Being a software developer in Uganda
Tags: webdev, startup, watercooler, devjournal
Published: 2022-05-10 10:24:14

In this article, I’ll share my story as a software developer in Uganda and some of the experiences I have had which I’m sure some developers mainly those in Africa can relate with. If so please share your experiences in the comments section.

Around 11 years ago as I was sending out my applications to the different universities, Information Technology and Computer Science were my top 2 courses. I was very enthusiastic about studying information technology and learning how to code. However, this excitement was not shared by all around me.

Some people asked me to rethink whether IT was the right choice, their reason being that the IT field was already saturated. In those years, there was a funny notion that IT was only about things like burning data onto CDs (any Ashampoo fans out there 😎), knowledge of MS office package products mainly Word, Excel and PowerPoint and probably knowing how to set up a work station and boot up the machine.

So when you told some people you are going to do IT, they were like, “seriously!”🤯
Anyway I managed to graduate with my IT degree and that’s when the interesting part starts. There are those ones who were able to get jobs utilizing their IT skills immediately after graduating or even during their final year, then there are those ones who totally abandoned the IT degree and pursued something different and then there are those ones who couldn’t get a job in IT as soon as we would have liked (this is the category I was in), and therefore the next best solution was to create the job for yourself, how? By freelancing.

Now, during those times having a website was not an item on a business owner’s to do list, if it happened to be there, it was at the bottom of the list and very often ignored, every new entrant to the list being slipped in above it.
So in most cases before telling anyone I could build a website for them, I would find myself first having to explain why the person needed one, in some rare cases there are those people who even needed explanations first about what a website is and the internet before telling them it’s importance and finally, that I could create one for them.

The pressures of life start kicking in and you have no choice but to take a job/work unrelated to the IT field, but because IT is your first love, you keep on engaging with it: creating side projects and keeping up with the current trends.

I eventually landed my first freelance client through a referral by a friend and I was excited. I didn’t even discuss the payment issue with my client as I thought we could handle that after or during development of the site. After delivering the website, my client gave me what I can call an appreciation fee. It was way below what I had in mind as what I should be paid.

A few months later, my client wanted a revamp to the website, this time round I decided to clearly bring out the issue of payment. Well, I’m sad to say that that was the last time I heard from them, ties completely cut off. This was another mindset some people had then and some still do now, work like website design and development, graphics designing etc, was belittled greatly. If you told someone you were going to build them a website and it would cost them around UGX.200,000 (around $55), you would receive a response like, why all that yet you’ll just be playing around on your computer?

So back to my story, some final year IT and CS students usually need help with their final year projects so I was able to get a number of those which brings me to my next point of some of the characteristics of being a software developer in Uganda;

**1. High internet data prices**
The main way to connect to the internet is through mobile network operator’s data plans. [Uganda is reported to have the highest prices for internet](https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/business/prosper/why-uganda-s-internet-cost-is-highest-in-east-africa-1873090) in the East Africa region. Earlier in my career I would subscribe to the nightly 1GB data plan that run from 12am to 6am to work on my projects over night.

**2. Occasional electricity blackouts**
Ok I must say that electricity is much more stable and wider spread than it was while I was growing up but it’s not unusual for it to go off on some days and get back. While growing up the norm was you have electricity today, then it’s off tomorrow, then it’s on again the following day, then off…(I think you get the cycle here)

**3. Using an old computer is fine as long as it gets the job done.**
I still have my Dell Inspiron n5050 from my uni days still working although I have been considering to retire it for two years now.😎 Together with my Inspiron we have delivered several projects, published apps on the [Google play store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=EM+TECH+Global) and it's still handling a couple of ongoing projects at the moment. I was thinking of starting game development on it but I fear it may just blackout on me. 😂


![My faithful Dell Inspiron N5050](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/14dcaouz1zlflrt4yu0v.jpg)

In conclusion, a lot has changed now from eleven years ago. The IT field is much more recognized and appreciated, the [Ugandan startup arena is growing](https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/04/uganda-in-the-spotlight-as-countrys-startups-captivate-yc-google/) by the day, [demand for African based software developers is rising](https://qz.com/africa/2136331/google-report-shows-a-growing-demand-for-african-programmers/) and the developers are not shy to place reasonable price tags for their services based on their level of skill.
Being a software developer in Uganda is an amazing experience, there is some character it builds in you driven by many surrounding factors, I don’t know about the experience of others but that there is a bit of mine.

Feel free to share your unique experiences too in the comments section.

You can also checkout my gigs on [Fiverr](https://www.fiverr.com/appsthatimpact) and let’s bring your idea to life.

Use this [referral link](https://www.fiverr.com/s2/ff001e57bc) and you will get a 10% discount on your first purchase on Fiverr.

https://www.fiverr.com/s2/ff001e57bc