Originally published on the Udacity blog by Stuart Frye, VP for Business Development
Sean Medlin is a young man, but he's already experienced a great deal of hardship in his life. He's had to overcome the kinds of obstacles that too often stop people's dreams in their tracks, but he's never given up. Sustained by a lifelong love for computers, an unshakeable vision for his future, and a fierce commitment to learning, Sean has steadfastly pursued his life and career goals. He's done so against the odds, often without knowing whether anything would pan out.
Today, Sean Medlin is a Grow with Google Developer Scholarship recipient, on active duty in the US Air Force, with a Bachelor of Computer Science degree. He's married to a woman he says is "the best in the world" and he's just become a father for the second time. It's been a long journey for a boy who lost his sister to cancer before he'd reached adulthood, and whose official education record listed him as having never made it past the eighth grade.
But Sean keeps finding a way forward.
The experience of getting to know people like Sean is almost too powerful to describe, but experiences like these are at the heart of why the Grow with Google Developer Scholarship is such an impactful initiative for us. It's one thing to read the numbers at a high level, and feel joy and amazement that literally thousands of deserving learners have been able to advance their lives and careers through the scholarship opportunities they've earned. However, it's an entirely different experience to witness the transformative power of opportunity at the individual, human level. One person. Their life. Their dreams. Their challenges, and their successes.
It's our pleasure and our honor to introduce you to Sean Medlin, and to share his story.
You've spoken about your love for computers; when did that begin?
When I was around eight or nine, I inherited a computer from my parents and just started picking it apart and putting it back together. I fell in love with it and knew it was something I wanted to pursue as a career. By the time I reached the seventh grade I decided on a computer science degree, and knew I was already on the path to it—I was top of math and science in my class at that point.
And then things changed for your family. What happened?
My sister, who was just a year old at the time, was diagnosed with cancer; stage four. For the next several years, she fought it, and at one point beat it; but unfortunately, it came back. When she relapsed, she started receiving treatments at a research hospital about eight hours from where we lived. Because of this, our family was constantly separated. My brothers and I usually stayed at family and friend's houses. Eventually, my parents pulled us out of school so we could travel with them. We stayed at hotels or the Ronald McDonald house, really wherever we could find a place to stay. We eventually moved to Memphis, where the hospital is located. During all of this, I was homeschooled, but I really didn't learn a whole lot, given the circumstances. When my sister passed away, our family went through a terrible time. I personally took it hard and became lackadaisical. Eventually, I decided that regardless of what wrenches life was throwing me, I would not give up on my dream.
So you were still determined to further your education; what did you do?
Well, in what was my senior year, I decided to start thinking about college. I started googling, and the first thing I discovered is that I needed a high school diploma. So I found my way to the education boards in Oklahoma. I learned that I was never properly registered as a homeschool student. So my record shows that I dropped out of school my eighth grade year. I was pretty devastated. My only option was to go and get my GED*, so that's what I did.
Computer science was still your passion; were you able to start pursuing it after earning your GED?
Well, I had to take a lot of prerequisites before I could even start a computer science degree. I mean, a lot! Which was frustrating, because it took more money than I had. I tried applying for financial aid, but I wasn't able to get very much. I looked like an eighth grade dropout with a GED. That's all anyone saw.
So you found another way to pay for your schooling; what was that?
I decided to join the United States Air Force. I couldn't pay for my own education anymore, and the Air Force was offering tuition assistance. That was the best option I had. I have no military history in my family, and at first my friends and family were against the idea, worried I'd be overseas too much. But I was determined I was going to finish school and get my computer science degree and work in this field.
It sounds like the work you started doing in the Air Force wasn't really related to your desired career path, but you were still able to continue your education?
That's right. The career path I joined was supposedly tech-related, but it wasn't. I enlisted as a munition systems technology troop, or in other words, an ammo troop. It wasn't really in line with my goals, but the tuition assistance made it possible for me to keep studying computer science online. There was a tuition assistance cap though, and between that, and how much my supervisors were willing to approve, I was only able to take two classes per semester. But I kept plugging away, even using my own money to pay for some of it. It took me eight years while working in the Air Force, but I completed my computer science degree last March. I finished with a 3.98 GPA and Summa Cum Laude, the highest distinction!
That's an outstanding accomplishment, congratulations! Did you feel ready to enter the field and start working at that point?
Not at all! I definitely learned that I wasn't prepared for the programming world based just off my bachelor's degree. It taught me all the fundamentals, which was great. I learned the theory, and how to program, but I didn't really learn how to apply what I'd learned to real-world situations.
You'd had a great deal of experience with online learning by that point; is that where you went looking to determine your next steps?
