Like-minded folks

Hi,

Any "like-minded" folks in the house?  I'm a professional web developer with Web4Africa. Please no idle talk.

Holla back.

What do you think about the web community in Nigeria? Has it come of age yet? For me, the answer is NO!

So long ...

My name is Seun and I refer to myself as a professional 'website administrator'.

Of course, the Nigerian web community is not yet mature, but that's good for those of us that have just started working our way up: we have the leeway to make lots of mistakes and learn from them.

When it becomes convenient and safe for Nigerians to buy and sell over the Internet, our web community will start growing much faster!

well maybe we ain't yet of age. but being the most populous black nation we got alot of Nigerians online. you'll see them chatting, being members of dating sites and perpertuating scam mails. the few cool ones blog like meself blog

The Web community in Nigeria is pretty much in infancy. Most so-called web designers and developers are a joke.

I believe that we need to invest more time and effort in learning (not necessarily certificates and all that, good as they are).

Most Nigerian-developed websites are dysfunctional and in particular lack content.

No; we have certainly not come of age yet.

AYA, I don't feel inclined to complain about how other websites are a joke. How will we create a presence on the Internet if large companies start investing millions into the training of their web developers?

No, I don't feel inclined to complain. However, if I must contribute all I can say is that the money is not going to the right people. That is all I would say. And there are some good, high profile Nigerian websites out there. MTN Online is good. ShopForLess.com is good, though of Indian roots.

I am not complaining. This is a discussion on the subject. But then, do we need millions of naira to be injected into training Web developers before we can have functional websites? I don't think so.

It takes more of people being willing to learn. In this case, the so-called web developers themselves. Looks like an extension of the title craze that we are so well known for here in nigeria.

It used to be "Engr", "Architect", "Docteor" and all those. Now the craze is to see every Tom, Dick and harry labelling themselves Web Developers. To complete the joke, most of them add "Professional" before the "Web Developer" part :lol: They only mock the real professionals.

AYA, most of these people can design much better than either of us ...

seun:

AYA, most of these people can design much better than either of us ...

Which is part of the problem. There is more to developing a website than the page design, than graphics. Much more.

And I still do not agree about the most you used. I run a web hosting company and have statistics to back up my claims that most self-styled "professional" Web developers are not worth the name, design or anything else wise.

The true professionals are few and far in-between, and they produce excellent work.

Well, I understand AYA and his quote "There is more to developing a website than the page design, than graphics" is true. What he is trying to say is that more skills are needed in content driving and thats what the web is driving too.

(By the way I would like to greet Seun, the owner and moderator of this site. I have been in contact with him for a while through the net and he has been doing a gooood job with excellent ideas. More grease to your elbows ... )

Seun, sorry I have just registered today. I have been busy and you know that!

I would be here very often, and for sure we'll have more to discuss ...

AYA: do we need millions of naira to be injected into training Web developers ...

When I was first 'unleashed' on the Internet, I knew absolutely nothing about what it takes to run a successful website. Two years later, I can say I know a little bit more.

Even if the information is out there on the Internet, it takes time to assimilate this information. It takes time to experiment, make mistakes and finally discover the right way to do things. If I was a web developer working full-time in a big company while trying to learn learning all the practical things I've learnt, millions of naira might have been spent on my salary already.

Summary: It takes time to assimilate knowledge, and time is money.

Thats true Seun.
But if you keep focus time will tell.
Seun can you remember or do you have an idea who is using the ID :-naijacoder?

somehow I might not really get all what you're saying but I agree with you on one point, that:

"Seun":
"When I was first 'unleashed' on the Internet, I knew absolutely nothing about what it takes to run a successful website. Two years later, I can say I know a little bit more.
Even if the information is out there on the Internet, it takes time to assimilate this information. It takes time to experiment, make mistakes and finally discover the right way to do things"

It sure does take time to get used to the Internet. Most of us started out as chatting freaks, then moved on to getting webpages, and started learning the ropes on the net, to the state we are now. I might not have the IT knowledge of some people but I know a lot about internet culture than most guys out there trying to make money off the net. Thanks to 3 years+ of being a browsing freak.

Would I be wrong to say that most of the really good web developers out there are freelancers? These are people who have worked their way to those positions of authority. I agree with Seun - knowledge especially if it's knowledge you obtain from the Internet or some other unstructured sources takes time to assimilate. I hardly know of a really good Nigerian developer who's not a browsing freak

I'm also a web developer (PHP guru extraordinaire ) - of course I do have works to testify to that and I do have friends too who are professional web developers and I tell you ALL of them learnt through materials they got off the Internet!

The Nigerian web community hasn't come of age but with more and more sites like Nairaland, etc. springing up, we'll get there but we mustn't forget that access has a major role to play in the pursuit of this goal.

Timba that was a good response and thats the spirit..
If you are availabe and wants to take up projects......
Give it a shout

Seun, could it be possible to have Nigerians who are resident abroad use this facility as well. I will hold my opinion back on this topic until I get a response.
I reside in the UK and my email is mcolanrey@aol.com

Well compare to neighboring African countries and many other distant African countries, we really have come of age !! I mean how many Ghanaian websites or Senegalese websites etc do we have on the net? But when it comes to Nigerians, we indeed have made a record, and the community is growing day by day even as i speak. So i would say in the local aspect yes we have come of age, but in the international scene we do have a long trip ahead of us.

Seun:

AYA, I don't feel inclined to complain about how other websites are a joke. How will we create a presence on the Internet if large companies start investing millions into the training of their web developers?

No, I don't feel inclined to complain. However, if I must contribute all I can say is that the money is not going to the right people. That is all I would say. And there are some good, high profile Nigerian websites out there. MTN Online is good. ShopForLess.com is good, though of Indian roots.

