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Agony of an African programmer

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Re: Agony of an African programmer

#21

Post by rodgerd »

chestnut-tree wrote: post #17

The patchy and expensive internet access that many people around the world experience really emphasises the importance of offline or native apps. There's a relentless (and in my view unnecesary) push by many technology companies to run everything online as if it's some natural progression we should all be moving towards. Some of us, even with broadband access, don't want to run apps in the cloud, (where everything we…

> I'm not convinced it's a better experience for users either

It's a weird situation where we have vast power available on our local environments and burn it all to run JavaScript VMs to access huge server farms for functionality which in many cases was already available in local applications.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#22

Post by tty »

>"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.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#23

Post by Havoc »

Working without stable power is such a hassle. Good luck coding something complex with a diesel generator going brrrrr a couple of meters away and all the UPSs in the building going wild. Or all the restaurants just shut down because the roads washed away and power is out for days on end. So no dinner. Or you find a place still serving but you end up with food poisoning because they can't cook properly in those conditions. True story.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#24

Post by mtct »

wsc981 wrote: post #19
guard-of-terra wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't sound like much. What lifestyle do you afford on this? Any improvement prospects?

I've read that many "young" Italians live in their parents house at least until their early 30s. Maybe he's in the same situation.

Actually yes, I live with my parents.

I would probably be able to rent a small 1-room flat but for now I prefer to save money.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#25

Post by wallzz »

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.

I'm getting payed more than that for an internship in france!

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#26

Post by batoure »

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 were making around 1400 dollars per year.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#27

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#28

Post by leaveyou »

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?

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.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#29

Post by AdrianRossouw »

chestnut-tree wrote: post #17

The patchy and expensive internet access that many people around the world experience really emphasises the importance of offline or native apps. There's a relentless (and in my view unnecesary) push by many technology companies to run everything online as if it's some natural progression we should all be moving towards. Some of us, even with broadband access, don't want to run apps in the cloud, (where everything we…

I'm the opposite. I'm south african, but I don't want to have to download your native application to get locked into yet another walled garden.

Most of the apps I want to use don't make sense without internet access anyway.

Re: Agony of an African programmer

#30

Post by Dewie »

> 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.

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