From Attendee to Organizer: How DevFest Mt. Kenya 2025 Reminded Me Why Communities Matter

Look, I'm not gonna lie. Standing backstage at DevFest Mt. Kenya 2025, watching 300+ developers walk into Dedan Kimathi University, I had this weird mix of pride and pure terror.

Two years ago, I was just another confused student at DevFest 2023, trying to figure out what the hell everyone was talking about. I didn't know what APIs were. I definitely didn't know what Kubernetes was. Hell, I was just there because someone said there'd be free food and maybe I'd meet people who could explain why my code kept breaking.

Fast forward to November 8th, 2025. Same event. Different role. This time, I wasn't just attending. I was organizing it. And speaking at it. About Google Kubernetes Engine. To 300+ people.

How the hell did we get here?

The Random Idea That Started It All

DevFest Mt. Kenya almost didn't happen this year. The usual leads weren't available, and for a hot minute, it looked like the Mt. Kenya region would just... skip it.

Eleanora and I were at the Google Offices when she broke the news, and we looked at each other like, "Nah. Hell no. We're doing this ourselves."

It was one of those stupid ideas that sound easy until you actually start planning. You know, the kind where you're like "how hard can it be?" and then reality hits you at 2 AM during your fifth planning meeting that week.

But we did it anyway. Because sometimes you just gotta be dumb enough to try.

Organizing DevFest: A Masterclass in Controlled Chaos

Organizing DevFest Mt. Kenya 2025 taught me more about event management than any course ever could.

We collaborated with campuses across the Mt. Kenya region. We had late-night meetings where we debated everything from sponsorship decks to whether we should order chicken or beef for lunch.

We dealt with budget constraints, last-minute speaker changes etc. That shit kept me up at night.

Seeing that crowd walk in? That was the moment I realized we actually pulled this off. All those sleepless nights, all those "are we sure this is gonna work?" conversations, they paid off.

And I couldn't have done it alone. Not even close. The organizing team, the volunteers, the partners who believed in this vision - they made it happen. This wasn't my event. It was ours.

Standing on Stage (And Trying Not to Pass Out)

Let's talk about my GKE talk.

I've given presentations before. In class. To maybe 30 people max. Always with the safety net of knowing everyone in the room.

This was different.

In a conference hall. With a microphone. And expectations.

Imposter syndrome hit me backstage. My brain was doing that thing where it replays every possible way you can mess up:

"What if the slides don't load?" "What if nobody understands what I'm saying?" "What if I forget everything mid-sentence?" "What if they realize I'm just a student who Googles half his problems?"

Stage fright is real, man. I don't care how confident you look on the outside - standing in front of hundreds of people who expect you to teach them something is scary as hell.

But then I started talking. About containers. About Kubernetes. About why orchestration matters in cloud-native applications. And somehow, people were nodding, taking notes. Actually engaged.

I realized something mid-talk: I've been teaching myself this shit for two years. I've broken production deployments. I've debugged at 3 AM. I've read the docs until my eyes hurt. I might not be an expert, but I know enough to help someone else get started.

And that's enough.

The Q&A after the talk? Even better. People asked real questions and also "gotcha" questions to test me, about how to deploy their own apps, how to choose between services, how to get started with cloud computing.

That's when I knew the talk worked. Not because I was perfect, but because I made something complicated feel approachable.

You can read more about my GKE talk here

After my talk, a few people came up to me. Some wanted clarifications on Kubernetes concepts. Others just wanted to correct me(I’m not always right).

But one conversation stuck with me.

A student from another campus asked, "How do you grow a tech community? We don't have one at our school, and I want to start something, but I don't know where to begin."

I swear, it felt like looking at myself two years ago.

I remember standing at DevFest 2023, asking the exact same question. Feeling like everyone else had it figured out except me. Wondering if I even had what it takes to lead anything.

And now here I was, on the other side of that conversation, giving advice. Telling them what worked for us. Encouraging them to just start, even if it feels small.

It's wild how life circles back like that.

The Uncomfortable Parts Nobody Talks About

Real talk for a second: MCing isn't my thing.

I'm cool with teaching. I can stand on a stage and explain Kubernetes for an hour. But walking around, making small talk with unfamiliar faces, keeping energy high between sessions? That drains me.

I'm somehow uncomfortable with strangers even though I'm literally organizing events for hundreds of people. Make it make sense.

Also, if you took a selfie with me during DevFest, please share those pics. I need proof this shit actually happened.

What DevFest Taught Me

Organizing DevFest Mt. Kenya 2025 wasn't just about pulling off a successful event. It taught me things I didn't expect to learn:

1. You don't need to be perfect to lead.

I'm not the smartest person in the room. I'm not the most experienced. But I showed up. I put in the work. I asked for help when I needed it. That's enough.

2. Communities are built by people who care, not by people who know everything.

Half the organizing team were students. We made mistakes. We improvised solutions on the fly. But we cared about creating something valuable for our region, and that mattered more than having all the answers.

3. Imposter syndrome doesn't go away. You just learn to do it scared.

I still feel like a fraud sometimes. Like someone's gonna tap me on the shoulder and say "You're not qualified for this." But you do the thing anyway. The fear doesn't stop you from showing up.

4. The people you meet make it worth it.

I met developers who are building amazing projects. Students who are hungry as hell to learn. Professionals who took time to mentor and guide. People who challenged me to keep growing.

That's what makes communities powerful - not the events, but the connections you build.

What's Next?

Honestly? I don't fully know.

I want to keep speaking. DevFest 2025 was my first physical talk at an event, and despite the nerves, I'm looking forward to more. There's something about teaching that feels right, you know? Like this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm also working towards becoming a Google Developer Expert someday. Sounds ambitious as hell, but why not? Two years ago, I didn't think I'd be organizing DevFests or speaking about cloud infrastructure. If that can happen, anything can.

Maybe next time, we'll take the University of Embu community to DevFest Nairobi or DevFest Pwani. Experience the energy of bigger conferences. Learn from other communities. Bring that knowledge back home.

Because that's what it's all about - lifting as you climb. Learning and teaching at the same time. Building something bigger than yourself.

To Everyone Who Made This Possible

This event happened because of us.

To the organizing team, the volunteers, the partners who believed in this vision, the speakers who shared their knowledge, and the 300+ attendees who showed up - thank you.

You reminded me why I fell in love with tech communities in the first place.

It's not about the code. It's not even about the technology.

It's about the people. It always has been.

If you're reading this and you're thinking about starting something - a community, an event, a project - just do it. It'll be scary. You'll doubt yourself. You'll wonder if you're qualified.

But you don't need permission to start. You just need to show up.

And if a confused kid from Embu who Googled "what is an API" two years ago can organize a 300+ person developer conference and speak about Kubernetes, trust me - you can do whatever the hell you're dreaming about too.

Just start. Others will follow.