No one really writes about the pain involved in learning to code in Nigeria and I don’t know why.
First of all, peep the the cover picture on this post, it represents an art-work for a song by a music artiste in Nigeria titled “Thunder Fire You” by Ric Hassani. Literal meaning...may thunder strike a person dead.
It was sung as a song for a heartbroken man but I put that up there because there’s a lot of forces designed to frustrate the average young Nigerian mind by the Government.
I started my developer journey, no prior computer science degree, delving into a new career because well, there are simply not enough jobs. I said what I said.
And now, it has only gotten worse...
Laptop prices have doubled and are now tripling due to the weak strength of the Naira against the dollar. Some developer advocates like Hack Sultan, Prosper Otemuyiwa and Adora Nwodo have been doing their best to help the Nigerian community but for how long? Trust the government to try and take the plaudits when a Nigerian dev builds a world class product tho.
Data!!!! A successful developer needs to learn to know how to ask the right questions on Google and StackOverflow yeah?
But you see,in order to use Google, you actually have to be connected to the internet...Now the average Nigerian earns 2000 naira daily and the least internet plans go for half that price!
Funny story? Many people do not even earn that...tell me again how it’s supposed to be easy to just be in the “zone” to code?
The way I see it, to use YouTube and the plenty resources available online for self-study, you’ve got to have access to the internet and how are you supposed to cope with spending at least 12-20 thousand naira on data monthly when you haven’t even started getting paid? And to plunge you into further depression, you’re given an option of “borrowing” data...sighs.
- Now to the most annoying part...EPILEPTIC...nah scratch that...NO POWER SUPPLY!!! Paint this scenario in your head...
Young and defiant newbie dev who is trying their best to scale through, has been able to get a laptop, buy/borrow data and joined a free boot camp or tried to do some self study. This young developer wants to maximize their time and draws up a study schedule so they can also get their tasks and assignments submitted early enough.
There’s a problem tho...”PHCN”(the corrupt organization in charge of supplying power) only gives them electricity 3 hours(phased irregularly) daily and coupled with that, they still have to “share” light in their street because the transformer is not powerful enough to supply the 12 streets using it.
Their street uses the epileptic power for two days and there’s a total blackout for the third day.
In total they have +/- 6 hours of a possible 72hours to power their devices, get studies in and also do their assignments. Then you find them at Bet9ja shops (sports betting kiosks) trying to charge and learning to code with street kings(agbero and urchins) shouting in the background trying to stake bets on virtual football games.
That is just a peek into the life of most newbie Nigerian developers. I just thought you should know. I deliberately excluded some parts because it gets ugly as you go. Feel free to add your experiences and draw strength from each other. Selah.
Despite all this, we still do our best yeah? But think of the talents being wasted because they do not have the psychological capacity to cope with these kinds of problems...just think about it for a minute?
Oldest comments (113)
All the above happens in Uganda, however on top of that we pay taxes for the internet. If you don't pay internet tax which is going to be increased soon, no internet services 🤦♀️.
It takes God's grace to be an African youth.
Let’s not even get started on the fact that as soon as you make it either on or off the shores of the country, the government comes with pomp and pageantry to say “that’s a product of our nation”
I think it’s very ridiculous to pay internet taxes and worse of all they still want to increase it?!!
I know Hackers for Charity is trying to help but...it's definitely a struggle.
Yes they are. There are a host of other people trying to help too but in a country that has over 100 million unemployed youths, the change is not very visible. We can only keep trying Garrett. The African youth wants to thrive but there’s a lot of limitations.
I hear you tracy.. It sucks to be an african youth in countries like uganda
Thank you for putting this out there. I sincerely hope that we that are grooming ourselves now, would scale through faster, so we can help newbies who cannot really assist themselves (Financially and otherwise).
That’s one of my long-term goals. I want to make sure all we have to do is look for talent. They won’t have to worry about other factors like having electricity or buying data and other things which slowly but surely messes up the mind.
It’s a collective effort though and one person cannot do it all but we can start by touching lives in our own little spaces.
Yes we can.
Sir, kindly refrain from posting your contact details publically. It can be used against you.
Hey segun. Text me on the slack channel. Sorry for replying this late.
And please remove your contact details here
It’s not too safe.
Cheers
Great... But I don't know the slack channel. How do. I go about that
Thank You..
Okay
Add me on Twitter
@kwennb
Did that already, Extramortal_segs
What is the freedom of speech situation like on the ground in Nigeria? Are you guys able to try to organize and combine your voices, maybe reach out to some foreign education NGO'S? Is that risky for ya'll? I'm curious about how trying to set up a charity that supplies chromebooks or something to students would be in Nigeria.
I don’t know how to answer this. Let me put it this way, there is freedom of speech, however, freedom AFTER speech is what isn’t guaranteed over here.
I’ll implore your to do some research about the protests led by the youth back in October 2020. We made our voices heard but look how that turned out? It just might send chills down your spine.
