The African Programmer and the Sun

I thought of calling this blog post "The Software developer and the Sun" but i feel that "programmer" fits better.

Ah ah ah ah….if you are one of the uninitiated and want to ask me what the difference between a programmer (also known as a coder) and a software developer is, you may want to look at this post . 

The essence of that post is captured in excerpt below:

"Therefore a programmer is a person who produces code, usually after some sort of specification. This is focused on a specific functionality.

A software developer is producing a solution for the customer, with a big focus on customer satisfaction."

My own way of saying the same thing is that the difference between the two is that while one fears the hot sun, the other more or less embraces it.

RTFL...

So he steps out of the shower in the hotel this morning, 20 minutes before pick up and picks up the tube from the hotel complimentary cosmetics bowl. And starts to apply the lotion all over his body, however midway through he notices that the lotion is kind of sticky and greasey and does not dry off like its supposed to, oh well...maybe its a new type of lotion, its not like he uses lotion a lot anyways. He has always been a vaseline kind of guy (old skool) but since the lotion is there and its free....why not ? right?

Flying East….and Back

If you are a jazz fan then i am sorry to tell you that you may not be on the right page. You may be looking for this link (i also love the jazz band Fourplay so i could not resist pulling this one on you)

Anyways …a few days ago i returned from  a brief sojourn in East Africa. 

I had a fun time in Uganda and Kenya attending G-Uganda and G-Kenya. Its always great and eye opening hanging out with software developers, especially when those developers are from other parts of our great continent.

First off let me say that East Africa is a great place to visit. From the landscape and wildlife to the people. If you are single and need a place where you can run away to have a good time on vacation (responsibly of course) , you should consider East Africa, If you are newly wed and need a place for that romantic honeymoon, you should also consider East Africa. If you have been married for like 10-15 years and are looking for a place for that second honeymoon to rekindle all rekindle-ables….again include East Africa in your plans. A note of warning to my friends from West Africa. If you ever intend to visit East Africa, either you pack your own personal stash of pepper from home, or you remember these two words : "green chilli"  and repeat them several times to the waiter whenever you order food (for some reason pepper is not a standard part of east african cuisine). The life you save may be your own.

Personally i had a number of take aways from my interaction with attendees who came for the programs in both countries. I guess it confirmed to me that Sub Saharan Africa has a lot in common in terms of people who have an interest in technology.

…a small software company

I remember a phrase that kept on reoccurring when i visited India several times in between 2008 and 2010. 

Whats that phrase you may ask?

The phrase is the same as the title of this post: 

"…a small software company"

First Post and ....and...a little more

My people.
Welcome to my neck of the woods.....recently carved out as you can see.
This article is my own way of testing to see if the "Publish Post" button on blogger really works and if you are reading this then i guess it does.
I really do hope that i have the discipline going forward to keep this blog as interesting and as lively as I have always hoped it would be.
The intention is that this blog will chronicle my experiences as I embark on a quest (yes, thats right ...quest) to ensure that the internet becomes part of the everyday lives of people in this part of the world (Africa) by interacting and collaborating with the people who shoulder a large chunk of the responsibility for making it work (software engineers, IT entrepreneurs and you).
It promises to be an interesting experience and while not even i can tell you how it will end (if at all it will end), I can tell you that one of the goals of this quest will be to bring the Geek to the front page of the national newspapers in countries across Africa for all the right reasons.
So who is the Geek you might ask?
Well...