So I’m looking for a job — a young Nigerian’s first taste of the software industry.
“Who knows himself a braggart, let him fear this, for it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.” — Shakespeare
So I’m a young university student in the beautiful country of Nigeria. I’m studying to eventually become a software engineer. I code stuff, read Medium, TechCabal, stalk startups on social media and research on a lot of technology ideas. eg Robo-writing for news stations, Integrated systems etc.
I’m looking to work in the software industry this summer, where I’d be inspired and be refreshed by the great minds we have in the industry.
Let’s slow down a bit right at this point.
As at this moment, I haven’t found a company where I’d even want to apply to. (except Anakle maybe, because I’m a huge fan of the CEO 🙈). The reason for this being is I believe a lot of Nigerian tech companies are selling themselves short, or maybe I’m just a braggart.
I understand that in the field of software development, you can decide to be a product, services or hybrid solutions company. I’ve only seen service companies in our tech industry so far.
The issue I have with us as a country is we don’t create. My seemingly endless search for a good software company has only led me into discovering a bunch of companies doing digital marketing, which you don’t need a chief priest to tell you is a service thing.
I’ve always dreamed of a country where software is created and used on every computer in the country. This dream, I hope will come to pass. The bulk of good “software” we produce are basically websites which perform some kind of financial services. e.g Paystack.
Paystack is such a brilliant innovation and I really hope this is just the beginning for us. But right now, I’m seeing a lot of interesting breakthroughs happen abroad and getting increasingly frustrated with my country’s lack of participation.
Stuff like VR, Artificial Intelligence, Drones, chat bots are being developed and I’m watching my school and country teach me how to change a variable to the s-domain and stop there.
The chart below shows that interest in Nigerian software isn’t stable and is even on a decline.
Now to the brighter side of things.
“Work like there’s someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you” — Mark Cuban
This isn’t a typical Nigerian write-up. I wouldn’t just state my concerns and end there. I’m currently working in a non-profit international organization till June, called Enactus, which focuses on changing lives. What this has taught me is: Call out problems, but immediately profer solutions.
We have to work. And I really plan to. At this point I’m not sure which of these concepts I’d dedicate my time to develop in, but I’m sure I’ll give it my all. Our country has to be placed on the map. It just has to happen. If no one does anything about all this, I surely will.
As of right now, Google’s search interest on Nigerian technology is lower than it was in 2005. I don’t know about you, but I find that very pathetic.
In essence, I’m not looking for a job. I’m looking for an industry. I’m looking to empower the software industry in whatever way I can.
And again, maybe I’m just a braggart.
I’d like to write a post in a year that shows a higher interest than in 2005 at least.
Let’s make this happen.
Edit: Its been rightly pointed out that the search terms for Google trends are too broad, because when we look for developers or solutions, we dont use those terms. Its mostly referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations, which occur offline.
Thanks for reading!
If you’d like to contact me, you can send me an email at opeyemionikute@yahoo.com, or check out my Twitter profile.
Stay blessed.
