BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Digital literacy is essential for people to take advantage of new job opportunities and benefit from services that will become available on the digital platform, said DST Head of Relationship Management Freddie Ting.
Speaking at the Developers Festival 2019 on Saturday, Ting said digital technology is rapidly developing in diverse fields from mobile communications and robotics to artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
“We are now entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution and are already experiencing profound change that new technologies bring to the way we work, live and interact. Building human resources with the right skills is a key driving force for digital transformation,” he said.
About 100 participants gathered at the one-day festival organised by telco DST and Google Developer Group Brunei. Held at DST’s headquarters, DevFest aims to drive the growth of tech community in Brunei.
Developers Festivals are large, community-run developer events that take place around the globe focused on community building and learning about Google’s technologies.
President of Google Developers Group Brunei Afiq Mohammed said it is crucial to connect youth with the right network and community apart from equipping them with the latest technological skills.
“We don’t want them to just learn by the book but instead, be more valuable by using technologies to solve real life challenges,” he added.
The festival offered speaker sessions across multiple product areas, codelabs as well as local projects showcase. Themed “Digitalisation of Brunei”, the event focused on topics related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The event brought in Google developer experts from Brunei Shell Petroleum, Gojek and Politeknik Brunei who covered areas on data science, machine learning on the web and Google Cloud Platform as well as a local developers’ showcase session.
Edah Hasnal, the lead for Women Techmakers Brunei, said technology can be made inclusive for everyone.
She said Women Techmakers Brunei, another initiative of Google Developer Group, has conducted workshops for new and advanced tech developers throughout the year.
“We encourage them to share their stories and knowledge to help grow a healthier tech community,” she said.
GDG Brunei was set up in 2010 to support and grow the tech community and industries in Brunei.
GDG is a community-driven group of developers who are interested in technology – from the Android, App Engine, and Google Cloud platforms to Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies such as Tensorflow Machine Learning and Google IoTcore for developing smart devices.
GDG groups exist in 134 countries and have more than 700,000 members across the globe.