DevFest Extended: Android for the Agentic Era
GDG Sydney is back with a special DevFest Extended event: Android for the Agentic Era!
DevFest Extended brings the DevFest spirit to a special evening of three exciting technical talks, community connections, and knowledge sharing at Google Sydney.
Come Hire!
The meetup allocates time for people seeking technical jobs or with open roles at their company. If you're hiring or job hunting, this is your chance to connect with the community.
This meetup is in-person only. There are no plans to stream the event.
Talks
Talk 1: Android Dev Summit 2026 - Insights on XR, Android CLI, Compose and everything in between (Jonathon Reid)
The Android development landscape is undergoing a major shift toward AI engineering and supporting richer mediums like Android XR.
In this ADS conference overview, I will share:
Key trends - The pivot toward agentic workflows, Android CLI, and dynamic SDUI patterns
Tooling updates - Hands-on first impressions of Android XR, and performance leaps in new dev tooling
Takeaways - How Google is standardising AI-generated code with Android Skills, and what this means for mobile teams in their day-to-day work
Whether you are an engineer or technical leader, this high-level session gives you a concise snapshot of where the Android platform is heading and what to watch for next.
Talk 2: Merge Ready - The soft skills that make you a professional software engineer (Katie Barnett)
Technical skills get you through the door, but soft skills are what make a professional software engineer truly effective. In this talk, I will share my experience on what I see as the essential pillars of professional engineering.
I'll be covering:
How you show up and communicate on a team
Write pull requests your team actually wants to review
Give and receive code review feedback gracefully
Estimate and communicate progress realistically
Approach debugging with a systematic mindset
Whether you are stepping into your first engineering role or sharpening your professional practice, this session provides practical habits to build trust, collaborate seamlessly, and ship with confidence.
Talk 3: Architecting Android for the Era of Autonomous Systems (Kartik Arora)
Technical skills got us through the mobile era, but the agentic shift requires an entirely new architectural mindset. In this talk, I will share hands-on insights on what it takes to build Android apps that autonomous agents and human users can collaborate on seamlessly.
I'll be covering:
Exposing Kotlin logic directly to AI agents using on-device MCP and Android App Functions
Streaming native, secure generative UI in Jetpack Compose via A2UI without WebViews
Slashing dev loops with the new Android CLI, headless Compose previews, and fast simulator snapshots
Scaffolding and assembling fast, declarative projects with Lightbuild
Decoupling state by running the Compose runtime outside the UI with Jetpack AppState
Securing background agent capabilities with user confirmation gates and Play Integrity attestation
Adapting apps for spatial computing and world-anchored panels in Android XR
Whether you are building everyday mobile experiences or leading technical architecture, this session provides practical blueprints to make your Android apps agent-ready today.
Event Schedule
5:30pm - Event doors open
6:00pm - Event starts: introduction and hiring connect
6:15pm - Talk 1: Android Dev Summit 2026 - Jonathon Reid
6:40pm - Talk 2: Merge Ready - Katie Barnett
7:20pm - Break
7:50pm - Talk 3: Architecting Android for the Era of Autonomous Systems - Kartik Arora
8:30pm - Event ends
Disclaimer
A ticket does not guarantee entry; entry is first come, first served.
Gates close at 6:30pm, no one will be allowed in after that.
We're here to help: If you have physical, learning, or accessibility requirements, please reach out via mranocchiari@google.com or hello@gdgsydney.com