Not because there was nothing to put here but because it's so incredibly important to get the idea that's in the grey matter down on paper in such a manner that you are easily able to understand it and see the incredible opportunity that exists to make a change and positively affect lives not only now but for many years into the future.
If I am able to transfer the idea that I have to you it might even spill over to other areas than IT and then we will really be able to help bring about the change so desperately needed to propel South Africa into the future and make it the world class leader we know it can be.
I've been programming for more than 25 years now and in that time I have learned 3 things.
Businesses always have software that needs to be written. Either new or upgrading and maintenance of existing software.
It's expensive. Very Expensive.
There is almost always a shortage of EXPERIENCED programmers.
I highlighted the word experienced because there is and always has been a huge gap in programmers who have "theoretical" knowledge and those who have sat for hours pouring over other peoples code tracking down obscure bugs.That BTW is the difference between a programmer and someone who knows the syntax of a programming language.
Only programmers who can read somebody elses code under pressure are the one's tha are going to survive. The minute you hear a programmer offer to rewrite a peice of code that is broken . BE AWARE . Run in the direction of AWAY the chances are that the programmer has not developed the analytical skills required to do his/her job properly.
The other problem is training. Its Expensive. Very Expensive.
For some economical reason not currently clear to me. It's horrendously expensive to get training in any programming language. Exclusively expensive.
To compound the expense. The graduates of these institutes are worse off. They have the syntactical knowledge of the language they chose and also know how to write random pices of code that are not usefull at all. Give them a spec of a piece of paper and they are clueless on how to transform the idea on the paper into a working program.
Any company hiring these graduates would be actually better of taking a person off the street but with interest in programming and taking a senior staff memeber to train them. They will become productive a lot quicker if trained in this manner.
The Parts Of The Idea
So how do we combine these thoughts into the next thing thats going to revolutionise the work place?
Need to find companies that need software BUT are not in a hurry for it. In other words it's not critical but something that would be nice to have.
Now we approach this company and offer to write the software for them BUT at half price. That should get thier attention. Who doesnt want cheaper software?
We will source and train unemployed people who have an aptitude but are unemployed and unable to pay for training.
Using our years of skill, In my case 25 odd plus we undertake to train the new recruit as a programmer. The important difference is that instead of writing meaningless examples the new recruit is trained in the full SDLC from the first day and is partnered with someone like myself who has many years experience at the coalface.
The result of this is that not only will the uneployed person recive training for free BUT at the end of the project he will have created a fully functioning piece of software and will have been exposed to the devlopment environment and know exactly what it is like to work under presure to meet a deadline.
On delivery of the software to the client. We can then offer them a trained programmer who has just developed their software and is able to join the company and able to look after and futher develop that software from day one. Isn't that every companies dream? a programmer who is productive from day 1?
SHOULD the company not have place for the newly trained developer and they just want the program to hand over to thier current staff it wont matter.
The new programmer remains on with us and starts work with a new project. The thing is that he is more qualified than before so even though he will still undergo more training he will be able to deliver the next project even faster
Now imagne that this particular programmer still does not get a full time position. By the time he has done his 3 or fouth program at reduced cost , he will be expremly experieced and should be able to interview for any position along with anyone else and he will be the more qualified candidate
Now lets make it more interesting. Imagine if at the smae time he was trained as a programmer this person was also trained in business skiills. What we then have at the end of the third or fourh program is not someone who is qualified in programming but a person who has also picked up all the skills of enrtepreneurship and business and project maangemnt
Now we have a person that is able to go out and strart his own business. Not because he has book smarts but bcuase he has been doing it along with guidance for the last 2 or 3 years.
What we have created now is not just another another released onto the already overcrowded job marketplace but someone who is able and ready to go out and start his own business. Not only has this new entrepreneur not spent a cent on his training but existing business have benefited by obtaining software they needed at a reduced price.
Well that's it. The plan in a nutshell, at 40 000 feet. Hopefully you have seen the posibilties and are excited as I am.
Its a huge project and needs multiple players to get the whole vision working. Going to need all those business people who want to provide their business skills.
To get started we need the following:
1) A business willing to invest in this opportunity to help grow the country, some one who needs software and would like it done at a significantly cheaper price.