DEV Community: Ahmad Awais ⚡️

VS Code Ext of the Week: The RapidAPI Client Extension

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 18:01:25 +0000

tl;dr Install RapidAPI Client for VSCode to achieve the flow-state with excellent developer experience.

Howdy-do y'all,

It's Awais — you may know me from my open-source work (corona-cli, Shades of Purple theme) or one of my courses (VSCode.pro / NodeCLI.com).

Not to overstate the obvious, but I love to write code, build software, and contribute improvements to the flow-state of a developer's work. Fan of automation and DevTools that improve our Developer Experience.

Just a couple of days ago, we launched the RapidAPI Client for VSCode. It's a project close to my DevHeart. 💜

I tweeted a thread about it here:

Ahmad Awais

@mrahmadawais

This VS Code extension will change the way you do web development.

🚀 Launching RapidAPI Client for VS Code. 🚀

13:03 PM - 27 Jul 2022

Ahmad Awais

@mrahmadawais

Launching a fantastic VS Code extension to help developers stop context switching; building APIs.

⚡ RapidAPI Client for VS Code ⚡

❯ Get 40+ API Code snippets
❯ Get the TypeScript interface in a click
❯ Supports your favorite VS Code themes

🔗 marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName…

13:03 PM - 27 Jul 2022

Exciting day! When I joined RapidAPI in my conversation with Iddo Gino, our CEO, I pitched, “let’s go where developers are and build a RapidAPI Client for #VSCode (extension).”

We both got excited about the idea of empowering developers with an excellent developer experience right there in the IDE of their choice (74% devs). A free API Client with zero context switching and a native VSCode feeling with theme, syntax highlighting, TypeScript interface, and code snippets support. That's API Development on steroids!

After months of searching, I found an excellent developer, MVP at Microsoft, and a GitHub Star — whom we hired to build RapidAPI Client for VSCode — Elio Struyf (he makes extensions for fun, precisely who I was looking for). Did I mention that Elio is awesome?

🚀 Yesterday, we launched “RapidAPI Client for VSCode” with a bang!

It's my honor to guide the R&D roadmap of this extension. My DevRel team worked with several developer community members to produce tens of fantastic free API development videos and have published content, even Twitter threads, to help launch the extension to y’all.

In a day or so, the RapidAPI Client for VSCode extension has climbed up to the top trending VSCode extension, period! It’s been a fantastic sight watching developers get excited with "Aha moments" about what we’ve built here.

🌱 Top trending VSCode extension
🛠 9,000+ Downloads from developers
🥳 6,500+ Active Installs in VSCode IDE
🤩 15 five-star ratings that continue to grow

Please install and check out RapidAPI Client for VSCode extension today →

Do share what you think below. :)

Developer Guides & Tutorials

I'd also like to thank Wade Wegner for his guidance and Kevin Hill for leading this DevTool from Zero to Prod. Thank you, Laura Schaffer, Gautam Thapar, Pratham, Stephanie Stimac, Nirmalya Ghosh, Kyle Riordan, and so many others not listed here — an absolutely awesome team effort.

2020 Black Friday Bundle 16 Developer Courses & Books

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:27:04 +0000

2020 has been weird. I couldn't travel much. It's black Friday and I have no plans at all to leave my house. Social distancing, COVID, or as I like to call it VID 19 (sounds more serious, lol).

Maybe you are like me. But this shouldn't stop you from checking out a Black Friday Full Stack bundle, Hrishi has prepared for developers. It has a lot of excellent courses & eBooks. I figured you'd want to check it out.

This Black Friday Bundle will help you earn more in 2021 by making you a Full Stack Web Developer. Learn JavaScript, React, Redux, GraphQL, build Node.js CLI DevTools for automation, deploy Serverless, jam the Jamstack (Next.js, Headless WordPress), and even learn to become a VSCode Power User.

→ Purchase the Full Stack Developer Bundle

That's not all, this bundle will make you a standout developer. Become a senior by reading books (included) that'll help you become a published author with professional technical content writing. You'll learn to test code and use React for Data Visualization (with D3). There is even a book on pricing strategies to help you make more money as a freelancer.

Not sure what you're waiting for. All of these excellent authors, a combined experience of 100+ years, distilled into excellent to-the-point courses and eBooks, for a fraction of the actual price. 70% percent off. We believe this may be the best thing that'll ever happen in 2020. jk :P

FULL STACK BUNDLE to "EARN MORE" in 2021

Here's the list of excellent courses and eBooks you'll get in this bundle. Save up to $925, that's 70% off.

