It is absolutely appalling that now everyone i trying/claiming to be a web developer. A couple of years ago, Oracle was the almighty IT area in Nigeria, now its web dev, so what next. It is very important to inform people about the availability of profitable opportunity in the IT industry. As for me, I initially felt that programming was my calling. I am an excellent programmer, written several small application/modules, now I realised probably just in my opinion that programming is somewhat boring to me and repetitive. So now am into Business Intelligence (Business Objects) this I definitely find satisfying. I have acquired a formal education in general IT and Business Intelligence. It is cool to have a wide range of knowledge in the IT field so as to leverage ones potential. Well, for those who have a formal education in IT good job, for those who are self taught and are excelling good job, and for those who are self taught but screwing everything up stop making the good ones look bad. Definitely we can all be IT pros, web devs in our own rights. However, the knowledge to apply standards/protocols is what differentiates a professional, a wannabe and a newbie. In my opinion it will be great to have some sort of regulations and standards in the IT industry in nigeria.

A couple of days ago, I was looking at the different sites for each state in nigeria, some of them had a .gov extension which is appropriate others had .com. Same goes for universities some had .com, other .ng. or some crazy thing. Its sad that in sectors like this in Nigeria, people cannot come together to reach an agreement on how things should function and the appropriate methods to use. I have seen/met several nigerians who claim to be web devs, but whenever I see their works, men I feel like crying, its sickening and ugly. I do not claim to be the best web developer I would not normally build websites for people but people do consult with me on how to achieve a certain task, my work is mostly dealing with desktops/data warehouses.

This pattern can be changed but the difficulty in getting everyone together on a similar page is daunting. I wish there is a way to ban the bad apples in the Nigerian IT industry messing up opportunity for others who are the true professionals of their fields. My opinion about Nigerian scammers and spammers is extreme, there ought to be extended incarceration time for offensives committed in my opinion.

This is my observation and would like people to express their views as well about non-professional IT men/women.

Cactus,

It is cool to have a wide range of knowledge in the IT field so as to leverage ones potential. Well, for those who have a formal education in IT good job, for those who are self taught and are excelling good job, and for those who are self taught but screwing everything up stop making the good ones look bad. Definitely we can all be IT pros, web devs in our own rights. However, the knowledge to apply standards/protocols is what differentiates a professional, a wannabe and a newbie. In my opinion it will be great to have some sort of regulations and standards in the IT industry in nigeria.

Do you have specific standards/protocols you want to see on web projects done by Nigeria? Please state them.

I do not think it will be easy to regulate the industry because the entry level is very low and easy for anyone that cares.

While I agree with you that some people have done havoc in the industry, regulation may work in other sectors but I don't see it working in this regard.

It is the duty of a business owner to seek for good developers when looking for people to handle web projects. Unfortunately, some will look for the cheapest while others will translate expensive quotes into being the best quotes.

Being self taught certainly isn't a weakness but rather a strenght. One can be taught by the best programmer, in the best school with the best environment yet still come out bad.

Trust me you didn't learn a thing, from school, except book theories from what I found from your post, an opinion of course. I also really don't understand what the hec you are talking about. I am a self taught, and so is many guru's out there, although I don't claim to be one, mind you I am not trying to be humble.

Infact most people in the top popular areas in the IT field today, didn't achieve it via formal education, So I really think either that kpali you get is making you feel that "you are ok" and "other people are not ok", or maybe you are jelous of the success of those that didn't get that supposed formal education. Whatever it might be, you are not any better. Peace.

Mind listing your official kpali presentable portal? That would be appreciated.

It is virtually impossible to say learning in a formal environment eg school in an IT field is not beneficial to anyone being that its theoretical. Well, I am sorry to say that the kpali you are referring to as useless is absolutely useful and I made no mention to someone having a kpali to succede. Education doesnt necessarily mean having the kpali. You can take training/coaching classes, prep classes etc but as long as you have the basic foundation of the IT industry that is definitely a step forward. If you are confident that you can learn/understand/implement solo then you need not have any problems. On the other hand, someone can have the formal education and still not be able to perform in a business environment. Logically such an individual ought to be able to recognise his/her abilities. thats why many people go to unis, fail classes and switch majors.

