Could un/under-employed African graduates help fill the current digital skills gap?

Disclaimer: This is part of an introductory text to a guide book I have just published, targeting mainly an African audience.

Becoming a world-class software developer, that can be marketable all over the world, is a realistically achievable undertaking for an average young African with a pass in Mathematics in their respective secondary education certificate.

Many, including tertiary education graduates fail to achieve this feat, of being sought out and/or accepted by international tech companies. Many of those with information technology credentials, and some experience, do suffer from an ‘impostor-syndrome’ as software developers; On one good day they feel like they know their software development alright, and on other days they feel totally inadequate, they feel like impostors, and in those days and times they simply play along, pretending to be just as competent, when personally they feel they are far behind in knowledge and particularly in confidence.

There are many reasons attributed to underperformance and lack of confidence as software developers, but the main one is the fact that many start this career on a very wrong footing.

Learning to write a few lines of code does not make one an accomplished software developer. Knowing how to change a few things on software written by other people and placed on the internet does not make one an authentic developer.

Many resort to being ‘copy and paste developers’, in their workplaces and projects, and they survive through google search engine, stack overflow, and other common resources. This can get an average software developer by in most scenarios, but it will not make a great and independent software developer.

What is lacking in these kinds of scenarios, is a proper foundation, to their software development career, regardless of the fact that many would have gone through a formal school of some sort, in information technology.

Before you decide to venture into serious software development as a career, it will help you quite a lot to read this book first (link in comment section), as it will give you a solid foundation from where to start, and build up on.

If you feel stuck in your knowledge for software development, this is the book to go back to and read first to get guidance steps. If you feel stuck as a junior developer, this is the book to go back to and read first. If sometimes you feel like a ‘hero’ in software development, and other times quickly drop to a ‘zero', a bit too often, this is the book to go back to, and get the bearing right first. When you want a reset in your software development career, this is the book to read first.

That as Africa, we are a bit behind than our counterparts in other continents, as IT professionals in general, will not be news to many. This applies not only to the IT field, but other professions in general. We have had renowned African universities operating and producing graduates in computer sciences, information technology, etc., for so many decades, and yet we cannot compare what a typical African graduate is able to produce, versus a high school dropout in the western or eastern world who chooses to just take up software development as a career.

Why is that the case?

There are many reasons, and I will not attempt to give them here, but what I have noted as a result of those reasons, even just our VIEW of what software development is, as Africans in general, is fundamentally different from how our counterparts in the West and East define it as.

In Africa, we have degree and postgraduate degree holders who by acquiring academic accolades, have demonstrated their capability, and/or capacity to be able to function in the general IT industry, but it remains as such: a capability, and not exactly practical ability.

The industrial environment in Africa itself contributes to the fact that most of our graduates are not able to transfer that capability practically, but that’s not the main focus here. What I need to point out is the fact that we even have African PhD holders in IT related disciplines, who would struggle to produce the same quality programming as someone with just high school credentials, but working in the western world software industry.

I intend to bridge that gap, starting with this book, by equipping others with ‘street-wise coding knowledge’ common in the parts of the world we want to emulate. Not just for people with degree and/ or postgraduate credentials already, nor those already with certificates, but also to those who want to even begin navigating the field of software development from scratch.

I will guide the reader through with the best manners and approach, to get the reader towards being an accomplished software developer, to the status of being in demand to the existing world’s needs.

The world is currently in deficit of, and subsequently in need of good software developers. Anyone who can prove to be a good software developer, even today, has all the opportunities waiting for them from all over the world.

I know of companies that arrange everything including visas and air tickets, including families, if a prospective software developer proves they have the knowledge that is being sought for, and can apply themselves effectively in the application development field.

This book will set you on that journey to reach the standards that are expected.

I have had an eventful 18 years of a roller coaster career in Information Technology in general. I have worked in different roles including IT Service management, Network Administration, Lecturing, Business Analysis, IT Technician, IT Security, but most of my years have been spent in Software Development. You probably don’t have 18 years to learn what I have learnt working internationally, thereby obtaining internationally sought after experience. That’s why you need this book. To dispel some few things, learn from some of my experiences and exposure, but most importantly to direct you in your skills acquisition that will help you do better in your career in software development …