Yes! I tried everything. I did some free web development boot camps. I discovered Udemy, and tried a bunch of their courses, trying to learn different languages. Then I found Udacity. I started off with free courses. I really fell in love with Java, and that's what initially brought me to Udacity's Android courses. The satisfaction of making an app, it just pulled me in. It was something I could show my wife, and my friends. I knew it was what I wanted to pursue.
And then you heard about the Google Scholarship?
Well, I was actually working out how I was going to pay for a Nanodegree program myself when the scholarship opportunity emerged. I applied, and was selected for the challenge course. I knew when I got selected, that I only had three months, and that they were going to pick the top 10 percent of the students, after those three months were up, to get the full scholarship. My son was only about a year old then, and my wife became pregnant again right when I found out about the scholarship. I told her, "I'm going to knock this course out as fast as possible. But I need you to help me buckle down." She took care of my son as much as possible, and I finished the challenge course in about two weeks. I was determined. I wanted to show I could do it. Afterwards, I became one of the student mentors and leaders, and constantly stayed active in the channels and forums. I just did as much as I could to prove my worth.
Those efforts paid off, and you landed a full Google Scholarship for the Android Basics Nanodegree program. And now you have some good news to share, is that right? Yes, I successfully completed the Android Basics Nanodegree program on July 29th!
How are you approaching your career goals differently now?
Well, completing the projects in my Nanodegree program really improved my confidence and performance in technical interviews. When I first graduated with my bachelor's degree, I applied for a few jobs and went through a couple technical interviews. I felt completely lost, and became nervous about doing them going forward. Once I completed the Nanodegree program, I went through another technical interview and felt so prepared. I knew every answer, and I knew exactly what I was talking about.
As it turns out, you've actually earned new opportunities within the Air Force. Can you tell us about that?
The base I'm at is considered an IT hub for the Air Force, and the Air Force recently decided to start building mobile apps organically, utilizing our service members. Soon after this was decided, senior leadership began searching for the best and brightest programmers to fill this team. I was not only recommended, but they looked over my projects from the Nanodegree program, and deemed I was one of the most qualified! Normally, opportunities like this are strictly prohibited to anyone outside the requested Air Force specialty code, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. That restriction didn't stop senior leadership. As of right now, I'm part of the mobile app team, and the only ammo troop developing mobile apps for the Air Force, in the entire world!
So what does the future hold for you next?
I feel like the last 15 years of my life have been leading up to where I'm at now. I want to pursue a job as a software developer—an Android developer, in Silicon Valley! Ever since I was a kid, I've had the dream of being a developer at Blizzard. I was a huge World of Warcraft nerd during my homeschooled years. However, I'm okay if I fall a little short of that. I really just want to be surrounded by other programmers. I want to learn from them. It's what I've always wanted. To become a programmer. The idea of leaving the military is really scary though. The thought of not being able to get a job … it's scary, it's a lot of different emotions. But my aspiration is to become a full-time software developer for a big tech company, in a nice big city.
How does your wife feel about all of this?
My wife is the best woman in the world. She wants to follow me wherever the wind takes us. She's very proud of me, and I'm very proud of her too. She does a lot. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her. That's for sure.
I think I speak for everyone at Udacity when I say that no one here has any doubt you'll achieve whatever you set out to achieve!
It's often said that hindsight is 20/20, and in hindsight, it's tempting to say we helped create the Grow with Google Developer Scholarship just for people like Sean. To say that, however, would be doing a disservice to him. His journey, and his accomplishments, are unique. The truth is, we didn't know who we'd meet when we launched this initiative. Yet here we are today, celebrating all that Sean has accomplished!
To have played a role in his story is an honor we couldn't have predicted, but it's one we'll treasure always.
Sean, congratulations on your success in the scholarship program, and for everything you've achieved. Whether you elect to stay in the military, or make your way to California with your family, we know you'll continue to do great things!
Grow with Google is a new initiative to help people get the skills they need to find a job. Udacity is excited to partner with Google on this powerful effort, and to offer the Developer Scholarship program.
Grow with Google Developer scholars come from different backgrounds, live in different cities, and are pursuing different goals in the midst of different circumstances, but they are united by their efforts to advance their lives and careers through hard work, and a commitment to self-empowerment through learning. We're honored to support their efforts, and to share the stories of scholars like Sean.
Posted by Andy Wen, Group Product Manager
Google API platforms have a long history of enabling a vibrant and secure third-party app ecosystem for developers—from the original launch of OAuth which helped users safeguard passwords, to providing fine-grained data-sharing controls for APIs, to launching controls to help G Suite admins manage app access in the workplace.
