Filipino Fandroids: A Peek into the Philippine Android Community [Interview]

Every month, the Philippine Android Community (PhAC) group meets in a coffee shop to talk about everything Android.

It is open to users, enthusiasts and developers. Though according to Charo Nuguid, one of the founders of this community, it was only early this year that they decided to accept developers to the group, “because of the growing number of people asking developer questions.”

We had a short interview with Charo to talk about this interesting Android community in the Philippines.

Can you tell us about yourself, as well as your role in the Philippine Android Community? Who else is on the team?

I’ve been an IT trainer for 16 years and a developer for 12 years. I was previously involved in a lot of Java web enterprise projects. I resigned from my last employer in 2008 to do some soul searching (and baking and writing). Then in October 2009 I bought my first Android phone (T-Mobile G1). Since then I’ve been doing consultancy and training work on Android development. I also happen to be the co-founder of Mobile Monday Manila and was recently invited to be part of the organizing team of Startup Weekend Manila.

In the past I was president of the Philippine PalmOS Users Group (MaPalad) which was founded by Jason de Villa. I decided that perhaps a similar user group is needed for Android. So that was when I created the Philippine Android Community (PhAC) in November 2010 with Anne Olvido. Anne also happens to be managing the Google Developers Group (GDG) Philippines for the Bacolod City chapter.

When Startup Weekend Manila came around in April 2012, we found the PhAC without a moderator to take care of the meetup for the month. So we decided to invite two more people who could possibly help in the event that either of us would be unavailable. That’s when we added Rafael Oca (also from PinoyBlackBerry group) and Raymond Jay Golo.

Do these meet-ups happen on a regular basis?

Meetups happen every last Saturday of the month. We try to invite Android handset manufacturers to show off their latest gadgets but lately not many seem to have the time for it. We always meet up at a coffee shop.

While the meetup formally ends at 6pm, there have been times when some of us would stay longer for dinner and other friendly talk. Latest we ended was around 10pm. Yes, we literally closed the shop.

What are the goals of Philippine Android Community?