On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 10:29 PM, aki < aki275@googlemail.com > wrote: @Steve, @Murigi : Honestly, maybe there is no one in KE who is a developer. And it may also be true that we are knocking on wrong doors? Assume that there is a need to start local dev communities, what's next? :-) We have capable developers in Kenya who will deliver more as we persuade them to connect to each other to produce more notable stuff. If our software developers do not regularly invest 1K to 5K (like quarterly) to network with other developers and business / government executives, they should not expect to be taken seriously. @Aki developers would be better developers if they learn to split productivity aspect of their work and skill development. Productivity is not good for skills development. productivity is about completing your (paid) projects as quickly as possible. unfortunately these doesnt reflect well when such a developer has to enter a competition where creativity and development skills are put to test. Chances of such a person winning is next to none. So what about skills development. This can only be done during the developers free time when targets and the need for financial reward is all out the window. It is even more beneficial when such a developer comes together to share this idea with other like minded developers and they give themselves an impossible task and try to get a solution for it. That's how new ideas and products come up. That's the part a developer community would play as far as turning a Novice IT worker into a proficient developer. Getting a developer community involved in a common goal/solution/software etc (it doesnt need to be 100 people or so but just a couple of people) this would be instrumental as far as skill building is concerned. Steve Obbayi SKYPE: sobbayi US: +1 202 297 6831 KE: +254 722 627 691 http://sobbayi.com http://blog.sobbayi.com