Being a Skilled Developer Pays Well!
Exploring the world of tech has been quite an experience as a young woman in the world of opportunities and possibilities. I will not deep dive on the social challenges that my gender faces in this field rather highlight what is needed to equip girls and women with hardcore tech skills in order to apply for quality job and/or study in emerging technologies such as AI.
The current state of the economy has indirectly demanded most youth in Tanzania to look for jobs or gigs that can earn them a fast income. This is shown by the increased interests of youth in sports betting and forex trading (not discouraging). An increasing amount of girls and women open online shops and businesses to earn (which is a good thing), but some are involved in illegal businesses that will have long lasting negative impacts on their health and well-being.
I have attended and trained coding bootcamps for over 5 years now and often young girls in Tanzanian coding bootcamps learn App development through MIT App Inventor, Scratch Platform for Animation, and Front-end development. This is enough to spark a STEM interest of a novice. However, it is high time we develop the spark to a fire.
The cry is to have more women in the tech space, broadly the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). The stereotype is that girls think the STEM majors are hard or boring. Moreover, girls feel alienated when they decided to pursue the majors. The key players, and decision makers in Tech have created programs, practices, and opportunities for women to join the STEM field yet with observation it seems there is little long-term impact.
So, what should we do?
Here is my proposed trick:
See how the sports betting companies market their business.
“Win a jack pot of 10,000,000 TZS, play now” “Start betting with only 1sh and win prizes!”
it feels like you might win or the odds might be on your side but to be honest this ad Is talking to more than a million of young people who may or may not know how the betting works. Moreover, you might lose more than five times, but those random wins and the publicized jack pot winners keep you motivated to bet or bid or even learn the mechanism behind to win. I do not think most of the youth engaging in betting are passionate about it but rather it is the reward that keeps them coming back!
Let us change our marketing from “She can code too” or “Coding is cool” to “Get a chance a to be paid 5,000,000TZS a month, Study now!”
“Earn $3,000 from home! Enroll in our programs today!”
As I mentioned earlier, with the current state of the economy, I’m very sure the youth especially women will learn advanced programming knowing the reward is this big, despite the program being hard or intensive and we all know how girls can cram and master the science of things in a short time under the promise of a better future (school).
You will be surprised to know this is the same trick our parents used on us “Become a doctor you will never be unemployed” (even though it takes years and hard) “Go work in the government institutions they pay better”. You see this is no longer about passion or gender balance, they personalized the career choice, it is now about livelihood. Let us advertise the truth, being a skilled developer pays well.
Last week I attended Power Learn Project official Launch in Tanzania. Power Learn Project is an impact organization whose goal is to drive transformative change for youth in Africa by powering them with relevant technology. Their aim is to empower African youth with skills that allow you to navigate the job market with confidence.
Now they are in Tanzania, offering an entry level training using free data access, self paced learning management system over a period of 16 weeks, in courses ranging from programming languages to Blockchain 101. The learners will then have opportunities for hands on practical experience through a proof of work module and later join a community of peers to either advance their skills, acquire job placements, or create their own ventures.
This is an example of the coding bootcamp that needs to be replicated in the country in order to deepen the interest, gain relevant skills and have an opportunity to apply for well paying jobs. You can use the marketing trick explained to get women and youth in the program.
I am applying for this program and im calling all the young women and other young people in the country to apply for the program.