In 2018, we launched Gmail Add-ons, a new way for developers to integrate their apps into Gmail across platforms. Gmail Add-ons also offer a stronger security model for users because email data is only shared with the developer when a user takes action.
We've continually strengthened these controls and policies over the years based on user feedback. While the controls that are in place give people peace-of-mind and have worked well, today, we're introducing even stronger controls and policies to give our users the confidence they need to keep their data safe.
To provide additional assurances for users, today we are announcing new policies, focused on Gmail APIs, which will go into effect January 15, 2019. We are publishing these changes in advance to provide time for developers who may need to adjust their apps or policies to comply.
Of course, we encourage developers to migrate to Add-ons where possible as their preferred platform for the best privacy and security for users (developers also get the added bonus of listing their apps in the G Suite Marketplace to reach five million G Suite businesses). Let's review the policy updates:
To better ensure that user expectations align with developer uses, the following policies will apply to apps accessing user data from consumer Google accounts (Note: as always, G Suite admins have the ability to control access to their users' applications. Read more.).
Appropriate Access: Only permitted Application Types may access these APIs.
Users typically directly interact with their email through email clients and productivity tools. Users allowing applications to access their email without their regular direct interaction (for example, services that provide reporting or monitoring to users) will be provided with additional warnings and we will require them to regrant access at regular intervals.
How Data May Not Be Used: 3rd-party apps accessing these APIs must use the data to provide user-facing features and may not transfer or sell the data for other purposes such as targeting ads, market research, email campaign tracking, and other unrelated purposes. (Note: Gmail users' email content is not used for ads personalization.)
As an example, consolidating data from a user's email for their direct benefit, such as expense tracking, is a permitted use case. Consolidating the expense data for market research that benefits a third party is not permitted.
We have also clarified that human review of email data must be strictly limited.
How Data Must Be Secured: It is critical that 3rd-party apps handling Gmail data meet minimum security standards to minimize the risk of data breach. Apps will be asked to demonstrate secure data handling with assessments that include: application penetration testing, external network penetration testing, account deletion verification, reviews of incident response plans, vulnerability disclosure programs, and information security policies.
Applications that only store user data on end-user devices will not need to complete the full assessment but will need to be verified as non-malicious software. More information about the assessment will be posted here in January 2019. Existing Applications (as of this publication date) will have until the end of 2019 to complete the assessment.
Accessing Only Information You Need: During application review, we will be tightening compliance with our existing policy on limiting API access to only the information necessary to implement your application. For example, if your app does not need full or read access and only requires send capability, we require you to request narrower scopes so the app can only access data needed for its features.
Additional developer help documentation will be posted in November 2018 so that developers can assess the impact to their app and begin planning for any necessary changes.
All apps accessing the restricted scopes will be required to submit an application review starting on January 15, 2019. If a review is not submitted by February 15, 2019, then new grants from Google consumer accounts will be disabled after February 22, 2019 and any existing grants will be revoked after March 31, 2019.
Application reviews will be submitted from the Google API Console. To ensure related communication is received, we encourage developers to update project roles (learn more) so that email addresses or an email group is up-to-date.
For more details about the restricted scope app verification, please visit this FAQ.
Posted by Adam Dawes, Senior Product Manager
Google offers a wide variety of APIs that third-party app developers can use to build features for Google users. Granting access to this data is an important decision. Going forward, consumers will get more fine-grained control over what account data they choose to share with each app
Over the next few months, we'll start rolling out an improvement to our API infrastructure. We will show each permission that an app requests one at a time, within its own dialog, instead of presenting all permissions in a single dialog*. Users will have the ability to grant or deny permissions individually.
To prepare for this change, there are a number of actions you should take with your app:
An example of contextual permission gathering
These changes will begin to roll out to new clients starting this month and will get extended to existing clients at the beginning of 2019. Google continues to invest heavily in our developer tools and platforms. Together with the changes we made last year, we expect this improvement will help increase transparency and trust in our app ecosystem.
We look forward to working with you through this change. If you have feedback, please comment below. Or, if you have any technical questions, please post them on stackoverflow under the google-oauth tag.
*our different login scopes (profile, email, and openid are all combined in the same consent and don't need to be requested separately.
profile
email
openid
Posted by Erica Hanson, Developer Communities Program Manager
Our GDG community is very excited as they aim to connect with 100,000 developers at 500 DevFests around the world to learn, share and build new things.
Most recently, GDG Nairobi hosted the largest developer festival in Kenya. On September 22nd, DevFest Nairobi engaged 1,200+ developers, from 26+ African countries, with 37% women in attendance! They had 44 sessions, 4 tracks and 11 codelabs facilitated by 5 GDEs (Google Developer Experts) among other notable speakers. The energy was so great, #DevFestNairobi was trending on Twitter that day!
