DevFest Cape Town 2025: A Day of Learning, Innovation, and Community

On November 8th, the Google Developer Group Cape Town community gathered at the Brian O’Connell Life Sciences Building at the University of the Western Cape for DevFest Cape Town 2025, a day dedicated to learning, connecting, and exploring the future of technology. More than 200 participants attended in person, joined by online viewers, filling the space with energy, curiosity, and creativity.

 The atmosphere was vibrant and full of excitement. Attendees connected over coffee, enjoyed delicious food, explored sponsor booths such as Impact.com, participated in interactive competitions, and captured memories at the selfie boards. Every corner of the venue reflected the enthusiasm and passion of the community.

The keynote by Atieno Allela set the tone for the day. She reminded everyone that the purpose of DevFest is to learn, emphasizing that artificial intelligence is no longer just an additional tool but is becoming integral to the entire software development lifecycle. From design and development to testing and deployment, AI is reshaping how we build. This message resonated throughout the day, sparking conversations in every session.

Throughout the day, the tracks provided engaging sessions across key technology areas — Mobile, Web, Cloud, and Artificial Intelligence — each offering unique insights and practical lessons.

In the Mobile Track, attendees learned from Bright Etornam Sunu, who demonstrated artificial intelligence-powered e-commerce applications built with Flutter and Firebase Genkit. Sylvia Dieckmann explored WineSom, an agentic Flutter application powered by artificial intelligence. Jessica Randall shared practical guidance on user interface testing with Compose to help developers create polished and reliable Android applications.

In the Web Track, Schalk Venter presented Simple Sync Engines for building local-first applications. Nhlanhla Lucky Nkosi highlighted Web Application Programming Interfaces that developers should be using in 2025, including WebGPU and Background Fetch. Andrew Sithole demonstrated on-device machine learning with WebGPU, MediaPipe, and TensorFlow JavaScript, showing that powerful artificial intelligence tools can run entirely in the browser without a backend.

In the Cloud Track, Nomthandazo Tshuma guided attendees through building and deploying autonomous artificial intelligence agents with Cloud Run. Rodgers Ndocha explored practical strategies for data engineering on Google Cloud, and Ruan Spies shared lessons learned from real-world challenges in building cloud solutions.

The Artificial Intelligence Track featured Abed Matini, who explained when to use Retrieval-Augmented Generation or fine-tuning for generative AI applications. Graeme Harris discussed how to build enterprise artificial intelligence agents for high-stakes industries. Shaqeel Less highlighted the use of artificial intelligence to create accessible learning and transport tools in From Classroom to Commuter. Jonathan Bossenger explored how strong writing skills can enhance a developer’s career.

The University of the Western Cape Computer Science Department played a key role in hosting and supporting the event, providing the venue and helping make DevFest Cape Town 2025 a seamless experience for all attendees. Beyond the sessions, the day was about community and collaboration. Attendees engaged in conversations sparked by the sessions, formed new connections, and shared ideas with peers. Volunteers and organizers ensured everything ran smoothly, while sponsor booths provided opportunities for learning and engagement. The day was full of energy, enthusiasm, and a shared desire to grow together.

By midday, it was clear that DevFest Cape Town 2025 was more than just an event — it was a community in motion. Conversations flowed from session halls to coffee queues, and laughter echoed in every corridor. Throughout the day, the sessions inspired curiosity and conversation. From mastering user interface testing with Compose and exploring agentic Flutter applications to understanding data engineering on Google Cloud and building autonomous AI teammates with Cloud Run, every track brought new ideas to life. Developers debated the differences between retrieval-augmented generation and fine-tuning, explored enterprise AI systems, and learned how to apply machine learning directly in the browser.

The heartbeat of DevFest is always its people — speakers, volunteers, organizers, and attendees. Their reflections capture what made this year so special:

“I had an amazing time at DevFest! The sessions on AI, Cloud, Web, and Android were really engaging, and I got to connect with so many great people and make lots of new friends 🙂 Beyond the event, exploring Cape Town — Signal Hill, the Waterfront, and Bo-Kaap — was amazing!”
— Rodgers Ndocha, Speaker

“The DevFest was an incredible experience this year. Events like this bring together innovative people that are hungry to learn and grow. It is great to be part of such a community! Kudos to the organising team ”
— Ruan Spies, Speaker

“Being part of the team showed me how much work goes into running an event. I spent the day interacting with people, fixing small problems, and making sure things kept moving. It was busy and sometimes stressful but taught me a lot about teamwork and staying adaptable.”
— Abongile, Volunteer

“DevFest was intense but lots of fun.”
— Andrew Sithole, Organizer and Speaker

“DevFest is the celebration for the year, and this year was full of lots of excitement.”
— Jessica Randall, Organizer and Speaker

DevFest Cape Town 2025 demonstrated that technology is as much about people as it is about code. Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated across the development lifecycle, offering new opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. Every session, discussion, and interaction emphasized the central message of the day: we are here to learn, and together we are building the future of technology.

A heartfelt thank you goes to all speakers, attendees, volunteers, organizers, and sponsors, including Google, JetBrains, BBD, Entelect, Sinov8, and Impact.com, as well as the University of the Western Cape Computer Science Department, for making this day a tremendous success.

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