EDITOR

VSCode.pro — Start by learning your editor well.

VS Code Pro by Ahmad Awais

BACKEND

NodeCLI.com — Learn Node.js and building automation CLI Apps
GraphQL — Learn GraphQL (server, API, backend/frontend)
Serverless React Pro — Deploy serverless React apps

Node.js CLI Automation Tools by Ahmad Awais
Serverless React Pro by Swizec Teller

FRONTEND

JavaScript — Courses on React, Node, JavaScript
React — Learn React, Redux, React Hooks
React with D3 for Dataviz

React for Dataviz Full course plan by Swizec Teller
Pure React & Redux bundle by Dave Ceddia
useEffect over lunch by Dave Ceddia

JAMSTACK

Next, Jamstack frameworks, and headless WordPress

Jamstack Handbook by Colby Fayock
Build a Personal site & blog with NextJS by James Perkins
Beginner Jamstack by Thomas Weibenfalk
Off With Your Head! Headless WordPress by Kevin Cunningham

CSS

Tailwind — Sharpen your CSS skillset with Tailwind

Beginner Tailwind by Chris on Code

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Content Writing for Developers (get published)
Freelance for Developers (do it right, get paid more)
Advanced: Data visualization and Testing Code skills

Content writing for Developers by Maedah Batool
Pricing Freelance Projects by Tom Hirst
Fake it, test it, make it by Jim Zarkadas
Why programmers work at night by Swizec Teller

→ Purchase the Full Stack Developer Bundle

Developer Courses 70% OFF · Black Friday · Cyber Monday

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:40:49 +0000

Woohoo, folks! 🥳🥳🥳

I'm also running up to a 70% off discount on my courses.

→ NodeCLI.com — 60% off save $150. Learn to build Node.js based automation CLI Apps/DevTools

→ VSCode.pro — 73% off save $120. Become a VSCode Power User and learn 200+ tips/tricks workflows like multi-cursors, debugging, & macros

→ Writy.io — 67% off save $100. If you want to sound professional and authentic while writing technical content for developers, this book/course is for you

Have a great holiday. Learn new skills and make 2021 better. Use your code for good.

P.S. Feel free to ask me anything.

Peace! ✌️

Being a Web Purist

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 08:13:24 +0000

Let's talk about web development. I'm a web purist and I don't plan to change that any time soon. Which means I chose to stick with the web platform. I love the web platform. I have seen it grow since 2002.

I used to work with LAMP/LEMP stack, then MEAN/MERN stack, then Node.js and React.js. Then Next.js. Dabbled around with Python and Go for a year or so. Nowadays mostly JavaScript for both backend and frontend.

Been writing JavaScript for over 15 years now. Used to be a funny little language and now it's grown so much. JavaScript is eating the world.

"Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript." — Atwood's Law

As an engineering leader, I believe JavaScript has come a long way. It's here to stay. I get why companies choose to use the best possible stack for their products. But that eventually ends up hurting a small startup.

Hear me out. You see it's a product-driven decision and not a people-driven decision. Maybe with Go or Rust or Python, you'll shave off 250ms load time. That is at the cost of complicating the hiring process for your company.

If you're an engineering leader, a CTO, or a VP of Engineering at an early-stage startup, where the majority of the business is a web component, for example, a SaaS company — then you need to ask yourself what's the best stack for everything.

And by everything, I mean the people, the company, and the product. Yes, I say that in a particular order. It's what I believe in. People come first. Be human first. Then the strategic goals of your company. You want to be profitable, right? And then comes your product.

As engineers, we try to over-optimize for the last part of this pipeline. That's the product. Trying to be extra performant with the product could potentially hurt. What about hiring? What about reaching your company's goals like profitability and market-fit with minimum affect-effort?

Yeah. That. There are people. There are goals for your company. Both these things have nothing to do with the next shiny tech you want to implement. Especially one that will make it harder for you to hire people.

Anyhoo, I could talk about this for days. It's a pro/con balance kind of debate. Though, I am an engineer with strong opinions and flexibility to be proven wrong. Nowadays, I often advise early-stage startups as a fractional CTO.

Fraction CTO? What? FCTO? What's that? Now, this? Yup!

