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@lists.my.co.ke wrote:
Message: 3 Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:17:54 +0300 From: Michael Pedersen<sku@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@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