Dream Job vs High Paying Job

Max - The IT Pro — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:40:00 +0000

[Nairobi, Kenya]
GREETINGS everyone. I know, I know…I’ve been awfully quiet for like a WHILE. Well, a part of me got a little burnt out; more so from the fact that I have lousy Internet access here in Kenya. So although I had tons of things to write about here and on Go Africa Go!, I just got annoyed with the Net access thingy. Plus, there was a “little bit” of political “excitement” in these parts due to the post-election “challenges” that ensued in Kenya.

Since I’m house-sitting my pal’s house here in Lavington (a Nairobi suburb) until the end of April, I’ve had the privilege of daily Internet access courtesy of her $200 per month iWayAfrica satellite (VSat) hookup. In a way, my friend Samantha (of Bedouin Camp fame) is doing me a favour by letting me house sit for her.

Decisions, decisions…
Well, I was peeking some enticing IT articles & discussions on ZDNet, SlashDot, Jon Auza’s blog, and a host of other spots in cyber space. And I ran into this gut-wrenching scenario that a programmer had to face: Should he choose a programming job using a language (PERL) that he loves versus a 66% pay rise with another company that’s using Microsoft’s .NET framework.

Heck, in my state of affairs, I’d take the damn .NET job if I was that dude. I can always do PERL scripting in my off time, or even take part in a kick-ass PERL project on SourceForge, which just happens to be the world’s largest Open Source Software repository. Here, you’ll find tons of FREE amazing software projects – like the OpenBiblio Library Information System (LIS) that I implemented for the Jewish Youth Library of Ottawa (JYLO) back in 2004.

Anyhow, I urge you to peek the discussion…lots of interesting points for and against taking both jobs. See Choosing Your Next Programming Job: Perl or .NET. I even blogged about .NET here a year ago. See, I was right! .NET is gaining momentum. Heck, I’m sure a lot of .NET coders are paying off their mortgages in 3 years or less.

Gripe central…
Since I’m using Samantha’s iBook G4 laptop while she visits the south of France, the UK and Dubai, I’ve gotten a bird’s eye view of the Mac OS/X operating system. And to be honest with you all, I’m not that thrilled with it. The major reason is just the little things. Have you ever used cut & paste in the Windows Explorer? Well, I couldn’t find a similar feature in OS/X at all. I had to bloody copy a file or folder from somewhere, paste it to the destination, and then delete the original file. Damn it, but how bloody ANNOYING is that? Yeah, Windows has some warts, but give me Explorer over the Finder in OS/X any day of the week. I think I’m just gonna turn Windows Server 2008 into a workstation (see info on how to do this here, here, and here) on the laptop I plan to buy within 30 days – if all goes well. Let’s just say that I’m skipping Vista after hearing so many horror stories.

Thanks Steph…
By the way, my good pal whom I met on XVI dropped by Nairobi en route to Rwanda and Uganda to do 6 months of academic research. You see, she’s doing her Masters in Peace Building & Conflict Resolution through Royal Roads University. Oh, that’s waaay over there on Vancouver Island, which is in the beautiful province of British Columbia on Canada’s west coast. She hung out with me for 4 days, and I got her to deliver the goods. You see, since Stephanie was coming from Canada, I got her to download a ton of software on her super fast DSL broadband connection before she left for Africa.

Now I have the latest versions of PC-BSD (a kool desktop distro based on the popular FreeBSD server O/S), SimplyMEPIS (a Linux distro that’s getting tons of rave reviews), OpenOffice (a free alternative to Micro$oft Office that runs of Linux & Windows), PostgreSQL (a free database manager that competes admirably against Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase et al), VMware Player (Linux & Windows versions), and XAMPP for Mac OS/X.

Heck, I would never in a million years attempt to download all that stuff over here. Nope! Anyhow, I’m gonna take them all for a spin and I’ll review them right here. It’ll give me a chance to spread some open source love here in East Africa. I hear po-po (er police) has been going around Nairobi nabbing peeps in offices and cyber cafes using pirated software. This is a good thing as it’ll force EVERYONE to utilize open source software like Linux, FreeBSD, OpenOffice et al.

Happy computing!

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya!

Max - The IT Pro — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:24:00 +0000

Home sweet home
Well, I’ve finally made it to the continent of my ancestors – even though I was born in Barbados (also see Barbados Wikepedia ) and grew up in Canada (with 3 years living in New England). Wow, talk about feeling nostalgic!

I arrived here on Nov 26/2005 – on short notice – at the request of a friend from AITEC Africa (short for Advancing ICT knowledge in Africa). My task – if I chose to accept it – was to observe the IT climate in the region as we met with representatives in the business and government sectors whom are both progressive, and seeking Canadain solutions (ERP, eBusiness, eGovernment, etc.) to their many IT needs.

In addition, I was the technical member of the team meaning that I was mandated to use my diverse IT background (and experiences) as a point of reference when looking for potential opportunities that others would not recognize, or when simply conversing with any one willing to listen.

Africa is open for business
Suffice to say, I was blown away!
There are, literally, tons of business opportunities (wireless broadband, networking, IT security, content management, eBusiness/eGovernment, web/intranet portals, application development, SMS/WAP mobile solutions, and much more) in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda) that my counterparts in Canada are not even aware of.

Where’s Canada?
I truly believe that a big part of the lack in Canadian business identity over here is due to the 800 pound gorilla South of our border. In other words, Canadian companies are too focused on the American market, which can create serious problems when our neighbor sneezes (ie. billions of dollars lost in sales due to Mad Cow and unfair tarrifs on Canadian lumber). Furthermore, we’re also competing with other foreign companies looking to get a bigger slice of America pie (pun intended).

Meet the Professor
The highlight of my trip so far has got to be meeting Professor Tom Vassos (University of Toronto MBA program; author: Strategic Internet Marketing) who made a huge impact on everyone with his lively eBusiness/eGovernment presentations. Let’s just say that some very powerful and influential people over here were all ears. Thank god he was part of the team. )

Goodbye winter!
Now, we’re fully into 2006 and I’m still here. Like I said, there’s lots to do, and I encourage more visionaries from Canada to come down and share their IT knowledge with people and companies eager to move into the IT mainstream.

I’ll keep you posted on any new developments – if the great sunny weather and beautiful scenery doesn’t permit me from doing so.

Happy belated New Year BTW!

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Dream Job vs High Paying Job

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya!