adminRobert Ndlovu
YOUTH unemployment around the world in general continues virtually unabated leaving today’s young people facing enormous challenges finding a good job and earning a decent income. And while the technology industry continues to grow at an accelerated pace companies across a range of sectors are facing a shortage of professionals with the requisite coding skills to fill their workforce needs.
The good news is that via effective adoption and use of boot camps, young developers have a real chance to make it from Nkulumane to Silicon Valley. Yes, I mean it. Coding boot camps are three-to-six month intensive in-person training courses, where students learn programming from scratch then embark on project based practice that simulates real work scenarios .
I was in Harare for a couple of weeks attending seminars, conducting training courses and attending courses as well. Now it was both depressing and uplifting to describe what I saw in the Sunshine City in a short space of time since February. People in the ICT community there mean business.
Depressing in the sense that I was wondering why these programming “boot camps” were not “coming” to the City of Kings or I thought. Uplifting in the sense that I realised that this was an opportunity for us to start them and run with them. Software business is one of the few businesses, which one can start with little capital – literally.
Writing code. Programming does not need a four figure budget but more of your time, effort and practice. At its most rudimentary level software development process will require a laptop, open source software, time and an occasional dash to the internet cafe are more than enough to build games, applications and databases not to mention websites.
It is so naive that people still think in terms of brick and mortar as the only viable form of business or industry. Do not get me wrong. Digital business is easy to get into in terms of costs but pretty challenging in terms of skills bases required and crazy hours of coding, hacking, reading and testing. Now why then the talk of coding boot camps?
The idea of boot camps resonates on the premise of pooling resources together on a time sharing like basis. This way you lower the barriers to entry into programming for many a people. If you create a coding hub made up of say 20 people, it means you can afford fibre quality internet up to 10mbps at fraction of the cost.
The cost of connectivity can be as low as $7 per person only. This ushers you to a world of cloud computing where resources are infinite. Write code and test it in the cloud if you so wish. Rental space – rent a school library. I am sure they could use some $ 300 per term in their school budget.
This translates to less than $10 per person per month. Add to that open source software, which is literally free. The e-books, the manuals are all free. But your time is what is important, learning different languages along the way.
The idea that you are grouped together also means that you can tap into the pool infinite resources like your team’s brains. The more people meet to solve a problem the higher the chance that a solution will be found. Define your own rules. Refuse to be relegated to second class citizens based on any variable.
ICT is a brutal enabler. No one can come into your laptop or PC and restrict you from learning how to code. You are your own limitation. This beggar and bowl-syndrome must leave our town. So why is there nothing being done? My question would rather be by who? You have to be the change that you seek.
If you are not too happy about a situation in your community walk the talk get stuff done and do less talking. I have read elsewhere online that there is a coding hub at Nust. It makes sense that Nust leads in this since they already have the physical infrastructure and teaching resources at their disposal.
However, this does not mean the coding hubs cannot be taken to the hood. This year former students ans I who attended Sobukhazi High School years back have decided to convert the traditional library into a digital centre.
Not much involved other than data connectivity, end user stations, training curriculum and digital content. We have completed much of the server end installations and ready to scale up and deploy a full digital hub or digital centre whichever way you view it.
The premise of this is very simple. Lack of information is playing a major role in negating the major gains from free post independence education. Empower teachers, students and the community with ICT data and they will make informed decisions. “My people perish because of lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4 vs 6).
Look around and see the number of people with smartphones and on Whatsapp! If people placed so much concentration and focus on bread and butter issues as they do when chatting on app – we will be somewhere.
Coding boot camps and digital centres explore how people, in communities facing social and economic challenges, use information and communication technologies to promote social change.
We cannot sit and expect the central or local government to hand out freebies. This is time to write our own rules. I thought we were independent. Go out and grab what you want. Things included in the digital centre are the Skype School – remember the radio lessons? But this time a lesson is received or delivered via Skype.
As smart phones become more and more ubiquitous, it can be inferred that the demand for mobile applications will grow, further increasing the demand for programmers. From basic ICT skills to advanced ones in a nutshell. All this is possible through PPP – Public Private Partnerships. Of which I have identified our schools to be at the very epicentre of this initiative.
Robert Ndlovu is an ICT expert based in Bulawayo. He can be contacted on [email protected] or 077 600 2605 (App)
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