Developer Journey is a monthly series highlighting diverse and global developers sharing relatable challenges, opportunities, and wins in their journey. Every month, we will spotlight developers around the world, the Google tools they leverage, and the kind of products they are building.
In celebration of Hispanic and Latin Heritage, this month we spoke with developers from Mexico and Spain.
Barcelona, Spain
Google Developer Expert, Web Technologies
Web Performance Specialist
We Spanish people love talking and interacting with other people. We tend to speak a lot, and we bring that to all areas of our lives, including development. I enjoy discussing projects, understanding user needs and use cases, challenging peers, and providing other ideas that weren't initially considered. Every developer has their own background and experiences, and that's something that any project can leverage, so having a space where the team can safely have this kind of discussion can be very beneficial.
As a Web Performance specialist, I use Chrome, PageSpeed Insights API, Big Query, CrUX API, and Looker Studio. With these tools, I create microsites and dashboards to monitor and analyze web performance.
I love the CrUX API and all the information you can get from it. It's super helpful to understand how your users experience your website and how your competitors are performing. Providing a great user experience to your users is as important as understanding how your website is performing in the market versus competitors' websites.
The CrUX API documentation provides enough information and examples to create your request and get valuable data that you will convert into insights to identify issues/bottlenecks and improve your website.
I created a basic and simple CrUX data explorer. It uses the CrUX API (for getting the data) and Firebase (for the authentication). This tool, which is still a work in progress, allows you to visually get the Core Web Vitals' values for any website or web page you want to check, based on CrUX data.
Google Bard is an excellent tool which you can use to create dev projects. It won't develop them for you, but you can save a lot of time thanks to it. Currently, I'm not planning to create any specific project using Google Bard, but any project I create will probably get some help from it.
Real-time translators using AI can be a game-changer. Although Spanish is one of the most frequently spoken languages in the world, English is needed in many fields and the tech industry is one of them.
Currently, it can be harder to have a successful developer journey if you don't speak English, and not all Hispanic/Latinx communities speak English. Having the tools to properly communicate with tech people even if you don't speak English could open new opportunities to these communities.
Amsterdam, Netherlands by way of Alicante, Spain
Google Developer Expert, Web Technologies
Women Techmakers Ambassador
Developer Relations Engineer at Storyblok (a Headless CMS)
When coding or solving problems, one quality that has always been present in my culture is passion. While passion is not exclusive to Latinx or Hispanic people, it is a part of our culture to approach tasks with dedication, effort, and care.
To prevent myself from giving in to a very difficult bug, I rely on my sense of humor and open communication. Whether at work or at home, I communicate openly about what is happening to me, seeking help or collaborating on a solution. I often use humor to diffuse tension and find the funny side of frustrating situations. This helps me to clear my mind of thoughts that block the search for a solution.
When it comes to innovation, I focus on small, everyday things that can improve my daily life. This is because I have been taught to value small details over bigger ones.
One of my first experiences with Google technologies was when I was studying at university and I decided to learn Android development in my free time, which was then using Java as its official language. However, after starting my career and discovering my passion for frontend development, my first full-time job as a frontend developer involved using Angular. Throughout my professional journey, I have relied heavily on Google's essential tools such as DevTools, Lighthouse, and Page speed. These tools have become an integral part of my daily routine. And over the past two years, I have actively participated in developing Chrome Extensions and conducting numerous Flutter workshops.
In my opinion, the most helpful tools are DevTools and Web Vitals. However, if I had to choose a favorite, I would say it is the Chrome Extensions Manifest. I had a great time developing extensions and exploring all the different possibilities. Whether I was scraping websites for useful information or extending functionality, it was always a fun and rewarding experience.
The question should be what have you developed without the use of Google tools, because I think there hasn't been a project where I haven't used DevTools or Web Vitals since I focus on the frontend. If you were to check my GitHub, nearly 90% of my projects have undergone testing with Lighthouse in order to ensure basic performance improvements.
During my first job, I was a part of a campaign project for wines from the Alicante region called “#EnamórateDeUnAlicantino” (translating to “#FallInLoveWithAnAlcantino”). The campaign had a website featuring a love form to help people find the wine that best suited their taste. Each wine was associated with a person, and every question in the form had a local food item linked to it, such as Valencia oranges. I had a lot of fun working on it.
Up until now, I've utilized generative AI to assist me in refining my content. It's been especially helpful in synthesizing detailed information for my podcasts, articles, and talks. On one occasion, I even used it to create the basis of an extension, and while the outcome was decent, I had to make a few adjustments. Nevertheless, it was a valuable experiment. Moving forward, I plan to further explore the potential of AI and perhaps even use it to generate tests for my code or troubleshoot bugs out of pure curiosity.
My recommendation for beginners is to start by focusing on one thing that they enjoy, taking the time to understand the basics and explore their limits without rushing through the process. It is important to remain calm and enjoy the journey.
Considering our past limitations with languages other than Spanish due to our historical past, there are still many people who face a language barrier and cannot access all the information they need. However, thanks to advancements in AI, chatbots like Bard, and technologies like VR glasses, we can now overcome this hurdle. These tools allow us to translate in real-time as the speaker shares their story, or improve automatic subtitles, enabling us to reach a wider audience than ever before.
Mexico City, Mexico
Google Developer Expert, Firebase, ML, Google Cloud Platform, Kotlin
Google Developer Groups Organizer
Tech Lead
The developer community is strong and very united in Latin America. We also have relationships with other communities around the world, which allow growth in our professional career. In some cases, there is a shortage of resources, but this is not a barrier, but rather a motivation. We can learn a lot about technology by visiting places and networking.
I have used a lot of tools. I have used several tools for Android applications, and a lot of services via Google Cloud Platform, Firebase, Go, TensorFlow, and more.
I love two tools: Firebase and GCP. These tools have a host of services that allow you to build apps, track their performance, user behavior, growth, and more. You can create applications with the support of Google.
I have created mobile applications for health services and applications for a security services company. In the last four years, I have created an app called "Wordbox English" with a great team. Wordbox is an application that allows you to learn English via television series and movies in an entertaining way.
Wordbox English is a great application which helps the user learn another language in an entertaining way. To create new features and modules, we often work with our users and yield great results. Because of this, our users love to learn.
Learn and practice every day. There are many tools, videos, and educational platforms where you can learn. Learn to love problems and challenges. You can belong to a community with other people with whom you can grow.
AI and machine learning. These accelerated advances allow you to build apps and learn faster. You can innovate and add more value to users.