GDG Tokyo held their third annual DevFest this year on September 1st, engaging with over 1,000 developers! GDG Tokyo hosted 42 sessions, 6 tracks and 35 codelabs by partnering with 14 communities specializing in technology including 3 women-led communities (DroidGirls, GTUG Girls, and XR Jyoshibu).
Our community is interested in hearing about what you learned at DevFest. Use #DevFestStories and #DevFest18 on social media. We would love to re-share some of your stories here on the Google Developers blog and Twitter! Check out a few great examples below.
Learn more about DevFest 2018 here and find a DevFest event near you here.
GDGs are local groups of developers interested in Google products and APIs. Each GDG group can host a variety of technical activities for developers - from just a few people getting together to watch the latest Google Developers videos, to large gatherings with demos, tech talks, or hackathons. Learn more about GDG here.
Follow us on Twitter and YouTube.
Posted by Mikhail Turilin, Product Manager, Actions on Google
Building engaging Actions for the Google Assistant is just the first step in your journey for delivering a great experience for your users. We also understand how important it is for many of you to get compensated for your hard work by enabling quick, hands-free transactional experiences through the Google Assistant.
Let's take a look at some of the best practices you should consider when adding transactions to your Actions!
Traditional account linking requires the user to open a web browser and manually log in to a merchant's website. This can lead to higher abandonment rates for a couple of reasons:
Our new Google Sign-In for the Assistant flow solves this problem. By implementing this authentication flow, your users will only need to tap twice on the screen to link their accounts or create a new account on your website. Connecting individual user profiles to your Actions gives you an opportunity to personalize your customer experience based on your existing relationship with a user.
And if you already have a loyalty program in place, users can accrue points and access discounts with account linking with OAuth and Google Sign-In.
Head over to our step-by-step guide to learn how to incorporate Google Sign-In.
Most people prefer to use the Google Assistant quickly, whether they're at home and or on the go. So if you're a merchant, you should look for opportunities to simplify the ordering process.
Choosing a product from a list of many dozens of items takes a really long time. That's why many consumers enjoy the ability to quickly reorder items when shopping online. Implementing reordering with Google Assistant provides an opportunity to solve both problems at the same time.
Reordering is based on the history to previous purchases. You will need to implement account linking to identify returning users. Once the account is linked, connect the order history on your backend and present the choices to the user.
Just Eat, an online food ordering and delivery service in the UK, focuses on reordering as one of their core flows because they expect their customers to use the Google Assistant to reorder their favorite meals.
Once a user has decided they're ready to make a purchase, it's important to provide a quick checkout experience. To help, we've expanded payment options for transactions to include Google Pay, a fast, simple way to pay online, in stores, and in the Google Assistant.
Google Pay reduces customer friction during checkout because it's already connected to users' Google accounts. Users don't need to go back and forth between the Google Assistant and your website to add a payment method. Instead, users can share the payment method that they have on file with Google Pay.
Best of all, it's simple to integrate – just follow the instructions in our transactions docs.
At I/O, we announced that voice-only transactions for Google Home are now supported in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan. A completely hands-free experience will give users more ways to complete transactions with your Actions.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when designing your transactions for voice-only surfaces:
Learn more tips in our Conversation Design Guidelines.
As we expand support for transactions in new countries and on new Google Assistant surfaces, now is the perfect time to make sure your transactional experiences are designed with users in mind so you can increase conversion and minimize drop-off.
Posted by Tarun Jain, Group PM, Actions on Google
The Google Assistant helps you get things done across the devices you have at your side throughout your day--a bedside smart speaker, your mobile device while on the go, or even your kitchen Smart Display when winding down in the evening.
One of the common questions we get from developers is: how do I create a seamless path for users to complete purchases across all these types of devices? We also get asked by developers: how can I better personalize my experience for users on the Assistant with privacy in mind?
Today, we're making these easier for developers with support for digital goods and subscriptions, and Google Sign-in for the Assistant. We're also giving the Google Assistant a complete makeover on mobile phones, enabling developers to create even more visually rich integrations.
While we've offered transactions for physical goods for some time, starting today, you will also be able to offer digital goods, including one time purchases like upgrades--expansion packs or new levels, for example--and even recurring subscriptions directly within your Action.
Starting today, users can complete these transactions while in conversation with your Action through speakers, phones, and Smart Displays.This will be supported in the U.S. to start, with more locales coming soon.
