The Attraction and Value of Local Communities as Told by a Mobile Engineer
The community "Mobachiki -Mobile Tips Sharing Meeting-" focuses on sharing technology related to mobile. We interviewed Android engineer Chen Pohao, who manages the community, about the motivations behind its establishment and the value involved in its operations.
Please tell us about Mobachiki.
Mobachiki is a community that primarily consists of mobile engineers and holds study sessions and tips-sharing meetings. Anyone interested in mobile software development, from students to senior engineers, is welcome to join.
Having been involved since the start of the community, the idea was established from an after-event meetup of the Android conference "DroidKaigi" held in Fukuoka. Mobile engineers, including Android engineers from all over Fukuoka, gathered at the event, where I met the current operating members. We discussed the idea of "establishing a mobile-focused community in Fukuoka." We then had discussions with various people, which led to the current operational structure. Initially, the community was managed by three companies: former LINE Fukuoka, CyberAgent, and Money Forward. Currently, the community has been operated by five companies, including YUMEMI and Karabiner.inc since several events took place.
We generally hold meetups once every three months. The latest one, which was our fourth, was held at the LY Corporation office in April. Since our first event in August 2023, we have been holding events regularly. The operating members need to manage the community alongside their regular duties, so each company hosts the event in turn to alleviate the workload. Generally, if the hosting company has their office in Fukuoka, the event takes place in their office. We sometimes rent external venues if the host company does not have their office in Fukuoka.
By the way, the name "Mobachiki" was inspired by "potatotips." Potatotips is a tips-sharing meeting for iOS/Android app developers, commonly known as "Potech." Following this theme, we named our mobile tips sharing meeting "Mobachiki." We also wanted a symbolic presence for the community, so we always serve fried chickens to participants at the event to keep them entertained and engaged during the sessions.
Why do you hold meetups in Fukuoka?
I believe that real-life interactions are extremely important for engineers. However, there are already fewer opportunities for mobile engineers to connect with each other. Living in Fukuoka alone makes it even harder to participate in meetups held in Tokyo so the opportunities to interact with other engineers even decrease. Even though I wanted to connect with them, I found it hard to communicate while living in a local area. As I mentioned earlier, I met engineers who had similar concerns at the after-event of DroidKaigi. Through conversations with them, I came up with the idea: "There are plenty of engineers in Fukuoka, so why not just create a community here instead of having to go all the way to Tokyo?" This inspiration established the Mobachiki community.
Due to COVID-19, meetups that took place offline have shifted to online. As there were drastic changes in work styles such as remote work, more people are currently relocating from Tokyo to Fukuoka. Still, I believe there are ties and connections that can only be created in person. The passion that participants can feel in a real setting, ideas they share during casual conversations, and the new networking opportunity they create - these are the greatest attractions of offline meetups.
That’s why we have created this community in Fukuoka. We want to provide a place for real connections and energize the mobile engineering industry.
What is the value of being involved in community management?
I believe being involved in community management holds immense value.
Until now, I felt it was a shame that there wasn't an active mobile community in Fukuoka. Even though a number of tech companies are located in Fukuoka, there were few opportunities for these companies to connect each other. Thus, we created and manage a community where mobile engineers can gather. Since we started managing the community, we've met numerous people and heard a variety of stories. For example, we've gained valuable insights into how other companies are approaching their mobile businesses, the technologies they are currently using, and the study sessions they hold internally. By sharing these insights with our own team, I feel that a positive cycle of value creation is being established.
Another significant value is the ability to feed back to the younger engineers. I personally attended many meetups during my student days and learned a lot from senior engineers. Those experiences shaped who I am today, and I am very grateful for them. Now that I am an engineer, I want to provide the same thing back to students in the same way.
While our current core members are mostly mid-level and senior engineers, we hope to see more university students and job seekers participate in the future. Many of the mobile engineers today did not major in mobile-related technology at university; most of them started mobile development on their own as a personal interest. So, we hope this community can serve as one of those starting points.
In my case, I majored in a subject that had nothing to do with mobile technology. During a summer break, I decided to try something different and started learning Kotlin. That experience connected me with Android development, and now I work as an Android engineer.
The experiences I had as a student were invaluable in determining my career path. Now, I want to share those experiences with students. I believe this will help sustain the mobile development field. The number of mobile engineers is relatively small, so I want to make more students aware of how wonderful the mobile world and help address the issues of lack of mobile engineers in a long run.
Message to the Readers!
If you are interested in mobile technology or want to connect with mobile engineers, you are always welcome to join our community. We also welcome presentations on any topic that is somewhat related to mobile technology. For example, discussions from server-side engineers about how they design servers or APIs for mobile applications are more than welcome. These are topics that many participants are eager to hear about.
Currently, our presentations are mainly in the form of a lightning talk, 10 to 15 participants generally attend at the event. If the community grows larger, we plan to host events such as hands-on workshops and more extensive sessions. Since different companies take turns hosting the event, the information of this event is somewhat unorganized. In the future, we hope to centralize all information in one place, such as an official LINE account, making it easier to find event details.
Now, expanding the community is a crucial task for us. If you are interested, please come and join our meetups. We also welcome those who are interested in helping with the management of the community.
We also hold a social gathering after the main event, where there are plenty of opportunities to mix and mingle with engineers from other companies and help expand your network.
Let's work together to boost the mobile industry from Fukuoka together!
Next Event Information
- Date and Time
July 24, 2024 (Wed.) 19:00 - 21:00 (Reception starts at 18:30) - Venue
Karabiner.inc Fukuoka Headquarters
If you are interested, please register for the event on connpass. We look forward to seeing you!