An outlook into the future of the software development career - in the case of sub-saharan Africa

“In the future, every company will become a software company” - Marc Andreessen

Enterprise software?currently makes up just a fraction of the total expenditure on software by the world, but as you can see here below, this year’s expenditure on the same is expected to be around US$670 billion across the world.?

The enterprise software expenditure has been rising steadily and is projected to increase by at least 10 % each year shortly.

Small businesses?spend on software quite substantially as well and are expected to continue spending more in the foreseeable future.

Individuals are spending on software in the form of subscriptions for utility apps that are all over different platforms, and are expected to spend more and more as the world is digitizing more and more.

The demand for software developers?is quite steady and will continue to rise, if not exponentially in the future.

As smartphone penetration rates continue to rise, as internet penetration rates rise all over the world, more and more people will be required in the software development?industry.

The internet GDP (iGDP) for Africa is expected to be around US$ 180 billion by the year 2025.

Africa?itself as a continent isn’t just sitting idle. Countries like Rwanda, are among the fastest growing economies in the world, and others will emulate their success.

The African software development?market is as raw as it sounds. As the countries digitize, who else to fill in those positions other than Africans ourselves?

We are likely to see the presence of the biggest tech giants in the world, a bit more prominent in Africa. This has been the trend in the past few years preceding the Covid-19?disruptions.

These tech giants will recruit more and more Africans, as opposed to importing talent from India?and the East to work within Africa.

Google?started an initiative to train over 100,000 African developers in 2017 to help with software development?standards in Africa. Microsoft?is already spending over $100 million on a software development center initiative in Africa, and it’s an opportune time for a prospective software developer to have a chance to work with the world’s best technology companies.

The fact that these big companies, including Facebook, are making moves in Africa, spells the fact that they understand the opportunities in Africa for information technology.

We are likely to see a mushrooming of Africa’s tech conglomerates, and logistically it will not make sense to hire expatriates all the time. That will be unsustainable.?

At least if quality software developers?become more and more available, having been bred and produced from the continent itself.

Out of Africa?monopolies will continue to dominate in the near future, but will inevitably factor in the fact that they need to groom and use African talent more and more, and I personally am optimistic and see the opportunity that indigenous African tech companies?will be more and more prominent, and drive the development of solutions meant for Africa.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a prominent CRM or ERP?developed from scratch by Africans for Africa?

Largely most enterprise applications are primarily developed for other markets first, and then African businesses are ‘forced’ to use solutions that were meant for a totally different market. The environments are totally different, the personnel is totally different.

I’d like in the future to see a bit more drive for Africans to develop their own solutions, and that does not mean taking open source projects developed in and for other continents, and then making a few cosmetic changes. And as the trend to prominence for African tech corporations continues, the software development?field in Africa?will become more and more rewarding in every aspect.

The time to join the African software developer ecosystem will never be as ripe as now. Let’s see in the next section what employment opportunities are already available for you to explore...

Employment opportunities currently available to the African youth

• I will not dwell on the opportunities available if an African developer decided to pursue business in the software development?field, because this article is primarily a technical career guide for software developers.
• In fact, I’m of the opinion that it is quite vital for any aspiring entrepreneurs?in the field to at least go through a minimum of 10 years working in the software development?industry itself.
• Many of the entrepreneurs?or ‘tenderpreneurs’ littered across Africa?rush into doing business when they really do not understand the field itself in the first place. This on its own is one of the reasons software development?in Africa by African companies is failing dismally.
• What makes it worse is that entrepreneurs?(or ‘tenderpreneurs’ if you like), who know barely a little in the field are the ones strategically holding prominent positions for business, and as a result are the ones being consulted. More often than not, they produce low-quality?software application solutions. This leads to a loss of trust among those needing the services. In turn, this leads to the fact that over 90% of the software development?expenditure on the continent actually goes overseas outside of Africa.
• Having said that, there are still many opportunities available for a truly competent African software developer on the continent today.
• Many companies in the Americas?are opening up to remote work, as processes for working remotely have been forced to be put in place, and they’re proving to be effective. This on its own presents an opportunity for African-based software developers. The USA?alone today has a shortage of over 1.2 million software developers. Europe?also has a deficit of around 800,000 developers, as of today.
• Remote working?is here to stay. The world has opened up, and the opportunities are endless.

• Many companies in Europe?are preferring to outsource software development?to African companies, mainly because it’s reasonably less expensive to pay a software developer in Africa, as opposed to paying someone in Europe, who has to deal with a very high cost of living and therefore demands a more expensive salary.

Africa?is largely in the same time zone as Europe and therefore becomes easier to collaborate with compared to traditional tech outsourcing countries like8 India.

A qualified and educated African speaks more fluent English (or indeed French, Portuguese in former colonies) than an average developer from the likes of India?and the east, from where they have been outsourcing for a while now.

There is a shift towards Africa, as has been evidenced by more and more development companies opening up in different parts of Africa.

If Africa?had 1 million more competent software developers?today, they would be assimilated easily into the software development?job market. The only thing standing between you and a proper paying software developer job is your resolve to acquire and possess what is needed in the software development market.

To the young, and ambitious African child, I can categorically say here that being unemployed when you have the capacity to upgrade your skills, tends to lean more towards a personal choice. Take this article and its recommendations seriously, and you will say goodbye to unemployment. Stay tuned for more guidance tips in the field of software development!?