Defying the norms and studying computer sciences at a private university, graduating with a degree in the discipline in 2019, is a 25-year-old Sakina Abbas from Karachi who recently became Pakistan’s first female Google Developers Expert for Flutter.
“To be honest, it was neither an “aha!” moment, nor did I have it planned from the very start that I will be pursuing a career in tech.”
Said Abbas.
A Google Developers Expert (GDE) is a person recognized by Google as having technical expertise in a Google Developers product (such as Flutter, Android, Machine Learning — to name a few) and for creating an impact on the community by closely engaging with them and sharing their knowledge to help aspiring developers build and launch innovative apps.
There are about 700 GDEs advocating for more than 18 Google technologies across the world currently. Of these, 11 are from Pakistan.
A year ago, I used to follow fellow developers in an attempt to learn sth new.
— Sakina Abbas (@sakin8tor) April 21, 2021
Today, I'm excited to announce that I'm a @GoogleDevExpert for Flutter, & the first female GDE for Flutter in Pakistan! 🥳🎉
Thank you to everyone who has supported me; many exciting things to come! pic.twitter.com/czBYAIRltL
She was eager since childhood to learn how to code, pushed the 25-year-old to get enrolled into a four-year degree programme.
The young tech guru started off as a native Android developer and quickly realized that it’s the right technology for her because, despite the development challenges.
Women in the tech ecosystem are making their mark in Pakistan 🇵🇰, and one of them is Sakina Abbas, who was named Pakistan’s first female @GoogleDevExpert for Flutter. Congratulations @sakin8tor! pic.twitter.com/dYgJCi9kdT
— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) May 5, 2021
With a passion for tech and to draw in foreign investments, she co-founded a software house — ReacTree, with her classmate, Abdullah. Later on she transitioned to flutter development from native Android development.
“I don’t see these things as hurdles, though. They are more like stepping stones — except the stones are far apart from each other and your legs are too short to leap from one stone to another with ease.”
She quipped.
Abbas is giving back to her community by writing technical blogs and giving talks across multiple events, conferences, and universities.
“At the same time, I also had to ensure that I’m not neglecting my company, my team, and my clients; there had to be a balance and excellent time management,” she said, as she described the initial challenges she met.
While highlighting one of her motivations to become a GDE, she said that she wanted to help women pursue IT domains that they’re passionate about.
“In particular, I really want to see more women pursuing Flutter development in Pakistan, considering that it’s the most trending cross-platform application development technology due to which demand for Flutter developers has been increasing across the world over the past few months, and will continue to do so.”
While urging women to keep their head high and ignore critics, she said, “As far as critics are considered, you will meet naysayers at every stage of your life, in every domain that you pursue your career in.”
