RESEARCH

GitHub Field Day Nepal, as the official website says, is an unconference for student leaders of Nepal facilitated by GitHub Education. In case you’re unfamiliar with GitHub Education, its a program that will give you your free domain, your IDEs premiums and most importantly the GitHub Copilot while you’re a student with the GitHub Student Developer pack.

Throughout this blog some keywords used are:

• Fielder being a selected applicant.
• OC being the Organizing Committee.

APPLY

The application opens once a year in the month of September and the applicant must be a student, pursuing any Bachelors degree in any university from Nepal. The hidden qualifications includes your contribution to the tech community around you, the challenges you’ve overcome to stand where you stand and the mass of the audience you represent with the leadership skills you posses. More than these the most required qualification for GitHub Field Day is the desire and the fire in you to solve the issues, you and your community is facing with the guidance from the mentors, the GitHub Campus Experts and the OCs of the Field Day Nepal.

You’re required to answer some critical questions about your community so that the OCs can better understand your vision and your capability to represent where you come from. Additionally, a 1 minute long video of you is required, with no fancy editing, to answer some of the queries OCs might have with you and your plans to address the challenges in your community. This might seem like the hardest part but trust me, its all worth it when you see that Congratulations 👏 Fielder, You're Selected for GitHub Field Day Nepal ☂️ mail, for giving that extra push to 100 and 1 percent where others gave up.

EXPERIENCE

Firsts things first, everything is free. The program is free to participate at the Grand German Homes, the 😋 delicious 🤤 mouth watering 🫣 eye savory food is free to munch in and the travel and accomodations are free to ease the journey of Fielders outside the kathmandu valley.

Discussions

The event is divided into 3 sections, each section being the Unconference where the Fielders are divided into groups and are given a topic to discuss and present their ideas on. The topics are usually the challenges faced by the community and the solutions that can be implemented to overcome them. The discussions are usually led by the GitHub Campus Experts and the OCs of the Field Day Nepal.

Entrepreneurship

• Discussion Points:
  • Pros and Cons of starting early at the age of 20s?
  • Complianace and Legal issues in the startup world?
  • Funding from Savings or Investors?
  • Making the Emlpoyess stay longer in the startup?
• Key Takeaway: Find a good team with same vision and passion as you, and the rest will follow. You’re ready to start when you feel you can do everything on your own but lack the time to do so.

Job Market in Nepal

• Discussion Points:
  • Competitive Entry Level Requirements?
  • Ghosting and Promotional Job Postings entirely for Marketing and to stay relevant?
  • The Art of Saying No to Favors and Yes to Opportunities?
• Key Takeaway: Be consistent and persistent, raise your voice and ask for what you deserve. Benefit the community and the community will benefit you.

Balancing Community, Work and Academics

• Discussion Points:
  • Prioritization, Time Management and Leadership?
• Key Takeaway: Divide and Conquer. Start planning way ahead of the events and the deadlines. Utilize college time to the fullest. Utilize the reels scrolling time to the fullest.

Staying Relevant in Ever Changing Tech World

• Discussion Points:
  • Lack of resources?
  • The importance of Networking and Building Connections?
  • Certifications and Degrees?
  • Cross Community Collaborations?
• Key Takeaway: Be quick at what you do, with tools and techniques (shortcuts, Chatbots, GitHub Copilot). Care about Learning in Public and enagage with the community. Don’t ask to ask, just ask.

The discussions are usually followed by the Q&A session. In between the discussions, we get to hear the stories of the GitHub Campus Experts and the OCs of the Field Day Nepal.

Networking

What can I say, GitHub Field Day is the ‘Purba Paschim Rail’ that KP Oli wanted to build. You get new friends from East-to-West, who all are tech-savvy and leaders in their own community. You get multiple GitHub Campus Experts in your friend list 😉, possibly you get Jobs and Internships from the new connections you make and the best of all, you could get your future Co-founders and partners from this network. The opportunities are limitless.

Fun Activities

The event is not just about the discussions and the networking, it’s also about the fun activities that are organized to keep the Fielders engaged and entertained. The activities include:

• Pre-Event Ice Breaker on Discord: One week before the event, we as a team solved riddles and puzzles related to GitHub, Field Day Nepal, OCs. Stay Alert on Social Medias to find the answers. The Fielders who solve the riddles first are given the GitHub Swags.✨
• Pre-Event for Outside Valley Fielders: After the Dinner on the day before the event, we in a team of two participated in a blindfolded drawing competition. The team with the best drawing won the GitHub Swags.✨
• GitHub Bingo: A fun game where we were given a Bingo card with the GitHub related tasks to complete. The Fielders are required to complete the tasks and solve the quiz related to eachother. The Fielders who complete the tasks first are given the GitHub Swags.✨
• Group Photoshoot: A fun photoshoot where the Fielders in team imitate the poses as shown in the screen. The photos are then shared on the social media platforms. The Fielders who pose the best are given the GitHub Swags.✨
• Dance Party: You get to see GitHub Campus Experts in their true form.💀

Wrap Up

The event is wrapped up with the Closing Ceremony where the Fielders are given the Certificate of Participation and the GitHub Swags, oops forgot to tell you, swags are provided at the arrival and you change into them (HOODIE) as your outfit for the rest of the day. The event is concluded with the Group Photo and the Dance Party.

Things to Remember

• OCs are as Ted Lasso Says, Be Curious Not Judgemental: Ask questions, even if you think they’re silly. The more you share, the more you learn.
• Enjoy Everything: Be on time, be it the discussions, the meals or the dance party. You don’t want to miss the fun. Ask the Photographer dai to take your photos the most, you’ll thank me later.
• Returning Home: The event concludes at around 5 PM, but the accomodations are not provided for the night after the event. So, make sure you have your travel plans ready.