Becoming India's 101st GDE!

Shubham Londhe — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:23:51 +0000

Drumrolls please 🥁 This is my first ever blog here, and I have a good reason to write it. I just became India's 101st Google Developer Expert 🎉

Wait, what's so special about that number?

At the time of writing this blog, there are 1244 GDEs worldwide, and 101 in India 🇮🇳. That number means a lot to me. It means I can finally contribute to Google's developer ecosystem, and help more learners along the way.

So how did I get in?

It all started back in 2020 when I first posted on my YouTube channel. Since then I've published over 900 videos publicly (I haven't even counted the private ones or the live streams), clocking over 15 million views. That's one of the reasons I felt eligible to apply for this program in the first place.

Here's something I learned along the way: your efforts to empower developers don't go unnoticed by the Google Developer Relations team. Doesn't matter if it's talks on stage, blogs, videos, product reviews, or whatever else you enjoy doing for the community. It all counts. In fact, it helps to get referred by a Google employee or an existing GDE.

My friends Jay Thakkar and Saurabh Mishra played a huge role in helping me get recognized by Google. But no, this isn't a "make your friend a GDE" story. I went through a proper screening process, where I had to list my top contributions in Google technologies. My prior work, things like Kubernetes In One Shot, Google Cloud tutorials, Gemini API projects, and DevFest talks, helped me get through that screening.

Then came the product interview with a Googler. And trust me, this was a real Google interview. Google Cloud Run, Google Kubernetes Engine, my thoughts, my behavioral traits, everything got covered in an hour-long conversation.

On my first day as a GDE, I got to visit Google Cloud I/O Connect Bengaluru 🎉 in person, and even record a podcast in a real studio!

I got to Interview Pratik Kale, A software Engineer and a GDG organizer, we enjoyed our discussions on AI Studio, Gemini Models and AI Workflows.

Did I tell you how Lucky I was, the next day I also got to visit Google India's office in Bengaluru, "Ananta," and it was a dream come true. It was my First GDE India Summit. Wow.

Thanks to @thedroidlady for a quick podcast at the Google office, where we discussed her journey and the impact of AI on developer communities. Watch it here.

Overall, I'm loving this journey, and it's just Day 1 😉

More to come as I keep writing my thoughts here. Hope you liked the blog, stay tuned.

Happy Learning
TrainWithShubham

DEV Community: Shubham Londhe

Becoming India's 101st GDE!