The blogmaster congratulates BU blogger Peter Lawrence Thompson and Ten Habitat for launching a Coding School in Barbados. From all reports it is the first of its kind in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. Well done! Related links: You can see information in these two news articles. Ten Habitat Pathway to programming Habitat launch coding…
The blogmaster congratulates BU blogger Peter Lawrence Thompson and Ten Habitat for launching a Coding School in Barbados. From all reports it is the first of its kind in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Well done!
Related links:
@ WARU
@ Northern
Thank you both for correcting my Bajan commercial history.
“He dropped out of college and went to work as a systems administrator/programmer for a London company.
Last I heard he was the Technical Support Director for Cable & Wireless worldwide, not bad for a lad totally self taught.”
Sid…… for some reason dudes like you referenced they ALWAYS turn out to be the most successful programmers…just like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the dude who attended Bronx Science, dropped out, tinkered in his basement and sold Tumbler, I believe it was… for 1 billion dollars before he was 18…all have one thing in common, they are true genuises who did not need any degrees..
.Africa is also infested with pure geniuses who do not need degrees to invent and be worldwide successes…genuis is NOT taught in schools, it is gift one is born with, not manmade.
..having multiple degrees or even one degree DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY TRANSLATE TO BEING A GENIUS…I do not know when people…particularly in the Caribbean are going to learn that,…particularly in programming, which is largely self taught once you are exposed to the basics of algorithms, combinatorics and optimization, cryptography etc…they just need that push from a VERY YOUNG age…and they are off and running..
And it is really better for children to start from the primary level because they are such sponges, absorbing everything around them at warp speed..
Vincent..ya welcome, I did not do as much research as NO…but stuck to the Yoruba language I am familiar with, the shoemaker did a name change which served his purpose in Africa, the Caribbean and worldwide in that era….it is quite obvious, he was a businessman.
@ Peter Lawrence THompson
De ole man was instructed to come here since it was noted that “I had not commented on your blog .
First of all let me say congratulations on the effort.
There are two points made by Dr. Boyce of the European Union I beleive (it that is the same guy) the first being coding persistency and obsolence and cost.
For those of us who are computer illiterates we would appreciate if you could do a debrief for the benefit of the class idiots of which i am one of the foremost.
What is the learning curve?
What from a practical point of view will a student aged x be able to do at time y and who does this mean in deliverables? Will we have any programmers arising out of the exercise in 3 months? 6 months or a year?
At what time do beleficiaries start to become revenue generators? what is the time line?
Where is the beef? is not meant in anyway to detract from the sterling achievement but as one of the leading proponents at the helm, note is made of the outlay but one would benefit from your macro vision
Here is the thing PLT what is the vision, where is your vision @ today and what is your destination are of import for the following reason.
If there is no destination that is defined and reaistic, we would have started the first in Habitat as there was a 1st with PRT and Toon *** and then ***
https://i.imgur.com/cZao5bY.jpg
Now a few felers going say bout how it appears dat de ole man want too much information but let me explain this to you.
De ole man knows the faces around you and would suggest that you use specific tools and strategies of “disclosure” to safeguard yourself.
At all points while (i) authorship is important make sure that (2) your integrity is not tainted by your associations – a word to the wise is sufficient.
One closing point that i tell all creatives, deliver something, or show that what you did, DELIVERED so that when dem talks dem shyt%% you can say LOOK AT MY STUFF HEAH, where is yours?
The National Diversification Strategy of Barbados does not have 3 years, in fact it does not have 2 years and it ent got no 1 year neither
@pieceuhderockyeahright,
Your questions about the learning curve are answered here:
https://www.codefellows.org/learn-to-code/
You can find reviews by former students here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=code+fellows+reviews
A sequence of coursed that will qualify a student for lucrative employment can be completed within a year… the total cost will be about Bd$20,100.
In Seattle the job outcome results reported are:
* 83% Graduate on-time
* 80% Employed in-field
* at a median salary of US$70,106
Of course, the results we achieve in Barbados will depend on the students themselves.
This is how real startups are accessed, not like that fly by night shite UWI is trying to hobble together with Gabriel Abed, if you are going to do something worthwhile..at least get it right the first time .
