Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers?

#11

Post by phantom_oracle » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 11:23 PM UTC

I've worked remotely for a US firm before, but not writing code explicitly.

Africa is generally a shit continent to be a developer. You need a degree to get a job or show that you're a Zen master at coding. I assume it's because the IT firms are in limited supply and can have their pick at the cream of the crop.

If you want to build up your rep without experience, you either find a local internship or you start building up and open-source profile.

I'm doing both, but frankly, by the time I'm coding decent large-scale open-source projects, I'm probably going to build my own things (no sense being a code-monkey and making someone else a millionaire, unless they're paying $80k+).

What is your stack? I may be able to help you with coding up open-source stuff (if you're interested).

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers?

#12

Post by phantom_oracle » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 11:25 PM UTC

Also, the guys who said that NewME accelerator is only for Africans in the USA are wrong.

Here is what their site says:

"NewME is a mission-driven company, changing the status quo by accelerating underrepresented entrepreneurs around the world."

www.newmeaccelerator.com/about/

I would consider the virtual accelerator then.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers?

#13

Post by yawboakye » Sun, Jan 05, 2014, 7:19 AM UTC

phantom_oracle wrote: post #11

I've worked remotely for a US firm before, but not writing code explicitly. Africa is generally a shit continent to be a developer. You need a degree to get a job or show that you're a Zen master at coding. I assume it's because the IT firms are in limited supply and can have their pick at the cream of the crop. If you want to build up your rep without experience, you either find a local internship or you start build…

Yes, working remotely works for me. Freelance is a good thing but I wanted to be part of a company to learn and understand organizational structures and how hierarchy really works at software companies. I've read a lot about these things. I want to experience them and learn through my experience.

I'm interested! I would love to do open source stuff. I program in Python, Ruby, JavaScript mainly. I know pretty decent Java, Scala, SQL, and shell programming.

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers?

#14

Post by yawboakye » Sun, Jan 05, 2014, 7:23 AM UTC

enterx wrote: post #9

Heeeey, isn't this a racism? :) Make a list of 50 companies in your area of interest and just prove that you're better then 90-95% of their developers. Thats how you get the job. Period. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRHkAccUyqM

I guess that works well when the 50 companies know what the fuck they're about. There are only 2 or 3 companies that have pragmatic programmers because they do real stuff. The rest on the list pop the champagne at mediocre results. No thanks, that's not what I'm looking for.

I'm looking to challenge myself with something worthwhile. I'm not looking at fat salaries. No!

Re: Ask HN: Have you had any success with African developers?

#15

Post by yawboakye » Sun, Jan 05, 2014, 7:28 AM UTC

1dundundun wrote: post #10

banerjee wrote: post #7

the newme accelerator is not for africans. it's for black people in america, which is different. the latter group is of african descent but live in america. if Yawboakye went to the newme companies to look for a job he would still face the same issues that he would have faced with any other american companies. my advice is to do elance/odesk until you can get what you want.

I'm pretty sure that NewMe Accelerator network could be a good network for him eventually but the main thing that he'd need to do regardless of race/culture is to get some experience under his belt. I agree with others. Freelance to get some experience and if possible, get to the states for school and work your way from there.

I'm very aware I need experience. That's why I'm looking for a job. Okay so my main reason for looking for a job is because I want to grow and learn as much as I can while being on a team at my workplace. There are very few good programmers here (in Ghana) compared to the US or Europe. I can only grow so much if I don't get a job in the top 2 or 3 companies in Ghana. IMO it's different with the US where there are millions way better than me and there's tons of good companies. It's easier to find the opportunity and environment to grow to become a better programmer.

I can move on afterwards.