So, an early-stage startup can seldom afford a C-level executive. That's where a fractional CTO comes in. E.g. I work with you for 10 hours a week, help you set up the right architecture for your SaaS, the software development life cycle (SLDC), engineering governance, CI/CD pipelines … … … but but; but most importantly I set you up for success with 1. people 2. company goals.

And part of that is helping you pick the right stack. Most of the time, it's a bet on JavaScript, the web. You get to hire relatively easily. You have the same language for both front-end and back-end — this leads to healthy team coordination. Especially, when your company is small. Let's talk.

So, well my bet is on the web platform. Web for the win.

— A web purist.

Introducing: Deno Beginner Course. Completely FREE

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 15:47:37 +0000

I'm super excited to announce a free crash course on Deno. Sign up to learn about deno, it's differences from Node.js, and let's build three simple projects while at it.

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Deno For Beginners Course

Learn deno by example. In this free crash course, Awais will teach you what is Deno, how is Deno different than Node.js, and together you'll build three simple projects with deno. Not sure why I wrote that in 3rd person. 😆

Caution: Shameless plug ahead! Support my work. ↓

🚀 VSCode.pro Power User Coursre →

📟 Build Node.js CLIs Automation →

Course Contents

✅ ACCESS: All Modules
✅ VIDEOS: Every Course Video
✅ EXAMPLES: Over 3 Example Projects
📺 MODULE #1: Introduction to Deno
📺 MODULE #2: Deno vs Node
📺 MODULE #3: Deno: A fun tip
📺 MODULE #4: Deno Core
📺 MODULE #5: Installing Deno
📺 MODULE #6: Deno CLI Review
📺 MODULE #7: Deno with VSCode
📺 MODULE #8: Deno CLI Help: Run
📺 MODULE #9: Project #1: Hello Deno
📺 MODULE #10: Project #2: Deno cat
📺 MODULE #11: Project #3: Deno Server
📺 MODULE #12: Deno.Land: Tools & Docs
📺 MODULE #13: Deploy a Deno Website
📺 MODULE #14: What's Next with Deno

Free: Sign up & Watch Now →

Free Course: Deno Beginner

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 15:33:23 +0000

I'm super excited to announce a free crash course on Deno. Sign up to learn about deno, it's differences from Node.js, and let's build three simple projects while at it.

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Deno For Beginners Course

Caution: Shameless plug ahead! Support my work. ↓

🚀 VSCode.pro Power User Coursre →

📟 Build Node.js CLIs Automation →

Course Contents

✅ ACCESS: All Modules
✅ VIDEOS: Every Course Video
✅ EXAMPLES: Over 3 Example Projects
📺 MODULE #1: Introduction to Deno
📺 MODULE #2: Deno vs Node
📺 MODULE #3: Deno: A fun tip
📺 MODULE #4: Deno Core
📺 MODULE #5: Installing Deno
📺 MODULE #6: Deno CLI Review
📺 MODULE #7: Deno with VSCode
📺 MODULE #8: Deno CLI Help: Run
📺 MODULE #9: Project #1: Hello Deno
📺 MODULE #10: Project #2: Deno cat
📺 MODULE #11: Project #3: Deno Server
📺 MODULE #12: Deno.Land: Tools & Docs
📺 MODULE #13: Deploy a Deno Website
📺 MODULE #14: What's Next with Deno

Free: Sign up & Watch Now →

Fears of an Indie Maker

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Mon, 04 May 2020 16:50:32 +0000

👋 Hello, it's Awais.

As a full-time open-sourcerer, I'm humbled to share that I've won awards for my open source work and prestigious titles like Google Developers Expert. But as an indie-maker just like any of you, I struggle with many basic things, have all kinds of fear, and haven't figured out life.

In this post, I share what it feels like being an Independent Marker, Full-time Open Sourcerer, and a course author. Especially nowadays, amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

I pre-launched a course NodeCLI.com — this is my first time pre-launching a course with pre-order stuff and all. And honestly, it was super scary to do that.

Takes a lot of guts. The constant fear of failure after taking people's money is not a good thing. As you may know, I launched VSCode.pro before this one, which has done very well. Over 14,192 developers learning power user workflows and switched to VSCode.

I wanted to launch this NodeCLI.com course weeks ago but just kept testing the entire setup, in hindsight I might have been dealing with imposter syndrome, procrastination, and fears of being an indie maker.

So, first of all, I'm happy to check-off that milestone — Woohoo! 🥳🥳🥳

Fears of Indie Makers

As an indie-maker, I wanted to talk about this in a bit more open fashion. As a creator, we struggle with a lot of things. It's about time I share mine. Maybe some of you can relate.

Fear of Failure

What if no one buys what I am building?

When I was working on my VSCode course I was afraid. What if I failed? What if everyone found out, my workflows aren't that great. You know maybe this just me who likes to create multiple cursors and write quickly.

Fear of Success

What if I succeed?

Took about 1.5 years to launch my first course. I wrote about how I created my own course platform. Then when I launched my VSCode course, I had a great first two months; I hit about 900 sales and about USD 75,000 in revenue.

Then it hit me. The fear of success. Why did I succeed and now that I did, am I teaching something wrong. Because believe me, there were hundreds of people who tried to put me down.

I received emails, tweets from grumpy developers someone thought I launched the course they eventually wanted to launch, someone said "it's all available for free", and one person actually reached out to tell me how I'm the worst person on this planet.

I dealt with all of this in my way. I gave away thousands of free subscriptions and to date over USD 100,000 worth of course materials to people who need it. Donated to the Laptops for Developers initiative in Nigeria.

And some times, I felt so down, I just tweeted about it and the Dev community came to rescue. It's all kinds of weird. Creating products, putting yourself out there.

Fear of Pre-launch & Pre-Order

Now that I am creating a new course on helping developers automate their repetitive grunt work with Node.js, I thought instead of waiting for the course to be complete, I should get out of my comfort zone and announce it right away.

But wait. This time it's different. Yes, I have done this before but I never really asked for developers to bet on my work in advance. That's a different animal. So, instead of announcing the course, I started testing it again and again.

Fear's Side-effect: Over-Engineering

Yes, I found a couple of things that should have been fixed but hey it just delayed everything. I thought, not everyone would want to buy the course that's still being recorded. So, I built a way to help people subscribe for free.

That was actually a good idea, now that there are around 678 people subscribed to the list, I know for a fact that people want to learn how to build CLIs.

Fear's Side-effect: Launching Free Stuff

Now that the NodeCLI site was ready. Instead of announcing it, I thought maybe I should build a couple more CLIs first. You know to show everyone that I know what it takes.

I have literally built hundreds of automation projects, most of them are open source. But have I really build a good CLI? I should build something super fancy right. How about graphs in the command line? And table layout with all the statistics of #COVID19 coronavirus disease.

…and that's exactly what I did. I went ahead, built, and released corona-cli. So, far I have spent several hundred hours improving (read as perfecting) the CLI.

Well, yes it has worked wonders. It ranked #2 most trending JavaScript project for about a week. I was listed as the #1 Top JavaScript Developer on GitHub trending and lived to tweet about it.

corona-cli

Free and open-source:

🚀 Get worldwide Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reporting
🤯 Active daily reporting of your country's COVID-19 statistics
🇺🇸 Get US States data for Coronavirus disease reports across the US
🗃️ Data: Country, Cases, Deaths, Recovered, Active, Critical, Per Million
📈 Charts: Plot statistics in the form of line charts both regular and logarithmic
📟 Sort: cases, cases-today, deaths, deaths-today, recovered, active, critical, per-million

In hindsight:

🤯 Over 200 hours of development time
🧐 50 versions released - changelog
😲 1 Billion+ API requests, over a million visitors, hundreds of forks
🤩 14 contributors, 40 closed issues, 25 accepted PRs, 12 open PRs, 20 open issues,
🙈 ONE single human developer, an indie maker managing all of this
💸 Made exactly ZERO x Hundred Thousand Dollars

…let me sum that up for if you missed the point here.

In an effort of releasing a pre-order / pre-launch stage course where developers could buy the course at 60% off and save a bunch of time automating grunt work, learning Node.js — I felt guilty and thought I must prove my worth. That led to the side-effects of over-engineering and launching stuff for free — that's all super helpful to the community, sadly doesn't help pay the bills.

Quiet Announcement

What an oxymoron? That's seriously what I did. I announced my course super quietly there on Twitter in the form of a tweet.

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What I mean by quiet is that I didn't write a blog post about it, I have over 100k subscribers in my newsletter and millions of people visit my blog every year. I've been blogging for about 17 years now. And I'm still hesitant to announce this pre-order stage course to my subscribers due to the mix of all the fears I listed above.