Headspace, for example, now offers Android users an option to subscribe to their plans, meaning users can purchase a subscription and immediately see an upgraded experience while talking to their Action. Try it for yourself, by telling your Google Assistant, "meditate with Headspace"
Volley added digital goods to their role-playing game Castle Master so users could enhance their experience by purchasing upgrades. Try it yourself, by asking your Google Assistant to, "play Castle Master."
You can also ensure a seamless premium experience as users move between your Android app and Action for Assistant by letting users access their digital goods across their relationship with you, regardless of where the purchase originated. You can manage your digital goods for both your app and your Action in one place, in the Play Console.
Once your users have access to a premium experience with digital goods, you will want to make sure your Action remembers them. To help with that, we're also introducing Google Sign-In for the Assistant, a secure authentication method that simplifies account linking for your users and reduces user drop off for login. Google Sign-In provides the most convenient way to log in, with just a few taps. With Google Sign-In users can even just use their voice to login and link accounts on smart speakers with the Assistant.
In the past, account linking could be a frustrating experience for your users; having to manually type a username and password--or worse, create a new account--breaks the natural conversational flow. With Google Sign-In, users can now create a new account with just a tap or confirmation through their voice. Most users can even link to their existing accounts with your service using their verified email address.
For developers, Google Sign-In also makes it easier to support login and personalize your Action for users. Previously, developers needed to build an account system and support OAuth-based account linking in order to personalize their Action. Now, you have the option to use Google Sign-In to support login for any user with a Google account.
Starbucks added Google Sign-In for the Assistant to enable users of their Action to access their Starbucks RewardsTM accounts and earn stars for their purchases. Since adding Google Sign-In for the Assistant, they've seen login conversion nearly double for their users versus their previous implementation that required manual account entry.
Check out our guide on the different authentication options available to you, to understand which best meets your needs.
Today, we're launching the first major makeover for the Google Assistant on phones, bringing a richer, more interactive interface to the devices we carry with us throughout the day.
Since the Google Assistant made its debut, we've noticed that nearly half of all interactions with the Assistant today include both voice and touch. With this redesign, we're making the Assistant more visually assistive for users, combining voice with touch in a way that gives users the right controls in the right situations.
For developers, we've also made it easy to bring great multimodal experiences to life on the phone and other Assistant-enabled devices with screens, including Smart Displays. This presents a new opportunity to express your brand through richer visuals and with greater real estate in your Action.
To get started, you can now add rich responses to customize your Action for visual interfaces. With rich responses you can build visually engaging Actions for your users with a set of plug-and-play visual components for different types of content. If you've already added rich responses to your Action, these will work automatically on the new mobile redesign. Be sure to also check out our guidance on how and when to use visuals in your Action.
Below you can find some examples of the ways some partners and developers have already started to make use of rich responses to provide more visually interactive experiences for Assistant users on phones.
You can try these yourself by asking your Google Assistant to, "order my usual from Starbucks," "ask H&M Home to give inspiration for my kitchen," "ask Fitstar to workout," or "ask Food Network for chicken recipes."
Ready to get building? Check out our documentation on how to add digital goods and Google Sign-In for Assistant to create premium and personalized experiences for your users across devices.
To improve your visual experience for phone users, check out our conversation design site, our documentation on different surfaces, and our documentation and sample on how you can use rich responses to build with visual components. You can also test and debug your different types of voice, visual, and multimodal experiences in the Actions simulator.
Good luck building, and please continue to share your ideas and feedback with us. Don't forget that once you publish your first Action you can join our community program* and receive your exclusive Google Assistant t-shirt and up to $200 of monthly Google Cloud credit.
Posted by Ben Fried, VP, CIO, & Chief Domains Enthusiast
Update: .page is now open for general registration! Find participating registrar partners at get.page.
Today we're announcing .page, the newest top-level domain (TLD) from Google Registry.
A TLD is the last part of a domain name, like .com in "google.com" or .google in "blog.google". The .page TLD is a new opportunity for anyone to build an online presence. Whether you're writing a blog, getting your business online, or promoting your latest project, .page makes it simple and more secure to get the word out about the unique things you do.
Check out 10 interesting things some people and businesses are already doing on .page:
Security is a top priority for Google Registry's domains. To help keep your information safe, all .page websites require an SSL certificate, which helps keep connections to your domain secure and helps protect against things like ad malware and tracking injections. Both .page and .app, which we launched in May, will help move the web to an HTTPS-everywhere future.
.page domains are available now through the Early Access Program. For an extra fee, you'll have the chance to get the perfect .page domain name from participating registrar partners before standard registrations become available on October 9th. For more details about registering your domain, check out get.page. We're looking forward to seeing what you'll build on .page!
