A Mobile Bootcamp by AkiraChix on Android, JAVA ME, Mobile Web & SMS/USSD

The Mobile boot camp by Akirachix in collaboration with the Mombasa Tech Community kicked off at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Mombasa with opening remarks by the leads Mombasa Tech; Said Fuad and Alifiyah Ganijee, who welcomed all the attendees and introduced Madam Fridah Theuri, the Deputy Director Jkuat Mombasa CBD Campus, who in turn introduced the Akirachix team after giving her opening remarks. After introductions were made plus a word of prayer, Ambrose Njeru who is a lecturer at African Nazarene University took us through a brief overview of what was to be covered in all the respective units to be undertaken during the course of the boot camp.

During the three-day event the students were trained on mobile application development in SMS/USSD, Java 2 ME, Android and Mobile Web. The trainers for this boot camp were Ambrose Njeru a lecturer at African Nazarene University, Eric Mutuku a lecturer from Strathmore University, Nelson Bore a freelance mobile and web developer and Edwin Ochieng a lecturer from JKUAT Juja campus.

After the introductions, everyone quickly moved to their respective rooms and the actual sessions kicked off in no time, the traning in all four courses was quite intensive indeed and it served as an eye-opener to many and also motivated and challenged them to learn further.

The Android class was led by Mr.Eric Mutuku a lecturer from Strathmore University who introduced the students to both the fundamentals and technical aspects of android, at the end of the three days, he ended the class with a short and motivational talk highlighting the importance of having patience and passion in whatever one does as well as having a long term plan (career wise)

The Mobile Web class was led by Mr.Edwin Ochieng a lecturer from JKUAT Juja campus who introduced the attendants to the basics of HTML plus the additional tags in HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript as well as jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap, a cross platform native development framework and PhoneGap APIs. At the end of the three day event, the attendants were really challenged to learn more.

The Java ME class was led by Mr.Ambrose Njeru who is a lecturer at African Nazarene University.He started off great with an Introduction to Java, a brief overview of the various control structures, classes, objects and methods used in Java, not forgetting the lesson on arrays and inheritance. On day 2, the instructor took them through the aspects of Exception Handling, Graphical User Interface, Variables declaration and an introduction to J2ME. Finally, on day 3, they were introduced to midlets, mobile web, local applications, SMS based, USSD Applications, the training came to an end with a thirst to learn more from the attendants.

The SMS/USSD class was steered by the lively Mr.Nelson Bore a freelance mobile and web developer who introduced the attendants to the basics of SMS/USSD and gave a brief overview of the history of the application of USSD and SMS in the market, citing modes of application and the role of SMS/USSD in the real life scenario, he also took them through the various SMS gateways and led the attendants through the installation of SMS Enabler. Other than that, he also did a brief overview of PHP and MySQL, the essentials in developing USSD applications. He really motivated the attendants on implementing their final year projects on USSD and SMS and also assured to help them in future.

The mobile bootcamp came to an end with a closing ceremony which saw the attendees receiving certificates after a vote of thanks from the host JKUAT Mombasa Campus through its deputy director madam Fridah Theuri, Mombasa Tech community through its leads Alifiyah Ganijee & Said Fuad and a few remarks by the Akirachix team.

All in all the Mobile bootcamp was an eye openner to many as it boosted the confidence and morale of many of the attendees who were half-hearted developers and was as well as an opportune moment to learn new concepts such as USSD/SMS which has never been taught to many. Many thanks to Mombasa Tech Community and Akirachix for organizing the great work and JKUAT for hosting the event in full support.

Check out Event Photos