Being a developer is not easy, being good requires a lot of work. In Africa, there’s a lot of talented developers but most of time they don’t have a chance to work on “challenging” projects, those kind of projects that make you move out of your comfort zone and help you gain valuable experience.

There’s a lot of opportunities for developers in Africa (and everywhere in the world). The ones who will seize those opportunities are the one who will stand above the crowd. Unfortunately it’s hard to find great developers in Africa.

More and more so called senior developers, most of time have worked with the same technologies for years or they migrate to management position and don’t find time to learn new things. Also most of young developers don’t want to try new things and they stick to what they learn at university. It’s common to find a developer who can spend years working only with the same technology and even on projects where other technologies s are suitable for the job.

At the same time we have another kind of developers with great potential who are passionate to learn new things. Most of the time they don’t easily find jobs which can fulfill their needs, their passion. They can have a job but they are often bored. The ones who are lucky find a company where they can really do amazing stuff and the rest often turns to entrepreneurs.

Those developers are the ones who inspire the next generation of great developers in Africa. But by doing what? By doing what they can do best, build amazing platforms, amazing apps… Participate in local tech events to share their experience and inspire the young talents all across Africa.

Jimmy KUMAKO

Entrepreneur,programmer, avid student of life, occasional blogger