GDG Cloud Houston, launched in 2018 per Google's request to Valentino, with the freedom to run per our local ways, and was named Houston Google Cloud User Group (a.k.a. GDG Cloud Houston) per nomenclature used by local tech user groups.
sunset ... more info below …
disclosure: Personally … from Valentino Moreign
Founder & Organizer, GDG Cloud Houston
✥ REST ASSURED, as long as I/Valentino am the Organizer of GDG Cloud Houston, you can attend any of our events knowing that no data about you will be turned over to Google's GDG Team, as I continue HCCUG.org™ values (e.g., Pro-Privacy), the very basis upon which I obliged Google's request to launch GDG Cloud Houston :-)
✥ FOR CLARITY,
Google asked us to launch GDG Cloud Houston. {Tex} declined (details in next section) … I obliged as it would help both our community & Google, though I grew up in/with Microsoft tech & Linux/OpenSource.
This is my personal community effort, founder & primary organizer, "personal" meaning "by me" and the same applies to all the co-organizers too of this group.
Google's GDG Team has not funded/sponsored any of our events upfront.
Therefore, I am all the more THANKFUL to all those who have been and continue to support me …
⟹ Our Friends & Community both locally & globally ... you know who you are, thank you!
especially my family: my dad/Tex & brother/Zane for agreeing to help me on a purely personal basis and even agreed to be co-organizers as I was busy graduating in 5 semesters with a quant degree + 4 multi-disciplinary academic certificates + 2 finance industry certs + over 50 computing industry certs click here for details
⟹ HybridCloudGroup.org™/HCCUG.org™
for funding every single GDG Cloud Houston event to date — in-full upfront,
for stepping up to also sponsor the meetup.com subscription after Google's GDG Team stopped funding it due to their budget constraints
for this site, and so much more … resulting in me,
getting Google a footing here in Houston — especially after their regular GDG Houston failed twice before us, & their 3rd attempt/launch was after our success :-)
effectively giving Google the HCCUG.org™ bump — by letting me announce GDG Cloud Houston at HCCUG.org™ events, and continue to give Google Cloud the bump by sharing the 1st anniversary with HCCUG.org's 10th anniversary Dec-2018 party, and thus giving it the bump from day-1 and more bump from year-1!
basically, being the pivotal role in helping make the very FIRST effort of Google's GDG Cloud Houston a success!
⟹ Google's OCTO, Research, PR Teams have been very supportive of HCCUG.org™ community as a whole, and recognize our PRO-PRIVACY efforts! NOT to be confused with the Google Developer Group (GDG) Team & its rapidly evolving policies. Of course, there are some awesome folks within the GDG team, e.g., Kubra!
2017-Dec: Gist of how this got started
In Dec2017, Google's GDG Team reached out to HCCUG.org and asked if HCCUG.org could run Google's "Cloud" User Group for Houston. {Tex} declined as HCCUG.org is an established vendor-neutral pro-privacy community effort.
Google then stressed that, (a) this is a NEW EFFORT by Google called GDG "Cloud" Houston meetup group, (b) separate from the old "GDG Houston" meetup that had launched and failed twice in Houston, and (c) that we would be free to continue our local modus operandi established by HCCUG.org
GDG Cloud Houston is not to be confused with the old/regular GDG Houston that Google had started years ago to focus on Android Dev, way/years before Google focused on Google's Cloud and launched the GDG Cloud groups around 2018ish :-)
It seemed like a good idea that could benefit our Houston Community & Google, so, I/Valentino (Tex's son) obliged Google's request to be the organizer for their GDG Cloud Meetup, and in true Texas-Spirit, did all I could to bridge & grow the 2 worlds, Google Cloud with our Houston Cloud community, and that started by naming the group, Houston Google Cloud User Group, per the local community nomenclature, which was fine by Google, at that time/Dec-2017.
Our 10+ years of HCCUG.org™ gave the bump/success to GDG Cloud Houston, which in turn gave the "bump" to the third attempt of GDG Houston … we are happy that our member is the one who is their primary organizer :-)
2018-Dec Party: Heart of Texas Menu
— Beef Brisket, Chili Stew, Three Bean Salad, with all the fixings :-)
— Beef Brisket, Chili Stew, Three Bean Salad, with all the fixings :-)
Custom Specialty Menu for those with allergies and dietary restrictions:
2 types of Japanese Noodles, Japanese Egg Fried Rice, Japanese Eggless/Vegetarian Fried Rice, and Indo-Chinese Kosher/Halal Chicken, with white/brown/dark chocolate marble cake and a goody-bag to-go :-)
2019-Jun: Clarifications about Houston Google Cloud User Group & GDG Cloud Houston.