Starcomms have a good website as well. Is shopforless.com indian owned?

Well, no not at all. Nigeria still has a long way to go.

As for sites, most times, when I come across Nigerian sites, I just laugh my ass off and close my browser window. There are only a few that are actually very impressive, but then again some of them tend to make use of "too much" Flash, which I consider to be a resource/bandwidth hog.

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The fact is that web technology is dynamic. The first web pages we had were just plain hyperlinked HTML texts. Now we have "wise pages"(php, asp, jsp, etc).

Nigeria just caught on and it is difficult to follow when you join in a discussion halfway. All we need are the right clues, the right guidance. If it took you two years to get the knack of intergrating database sites for instance, I believe a forum like this is where you can place guides so upcoming developers do not have to re-invent the wheel.

I suggest we have a reference area where one can go for smart tips. That is how we are going to come of age. Knowledge is meant to be shared. One person can't be the only developer in the country. We have millions of developers in the state and the still make money!Lets be generous. In fact, come to think of it, a lot of us make extensive use of softwares released under GNU General Public License. Let us develop the open source spirit and then we will get there!

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Open source spirit does not put food on the table. It's not wrong to explore commercial possibilities. Cheap and affordable is often better than free because it puts food on someone's table.

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Seun:

Open source spirit does not put food on the table. It's not wrong to explore commercial possibilities. Cheap and affordable is often better than free because it puts food on someone's table.

I agree with you Seun, cheap and affordable is better. I guess that means open source is at least good
Selling the product of your creative effort is just, but even microsoft now realizes its not all money again. The world is going opensource, if microsoft is now sponsoring open source project! Check out www.dotnetnuke.com for details.

the Naija web community will remain at infancy as long as we don't reckon with made in Nigeria websites.We need to support sites like nairaland.com , oneloveng.com to attain their full potentials.

The Naija web community will come of age when everyone get to know the potentials of the Internet/www

websoftweb:

It is true that open source does not put food on anyone's table. But what we should all know is that true invention or creation does not come from a desire to make money it comes from real desire to make a change and make life easier and better. We should all remember that the internet was made possible by Nigeria`s own Philip Emeagwali. Who as a result of ancient mathematical equation used in crude oil minning help made super computers a reality. And we all know that fame and even money came to him as a result of this[/color][color=#990000][/color][color=#990000].

But we must all remember that true creativity comes out of the willing mind and not only make changes but also brings about lots and lots of good things of this life.

Remember the creator created every man to be creative. Depends on how we want to use our creativity.

Hope someone understands my point.

Philip Emeagwali, just because he said so on his website, has absolutely no input to the development of the Internet as we know it today. If we must make a claim, please make sure you have your facts straight. I must tell you, i used to be one of those who look up to him as a role model. But the fact is, no one can subtantiate his claims. Are we so cheap to make false claims? just so that we can be recognized?

Read this mind-blowing article http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/cezeilo/2003nov09.html

Untill Emeagwali can prove his claims, i am bill gate and the owner of microsoft corp.

Ynot you have "unmasked the masqurade". Although i don't want to comment on the Emegwalis's claims here but i think i will have to say something.

Philip did next to nothing to warant the claim of making the fastest computer. The smallest computer chip is a result of collaboration of hundreds if not thouusands of inputs from various fields of science and human endeavours.

For someone who write an algorithm to make better use of processing capabilities in all-ready made Cray super-computers to lay claim to making the fastest super-computer is a big lie. For years his claims has not even been substantiated by any visible work.

When he claimed he is the father of the internet were did he put those scientist at MIT, DoD, and the folks that write the specifications for the global internet when he's propably still in Nigeria.

Dr. Emeagwali and Prof. Oyibo are more or less of the same caliber, a scientiest/inventor that can't give the whole world a visible proof is more or less a paper scientist.

The nigerian guys would start to hit the spotlites when we start creating trends instead of following it. Before long, guys out there will start outsourcing to us.

delete

lol, hardly do our profs write codes.
The best i have seen writes C and VB(and not liike and expert) but is good at producing algorithms.

The thing is that the nigerians abroad aren't promoting the country enough.
There are very baddddddddddass developers in nigeria. young and old, but the thing is the country isn't supporting the ITsector like india is doing.

see ehn my brodas and sistas, the thing is that, this IT growth thing is in our individual hands, zinox started itabi,and government now later started backing him.
Produce something solid and see if everybody wont say, "He is my brother/father/mother/sister/friend".

if just want a webpage or community like nairaland that easy . But I have experience (international). Your ATM machine is web base, even Television is webbase over here, What they call Digital television is really a web base application. Telephone is web base. Nigeria do not need web developer, or people who can design website, but people who can write program, How many of your so call Web deisgner or developer know what is "heritance" Or how to write software to include client and server or Programable logic control. or VLSI. This is where the NIgeria govt should put it money in. I am here to teach if Nigeria govt want me. I am not for cheap, if Nigeria govt is willing to pay $120,000 a year. I would teach Nigeria engineers some of the thing. I can build an ATM machine from the start to end including Machine and software. I also can design VOIPs. and many more. Nigeria should take out the so call National service(NYSC) for electrical and computer science student and let them do a Master degree within the period. How many prof in Nigeria can design their software.

I am interested in written software in Yoruba , igbo and hausa. But I can't find help. I can make your computer speak and understand Yoruba, igbo and hausa. I can talk to the computer. This is what computer is about, not your web design.

What are you saying that Nigerian programmers don't know nothing about inheritance and client-server development. That statement shows that you yourself no nothing.

If you are a developer you don't really need money to come up with a nice software. You will be surprised the day you need a Nigerian developer.