February 2012 - skunkworks - Skunkworks Site

Urgently Requires a Blackberry Curve 9300 (Used)
by Richard Sinda 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

I am in urgent need of the above type of phone and at a good price.

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Wanted: Hard drive for Toshiba Satellite C650
by Andrew Ouko 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

I need a 320GB internal hard drive (SATA, 2.5 inch, 7200RPM) for the above - can anyone advise on where I can get one? Thanks, Andrew

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Transcend 500GB External Disks Available
by Odhiambo Washington 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

Hello people, A colleague has 4 pieces of Transcend, 500GB, external (all boxed), each going for KES 8,500. These are USB-powered, not externally powered. Call me if you need any. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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Linux hands on training
by mabeya conseray 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

Someone recommend the best hands on training on Linux/Unix in town.

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In Russia, downloading 419GB over 3G in one week wins you a $5000 holiday
by Yonny Mutai 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

Whilst mobile operators in Europe and North America seem to be doing all they can to restrict the amount of data downloaded by their customers, Russian carrier MegaFon wants its customers to enjoy the true definition of unlimited data by handing out prizes worth up to 1 million rubles ($33,000) to people who downloaded the most data in a week. http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/02/06/in-russia-downloading-419gb-over-3g…

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Re: [Skunkworks] KICTB "Chipuka": a new software, certification program for entry level developers
by Josh Handley 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

After having spent a pretty significant part of the last year and half recruiting software engineers here in Nairobi it seems to me that on average Kenyan developers already have five or ten time times the number of certifications that developers in the US do. At the same time, based on my technical evaluations of the candidates I've seen, software engineering talent seems to be inversely related to the number of certifications. It has gotten to the point where I count certifications against the candidate when I look at their CV. In my opinion, top developers have a real passion for coding; enough that they spend a lot of their spare time coding or thinking about coding. These are folks that would code even if they weren't paid for it - they do it because they enjoy coding and solving challenging technical problems. A passionate coder would rather spend his/her free time doing extra coding for their employer, working on their own cool side project or contributing to an open source project than taking an exam. I'm not sure if the interest in certifications here is because local employers put a high value on them but my experience in the US is that most top tech employers don't. On the contrary I've seen job ads from Google that explicitly ask for engineers who have contributed to open source projects but I've never seen one ask for certification. For entry level software engineers, it is all about the university program attended. If you graduated from MIT, Stanford or Carnegie Mellon with decent marks you can walk into just about any entry level position at any tech company. The people who get certifications in the US are those that don't have a degree at all. I would be surprised to hear that any Carnegie Mellon CS grads are out getting certifications. Rather than having Carnegie Mellon focusing on this certification program why not have them open up a campus in Nairobi like they are doing in Kigali? As a hiring manager, someone with a degree from Carnegie Mellon Nairobi would jump right to the top of the list over the folks with 20 different certifications. Josh

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PHP GeoLocation Help
by Allan Ouma 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

Hi Guys, I need a little help with some PHP Code. There are several parts of my website where I want to include a particular PHP file depending on the location you access it from. For example, for the contacts information I have three different PHP files (kenya.php, nigeria.php, uk.php) I want to display specific contact information on my <div id="contacts"> depending on the location you access the website from. Any help on this? The current website is using another GeoLocation script that ade me design three different websites. Problem is, if you are accessing it from a different location, it will load the default website first then redirect you to the website for your location. Can anyone help me with this please? Allan Ouma P.O. Box 12731 Nairobi 00400 Kenya

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Re: [Skunkworks] KICTB "Chipuka": a new software certification program for entry level developers
by Josh Handley 14 Feb '12

