From Learning to Earning: Breaking Into Tech as an African Developer

You've spent months learning through tutorials, built a few projects, maybe even completed a bootcamp. But now you're stuck in the "I know how to code, but nobody's hiring" phase. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone, and you're closer to breaking through than you think.

The Real Gap Isn't Technical

Most African developers who struggle to land their first opportunity don't have a skills problem. They have a visibility and strategy problem. The tech industry rewards people who can prove their abilities publicly, not just those with certificates.

Here's what actually works:

Build in Public: Stop keeping your projects private. Push your code to GitHub daily, even if it's messy. Write brief explanations in your README files about what problems you're solving. Employers don't expect perfection—they want to see your thought process and consistency.

Contribute to Open Source: Find African-led open source projects on GitHub (search for projects tagged "good first issue" or "beginner-friendly"). Even fixing documentation or typos gets your name in commit histories that recruiters actually check.

Create Portfolio Projects That Solve Local Problems: A basic todo app won't stand out. Build something addressing a Nigerian challenge: a simple transport fare calculator, a local event finder, or a data visualization of African tech funding trends. Context matters.

Leverage Remote Opportunities: Platforms like Turing, Andela Talent Cloud, and Remote Africa Jobs specifically connect African developers with global companies. Don't limit yourself to local job boards.

Your Next Step

The best free resource for structured practice and portfolio building is freeCodeCamp's curriculum (freecodecamp.org/learn). Complete their Responsive Web Design or JavaScript certifications while building your public GitHub profile simultaneously. Each project you complete there becomes a portfolio piece.

Goodluck out there! Cheers!