Islam Madeniyat

Islam was born on the shores of lake Balkhash; a huge fan of football and snowboarding, he studied mobile application development at Suleyman Demirel University. Aged twenty-four he won the Yessenov Foundation internship competition, so he could study at the American startup ShotTracker. But contrary to established tradition, he went not to Silicon valley, but to Kansas City in the Midwest, where the startup headquarters are located.

How did you get interested in mobile development?
In my second year at university in one subject we were allowed to platform development. That was the first time I tried Android app development. My first application was an educational game called “Intuition” in Kazakh, which I developed with a friend during a summer internship. I guess that was the moment when I realized that I really like to make apps. And over time, my interest only grew.:)

What do you remember most about the Foundation’s grant competition?
Probably the last stage of selection, when I talked with representatives from startups. They were all completely different from each other, and all going in their own different directions. Some were working on video streaming, others on corporate chat, and others were do artificial intelligence for cars. So talking to these guys was very inspiring.

How was the internship?
The company where I trained for six months, is engaged in providing statistics and analytics of basketball games in real time. I came to ShotTracker to help develop their mobile apps on Android. They have several: ShotTracker Team, ShotTracker Player and ShotTracker Fan. I spent most of my time on the last one. In General, the sports industry is so rich in numbers that you could call it a treasure-trove, especially for someone who is engaged in big data. The data obtained through ShotTracker applications is actively used to improve and perfect the performance of teams and players.

What did you achieve and learn Islam?
Even before the internship, I started to learn about new technological advances in development and, once at ShotTracker, I had the opportunity to try out what I had studied in their application ShotTracker Fan. In a couple of months I was able to make a module to display the process of the game in real time in 3D. Moreover, the module could be connected to a similar iOS application. Thanks to this feature, we managed to save time and money on software development. I liked the guys from ShotTracker. They helped me to get used to their system and hone my professional skills. Back in Kazakhstan, I continue to work with them remotely.

What interesting things for you personally happened in those six months in the States?
America is very big and different, and the most interesting events took place during my trips to other cities. A few times I went to food festivals, exhibitions of art from different cultures, etc. In San Francisco I was lucky enough to get into the Android Dev Summit, where I managed to meet and chat with Android developers from different parts of the world. Also had a chance to talk and even take a selfie with famous people from the Android community – we use their videos and when we study technology. Another of the best trips was  a trip to the Ozark river in Missouri. It was special because of spending the night in the forest in a downpour, and also because on that very day 24 years ago I was born. So I’m glad none of us got eaten that night. 🙂 And of course I can’t forget the inspiring trip to Boston, Harvard and MIT. The impressive scale of the campuses, beautiful faculty buildings and atmospheric libraries. Being there, you think: “Maybe I should put in an application to study there next year? Why not?!»

You came home on New Year’s Eve – but have you already managed to make plans for the next year or two?Without a doubt, the experience I gained during my internship at ShotTracker will always help me not only in my professional career, but also in my life in general. In addition to my work in Kansas City, I had new sensations, found new friends, traveled and learned. With ShotTracker I continue to work remotely, but not at a full rate. When I got to Kazakhstan, I joined a local development team, TinkerTech. Here we are working on an application called ‘Anytime Prime’, a car-sharing service with premium vehicles. For the next year, I am committed to these companies.