Google's Developer Group (GDG) Team has been rapidly evolving from being Android Dev focused regular GDG meetups, to the new cloud focused GDG Cloud meetups. Among the NEW 2019 changes that Google's GDG Team instated (e.g., NEW folks & guidelines) for all their regular GDG & GDG Cloud meetups ... the following 2 are especially important for our community.
1✥ Standardize their GDG nomenclature to distinguish regular GDG Houston (the old android focused groups) from the NEW Google's Cloud focused groups, thus requiring us to change our name from "Houston Google Cloud User Group (a.k.a. GDG Cloud Houston)" ~to~ "GDG Cloud Houston".
however, the Houston community still recognizes Houston Google Cloud User Group (a.k.a. GDG Cloud Houston) per the local nomenclature used by all tech user groups, and it also helps avoid the confusion between "GDG Cloud Houston" & "GDG Houston" (which had failed twice in Houston) before I obliged Google and launched "GDG Cloud Houston", with the support of HCCUG.org™ (e.g, funding & more).
DISCLAIMER: These details are provided for the benefit of our local community ~and~ not intended to break any GDG Team's naming rules.
2✥ Their NEW Post-Event Survey, required all GDG meetups to provide the Gender/Sex Info of Speakers & Attendees after every GDG meetup/event.
NOTE: I/Valentino, as the Organizer for GDG Cloud Houston, reiterated to Google that we are PRO-PRIVACY to the point that we have never even given out even the name & email addresses of our members to our Sponsors. Basically, we are unable to provide the sex/gender info about attendees & speakers as it goes against our PRO-PRIVACY standards.
RESULT: Google is honoring our Pro-Privacy values ~and~ the Post-Event Survey (that requires the Sex/Gender data) … is NOT mandatory for the GDG Cloud Houston (a.k.a. Houston Google Cloud User Group).
REST ASSURED, as long as I/Valentino am the Organizer of GDG Cloud Houston, you can attend any event knowing that any data you provide to attend our events will not be turned over to Google's GDG Team, as I continue HCCUG.org™ values (e.g., Pro-Privacy), the basis on which I obliged Google's request to launch GDG Cloud Houston :-) … however, do check for yourselves if this exemption has been extended to other GDG meetups/events.
2021-Apr: Important notice to ALL members of "GDG Cloud Houston"
GDG Cloud Houston is still the ONLY Google recognized GDG Cloud community in Houston —AND— per our pro-privacy standards, our GDG group is exempt from having to report the gender/sex of attendees and speakers of our events.
NOTE: We may be the only GDG group with this exemption in North America, and we thank Google for honoring our PRO-PRIVACY practice!Google's GDG Team has ENDED sponsorship of the MEETUP.com/GDG Cloud-Houston on Mar-31, 2021 due to budget constraints.
Thanks to HCCUG.org™ for stepping up to now also sponsor the MEETUP.com/GDG-Cloud-Houston
Our group’s Meetup.com page disappeared from Meetup.com on Apr-9 until Apr-15 … [email protected] was of no help …
HCCUG.org™ sponsors GDG Cloud Houston’s Meetup.com page,
in addition to sponsoring every GDG Cloud Houston event in-full upfront.
NOTE: meetup.com is just a way to make announcements, whereas, registrations with other preferences (e.g., food choice) were already required registration on HCCUG.org ... and this will continue ...
Long story short — you are now aware of the Meetup.com ISSUES, and the resulting immediate steps that HCCUG.org™ is helping us with …
so, those who —
(a) APPRECIATE the various benefits offered by HCCUG.org™ (e.g., PRO-PRIVACY to the point that we declined to provide the gender/sex info requested by Google’s GDG Team)
~~and~~~
(b) WANT to continue to enjoy the additional existing (and upcoming) benefits of HCCUG.org™
▸ ▸ ▸ you are welcome to click here to apply to become a member of HybridCloudGroup.org™
Upcoming Events
as part of being supported by HCCUG.org™, we get this space on their site, full funding upfront for all events (since inception, social media support fully paid for by HCCUG.org™), and most importantly the continued bump, e.g., our events being announced on the HCCUG.org™ events page thus giving our events even more visibility to members of their other groups too … click here for upcoming events