KNOWING HOW TO CODE, IS NOT ENOUGH ANYMORE…(What the market really want)

Whether you are software freelancer, a code newbie, or a startup founder in the tech industry you will always find that you need to have programming skills or hire someone who does

In fact, programmers are the most wanted individuals in the market place and here I am telling you that knowing how to code is not enough.

In the Tanzanian job market. The first thing you will notice is the job posts are looking for generalists.

They don’t want a person skilled in a single programming language or a task…In fact, they seek a full-stack programmer, and this is just how far they can legally stretch from a single person.

This may be that they are tight on budget or other reasons but I’m not going to talk about it now, it doesn’t matter.

Let’s try to observe and solve this problem realistically.

Let’s try to observe this problem realistically. If more than 90% of software development jobs posted in Tanzania are looking for generalists, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be one.

But how can you know so many skills at once and with so little time we have right now?

Stop Branding yourself behind a single programming language

Programming languages are tools as the hammer is to the carpenter…sometimes you have to use a chainsaw.

I am also good in a few programming languages than others…but what I know is calling myself a Python programmer will do me no good in this country’s market, I’d rather just keep quiet.

You will miss a WordPress site gig by branding yourself as a Python coder while you can actually do the work.

You will always be afraid for that glooming new shiny cool framework coming to put your out of a job and end your career.

Keep the favorite coding language for your coder friend’s meet-ups, not in the real market. You should always be able to change when you have to.  If you go to a place where they use PHP for 10 years and you start to force them to use C# for all good reasons… Guess what happens? Most of the time they find a way to chase you out and you lose the deal. Learn how to lose and have the last laugh.

Get back to the basics

Now you have stopped being a JS Fan (haha), you are looking for what to do next…well, I say go back to the basics. You should learn what are types of programming languages available now (Structural, Logic, Functional, Scripting) and for every type, you find at least one language to use, not a master but to use for your side projects and know how to do common programming operations with.

Knowing this you can be able to adapt easily. For example, If you know object-oriented programming concepts using Java, then it’s easy for you to pick up Kotlin, Swift, C#, or Typescript when the moment arises.

Add No-Code Tools in your belt

For every problem that needs a unique solution, as a freelancer you need to speed up the development process and skip over to the next gig. For this, you need a no-code solution. A no-code (or less-code) solution is mostly a Platform as a Service or Software as a Service tool which will help you speed up building prototypes and MVPs and finish in much lesser time. Some of these tools are

 JHipster, Swagger, Firebase Services, Adobe XD,  WordPress, Wix, Webflow, Weebly, Shopify, Bubble or Zapier

For more please visit https://www.nocode.tech

Learn Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing, is a huge growing industry whereby most of our programming tasks are being automated.  The cloud computing services have a wide range of products and use cases and they are the best when it comes to prototyping an idea or build without having to maintain lots of stuff at a go.

 This will save you a lot of time and advance your career.

Though cloud computing specialists demand is on the rise but my main point is to build world-class projects in record time so you can be as efficient as possible in this generalist market.

Using readymade AI models, Developer Operations (DevOps), File storage services with ready-made APIs and some network security protocols for building your work will make you stand out in this market.

My take: Google Cloud Computing has great documentation for you to start but AWS Amazon has the lowest cost.

Aspire to go Beyond Programming,( The Human Part of Programming)

I repeat, programming languages are tools. Don’t be a fan of a programming language, only in secret. My advice to you is to start to aspire to go beyond an only programming career.

You should consider becoming a system analyst, Business Analyst, Product Manager, Chief Technical Officer, and other tech-based roles at least once in your career.

This will increase your salary/profit as well as an overall understanding of the field.

Managing smart people is hard as well as rewarding.  

Even if you are a single freelancer try to learn Product Management and how it actually applies to your current work.

Knowing User Experience and User Growth skills will increase your odds of success in this job market…If you know how to make users buy the product you win so study user engagement and growth.

Also learn tools like Jira, PowerPoint, Atlassian Products, Trello

The Paperwork:

Programming comes as the very last stage in software development, but before that, we have a lot of processes going on.

You should learn how to write technical blogs, documentations, writing project proposals to clients, how to apply for funding for your venture, how to facilitate software requirement meetings. Try to be closer to the decision-making table. If you are flying solo as a freelance this will make you a much better Consultant and drive more sales.

Surviving as a young programmer in this environment is hard, you should read the game and outsmart it.

Jack of All Trades and master of none they say?

But the system is looking for and rewards the Jacks

…and in the end, the Jacks end up laughing all the way to the bank.

Thanks for reading this. Please reach out to me on

Instagram : nickyrabit

LinkedIn : Nicholaus Legnard

email: nicky@nickylegnard.com

Twitter: nngailo

BONUS POINT:

Have a domain knowledge of an industry

This seems like I’m contradicting my point but I’m not.

Knowing how to build health industry projects is different from a finance project. If you have built e-commerce projects then you must have some insights the newbies wouldn’t and you will thrive better and therefore you can state that you have a domain knowledge in this industry that will help you.