In fairness, a lot of senior developers here in Nigeria and all around Africa are organizing programs and boot camps so there’s that. As for setting up the charity, I am open to working with you on that and setting up a team to make this happen! It would mean a lot.
How soon can we start making this idea a reality?
And ohhh yeah, there’s someone who has been doing this for a few years on Twitter now, you can find his handle @hacksultan . He knows about things like aiding aspiring developers with laptops and even has a programme called DevCareers and Laptop for Developers
Are there any plans to get out of the area you're in?
I would put it like this...a part of me wants to leave so bad but only to go and get better education so I can come back to help my community.
Sometime ago I wanted to travel, just get out of the country...so I saved up but by the time I was done, the cost of relocation had more than doubled due to inflation so I had to stay back again.
If I could get out I would but better than that I want to be able to give back to the youth from wherever I am
I'm a Nigerian and this article cuts so deep into the truth we are facing as developers. Thanks for sharing such a powerful content for the world to know a quarter of our challenges.
That’s the sole reason I titled it “Beginner’s Journey”
Most people will only talk about the good times and getting the perfect job...no one talks about this enough.
For those that do not know earning 2000 Naira per day is about $5 dollars US.
2,000.00 Nigerian Nairas =
5.25 US Dollars
@resourcefulmind I hope that people in Nigeria know about Freecodecomp.org . That is a great place to learn a great deal about development without the charge of a bootcamp.
That’s usually one of the first places we start learning from. I am certain Freecodecamp plays a great role in the growth of every young Nigerian developer.
That very true. But we still need the internet to access this free resource freecodecamp.
not necessarily. the entirity of freecodecamp is opensource. I haven't tried to do this, but I believe you can clone the entire repo and host it yourself.
github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCa...
Wow I never knew about this. Thanks @richard Barella Jr.
I set this up on my own laptop and made an article on how to do so codingwithricky.com/2021/05/15/fre...
Freecodecamp is actually not free in Nigeria, you need to buy power and data to access the resource.
Very good of you to bring this up, Stephen. Please share your successes and challenges more frequently to make people aware!
I lived and worked in Liberia for the last ten years, and I know your struggle first-hand.
Setting up charities is one thing, but I doubt the impact can reach 100 Million Nigerian youth (or West African youth - even more!). Each one help one is a beginning we all can achieve, and then take it from there.
Technologically: try to get hands on a solar panel. Laptops don't consume much. Could be worth the investment. I can help you calculate the right size.
I really appreciate your kind words. Maybe we can put this into practice. I’m already thinking dev spaces. I’m only but one person but a space powered by solar panels with access to the internet where developers can always come to learn and build stuff looks exciting to me. Now if we have one of such spaces in every town, it could harmonize local developers too. Just a thought in my head
Let's get in touch about brainstorming ideas! After 10+ years in the NGO-world, I am less a believer in anything free than I was before - but I could imagine combining coder-spaces with some for-profit projects, (free?) classes and maybe a Rachel-pi-like edition of FCC (provided they won't mind) could be something that would work, be resourceful and focused.
I’m open to this. My Twitter is attached to my profile. You can always send me a DM and then we can build a viable plan
I'll do so tomorrow morning!
I think there's a place like this in Asaba. My sister traveled there sometime in 2019 and she found a space that welcomed programmers and developers.
It was more of a hub where you could sit and charge your devices. Also they had free Wi-Fi which when coupled with the serene environment, made her never want to leave.
Environments like these are hard to come by in Nigeria. A space to learn with some basic amenities provided.
No one would grow from there and not want to give back in the long run.
That's if they don't start calling it yahoo boys spot. And then one day the police will come parading them or worse put them in cell for offenses the didn't commit
Honestly, I can picture that happening.
I am also Nigerian. I moved to America and started getting into coding. The "Up NEPA" situation must make consistent coding a huge pain. I feel for you 😬.
Lucky you Tomi...good thing you got out when we could talk about “Up NEPA”
Now, NEPA no even Dey to shout to...one time I was in a bootcamp and we had three assignments, managed to do two...the last one was dropped at night and I couldn’t go out to charge
I ended up being unable to submit and it turned out that I was unable to make it to the next stage because of 1 Mark which I would have gotten if there had been light to do the assignment.
That's so painful, ouch 😥.
Man, what a read.
What does the developer market look like in Nigeria? I have a better appreciation for the pains you have to go through to practice, but when it comes to hiring, what kinds of challenges have you encountered?
The developer market in Nigeria...it’s huge. Our fintech industry has got all these recent restrictions and regulations from the Central Bank but still giant strides are being taken. Paystack, Flutterwave, BuyCoins Africa, PiggyVest are but a few examples.
As for hiring, it’s a tight space...most developers are looking for remote jobs because the pay is no longer really commensurate to the magnitude of workload you have to handle.
The issue of having access to the internet and constant electricity is the major issue. I don't think of how much I spend on data anymore! I just wanna learn and move up the ladder!
Thank you Opeyemi for touching that topic nobody wants to talk about.
You’re welcome anytime. I hope things change for the better though.