting free sessions hosted by software engineers, Technical program managers and Principal software engineers working at Microsoft. It means you will learn about the roles, languages and how to get in and thrive from people with experience. Also, learn several programming languages like Python, C#, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Azure, GitHub, Visual Studio Code, etc.
Learn how to contribute to shared projects using MakeCode and Javascript.
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