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The DUT AppFactory Developer Conference 2023
In November of last year, a diverse panel of experts gathered to deliver an enlightening presentation on the future of technology and its impact on society. The presentation featured speakers from various fields including technology, sociology, and ethics.
Each speaker brought a unique perspective to the table, creating a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion for the audience. The Conference on Emerging Technologies, Industry Trends, Mentorship, and Career Development provided a dynamic platform for industry experts, mentors, and emerging talents to explore the latest trends, share insights, and chart paths for career development.
The presenters provided compelling case studies and real-world examples to support their arguments, providing the audience with a well-rounded understanding of the subject matter. The presentation also emphasized the importance of ethics in technology development and usage, stressing the need for responsible innovation.
Some of the key focus areas were:
Emerging Technologies:
The conference delved into cutting-edge technologies such as AI, IoT, blockchain, and more, exploring how these innovations are reshaping industries and driving transformation.
Industry Trends:
Attendees gained valuable insights into current and future industry trends. The sessions provided a deep understanding of how businesses are adapting to evolving landscapes and finding opportunities for growth.
Mentorship:
The power of mentorship in career development was explored, with experienced professionals sharing their journeys, challenges, and successes. The conference emphasized how mentorship can accelerate one's career journey.
Career Development:
Sessions offered practical guidance for individuals at various career stages, including skill development, networking strategies, and achieving career goals.
The conference commenced with an introduction and welcome by Mr. Goolam Rasool, DUT Intern and Chair of the Conference, setting the stage for a day filled with engaging discussions, informative sessions, and networking opportunities.
The conference featured a lineup of distinguished speakers who shared their expertise on various topics:
Dr. Abuobayda Shabat - Coding Tomorrow: Shaping the Future of Software Development:
Abubayda Shabat reflects on his nearly six years as a lecturer at Durban University of Technology (DUT), expressing admiration for the institution's passion for technology and innovation. He commends DUT's initiatives, particularly in training students and staff. After shaping young minds at DUT, Dr Shabat transitioned into the practical world of problem-solving, currently serving as the CEO of Risk Insights and head of the data science lab. He discusses his team's focus on leveraging technologies and data to address challenges in the business world, specifically in the context of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
Dr Shabat outlines the evolution of software development, emphasizing advancements in hardware and the transition from low-level languages to high-level languages like Python and Java. He highlights the significance of object-oriented programming, which organizes code into capsules for better reuse and organization. Dr Shabat underscores the transformative impact of AI and machine learning on programming, citing examples such as email spam detection and self-driving cars. He notes the role of AI as a helpful toolbox for software developers, citing tools like GitHub Copilot for code generation and the importance of AI in testing and debugging.
Mr. Rory Preddy - AI, Accessibility, and 1.6 Billion People:
Mr Preddy, Principal Cloud Advocate at Microsoft South Africa, explored the intersection of AI and accessibility, emphasizing the impact on a global scale.
Rory, expresses high energy and excitement about his talk on accessibility and AI. He emphasizes the importance of using technology, particularly AI, to enhance accessibility for everyone. Rory discusses the potential of AI to solve problems, improve human potential, and increase revenue.
He mentions the complexity of website accessibility issues and the need for AI solutions to fix them. Rory introduces an AI tool, Chat GPT, as a means to automate accessibility testing and generate test reports.
He highlights the significance of responsible AI and Microsoft's commitment to accessibility. He then concludes with a demonstration of how AI can be utilized to improve accessibility in the digital world.
Mr. Allan Pead - Integrating Azure Open AI into Your .NET Applications:
Allan Pead introduces himself as a developer running a Dev company focused on applications in the Microsoft stacks, particularly in the Internet of Things and developer technologies. He invites questions about technology and his work. Allan discusses Azure Open AI, emphasizing its capabilities in natural language processing and its application in various tasks such as code generation and question answering. He showcases the Azure Open AI Studio and its features, demonstrating how to interact with models and customize their behavior, even exporting code for C projects. Alan explains the SDK support for different languages, SDK integration for .NET, and how to connect to Azure Open AI services using the .NET client. He highlights the importance of content filtering to prevent harmful outputs and mentions the metrics tracking, specifically the token usage. Alan concludes with a discussion on streaming completions, providing code examples for setting up a chat completion streaming asynchronously.