FYI, you cannot compare the society in which the top IT performers in the world operate to the nigerian society. the highest IT performers in the world, where are they from, where did they grow up, where did they reside and where are they now? Even in the 1980s and early 90s, these guys had the resources to operate, how many nigerian families comparable to the time period have pcs in their house, reliable internet access? The ability to improve ones skill is also determined by the availability of resources.

For instance, some of my friends who are always telling me they want to be web devs in naija, am like do u have a pc (because you need to have access when you need it instead of leaving the house and going someplace), and their response no that they will be going to a cybercafe or someplace that they can use a pc. My response will always be well if u have a buddy there or the money to spend fine give it a shot all the best if u have any problems send me a mail. I do encourage each and everyone who is looking into getting specifically into web dev to try it out hopefully they like it and they can last long.

kazey if you read my post carefully, i acknowledged those who do not have formal education and are succeding. I did not mention anything about kpali or no kpali, having a formal education is contextual. If you have a part time teacher, thats a formal education, going to school thats formal, lesson teacher thats formal, technical school thats also formal. so I don't understand where you are going with your kpali issue. This is not about pride because I am working with IT newbies that are performing very well in their fields. Its about recognizing the fact that there are some bad apples and what possibly could be done.

in regards to seun comment, I am not not equating web devs to scammers. Scammers have their own playing field which if i had the means, i would be glad to clean up. Some of the websites I have seen that i have being able to detect/trace as being fraudulent i did file report/complaints here is the link http://www.ic3.gov/. I did look up some of the sites after months of reporting some where pulled down others were still up and running. if anyone else is interested further instruction is available here http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/how-to-report-scams.html. Definitely not every case will be followed up due to the magnitude of cases/complaints filed. Am sure they do what they are capable of doing to make things better.

in respect to afam's questions, everyone/businesses would absolutely like to have the best IT guys to work on projects at the cheapest price. Some nigerian businesses website I have seen are absoultely fantastic the user-interface are extremely good. However, majority are whack. Am not such if such businesses require individuals to have portfolios before they can start work because that will definitely tell. And if the businesses saw the portfolios and they agreed, well shame on them. If businesses do summon the courage to invest in IT guys specifically web developers then that will weed out crooks. Cos most web devs get jobs by referrals.

Things would be better if business require web devs to

1. have at least 5 original provable works in their portfolios. (to include at least 1 database driven)
2. provide at least 3 references (not teacher nor professor but businesses they have worked with)
3. take an aptitude test in regards to concepts, technologies, and implementation
*4. though not likely many will opt for this option, have a web developer certification program similar to this. http://www.ciwcertified.com/certifications/webdev.asp?comm=CND&llm=2

If this could be possible as the minimum requirements businesses should accept then competition would increase for the best of the best.Nothing is easy to regulate, with willingness and effort progress will be made.

oga, IT education, greed got me to where i am today, i got a job to do a website from a guy in the US and thought i could sub-contract it to a real expert, in the end i could not get a real expert, so i learned the hardway,
18 websites / 7 database projects and 5 custom-software from the smallest to the largest of companies, never went to an IT programme for1 day. graduated Business Administration.

So what say you?

Well hope you guys are reading carefully because I clearly stated that if you can self teach and be good and you can prove yourself fantastic, congratulation you are definitely going to be a valued contributor to the growth of the IT industry. Realistically there are some and there will always be those who claim they are web devs but cannot perform and I have provided some possibled ideas that might makes things a little bit better. also in your opinion, is it feasible to regulated the IT industry in nigeria>

Cactus,

I would say your post became more precise and straight to the point with subsequent replies.

Your points are valid but it remains a fact that many are very good even without mentors or need for training of any kind.

As I will always maintain, there are 2 types of education when it comes to everything in life: book education and street education.

