The African developer and the curse of the developers’ uniform (T-shirt and jeans)

Developers: Edward Baah (headphones on), Michael Ocansey

In choosing this topic I tried to be a little poetic and follow topics the likes of “The lady, her lover and her Lord” or “The good, the bad, the ugly”. I leave you to be judge of my poetic abilities.

Regardless of your age, there are a million things we came to meet and have accepted without even bothering to find out how they came to be. Really... no need to bother finding out some of these things because you will only be chasing after the wind as King Solomon rightly put it. Girls and gossip. Do you have any clue how those two got paired up? I don’t. A rock star and the violent shaking of the head. A politician and tricks (tricks is my polite way of saying ‘lies’). A kid and toys. These things are paired and bonded so tightly, leaving no clue of who the pairing originator is.

The developer and his t-shirt + jeans. Don’t ask me who prescribed that uniform for us because I honestly don’t know but whoever it was did a very good job in making sure his choice became very popular. Today you will almost choke and blink 360 times in 5 seconds if you saw a developer in a suit and tie. Developers the world over are identified by how they dress. How faded your T-shirt or jeans is can sometimes define the degree of your geeky-ness. The whole world knows that’s our uniform but my real question is, does everyone in our part of the world accept us when we wear that uniform? A very simple and straightforward answer is NO but I know you don’t like things simple and straightforward so read on.

I personally love our uniform because it really makes me feel very light and free to think and code. No choking on tie knots or restricted movements by designer suits that are too tight and slippery from supposed silky lining. The truth however about Africa is that we have rich cultures formed and deeply rooted in time and imbibed in a lot of us that will take more than schooling in London or America to phase out. A lot of the custodians of these African values are unfortunately those who have the monies to pay for the services we provide.

I started work in 3 american companies and so got very spoiled with their way of doing things. I was free to wear our uniform all the time, could call anyone older than me in the company by their first names, could say “hey whats up” forgetting the real impact of a “hey” in African context. All that felt so good until I decided to start my own company. That’s when the reality hit me that Africa isn’t spelt with a ‘M’ after the ‘A’. I had to go dropping proposals, booking meetings, going to give presentations. These business executives had no regard for anyone who was not in a nice shirt tucked in a nice pair of trousers and sporting some nice pair of shoes. That was their initial measure of anyone who was in to do ‘serious business’. You can’t blame them. That’s really the perception out there among the ‘big people’ or ‘big companies’ whose monies we intend to get a bit of. Dude, they don’t really care how good you are with code or how great your product is, to get an audience with them you need to lose the T-Shirt and Jeans ... and that is the way it is in Africa.

It’s not bad at all once you lose the T-shirt and jeans because you actually are now able to blend at all social levels. Among the very corporate and among the very liberal - your fellow developers. The curse is revokable.