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| Edem Kumodzi |
I went to town with my old man one day and he introduced me to a friend of his we met as "that's my small boy". Heyyyy I felt like dying. I so hate it when labeled with that tag. Small boy!! My mum too. She calls me on phone and goes like "where are you? What are you doing?". Ah!! Those are questions you ask kids and teens not a gray haired young man like me heading for extinction. I don't know about other professions but in my line of work I have heard things that made me almost jump off 5 storey buildings. The only reason I didn't jump was because I had debtors to chase. I had to get help from another developer on this article to tell us what he also dislikes most about this profession. Let me set the ball rolling.
So Michael what exactly do you do. I am a web developer. Oh I have this printer that's not working, can you check it for me? Oh my goodness!! Such fabulous display of idiotic ignorance. It's just like telling the bank manager the security guy called in sick so he should forget his swivel chair and do the watching. How dare you. No please I don't fix printers not even when I am showing off to a girl.
I met with a client to discuss work he wanted me to do for him and his opening statement was "I have this thing I want you to do for me. It's something easy so don't charge me plenty." Oh no no no no not again!! If it were that easy you would have done it yourself instead of getting me out on a sunny day to just listen to, listen to, listen to... I am so angry it just turned me into a stammerer.
Let me make room for another developers' comments before I cause more havoc. Edem Kumodzi works with Ringier WA as lead developer and has feelings too. These are his words not mine. "I hate dressing formal. Thats the main reason why I never fancied working in a corporate environment."
"I hate working with non-technical managers who cannot effectively manage technical projects. They have no clue what I do, pretend to understand when I try explaining and yet make the most noise when the time to blame the technical team comes."
"I hate Clients who can't effectively communicate what they want. They let you dig your entire brain trying to come up with something only to tell you later that, that's not what they asked for. (What did you even ask for in the beginning? Nothing!!!!). "
I really feel your pain on the last point but I guess that's our occupational hazard.
These were some of the headlines that made news 5 years back. Africans at each others throat again. President XYZ stages a coupe to oust the incumbent government. War leaves many dead and gives rise to acute hunger. Oil pipeline explodes somewhere because the residents of the town pierced the pipelines to siphon oil. If it wasn't someone fighting another for power, it was someone drunk on power and belching misbehavior on us all. It was one bad news after another. The continent seemed to be breeding all the world's problems.
Fast forward 5 years and the headlines read. 3 African countries make it to the world software challenge. Ghanaian software company is only African company to win awards at ABC innovation challenge. Young boy makes one billion need-I-mention-the-currency-something-shillings from his mobile apps. Software company finds innovate ways to help farmers have better yields. For once the headlines about Africa are not just wars and rumors of wars. There is plenty of good news though we still have pockets of wars here and there. Like a snake, Africa is shedding off her old skin. New things are happening. Africa is rising. All eyes are on Africa. It's our time to shine. Our new meaning for African time.
I remember when the first technology boom happened in the west. I was too young and very non tech savvy - just beginning my tech carrier. After hearing how the tech boom in the West gave rise to companies the likes of Excite, Yahoo, Lycos, Google and Napster, I wished I was more tech savvy then to travel to the states to take part in the boom. Well, God heard my prayer and this time brought the tech boom right to my backyard or doorstep. Like the African proverb goes "Even a mad man will not allow you to step on his penis twice", which translates to, "no wise person makes the same mistake twice". If I missed the first boom I definitely won't be silly enough to let this technology boom in Africa pass me by. It's a great opportunity for all of us in technology to take advantage, get innovative and build sustainable technology-oriented businesses. Those not in tech can also come up with innovations and partner with technologists to build businesses.
If you are a developer and haven't started building something to take advantage of this boom, your dad will need to take your name out of his will. For those who have taken the path of wisdom I have only two things for you.
Let's be competitive: A competitor is an enemy. Whaaaat? Did you read the book upside down? A competitor is never an enemy. Don't stop talking to your friend because he built a competing product to yours. Competition makes us better. It brings out the best of our creativity. Let's embrace it. In getting competitive the sky should also be our starting point not the limit. You and I use Facebook, google search and twitter today because those apps broke free of the boundaries of their continents. You can do same and should aim at it and work towards it.
Don't be fooled by short lived media hype: The pen they say is mightier than the sword. Well, that statement is somehow flawed if Achilles is holding the sword but mostly true if a seasoned journalist is holding the pen. Journalists can make mounds appear to be mountains. They can hype your not-so-good product till you even get confused and wonder if that's really your product they're talking about. Have a plan of what heights you want to take your product. Don't be complacent when the headline says wow you have one million users. No. We are so many billion people in this world. You should weep instead of stomping the streets like a raging caterpillar when all you raked in was one million users out of 14 or so billion people in this world. Don't relent till you've reached your zenith.
Death to the African time you and I grew up to know. African time has been redefined.
