Hello App 6.0 – Start Coding & Assignments

Hello App is our free Android app development workshop for students from Timisoara. Each year, we organize an approximately two weeks long workshop during which we help students learn to develop an Android app. We first started organizing the workshop back in 2014 to help passionate high-school and university students to learn app development for free. 

Each year, we accept a small number of participants and we dedicate time and effort to help them understand the basics of app development. We encourage hands-on learning but we also make a few presentations during the workshop so that they can get familiarised with the tools we use. 

At the workshop, the students learn to develop apps using the latest trends, tools and technologies. We had a few editions where we taught Android app development using Java or both iOS and Android development React Native. During Hello App 6.0 we are focusing on Android app development using Kotlin programming language.

At Hello App 6.0 we will have 16 participants from high-schools and universities from Timisoara. We are starting the Android workshop on Saturday, 12 October at the usual location, Ambasada. We like the space, it is the perfect location to get to know the participants and get started on the work. However, we will also meet with them at our office so that we can have a few more private and focused sessions. 

We are going to teach our students to develop an Android app using Kotlin programming language. Therefore, we will have a few presentations about Android, Kotlin and Git as not all the participants will be familiar with these programs/tools. Then, we’ll dive right in and they will be able to start the work on their apps and ask us any kind of questions they want. We support this way of learning because we believe everyone should focus on what they want and at their own pace. 

The students will be working on the apps for two weeks. During this time, we will have an online session for technical discussions and several coding sessions. Moreover, our mentors will be right there for questions and guidance. 

The final app presentations will take place at Ambasada on the 26th of October. Everyone is welcomed to see the finals apps, support the participants and root for their favourite team. We can’t wait to see the results!

This year we will be trying a new approach during the workshop. The challenge for Hello App 6.0 will be to work in teams and each team will have the same base requirments for their app. 

Until this edition, the participants focused either on their own ideas or on apps for the community. But, this year, we thought we’d change the way they work so that everyone will have the same base requirements for their apps. At the end of the workshop, we will see every teams’ approach to implementing the requirements, what they did differently and what they chose to add as optional features.

The app which the students will have to develop is a quiz. The participants will have a few required pages and features that they will have to implement. Also, they will also receive a list of complementary features they can add for extra points.

During the Android app development workshop, the participants will use the same tools we do when we develop apps. Below you can find some of the tools we will use during Hello App 6.0 and a few useful tutorials to get started.