Working as a freelance mobile, web, and software developer in Africa can be a nerve-racking experience. Over the past decade, many software developers have worked tirelessly to prove that we are also a technology continent by building top websites, mobile apps, and software to solve our problems on the ground.
My job is to create and design websites and web applications. I do not see myself as a simple web developer but rather as a sharp web knife, because through my experiences, I have been able to enrich my knowledge panel. I have good knowledge in web design, web development with different programming languages, hosting, CMS, Framework, web design, web referencing (SEO), and project management and web marketing.
I live in an environment where technological equipment costs two to four times as much as in Europe and North America. Technical books are almost non-existent in most bookstores, and most people do not have a computer. credit card to buy. Amazon. Add to that, a good number of African countries have been blacklisted by PayPal.
I chose this carrier because I am someone passionate about coding, problem-solving especially in my continent which still faces significant problems, creativity, and independence especially to work from everywhere in the things that motivate me more in this area. I am still a student but that does not prevent me from doing my best to add a brick to the construction of this beautiful continent which still has difficulties in almost all the niches of life.
But in my country there is however a perception problem, some people still think that the technology comes in a box-like computer, laptop, iPad, etc.
We all need to visualize technology as a process and something that we are going to build ourselves here in Africa.
I have listed below some of the sufferings that myself and most of the developers go through in some African countries and especially in my country the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Load shedding
It doesn't matter if you need electricity to work and you need to work to eat. Nowadays, in the Congo, things are not going well.
they just shut off the electricity without any warning or the power fluctuates wildly and the electric company thinks that is quite normal.
With this load shedding factor, you can rest assured that most of the developers especially in my country cannot meet their deadlines.
High internet cost
Internet bandwidth has been my biggest problem since I decided probably two years ago to venture into mobile and website development.
To my knowledge, there are no special data packages sold to developers that consume huge amounts of data.
Telecommunications companies forget that the Internet has an enormous amount of informative data which can be used as a powerful tool to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty.
Investment
Most developers have created a technology start-up looking for investors to finance their projects. In my country, most people do not understand the Silicon Valley-style of investing and angel funding.
In Africa, my observation is that most of the so-called tech investors, when funding a start-up, look for short-term profits.
For the good developers who think they don't need the funding, they work their asses out trying to get their personal projects going. They end up occupying so many odd jobs in web development which in turn will slow down their personal projects and innovations.
Jack of all trades and master of nothing
It's hard to find a team that believes in the same vision for them to join a start-up in Africa.
You will find that there are so many developers and startups creating similar apps instead of coming together in the spirit of free and open-source developers to create a great app.
An African developer tries to play all roles in a company, from CEO to company publicist. Instead of focusing on one thing and mastering the art.
He spends his time mastering all aspects of a business. It is sometimes good but it comes with its own banes.
It's also great for a developer to understand all of the roles, but it will be best if they can focus on a lead role and be the master of it. So in a start-up, we might have a developer, a UI designer, two top coders, and a marketing manager.
School
Every month a string of new programmers, freshly trained in universities and professional ICT institutions graduate with subjects, certificates, diplomas, etc.
They claim to have skills in Java, C ++, C, PHP, JavaScript, SQL, HTML, and MS Office. The problem is, while the program looks good and would be a good starting point for becoming a software and website developer, these students don't spend time working on their personal projects and instead code for an "A" grade. in exams.
Bottom line: these guys are half-baked and can't do productive work. Those who get jobs later get more technical jobs like IT administrators, hardware jobs, etc.
Instead of using the methodologies, they learned in programming and so on. The companies that hire them for such jobs don't realize that these guys can actually create software to make their jobs that much easier.
It's time for Africans to believe that software is actually something we can create for ourselves.
Prizes and contests
There is a difference between winning technology prizes and contests and winning in the marketplace.
The sooner African developers and start-ups recognize this, the better.
It's great to take part in code competitions and hackathons to test your coding skills, but it's a different ball game if you want to create typing tech to solve real African problems and earn money. the money along the way.
It is also high time that our governments start to firmly support young African developers, men, and women, who are still working at the dawn on something they believe in.
It is not enough to congratulate them vocally on their achievements, it will be fair if you can support them with your resources, be it financially, intellectually, skills, and much more.
My advice to all programmers on the continent
It's not easy being an African software developer. Don't give up and always ask God for directions. Use the right technologies for the right tasks.
The future of the African software industry lies in enabling the scattered bunches of individual hobbyist programmers. Those people would be coding even if it didn't pay because that is what they like doing.
People like that should be given a chance, should be given work to do, encouraged to stick it out.
When there are enough programmers around and working as a programmer is a viable occupation that can buy a car and build a house, the industry will have grown up.