Name
Lakshya Gupta (@dexter21)
Photo
Location: Where do you live? Where do you work?
I live in Bangalore, India. I moved here a few months ago to start work as a software engineer in InMobi Technologies. But I was born and brought up in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Tell us a fun fact or story about yourself!
I spend most of my time on the laptop either working or reading articles. And I like visiting new places so I took a resolution that I’ll visit at least 2 new places each year.
How did you first find out about ODK?
I found out about ODK in 2017 when I was going through selected GSoC organizations and I always have a great interest in Android and Java so ODK Collect pulled my interest and I started my contribution with ODK Collect and then in 2018 I was selected for GSoC project Device-to-Device transfer app
What are you using ODK for?
I’m neither ODK user nor ODK developer, I am a developer who is contributing to ODK Collect and skunkworks-crow by fixing and reporting bugs, enhancing user experience and actively participate in code reviews and guiding newbies.
What’s your favorite ODK feature?
I always like the different variety of questions and answers for eg. location, audio, images, video, barcodes, signatures, multiple-choice, free text and numeric that ODK tool supports.
How did you get so involved in the community? What keeps you coming back & staying involved?
ODK plays a great part in the development of my technical and social skills. I started my open source contribution from ODK Community and I got to learn many things while contributing to the community. It taught me the value of small things, your one significant change can have a high impact. Working with a group of people you never met and gaining knowledge from them is the reason that motivates me in coming back.
What has been the greatest challenge for you in learning about ODK? (Either the software, the community, or both!)
As a developer, my biggest challenge is to understand the need and requirements of real users. Meeting your real users and understanding their requirements or the challenges that they face while using the software and the improvements that can be done to enhance the experience would have helped me get more insight of things that I’m working on.
Let’s talk about goals: Do you have any ODK-related goals for yourself, your organization, or the overall ODK community?
I’ve started working on skunkworks-crow during my GSoC period and it’s still in the development phase. Currently, my goal is to improve it so that it can be officially released as an ODK tool. My ultimate goal is to see the community grow and help new people to get familiar with ODK tools.
What advice would you give someone who’s just learned about ODK and is considering getting involved?
Don’t feel shy in asking questions either its related to ODK tool setup or its development. Ask questions either on slack or forum somebody will definitely help you or ping me if you need any help from me.
Github ID: lakshyagupta21