14 Feb '12

@Peter, I like the solutions you propose, particularly the summer camp and getting computers to young kids who are interested in programming. When I was in Rwanda they were rolling out the one laptop per child laptops and if that is done right it could have a pretty big impact in the long run. I also agree that the focus of a university program should not be to teach lots of different technologies but to focus on learning one or two with some depth and with lots of practice coding. The program I attended didn't focus on any particular technology or programming language but rather on fundamental concepts of computer science like data structures, algorithms, AI, compilers, operating systems and theory. Grades in those classes were almost exclusively based on individual coding assignments and projects rather than on exams. Once you have these fundamentals you can teach yourself to code in any language/technology as evidenced by the fact that pretty much none of the popular programming languages/platforms of today even existed when folks in my generation were at university yet we are not having any trouble finding work using current technologies. @Joram, good point that a certification would be a good way for someone does not have a university degree to be more marketable. I would fully support it for that purpose. There are certainly plenty of examples of good coders who never completed school and it is harder for them to get hired, especially at first, both here and in the US. I have to disagree though that getting a well rounded education is not important. A good developer needs to be able to understand not just the technology but also the end users problem domain. The more well rounded an education you have the better you are at that. These days, the most marketable computer science grads in the US are those that have done both computer science and an additional subject e.g. computer science + biology for bioinformatics or computer science + finance to work on Wall Street. Josh On 2/14/2012 5:53 PM, skunkworks-request(a)lists.my.co.ke wrote: > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:53:22 +0300 > From: Peter Karunyu<pkarunyu(a)gmail.com> > To: Skunkworks Mailing List<skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> > Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] KICTB "Chipuka": a new software, , > certification program for entry level developers > Message-ID: > <CAKzUqtQVD=ER0x5z3O_Y2KiWz-mwfh+3J85nevb1ETtPbpaQLw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > @Joram, allow me to disagree with you on a number of points. > > *1. "Someone mentioned that great engineers in the US are not hired through > papers, i don't believe this..."* > I have been working for clients in US for a while now and not once did one > ask for my degree papers or any other certs, they just wanted to see what > i have done before. > > Secondly, I keep a very close eye on careers.stackoverflow.com, and in all > the posts I have checked out, most do not ask for a degree or some other > certification. They ask for core programming skills. > * > 2. "Plus the market is flooded with graduates..."* > I am not sure I understand what you mean by this. Is the Kenyan market > flooded by graduates? Yes. Are graduates the same as programmers? Hell No! > Just because someone has gone through a BBIT or CIS degree programme does > not make one a programmer. Writing programs makes one a programmer! The > more you code, the more likely you are to become better. > > Is the US market flooded by graduates? I don't know. What I do know is that > Computer Science graduates from Universities and colleges in US are selling > like hot cakes, according to this CNN > story<http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/12/opinion/rushkoff-write-code/index.html>. > And this<http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/05/n_computer_science_jobs.cnnmoney/>one > and > this<http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/07/technology/tech_engineers_wanted/index.htm> > . > > *3. "In a market where demand outstrips supply papers dont matter but when > the tables turn, employers turn to papers..."* > Do you mean that when the number of job seekers exceeds the available > positions, then employers turn to papers? Well, since we are talking about > programmers here, have you heard of the Joel > Test<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html>? > Specifically rule number 11. The employers who use papers to grade > programmers are misguided. I would bet that the big software houses in .ke, > Cellulant, Craft Silicon et al place a premium on programmers who have the > core skills over those who have fancy papers. > > 4. "*I did a Computer Science degree and still stand by what I said above. > We learnt general concepts of computing, dabbled with several platforms and > ushered into the world. From there we were on our own. Some became great > programmers, some of us bailed. But nothing in that curriculum prepared me > to be a great anything. It exposed me to all and left the rest to me...*" > And this is where I think our Universities have it wrong. A couple of years > back, *students *from MIT would come to Strathmore University to teach Java > programming. The recent AI and ML classes which several skunks took part in > reveal just how deep those guys go when teaching. Still don't believe me? > Check out this iOS programming course from > Stanford<http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/drupal/>. > You simply cant get this level of detail in our local colleges and > Universities due to their misguided belief that lecturers teach you 20% and > 80% you learn on your own. > > This learning of general concepts and dabbling in several platforms is what > is messing up our graduates. They know a little of everything, and thus are > not good in any. > > *5. "in my opinion, Universities are not designed to produce good > programmers. they are to produce all round thinkers...*" > I think this a very wrong approach. It is the reason no University in Kenya > has sent its students to India or Russia to teach Java programming to > students there. Its the same reason we don't see any "*holy sh*t! that is > awesome*<http://www.raytheon.com/newsroom/technology/rtn08_exoskeleton/>" > innovations in .ke. Universities make us all round in VB 5, 6, C, C++, > Java, PHP, HTML such that we don't master any of them to become of any use > to Josh, IBM or Skynet. > > *Solution > *1. Pick one platform/language, teach it to students from first year to 5th > year. Go into as much detail as possible. > 2. Hand pick any high school student interested in computers, ship them off > to a 3 month summer camp @ mLab and teach them programming. > 3. Give laptops to anyone with half a mind interest in computers. > 4. Sit back and watch as interesting things happen. >