Building BLE-enabled Mobile Experiences using .NET MAUI and Nano Framework:
Allan Pead's second session focuses on creating mobile apps and connecting to devices using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). He discusses the importance of BLE, which is a wireless communication protocol designed for short-range communication, consuming very little power. BLE is especially useful for wearables, beacons, and nearby devices. Allan explains the basic workflow of BLE, including scanning for devices, connecting to devices, and interacting with services, characteristics, and descriptors.
He emphasizes the significance of Bluetooth in various applications, such as heart rate monitors and smart toys. Allan introduces MAUI (Multi-platform App UI), a cross-platform framework for building mobile apps that can run on Android, iOS, and Windows. MAUI allows developers to use C# and .NET to create applications with a shared UI across multiple platforms.
Additionally, Allan discusses the integration of BLE in MAUI through a plugin, making it easy to incorporate BLE functionality into mobile apps. He demonstrates how to use MAUI for building a mobile app that interacts with a BLE-enabled toy, controlling its LED colors through code. The session covers the permissions required for BLE in iOS and Android and highlights the importance of filtering devices during the scanning process.
The session concludes with a hands-on example using a toy robot that receives and processes commands through BLE, showcasing the practical implementation of BLE in mobile applications.
Mr. Swarup K Bagul - Charting a Path to a Future in UX and Design: A Visionary Perspective:
Swarup, co-founder and director of design at Prismic Reflections India, shares his background as a self-taught designer with 20+ years of experience. He discusses Prismic Reflections' work in idealizing, building, and maintaining digital products for diverse clients globally. He is also passionate about theater, holds a degree in Performing Arts, and is a spiritual seeker. In his session, Swarup covers the reasons to choose a career in design, career options in the design industry, the role of AI, and the importance of soft skills. He emphasizes the growth of the design service industry and the opportunities and benefits for individuals pursuing a career in design. Swarup highlights the essential role of designers in shaping various industries, their involvement in cutting-edge technologies, and the potential for freelancing and entrepreneurship. He concludes by discussing the positive social impact and collaborative nature of design projects.
In the second part of his session, Swarup explores various career options in the design industry, including graphic design, user experience design, user interface design, product design, and industrial design. He provides insights into each stream, discussing their focus areas, industry demand, and potential career paths. Swarup emphasizes the dynamic and rewarding nature of a career in design, aligning well with the interests of today's students and offering meaningful work across diverse industries.
Ms. Nafeesa Alibedi - Navigating the Future: Key Trends Shaping the Landscape of Data Science and Technology:
Nafeesa Alibedi introduces herself as a data scientist, data analyst, and technology entrepreneur. She is the founder of Creative Tech Solutions, a startup focusing on the intersection of data science and software development, particularly in educational boot camps for coding and robotics. Nafeesa emphasizes the importance of upskilling through technology to address gaps in student unemployment. She explains that data science is a multidisciplinary field using scientific methods, algorithms, and structured/unstructured data to improve overall business performance.
Nafeesa mentions the significance of soft skills, communication, problem-solving, and statistics in data science. She highlights Python as a crucial language for data science, emphasizing its wide range of applications, including AI and machine learning. Nafeesa advises aspiring data scientists to build a portfolio of projects to break into the industry and stresses the importance of continuous learning. She acknowledges the challenges of entering the field but assures that the actual work is rewarding.
Dr. Progress Mtshali - Revolutionizing Health Management: Harnessing Smart Devices for Holistic Well-being:
The speaker, Dr. Progress Mtshali, discussed trends in emerging technologies, particularly in the healthcare environment. He focuses on wearable devices, specifically continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and watches capable of monitoring health indicators. Dr. Mtshali highlights the potential of these technologies in providing real-time health information, mentioning examples like the Freestyle Libre sensor and a Samsung Galaxy watch.
He emphasizes the impact of such devices on healthcare, especially in South Africa, where limited resources in hospitals could benefit from remote monitoring. Dr. Mtshali shares his experience with CGM, explaining how it helps manage diabetes by providing continuous blood sugar readings, eliminating the need for frequent finger pricking. He also discusses the programmability of these devices and suggests the possibility of utilizing AI models for analyzing collected health data in the cloud.
In addition, he touches on the challenges of accessing these technologies, including regulatory issues and the cost factor. Dr. Mtshali concludes by stressing the significance of these innovations in managing health conditions and improving overall healthcare, especially in regions facing financial constraints.
