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"Instead, he says, firms and government should look at the kinds of graduates that are coming out of the country's universities and offer services based on thei

by krmboya 15y ago

"Instead, he says, firms and government should look at the kinds of graduates that are coming out of the country's universities and offer services based on their skills." Speaking as a Kenyan software developer, this is a better approach than "the next outsourcing destination". A lot is going on in the mobile app scene, it would be great if more investors focused on that.

sadlyNess 15y ago
I(kenyan, developer) thought the same thing when i read it. Why would do we want to go in a business that India's already milked the world? We can find a better use for the broadband, and i would love to see more programmers, more hackers, not them "IT zombies" who have degrees in IT/Computing. Let's do outsourcing but not call centres. The problem is the guys running the IT Policies are out of touch with what is happening(Attending Int'l Conferences instead of reaching out to students and young people). Mobile developing is rising, but not in a healthy way.The software buying(app buying in this case) culture is still too low.
- brianbreslin 15y ago
  Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya? are there adhoc events like barcamp and other meetups going on? Any preferred development language? What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas? I am super fascinated by tech development in emerging economies.
  - sadlyNess 15y ago
    >Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya? There are spaces like the iHub(ihub.co.ke) in Nairobi, and other mobile-dedicated 'labs'. They organise conferences, meetups and barcamps. Not much in other cities/towns(like where i am).We could do better. >Any preferred development language? Not really, but you'll get a lot of java,some PHP, less python, even less ruby(just me and some other guy:)). >What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas? Get-job-in-nonprofit mentality and an education system that's not really entrepreneur-friendly.
    - brianbreslin 15y ago
      Hey I'd love to pick your brain about Kenya if you are up for it.
      - sadlyNess 15y ago
        On twitter @sadq70. Same handle for gmail.
rsynnott 15y ago
The general tendency has been for an initial focus on outsourcing, followed by native businesses. This is what happened in Ireland; in the 90s we had lots of outsourcing, branches of multinationals, etc.; later we built our own software industry (though most software work in Ireland is still multinational).

by krmboya 15y ago

sadlyNess 15y ago

I(kenyan, developer) thought the same thing when i read it. Why would do we want to go in a business that India's already milked the world? We can find a better use for the broadband, and i would love to see more programmers, more hackers, not them "IT zombies" who have degrees in IT/Computing. Let's do outsourcing but not call centres. The problem is the guys running the IT Policies are out of touch with what is happening(Attending Int'l Conferences instead of reaching out to students and young people). Mobile developing is rising, but not in a healthy way.The software buying(app buying in this case) culture is still too low.

brianbreslin 15y ago
Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya? are there adhoc events like barcamp and other meetups going on? Any preferred development language? What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas? I am super fascinated by tech development in emerging economies.
- sadlyNess 15y ago
  >Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya? There are spaces like the iHub(ihub.co.ke) in Nairobi, and other mobile-dedicated 'labs'. They organise conferences, meetups and barcamps. Not much in other cities/towns(like where i am).We could do better. >Any preferred development language? Not really, but you'll get a lot of java,some PHP, less python, even less ruby(just me and some other guy:)). >What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas? Get-job-in-nonprofit mentality and an education system that's not really entrepreneur-friendly.
  - brianbreslin 15y ago
    Hey I'd love to pick your brain about Kenya if you are up for it.
    - sadlyNess 15y ago
      On twitter @sadq70. Same handle for gmail.

rsynnott 15y ago

The general tendency has been for an initial focus on outsourcing, followed by native businesses. This is what happened in Ireland; in the 90s we had lots of outsourcing, branches of multinationals, etc.; later we built our own software industry (though most software work in Ireland is still multinational).