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Agony of an African programmer

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Re: Agony of an African programmer

#31

Post by batoure »

leaveyou wrote: post #28
guard-of-terra wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can totally relate to this, but it gets better, doesn't it? Today Internet is often faster and cheaper in the eastern europe than in the west. We no longer need computer books so much. As for brain drain, it's more of an opportunity if you're a developer. On the other hand, we have every piece of software available in the pirated form and had no shame of using that. Haven't we?

he's very probably exaggerating the electricity thing and yes the internet is better today in romania (where he left from) than in many other west european countries mostly due to brand new communication infrastructure and a booming IT sector.

Nope, I worked in west Africa and spent time in Accra. If anything he is underselling the electricity issues of that part of the continent. Big organization have their own diesel generators because power will go out 10 to 20 times a day especially in residential neighborhoods where power isn't considered essential.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#32

Post by danmaz74 »

mtct wrote: post #5
cliveowen wrote: post #3

"A web and software developer in Africa earns from $10,000 to $20,000 dollars per annum whereas their colleagues in Europe and the US earns at least $100,000 dollars per year." I don't think this is factually true. That said, the article really makes you think how much easy we have it in the developed world, yet we always find the time to complain about everything.

I, in Italy, as a junior software developer, earn €17000/year. And genuinely I'm not complaining.

You mean 17000 after taxes?

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#34

Post by batoure »

Dewie wrote: post #30

> The problem is that, though the syllabus looks good and would be a good starting point for being a software and web developer, these students do not spend time working on their personal projects and instead code for a grade “A” in exams. What, these students only work on getting good results in school, where they're studying? What a bunch of slackers.

I think that this may feel like a fun line to poke at but based on my experience in this part of the world I would say that what the author is getting at is that in education (with no exceptions given for learning software) there is a base belief in learning by route. people learn the single method to accomplish a task, if you ask them to do that very specific task that was on their c++ final in that way they will execute it flawlessly because that is what an A looks like and so they have memorized it. But the minute you change the constraints in any kind of way you find that people are missing the breadth of the entire skill set needed to function.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#35

Post by randunel »

leaveyou wrote: post #28
guard-of-terra wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can totally relate to this, but it gets better, doesn't it? Today Internet is often faster and cheaper in the eastern europe than in the west. We no longer need computer books so much. As for brain drain, it's more of an opportunity if you're a developer. On the other hand, we have every piece of software available in the pirated form and had no shame of using that. Haven't we?

he's very probably exaggerating the electricity thing and yes the internet is better today in romania (where he left from) than in many other west european countries mostly due to brand new communication infrastructure and a booming IT sector.

@leaveyou exaggerating? really? Otopeni had power outages during most rainfalls, although it's neighboring Bucharest. I still talk to people there (relatives) complaining about this situation in 2014. I know that the capital city had it easy, and probably still does, along with other major cities. But the only internet available in small cities was via copper phone lines. I could go on about this forever, we had to use electricity generators and diesel heaters just 10 km away from the capital city. I guess some people take a lot for granted :P

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#36

Post by nawariata »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #11
randunel wrote: post #7

This description sounds a lot like eastern europe :) When I used to live there, electricity was only available when it wasn't raining. The internet was really crappy and it used to cost a pretty big percentage of my salary. Investors were practically non existent, and the brain drain took its toll on any innovation attempt (alongside the corruption). I have now left eastern europe for a better western country, and I…

I can totally relate to this, but it gets better, doesn't it? Today Internet is often faster and cheaper in the eastern europe than in the west. We no longer need computer books so much. As for brain drain, it's more of an opportunity if you're a developer. On the other hand, we have every piece of software available in the pirated form and had no shame of using that. Haven't we?

For what it's worth, 250 Mbps (20Mbps up) connection costs $25 per month in Poland (24mo contract).

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#37

Post by wallzz »

I think the article is plein of cliché about the africa: electricity, internet price ?!! seriously these things have been improved in most of african countries especially in the north of Africa (Ghana has the fastest internet speed in africa ), and now its much more an advantage than of disadvantage for tech companies.especially for salaries and low fees.

The question that I looked for an answer for in the article is : where is the silicon valleys of Africa?, I know that there have been many attempts to create tech hubs , like the "cyber parks" in Algeria and Tunisia, where you can rent offices with a symbolic price and create your startup where the process is covered by professionals of different fields (juridique,financial, banks ...) , but these cyber parks remains pretty much empty , or just occupied by big international companies selling their stuffs or promoting dead technologies to young students (like Microsoft)

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#38

Post by FD3SA »

The trouble with software is that, of all industries, it has the lowest barrier to entry and the lowest capital costs. Crucially, the marginal cost of deploying software across the globe is next to nothing. This is why the Microsoft stack is so dominant worldwide. It was so easy to export when it had a monopoly in the US, that Microsoft had nothing to lose and everything to gain by spreading its products across the globe.

African countries are not the only nations lacking in indigenous technical solutions. A place like Canada has over the years lost all of its comparative advantage in the technology sector to massive US companies.

One of the many consequences of "free trade".

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#39

Post by atmosx »

tty wrote: post #22

>"A web and software developer in Africa earns from $10,000 to $20,000 dollars per annum whereas their colleagues in Europe and the US earns at least $100,000 dollars per year." Either he doesn't consider Eastern European softwware developers as colleagues or he thinks all of Europe is London, which it certainly isn't. The upper limit he gave is more than most Eastern European developers make.

In Greece PhD level programmers make from 25-35 EUR[1]. It's abotu 26,5k with taxes paid. It's extremely bad, but that's the Greek reality apparently and Greece (was supposed to be) in Europe last time I checked. A normal BSc programmer is around 1,5k/month. You get the (sad) picture...

[1] http://www.dotnetzone.gr/cs/forums/thread/34443.aspx

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#40

Post by jonahx »

batoure wrote: post #26
tty wrote: post #22

>"A web and software developer in Africa earns from $10,000 to $20,000 dollars per annum whereas their colleagues in Europe and the US earns at least $100,000 dollars per year." Either he doesn't consider Eastern European softwware developers as colleagues or he thinks all of Europe is London, which it certainly isn't. The upper limit he gave is more than most Eastern European developers make.

sure the perspective is probably skewed, however the salaries listed are generous. I did some consulting in west Africa in the last 5 years and the majority of people working in tech and making 10 or 12k a year are only doing so if they are killing it. The only people making more are working directly for foreign entities or governments and that is a very small community of people. In reality most people I worked with…

What type of work were they doing? Because even in the dirt cheap, cut throat markets of sites like vworker and odesk, a good web developer can make significantly more than that.
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