Becoming a Google DSC Lead: Insights and Recommendations

with Omkar Sawant[GDSC-DMCE Lead 2022-23]

Purpose of writing this blog: to Break down the Process of Becoming a Google DSC Lead and navigating the path to becoming a successful leader with necessary pieces of advice and tips.

The article focuses on the entire process of becoming a leader at your college developer student club right from registration.

What is a Google Developer Student Club (GDSC)?-[In short]

Developer Student Clubs is an initiative taken by google in which any university or college students apply every year to spread knowledge and awareness among the peers of their college and university or in their locality with full efforts. From this many students get free knowledge and information without any hassle from the club mentors. These Clubs are university-based community groups for students interested in technologies that are offered by google and various workshops, events, and competitions are being conducted across the world which majorly focus on the latest released Skill-set by google.

Know your eligibility :

🌟Have a minimum of one year left until graduation(Students currently enrolled in the first, Second or Third year of their engineering irrespective of their branches )

🌟One Year Commitment to being the lead

🌟Having sound Technical knowledge along with leadership qualities

🌟Prior Experience in any Community is an added advantage

🌟Good Programming skills and connections with local clubs [Referrals can fetch you brownie points]

Responsibilities after becoming the lead:

⭐Host events monthly at your college campus which are listed on the roadmap provided by google consisting of various Tech stacks from flutter to tensorflow etc

⭐To Submit the data of Events which were conducted with relevant Pictures/Audios/Videos and total head counts of the participants and RSVPs sheets

⭐To recruit a core team consisting of various leads who have skillsets in the domain they have applied. The core team consists of Tech and Non-tech leads and the domains can be decided by the lead for eg Android Lead, Event Lead, ML Lead, etc

⭐ to stay aligned with the Community Organizer Code of Conduct and under the supervision of a faculty advisor

The Selection Process:

Firstly Register for the GDSC Lead Campaign:

The Registration Form will be asking you to fill in your complete details, from social handles such as GitHub, LinkedIn, Qwiklabs, etc.

Next, you might be expected to answer some questions for Example:

What is your motivation to run a Google Developer Student Club at your College?, Do you have any prior experience in Leading a Student Chapter? In which Technology offered by google you have worked before? What is your experience with this particular tech Stack?

The Video Section: In this Section, you are expected to Record a 90-second video and show them why you are the right person to be a GDSC Leader at your College. Do refer to some videos online before creating yours but make sure you put your strong cards in the stipulated time

Referral Code: When applying for DSC Lead, there is a referral field as well. At max 3 candidates get this code which gives you an Edge over other applicants for shortlisting your proposal.

Here's a small Screenshot that took us back to the time I got my verification mail for applying for the 2022-23 tenure :)

Now, there are certain changes in the application process for the applications 2023 compared to the one we had gone through last year

It's very much expected that the number of applications for this year is going to be on the rise so an Additional Aptitude Test is going to be conducted

Aptitude Test: This test will include questions in MCQ form which will evaluate you on technical and Leadership Qualities

The Interview Round[After proposal Shortliting]

Now we come to one of the main stages where your selection depends heavily

This interview lasted for 40-45 minutes for me and they covered everything right from evaluating my Technical Skills to getting my Managerial side in place.

As with any other Interview it will start with your Introduction then the focus will be devoted to the kind of Projects you have done[it will be good if you hosted or deployed some of them. Apart from the Technical stuff, they asked me whether I have any Prior experience in leading a Community or holding events

The key part remains your confidence and communication during the Interview.

Keep it as Interactive as it goes and enjoy the Process :)

The Final Selection Mail :

Still feels like it's yesterday that I got this confirmation/selection mail of becoming the Gdsc lead of my College

⭐The Review panel might take a month or more to announce the result and the selected candidate and the faculty in charge usually get this selection mail.

This was all from my side and I hope you might have gained some necessary Insights from this blog feel free to ask any questions in the QNA section below😉👇