I will eventually get to it. I have been preparing all week to send that email and I think next week is when that will happen. But for now, I felt so out of my skin that I had to write this post. And I also tweeted the following:

Liquid error: internal

I know I am not alone in this. I know many many of you face the same fears as I do. I wanted to document this to share my journey and to share that it's natural. Sometimes it sucks. And also to share with everyone that it takes a lot of work, guts, effort, and mental strength to put yourself out there. Go easy on creators, builders, indie-makers.

If you face the same fears. I bet it would help if we talk about it. Let's discuss that in the comments below. Feel free to share whatever is it that you struggle with as a developer.

And before my imposter syndrome gets the better of me, let me plug: If you ever wanted to build a CLI with Node.js to automate anything you could imagine, then signup at NodeCLI.com — I bet it's going to be worth it. By the end of the course, you'll build tens of automation projects.

This course is for both; absolute beginners (creating a CLI to keep track of the latest TV season episode you watched or finding out when's the next one due) to doing things like typing one word to reboot your WiFi router.

So, far that's all I gotta say. Share your war stories of being an Indie maker, I hope it inspires others to do the same.

How did you get started in tech?

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 13:53:07 +0000

Awais

@mrahmadawais

How did you get started in tech?

13:55 PM - 07 Feb 2020

Would love to continue this amazing discussion from Twitter

Confused Developer: Burger or Pizza?! #EmojiToggle

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:29:56 +0000

When I can't decide what to eat. I eat @CodePen

How to Start Contributing to Open Source at #Hacktoberfest With a Github Pull Request #OneDevMinute

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 19:15:32 +0000

📺 Watch on 1080p at YouTube →

🙌 As a full-time #OpenSourcerer — October is one of my favorite months. And it's October already. Today's #OneDevMinute is about #Hacktoberfest — it's a month-long online event where you signup at GitHub.com and Hacktoberfest to celebrate Open Source by contributing at least four times between Oct 1-31.

✅ Good folks from DigitalOcean, GitHub, and this time the Dev.to team will track your open source contributions, help you stay motivated, and upon four successful GitHub pull-requests — you'll receive swag items like a limited edition T-Shirt, stickers, and maybe a few discount codes.

😇 Open source is for everyone, it's not just code — developers, designers, marketers, and content writers, basically anyone can participate. Improve an open-source project's documentation, refactor code, gift that project a new logo design — just participate and celebrate open source in October.

# Step #0: Create an account on GitHub.com 
# Step #0: Signup at https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/.
# Step #1: Fork any open source GitHub repo.
# Step #2: Clone that repo in your PC. E.g.

git clone https://github.com/AhmadAwais/Hacktoberfest

# Step #3: Make changes and commit/push these changes.

git add .
git commit -m "📦 NEW: Resource for learning Git"
git push

# Step #4: Go to your fork, click open `Pull Request` link and create a PR.

📺 Watch on 1080p at YouTube →
📨 #OneDevMinute Newsletter signup →

Use Emoji-Log

Learn to write good and useful git commit messages using the emoji-log project.

ahmadawais / Emoji-Log

Emoji-Log — An Emoji Git commit log messages spec standard. [ 📦👌🐛📖🚀🤖 ‼️]

EMOJI-LOG

After building hundreds of open source software I've ended up inventing a git commit log standard called EMOJI-LOG that helps me understand a project's history with a less cognitive load just by looking at the git log.

PHILOSOPHY

I like emoji. I like ’em a lot. Programming, code, geeks/nerds, open-source, all of that is inherently dull and sometimes boring. Emoji (which is, in fact, the plural of emoji) helps me add colors and emotions to the mix. Nothing wrong if you want to attach feelings to this 2D flat text-based world of code. I found out that instead of memorizing hundreds of emoji it's better to keep the categories small and general.

IMPERATIVE ↓
- Make your Git commit messages imperative.
- Write a commit message like you're giving an order.
- E.g., Use ✅ Add instead of ❌ Added.
- E.g., Use ✅ Create instead of ❌ Creating.
RULES ↓
- …

View on GitHub

P.S. If you like my work, feel free to share it, like it. I am quite active on twitter you can find me cracking silly tech jokes there, maybe follow me on Twitter to connect and subscribe to my YouTube channel →

P.P.S. I have 100+ FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) GitHub repositories where you can contribute and earn your #Hacktoberfest swag. Check it out →

Peace! ✌️

Liquid error: internal

🗣️ Your comments are more than welcome. Use your code for good.

