I’ve been working from home during these difficult COVID times. I like to complain that I’m unlucky because I don’t get to hang out. #RemoteWorldProblems
Whenever I get a chance to go out at odd hours when people are supposed to be at the office, the conversation comes around to people asking me what work I do. When I tell them that I work from home, the next question is usually: “Can you show me? Can you show me how to work online?”
Suddenly, my “learning to code” journey flashes before my eyes and I get lazy trying to think about mentoring someone because it’s not a walk in the park. I then see the despair come over them when I explain that I may not be able to help because I also work for someone.
For a long time, academic writing has been a full-time job for many people in Kenya. The good thing about it is that finding jobs is easier compared to coding.
The bad thing is that it’s seasonal and there are times when the jobs are low. Getting a programming job is difficult but the doors start to open once that happens.
There’s some part of the population that keeps the lights on through money from the diaspora e.g. through relatives who work over there. Working remotely for companies outside of the country is a way of working abroad without the requirement of getting a visa and being physically available.
The funny thing is that the Kenyan government and the citizens are looking for money from the outside—the only difference is that the people are not taking loans and are working for it. (Slow burn)
I honestly think that going digital will help us a lot; Israel, Brazil and India have paved the way. Compiling learning resources and finding opportunities might be the hardest bits to tackle but that’s a good problem to have.