Ms. Charmaine S Dube - Nurturing Success: The Power of Mentorship and Social Career Development:
Ms. Charmaine Dube discusses her journey as a professional and entrepreneur, emphasizing her transition from a conventional career to a more technical one. She shares her experiences with mentorship programs and the limitations they pose, pointing out the challenges of standing out in a competitive job market. Using a product differentiation analogy from the business world, she highlights the need for individuals to distinguish themselves in a crowded field, even without formal mentorship programs. Ms. Dube aims to provide insights and techniques that propelled her career despite the absence of traditional mentorship opportunities.
Mr. Someleze Diko - Amplifying Business Efficiency: Harnessing AI Builder in Power Platform:
In this presentation, Mr Someleze introduces the audience to the concept of harnessing AI Builder in the Power Platform to amplify business efficiency. Mr Someleze Diko, a Cloud Advocate at Microsoft, provides an overview of Azure AI services and how they integrate with the Power Platform. They highlight the Azure OpenAI service, explaining that it is part of Azure AI, offering various models like GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 for text and image generation.
The presentation emphasizes the practical use cases of Azure OpenAI, such as content generation for social media, code generation for developers, data extraction for claim handling, and summarization for financial reporting. Mr Diko also introduces the idea of "prompt engineering," where users prompt AI models like GPT to generate specific responses.
The key scenarios presented include content generation, code generation, data extraction, semantic search, and summarization. Mr Diko encourages the audience to consider prompt engineering as a valuable skill, illustrating the concept with an analogy involving a librarian responding to book requests based on specific prompts. The presentation aims to show how Azure OpenAI can be a powerful tool in addressing various business needs.
Mr. Nazir Jooman - Elevating Software Development: The Art of Clean Code and its Synergy with .NET Core:
Mr. Nazir Jooman, a software architect at Dariel Solutions, presents on the importance of clean code in software engineering. With over 20 years of experience, he emphasizes the significance of clean, elegant, and efficient code, following principles such as SOLID, design patterns, and software methodologies.
The presentation covers various aspects of clean code, including naming conventions, consistency, and the "keep it simple stupid" (KISS) principle. Mr. Jooman discusses the importance of explicit code, minimal comments, and consistent formatting. He highlights the need for small, simple functions, avoiding code repetition, and the command-query separation principle.
The speaker touches on practices such as keeping comments minimal, focusing on expressive code, and maintaining consistent formatting. He emphasizes the importance of explicit and intentional code, discouraging unnecessary comments and ensuring meaningful exception handling.
Overall, Mr. Jooman provides insights into the practices and principles that contribute to clean and maintainable code, promoting a disciplined approach to software development.
Ms. Amira Bedhiafi - Elevating Your Career: How Free Mentorship and Online Communities Transformed My Business Intelligence Journey:
Ms. Amira Bedihafi's presentation provides insight into her journey in the IT field, particularly in business intelligence. She shares that her entry into IT was somewhat accidental but was influenced by a teacher who convinced her to explore the field during university. She emphasizes that success is a personal journey and highlights the role of mentorship, online communities, and free learning in transforming her business intelligence journey.
Amira describes her experience on platforms like Stack Overflow, where she initially sought advice on tools like PowerBI and SQL. Over time, she transitioned from being a learner to a contributor, sharing her experiences and building her personal brand on LinkedIn. She joined communities like the PowerBI community and engaged in mentorship, emphasizing the importance of giving back.
Furthermore, she discusses her involvement in the Microsoft community champion program for Asia and the value of mentorship sessions. Amira underscores the win-win nature of mentorship, with benefits including access to expertise, real-time problem-solving, and networking opportunities. She concludes by highlighting her achievements, including connections made on Stack Overflow and collaborative projects through her expanded professional network.
Key Takeaways:
- The November presentation left attendees with a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Some key takeaways include:
- The diverse range of speakers highlighted the interconnections of various fields, emphasizing the need for cross-disciplinary collaboration and a holistic approach to problem-solving.
- Each speaker empowered the audience with knowledge and practical insights, encouraging them to take proactive steps towards personal and professional growth.
- The event fostered a sense of community among attendees, sparking conversations and collaborations that extended beyond the confines of the presentation venue.
The 2023 conference was a remarkable showcase of diverse perspectives and thought leadership. The speakers' insights resonated with the audience, leaving a lasting impact and inspiring positive change. As we reflect on the valuable lessons learned, we eagerly anticipate future presentations that will continue to enrich our understanding of the world and propel us towards a brighter future.