📟 The New Windows Terminal

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Mon, 06 May 2019 22:00:52 +0000

Originally published at AhmadAwais.com: Windows Terminal

"Developers, developers, developers" is all that Microsoft cares about in 2019. Which is a welcomed change — Microsoft has unveiled Windows Terminal, a new command line app for Windows.

Windows Terminal

You heard that right. It's like Windows forgot to update the terminal app for about two decades and only now realized that the old grandpa terminal gotta go. Microsoft is launching a new command line app for Windows, called the new Windows Terminal.

Features: (new) Windows Terminal

✅ Cross Env: The new Windows Terminal is designed to be an access point for all sorts of different command-line environments since it works with Cmd, PowerShell, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
📑 Multi-tab Support: Yes, multi-tabs is now a reality which is a welcomed feature in any terminal app. Gotta have that.
📟 GPU accelerated DirectWrite/DirectX-based text rendering including CJK ideograms, powerline symbols, icons, programming ligatures, etc. Boy this is awesome.
👌 Emoji Support: Woohoo! Super happy about this.
🎨 Themes & Customizations: The video showcased clearly represents the fact that this new Windows Terminal will be themeable as well as customizable — both fundamentally important features for developers. I look forward to creating a 🦄 Shades of Purple theme for this one.

For more info checkout the Windows Terminal repo or read the announcement post by Kayla, PM for Windows Console. Here are some images of this terminal app for windows.

Over to you!

Microsoft is constantly improving its products for developers. This new windows terminal is supposed to be released in mid-June. A bit late to the party there, folks — but we're all happy for you.

Peace! ✌️

I am now a Google Developers Expert in Web Technologies!

Ahmad Awais ⚡️ — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 13:33:21 +0000

Google has just welcomed me in the Google Developers Experts Program after recognizing my open source work as a web technology expert. As you can imagine, I'm quite happy to have earned this distinction.

Woohooo! 🎉🎉🎉

😇 The Story Goes Like this...

I worked alongside the Google Developer Relations team back in 2017 hacking together a couple of open source projects. Since then I've got the opportunity to hang out with and work alongside some of the finest engineers in the web industry.

Experts Program
A global program to recognize individuals who are experts and thought leaders in one or more Google technologies. These professionals actively contribute and support the developer and startup ecosystems around the world, helping them build and launch highly innovative apps.
Eligibility Criteria

Be a expert in the subject area.

Have the ability to articulate clearly and provide meaningful advice to others.

Display continued activity in the startup and developer ecosystem, by:

Being an influential and recognized speaker at large and small tech conferences.

Creating high quality technical content, including: tutorials, code samples, educational books, blogs posts, and videos.

Mentoring tech entrepreneurs in designing, developing, and distributing their products.

That's basically how I got the invite from a couple of Googlers and ended up going through the Google Developers Experts interview process. You are first referred by a Googler and then vetted through a fair interview process.

🎖 The Badge

I'm a developer advocate for Open Source & JavaScript. You can find me advocating all things F/OSS. Over the years, I've produced 170+ open source projects which are used by millions of developers today.

So, I had a couple of interviews with a web GDE and a Googler — the rest, as they say, is history. You can read more about the process here. As a form of recognition, the Google Developers Experts also get a badge. I got the one for Web Technologies.

🙌 Howdy! If you'd like to know me better, check out my latest 2018 year in review →

🦊 What's Next?

Well, for the most part, it's business as usual. I love the open source and developers are my people. I am going to keep doing what I do as a developer advocate. Building communities and helping developers.

✅ I'm super eager to work alongside the development teams behind Chrome's V8 Engine and the Speed/Perf team that works on making the web more accessible for everyone but especially for the Next Billion Users.

🚀 This GDE programs membership is a blessing in disguise for my work on Progressive Web Apps and the JavaScript SEO issues that I so badly want to address as I work on JAMstack applications with offline support via Service Workers. Has to do with the Mobile First Test using Chrome 42 (I guess).

🤙 I'm going to be releasing seven pretty awesome pieces of open source software (somewhat interconnected) that I've been working on for quite some time now. This is something I am super excited to share.

🗣️ I've several speaking engagements planned throughout the year. With the GDE program, there are going to be a couple more opportunities for me to speak --- especially about web performance with PWAs and JAMstack --- at a few local conferences. Fingers crossed.

If you're planning an event that has to do with developers and you'd like me to talk about the cutting-edge web? Then go ahead, read the Want Me To Talk page and get in touch with me.

Peace! ✌️

Follow Ahmad Awais @MrAhmadAwais on Twitter →