Over the years, the African continent has, gradually, created an ecosystem, of tech hubs that have witnessed an increase, in the number of indigenous software developers.
This development has, recently, made Microsoft, to invest, up to $100 million, to establish development centres.
Not less than 100 developers, on the continent, will be employed this year, on a full-time basis.
The Microsoft development centres, aim to increase its pool of African software developers, to 500, by 2023.
Till date, there appears to be a steady increase, in the number of indigenous developers, on the continent.
Reports from GitHub has shown that, African developers, have created open source repositories, in the software development space, by 40%, than any other continent.
This is an indication that, Africa is breeding young talents in the software engineering market that, will soon transcend, globally.
According to GitHub, ranking among the African countries, having a well-defined developer community is, by having nothing less than 10,000 software engineers, contributing to the platform.
Morocco, the highest, boasts of 70%, followed by Kenya with 60%, while Nigeria and Egypt, both share 50%.
One thing worthy of mention is that, African countries, with less than 10,000 contributors, to the platform that have seen, massive growth, in their developers’ communities.
Mayotte and Guinea Bissau lead the rank, showing more than 500% growth, with Seychelles, Chad and Algeria, following closely.
This indicates nothing, but the continuous tentacles, being spread, by tech hubs, beyond known homes, of tech hubs, such, as Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.
A testimony to the emerging pool of software engineers, on the continent, has seen tech platforms, like Andela in 2014, come up, to provide training, for Africa’s array of young talents, in the software development space.
Recently, however, Andela laid off, a pool of its young developers, stating that, it has changed its model of operations, moving forward, as seen in its new office in Egypt, where it only hired senior software developers.
With the emergence of tech hubs, across the continent, it is hoped that, the space would be large enough, to contain these young talents.
Featured Image: afrikatech
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to https://techbuild.africa/newsletter-signup/ for updates.