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Re: [Skunkworks] KICTB "Chipuka": a new software, , certification program for entry level developers
by Josh Handley 14 Feb '12

14 Feb '12

Mike, now that I know you have a bunch of certificates my respect for your technical skills has dropped a couple of notches. Seriously though even if Chipuka can accurately measure coding skills then it would just help weed out the job applicants who can't do loops and arrays. However, the problem isn't that I can't weed those folks out already. I have become quite good at eliminating under qualified candidates early on in the recruiting process. The real problem is that the overall number of applicants in Nairobi who are able to pass my screening tests is relatively small. Creating another certification by itself doesn't bring up the skill level of the average Kenyan software developer it just tells you which ones are not skilled and which ones are. The real focus should be on getting more developers that have the necessary skills. This can be done through better training at the university level and before (university is really too late start), on the job training etc... Some will argue that adding the certification will help the educational programs focus on the right skills but if that is really the goal then wouldn't it be easier to just work directly with the universities and schools to improve their curriculum and teaching? My experience with big tests is that you just push to people to study for the test and they don't end up with a deep understanding of the subject matter. I hope I don't sound overly negative on the skill level of Kenyan software engineers. We have hired a team of really top notch Kenyan developers at Bridge who are doing fantastic work and have taught me a lot. Most of them gained their skills studying at local universities and working at local software companies. I just don't think that there are enough engineers at that level to support even the current local demand let alone enough for IBM to come in and hire hundreds of them for BPO. Josh On 2/14/2012 9:47 AM, skunkworks-request(a)lists.my.co.ke wrote: > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:17:54 +0300 > From: Michael Pedersen<sku(a)kaal.dk> > To:skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke > Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] KICTB "Chipuka": a new software, > certification program for entry level developers > Message-ID:<4F39FC92.3070506(a)kaal.dk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi Josh, > > I agree and disagree at the same time;-) > > I agree that certificates generally are being abused or does not really > say anything in Kenya, in many cases you simply get a certificate for > nothing. "Certificate that person X has participated in activity Y" - it > tells you nothing other than that person was able to actually show up > for whatever was happening. In true spirit of Generation Y (aka. the > Trophy generation - everyone gets a trophy). Within my limited time in > Kenya I have personally already acquired two "certificates", without > having to demonstrate any understanding or skill-level. > > I disagree that that Chipuka is the same thing - or at least it is not > intended to be (lets see when it goes live), the significant difference > here is that it requires you do demonstrate hands-on developer skills - > as mentioned earlier it is of-course important to know exactly what > those requirements, when evaluating any potential staff. > > > I have witnessed quite a few Kenyan IT-graduates, who did not understand > loops and arrays i.e. the very basics of programming, how that is even > possible is almost a mystery to me. > My best guess is that either there are too few hands-on assignments in > the university, or everything is "group-work" and that each group has > 1-2 people who understands how to code, and the rest are just > free-riding - anyway I don't know. > > .. > Michael Pedersen

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Faulty WD 320 GB hdd 3.5"
by Chege 14 Feb '12

14 Feb '12

Hii all, i have a squeaking WD 320 Gb not completely crushed...am looking for a similar circuit-board of hdd can anyone help...need to retrieve the data... Thanks in advance rgds Chege

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