Being a Developer in Nigeria is not easy - Diary of a Nigerian Programmer
Most times I sit back to look at where I started as a developer and where I am now, when I see upcoming developers who are starting just the way I did, I can't help but to conclude that we developers in Nigeria are suffering when compared with developers in some other countries.
How we use to donate money to buy fuel and write code in one room
I won't blame any programmers for accepting huge projects at lower price offers or jobs with low salary pay because the conditions in Nigeria are not favorable and the hunger out there is severe. Based on this, programmers in Nigeria can't afford to be picky.
Let's Talk About the Issue of Power Supply...
The fact the programmers can not do with power supply is not an arguable fact and yet we suffer a lot when it comes to power here in Nigeria. Tell me how do you expect a young upcoming programmer to survive and excel in the field when there is not light to practice what he/she does?
- What I used to do then was to go to any nearest eatery, buy a bottle of soft drink as a way of buying my ticket to stay as long as I want while I use their power generator to do my work, because I didn't have a gasoline generator not to even talk of fueling one.
That's me coding in an eatery after buying my licence to stay with a bottle of Fayrouz
Low Pricing of Projects...
I can't count the number of crazily huge projects I did at the low as NGN30,000 ($83.33). Guess how much I was paid to build benmoorefitz.com [with sms gateway] NGN40,000. You can imagine that amount for a job that took me a about a month to deliver as a learner that I was at that time. But I was happy though because it was the biggest amount I got paid for a project as at the time, that was in the year 2016.
- Now, I know my worth, in as much as I need more customers/clients I make the price for projects affordable and at the same time not too cheap. This is because humans have a way of analyzing things, when it is too cheap, sometimes they think you don't know what you are doing and I am not scared to to loose the job in as much as I don't want to. But that is the best way to win contracts.
I understand that programmers can't afford to be picky like me, just like I said, the hunger is severe. But my advice is don't focus more on working for clients, rather build your own personal projects to solve problems, the more problems you solve, the more chances you have in building a potential steady means of livelihood. You can also work for clients but now you can choose to be picky because if you offer the best, then they have to pay more...
Scared of starting your tech business
Many programmers out there would rather choose to work for a successfully established tech company than doing their own thing. I understand why because I am also working for a tech company but at the same time I am building mine.
Listen: You need a pool of water to water your own seed/garden to make it grow healthy i.e you need capital/income to build your own business, therefore you can work for a company but don't loose your focus.
Why most programmers may choose to work for a company rather than build their own stuff is because of the fear of failing. I must tell you, running a tech company in Nigeria ain't easy but when you have your goals clearly stated and love what you do, believe me, the sky will only be your starting point.
Nigerians are scared of adapting to tech change...
It is o doubt that change is constant. What is trending today may not be what will trend tomorrow. I remember how I was marketing one my softwares(School Portal Kit) in Schools in Ikom LGA (Cross River State) to be precise and what most of the principals or proprietors will say is that they like the software but they prefer using their manual system of result computation. Mehn, you have to do a lot of talking and convincing before they were able to buy the idea. Even after buying the idea, they are still skeptical of the outcome of the app.
How I started Being A Happy Developer...
I will draw the curtain of this conversation here. Being a happy developer, I mean living life to the fullest with what I am doing.
I started being a happy developer when I started focusing on build my own personal tech solutions and solving human related problems with what I do. I also build for clients but for clients who knows what want and what is cost to get it. I put myself in the shoes of the users of any app I am building and build what I will expect to see as a user and at the end of each project, I celebrate with friends.
Code as if your life depends on it
Staying around fellow developers is also a great way to stay happy. You learn from each other, solve problems together. A day you don't learn something new, is wasted day.
Working around innovative minds is a great way to be happy
I see building projects not as just building it, but as being part of the solution to a certain kind of human related problem. That alone gives me joy to the extreme.
Thank you for reading and I hope you learnt something here...
If you are a programmer/developer and you are going through similar issues, don't worry, you are not not alone. You will be better with time.
Kind regards.