Reinier van Scherpenzeel
Biography
Graduated MSc in Philosophy, Reinier has been an IT professional for more than 10 years. After becoming managing director of a leading software development consultancy firm in the Netherlands he has joined Tunga, a platform for freelance African software developers to connect to clients all over the world. Since 2019, he helped Tunga grow to a platform of more than 900 developers, serving hundreds of clients in the period of its existence. As its COO, he knows how to expand your software development business across Africa, and how African software developers can launch their international career.
About the Talk
The Missing Middle: launching your international tech career
Abstract
Despite the international economic upheaval, the software development industry is like the universe: expanding at an ever-increasing pace. Throw in a diminishing professional workforce in absolute numbers in the US and EU, and you get a massively growing shortage of software developers in those regions. In the EU, the shortage is growing by 10% yearly. In the US, 6.8 million jobs in the software development industry will be added by 2030.
On the other side of the world, Africa is characterized by a huge influx of young people entering the workforce. The nature of software development is also such that it can be done remotely, lifting an important barrier (geography) for African software developers to take advantage of the shortage in other parts of the world. The African software development contingent, however, is still tiny in comparison to its potential, with only about 716.000 active software developers on the continent. Of those, only 38% have experience working for firms outside of Africa. Why aren’t African software developers yet flooding the market and alleviating the global demands for software development?
We explore the missing middle. The current situation is that on the one hand, lots of training initiatives are focused on getting people trained at writing code, starting from scratch and getting them up to speed. On the other hand, professional services that try to marry the international market with African software developers focus on the top of the market, the lucky few who have become seasoned professionals, capable of dictating their terms to their employer. In between is a gap where developers need to learn international coding standards, professional (soft) skills, and gain relevant experience for them to be competitive in the international market.
Yet, there is a different way. A way that successful developers have already found by themselves, and is now increasingly made available throughout the continent. A way based on self-paced learning, building soft- and hard skills simultaneously, through real-life work experience. We will show you how this way looks, and how the African software industry as a whole can take advantage.