Google Developers Expert: recognizing and rewarding top developers

By Amir Shevat, Developer Relations Program Manager

Google Developers Expert (GDE) is a new program from our Developer Relations team that recognizes and rewards outstanding developers. Our inaugural group includes 26 honorees with deep technical expertise in specific areas who are major contributors to the developer community.

The status of Google Developers Expert is awarded yearly to experts who contribute to the communities around Android, Cloud, HTML5, Chrome, and Google Maps. Members of the program develop close connections to the respective Google product team, gain early access to developer releases, and are invited to an annual summit at Google headquarters. In addition, members are authorized to use a domain-specific badge which links to their member directory listing for use in promoting their services.

All of the Experts listed in the member directory provide a link to their Google+ accounts so you can add them to your circles and follow their latest news. Service to the developer community is an important criterion for selection in this program, so you can find members answering questions on developer forums such as Stack Overflow or speaking at technical conferences.

How to become a member

Candidates are nominated by members of the Google Developer Relations team and a committee approves a small number each year. Criteria include a highly technical skill set in one of the program's product areas, a strong online presence within that product’s developer community, and experience presenting to technical audiences. If you're interested in becoming a Google Developers Expert, please send your name, email, country of residence, area of expertise, and how you contribute to the developer community to gde-nomination@google.com. You can learn more about the program at the official program page.


Amir Shevat works with developers and startups. He promotes Google technologies as well as open source software and open standards in the Israeli market and worldwide.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor