Life As An African Web Developer

There's an interesting look at the realities of high-tech in Africa running on NewsForge -- specifically, one writer's account of starting a web development company in Ghana, dealing with obstacles including power problems worse than the norm in deepest California.

Comments

Going up?

[Blaine Hilton]

Here in the states the economics of being a programmer or anything in the IT industry is pretty bad, but from the article it seems Africa is much worse. We take most of their problems for granted here. I think this is a large problem for Americans, we don't really realize how good we have. The same thing can be said for gasoline, in Europe they are paying double, triple or more then what we are paying, even when we think its so "expensive".

I do believe there is a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel though for the Internet economy through out the whole world. We are coming to the point where computers are as common as televisions, and a computer really isn't a computer with out being able to access the Internet. This is going to redefine what we now know as a global economy. Borders are going to become looser, and ideas will be freely exchanged. Another thing is since the .dom crash many people have decided to switch careers, and thus the workflow is going to equalize, and I believe that is going to happen sooner rather then later.

Go calculate something.

Re:Going up?

[@madeus]

Here in the states the economics of being a programmer or anything in the IT industry is pretty bad, but from the article it seems Africa is much worse. We take most of their problems for granted here. I think this is a large problem for Americans, we don't really realize how good we have. The same thing can be said for gasoline, in Europe they are paying double, triple or more then what we are paying, even when we think its so "expensive".

While I quite agree with the rest of this paragraph I take strong issue with your opening sentence.

Specifically with:

Here in the states the economics of being a programmer or anything in the IT industry is pretty bad

Workers in the IT industry are still earning above the national average, for a job that's really not that demanding (your actual milage may vary of course, but by and large it's not that taxing if you know what your doing).

I think the IT industry is a great one to be in - certainly as far a salarys & formal prerequisites to employment go, especially for a job that requires almost zero physical labour and has almost endless scope for career development (by which I mean there are so many roles you could do you couldn't possibly hope to do them all in one lifetime).

The only problem this sector ever had was the influx of mid 90's 'get rich quick' lusers turned sysadmins/developers/web designers who wouldn't know a clue-by-four if they were larted on the head with it.

Most of them are still unemployed now, but if your a *real* sysadmin/developer/etc - and your reasonably flexible - then your simply not going to be unemployed for huge length of time (>6 months) unless you live in an area where there is amazingly stiff competion (like say, the bay area).

Re:Going up?

[@madeus]

If your unemployed for a long period there is a reason for that. That reason is not 'your skills are dazzlingly bright', nor is it 'you're trying too hard'.

The unemployment rate is currently 5.8% in the US (as of March 2003). It's notably less if you male, or, for that matter white - in which case it's more like 5.1% (relevant as most /.'ers will of course be white males).

Even 5.8% is low, it's one of the lowest in the world. This table for example, maybe a little out of date, being as it is from last year, but it's still useful at putting everything in perspective.

Compared to unemployment rates of 50, 60 or 70% in Africa (and double-digit dates in the last century in the US) the current whinging about unemployment is a-something-about-nothing that's been blown largely out of proportion by media and public opinion.

Certain factions of the public find it easier to believe that they are a victim of a weak economy rather than admit responsibility for their own circumstance. My own father, who I haven't seen in years, has not been in full time employment in a regular job for a decade due entirely to his own inadequacy - and he regularly blames the current government, the previous government (going back 20 years) and the state of the economy (but oddly enough, not himself).

Re:Going up?

[Lionfish]

Man, WE all know how you get AIDS. They dont. There is just no money (and people) to educate them. A majority has not even a clue what "a virus" is. They do not have the choice to not share a needle, when there are not enough one-use needles in their hospitals. If there is a hospital at all. Its die or die.

Re:Going up?

[stinky wizzleteats]

Let's have a history lesson...

One is drinking water. Another is AIDS. Civil war is also quite common.

Poor sanitation, disease, and civil war. United States, late 19th century. What did we do to overcome these problems? Did an international outreach of concerned Europeans build sewers and hospitals for us? Did English peacekeepers prevent the savagery of our civil war?

As evidenced by this statement: "...is rather offensive, in my opinion.", you clearly intend for the reader to assume responsibility for the conditions of those living in -insert impoverished country here- when history clearly demonstrates that such concern is idiotically ill-conceived. If the concern you are offended that we don't have cannot make the changes you would intend, then what possible good can come of those purposes in the first place, except to shock and paralyze soccer moms into believing that they can't walk outside without harming the world in some way?

What got us out of the squalor and suffering of our early days is the same thing that can get them out - the personal struggle to overcome. And if you wake up in the morning, and find reason not to pursue excellence because people in Africa don't have clean drinking water, then you, sir, offend me.

Re:Going up?

[HanzoSan]

The US created their own Civil War, the Africans were given chaos by European invaders in the same way Iraq was given Chaos/.

