In a perfect world, the SDLC is linear:
Requirements → Design → Development → Testing → Deployment → Maintenance.
In Nigeria, the reality is very different.
Here, the average "developer" is actually:
- a backend engineer
- a frontend engineer
- a product thinker
- a UI/UX designer
- a DevOps engineer
- a QA tester
- a cloud engineer (yes, job posts still ask “Do you know AWS?”)
- and the person who fixes production at 2 a.m.
All in one role.
All on one salary.
A salary that often doesn’t match even one of those roles abroad.
💢 The Disrespect Nobody Talks About
What hurts more than the workload is the treatment.
Too many developers have heard this line:
“Why didn't you complete the design level?”
Meanwhile the same developer was already juggling:
- Architecture
- Backend
- Frontend
- Documentation
- QA
- Deployment
- Support
- And cloud infrastructure
Imagine doing six jobs and being blamed for the seventh.
🔥 Yet Nigerian Developers Still Shine
Despite the chaos, Nigerian developers:
- build world-class products
- lead remote teams
- learn extremely fast
- innovate under pressure
- and compete globally at the highest level
It’s almost unreal how excellence grows in such tough environments.
❤️ A Word to Every Nigerian Developer
You’re doing more than enough.
Your skill is not the problem.
Your environment is.
Protect your peace.
Ask for clarity.
Set boundaries.
Demand respect.
Nigerian developers aren’t underrated because of lack of talent.
They’re underrated because they do too much, too quietly.
It’s time that changed.
If this resonated, feel free to share your experience in the comments. Let’s make the conversation louder.
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