In this talk, you will learn about a community that helped 10+ people land their first full-time tech jobs in 3 years using a side project as leverage. The tale started when Geshan Manandhar became a Google Developer Export (GDE) for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) at the end of 2019. Geshan used the first batch of free Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - $500 to start a side project called AU Tech Jobs. The free credit was used to host the project on GCP using Google Cloud Run, Google Cloud Build, and other services like Cloud logging and trace.

Leading the project, Geshan practiced what he preached. He helped lead a side project (read mini start-up) with ChatOps, Continuous Delivery, Microservices, and Serverless containers on Google Cloud Run. The community of mostly international students developed and delivered a running project. Adding the experience gained from the project in their CV as local experience, many of the international students landed their first full-time tech jobs that were not only rewarding but life-changing too.

The talk emphasizes the importance of community over technology, but also how technology can enable helpful and transformative communities. Come and enjoy this heartening real-life story.