Re:Going up?

[stinky wizzleteats]

Umm, we brought over millions of slaves from Africa to do all the dangerous, hard work for no wages?

You overlooked the purpose for having fought that civil war in the first place. The blood of nearly a million Americans was spilt removing the crime of slavery from the American culture, so you'll forgive me if I feel unmoved by the addition of your tears or mine. I consider it the most fundamental respect to the memory of those fallen to live in harmony today, thus, I do not believe in continuing to fight that war. The descendents of Africans are contributing members of the modern American society. They are not and have never been slaves, and I for one am thankful for that.

Their participation in the building of this nation, as previously discussed as the late 19th century, was as free people.

Re:Going up?

[de la mettrie]

I completely agree with your statements, but...

In some countries, school teachers are dying of AIDS faster than they can be trained

AIDS is not inevitable (except in rare cases: infected blood serum etc). A person that is ignorant or stupid enough not to use condoms is not a person that should be teaching kids anyway.

Software Programmers in Ghana...

[timjones]

And you thought we had competition from steaming legions of Indian and Chinese programmers?

Most of the executive set I know (yes, in the USA) wouldn't consider buying an AUTOMOBILE from a third-world country like that, but they will do anything to have IT design (at least as complicated, when done properly) done in such places.

Something to think about...

Re:Software Programmers in Ghana...

[tarball_tinkerbell]

The answer's pretty obvious, if you do actually think about it.
First up, making an automobile takes not just man (woman?) power, but also metal and machinery and what-not. Given a reasonably good PC & UPS (to deal with blackouts), all it takes to write good code is a good brain, or a good codewriting brain to be specific.
Developing countries have terrible infrastructure, badly depreciated machinery, and poor maintenance of said machines. So, to put it simply, an automobile made there would be more likely to be unreliable - note, not guaranteed unreliable - than one made in the US or Europe or Indonesia.
But code?
Given the right training, someone from Ghana or Chad or Burkina Faso can write code that's as good as, if not better than, code written by anyone else in the world.
Simple.

Re:Software Programmers in Ghana...

[The Cydonian]

Precisely. Now you know why all these so-called third-world nations are so excited about IT; most believe it's their ticket to first-world-dom, whether on a personal level (ie jump hop to US/Europe), or on a societal level.

Help needed everywhere

[Roto-Rooter Man]

I sympathize with his plight, but the reality is that many IT professionals throughout the world are facing similar, or worse, obstacles.

How do the challenges facing African developers compare to the trials of computer geeks in Afghanistan, for instance?

African ????? What...??? Re:Going up?

[yogkarma]

Why all the time people use terms like African this and African that. I mean why not European American and European Australian.???

Re:I know what its like

[The Cydonian]

Which raises a very curious point about energy. Yes, the world's masses are without power, telephone etc, yes, all that's necessary for *regular* IT development, but the question is, on ecological basis, can we sustain, say, American, energy levels on a global scale?

PS:- From India myself; I know what you're speaking about. My solution:- move to Delhi/Hyderabad! :-D

Re:Americans and supremacy

[joggle]

Because guess who is on the news? Norway? Canada? Switzerland? Nope, it's the USA, duly prejudiced by your local (and international) media companies and/or government. Frankly, there isn't a perfect government on this planet, but currently the one walking around with the biggest stick and biggest voice is the US, which provokes responses from everyone else.

Everyone always talks about how other countries, such as Canada, are superior (morally and in other ways) to the US. But does anyone ever critically consider the merits of this? Of course they don't because they don't want to put out the time and effort it would take to form an informed opinion (besides, it would be a waste of time since they know that they're right!!). Rather, they will just spout off of what they've heard (which is often heavily biased and utterly false) and have selective memories.

For example, it was rather convenient for all of the Muslims (excepting Iraqi exiles and Kuwaities) to forget about the autrocities commited by Saddam Hussein's regime while the war went on in Iraq, isn't it? Did you hear of the story where journalists working for Al Jazeera were attacked by a mob of Iraqis living in Detroit for this very reason?

In short, everyone is biased and even brain washed. If the Shia clerics in Iraq tell their people to cooperate with the US military, they'll do exactly that. If a week later they tell them to go and rid the country of the 'Infedels' they will gleefully go and attempt to kill every last military person there. My point is that people need to form their own informed opinions rather than acting like brainless fools.

Re:America's got its problems too

[dustmite]

Backwards places like Pakistan don't progress partly because they don't see the need to. They can't imagine a better place.

I was with you up until this silly statement. Of course the people of Pakistan are capable of imagining improving their lives. It might interest you to know that Pakistan is actually in the middle of a mini economic boom at the moment.

There are many reasons why poor countries seem to struggle to crawl out of it, but the idea that it is because they lack the imagination to imagine a better life is definitely not one of them.