Book education is what you get from school. You learn theories or facts based on another's research. You typically learn how to learn. By that I mean, you most likely will not use a single thing you learnt in the University in the real world. However, due to your diverse education, you can basically, except for specialized professions like law and medicine for example, pick up and go with anything you set your mind to. Personally, I am yet to use a single line of math I learnt from my probability and permutation classes at my job

Street education is what you learn duking it out on your own. So for example, I graduated with specialization in software engineering. However, since I like the fact that with the web, I can tell nwankwo in Isiala ngwa to go to his nearest cafe, enter a web address and see what I have done real time, I went into web dev. I bought the books, did ogboju, made mistakes and learnt on my own. Eventually, my work got recognized and many classes/seminars/workshops later, I am 7 years strong in the game. As cactus said up top, it can get boring after a while, especially if you are someone like me who maintains library of my code. That is why I have moved on to architecture/web usability. Coding can get monotonous real quick.

Book education, IMHO, is what gets you a job. Street education gets you a career. At my current job, there is a guy who graduated in history who cranks out JSP code as if his popsie impregnated his momsie with java-injected sperm (sorry, but I cdnt resist going there )). All he did was pick it up as a recreation. Fortunately, it was at a time when as long as you heard of anything in the field, you were hired on the spot. There were many .coms back then.

My advice? Only the strong survive in this rat race world. You become strong by learning from the streets. As I tell many people, book education is good, but at the end of the day, of what use is it if you are a medical doctor, saddled with student loans and living in apartment, while your neighborhood taxi driver is living in a $200,000 house? I say what I say based on personal experience, which has seen me losing my job (for 2 years) 2 wks before moving into my first house and 6 months to my wedding in naija, with no means of paying the first mortgage. Without street education, yours truly would have been posting this entry from the halls of a salvation army house. he he.

Chew on the above folks. Hopefully, you would have learnt something by the time you get to this line

Dear All,

At the end of the day it is down to the client who they want to select for the work. I don't mind going into presentations against bad and/or inexperienced companies or people. It is my job to show the client what I can offer and how my product/service is better than the other guys. If he selects the other team so be it and go luck to them.

Personally, I don't agree with banning people and/or with government legislation (they have other issues to deal with).

Regards
Tim

Cactus,

Thanks for your observation. The problem with every facet of our economy is infrastructure. Nothing works, because round pegs are plugged into square holes. I met someone who works at NCC recently, she didn't even know the difference between a website and a newsgroup. What I'm trying to say is that, we need to provide a suitable ground in other for things to work properly.

It is important for the guys in charge of .ng to manage it appropriately and give it to the right guys. after struggling for a while to get a .edu.ng for a school I ended up with a .org, since the marketers have taking all the other extension.

You don't need to be a rock scientist to program in 2006. Formal education is just a big test that prefer you for life. Sky Danton with no formal education, founded EarthLink (an ISP) at 24 http://www.earthlink.net/about/leaders/dayton. The company annual revenue is now $1 billion.

The secret to success is learning by example, troubleshoot, copy and modify. I got into web development through a site that I developed a long time ago for my school http://www.fegocoosa.org. It was my first site. The guy who was suppose to design it, failed to show up. In short, there is nothing stopping you but you. See a site, find out how the code works, and see how you can use it for your site. Always remember to ACKNOWLEDGE the right people.

Panache I hear u.

I will just agree to disagree on a portion of what you said (if i don't, then what is the essence of democracy and free speech? ).

Programming isn't rocket science, but it isnt for every Nwanko, Temitope and Abdulahi either. Just cos it may have been easy for you doesn't mean it will be the same way for someone else. I am not bashing you o! Just trying to clarify a little. Personally, I am a slow learner, but once I get it, it sticks. Speech like that gets me intimidated and withdrawn. I am sure there are others on this forum with similar xtics. Everyone's IQ isn't the same. Some learn quick, others take time.

I still insist on borrowing from both facets of the discussion. So go get some kind of formal training, no matter how trivial and get to mingle with the pple. Social interaction is key. Supplement that with "street education" and you should be good to go, over time. Just cos dayton, Bill Gates, Mike Dell et al did it, doesnt mean that okoro can do it too. Everyone has their destiny carved out for them. Of course, it is up to the individual to take their opportunity (which comes but once) and run with it.

Here's to success for us all!!

lol i attended federal govt college ogbomoso for about 4 years