PLT…check it out.
“These African Tech Startups Set To Change The World
By Editorial_Staff – Nov 15, 2018
Kenya’s iHub technology incubator
AFRICANGLOBE – Four African tech startups – Kenya’s Pawame and BRCK, Ghana’s AgroCenta, and South Africa’s Sun Exchange – have been named in the Global Disrupt 100 Index.
The Global Disrupt 100 Index 2018 ranks this year’s 100 most innovative startups from across the world. Compiled by Tällt Ventures, a global data intelligence and innovation company, it celebrates the ventures with the most potential to influence, change or create new global markets.
The ventures were judged by global brands including Google, Uber and Oracle, as well as tech accelerators and renowned entrepreneurs.
Kenyan startup Pawame, an off-grid home solar company, is the highest ranked African venture at number 44. With Pawame’s pay-as-you-go (PAYG) Solar Home System, customers can benefit from clean and affordable electricity, whilst also building a credit history that can unlock access to other products and services.
The startup announced in March it had raised US$2 million in funding through Gulf-based investors to help it reach its goal of electrifying 150 million households in Africa, after which it crowdfunded an additional US$543,000 through TRINE.
Another Kenyan startup, BRCK, is the next best placed African company at 63rd on the list. Launched in 2013, the original BRCK is a rugged router designed for harsh environments with limited connectivity and power, which is able to hop between various sources of connectivity and has a built-in battery for use in the event of a blackout.
In March, the next generation of the BRCK, the SupaBRCK, was launched. The SupaBRCK is an enterprise-grade device, which effectively functions as a rugged data centre in a single, solar powered, all-weather box.
Next on the list was at number 68 was Ghanaian online sales platform for smallholder farmers AgroCenta, which was recently named winner of the globa Seedstars World competition, while South Africa-based buy-to-lease solar marketplace Sun Exchange was number 90. The startup has developed a fintech platform that promotes sustainable business practises by connecting conscious capital to commercial solar projects
“This is now our third year celebrating disruptive global innovation – and this year’s cohort are a truly exciting bunch. Each company featured is revolutionising their particular industry, as well as the world we live in, and we’re looking forward to seeing how they grow and effect change in the coming years,” said Disrupt 100 founder Matt Connolly.”
Congratulations PLT. Does anybody know why Kenya has such a vibrant, practical and a relevant IT industry? It would be great if PLT’s school could team up with and collaborate with Kenya’s high tech industry which is light years ahead of us.
Sid…… for some reason dudes like you referenced they ALWAYS turn out to be the most successful programmers…just like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the dude who attended Bronx Science, dropped out, tinkered in his basement and sold Tumbler, I believe it was… for 1 billion dollars before he was 18…all have one thing in common, they are true genuises who did not need any degrees..
Quite right, I doubt Einstein was the sole product of schooling.
One individual to really admire is Linus Torvalds the creator of the Linux operating system back in 1991. It’s free, he works and draws a salary from the Linux Foundation. His goal was not to make billions which he could have because of the wide usage of Linux. His stated objective was to enable anyone, especially in poor countries to develop their own local software industry – something I mentioned here some years back. It’s FREE as in Free Beer and in use by many large corporations like IBM, NASA, USPS, SPACEX, Disney, US Courts, Wall Street and many of the world’s stock exchanges, Even Microsoft is a Platinum member of the Linux Foundation, e.g Google could not have reached where it is without Linux. IBM has just bought RedHat for $34bn US, not bad for a company started by a guy in his bedroom – his intention was to use Linux for a project he had in mind but after finding he was spending almost all of his time customizing Linux the idea hit him he could make a business of it.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux.
PLT — That sounds like a lot of money up front for people of modest means. If you start with almost an empty tank and can get up to 60 MPH in seconds, a journey of a few miles may prove to be impossible.
A Raspberry Pi, an internet connection and an urge to learn and participate in collaborative projects gets you noticed, companies tend to look at what you are engaged in and seek you out as opposed to you sending in an application form.
I have been happily retired for 14 1/2 years and still get calls and job offers which I politely turn down.
@Sid Boyce
“That sounds like a lot of money up front for people of modest means.”
+++++++++++
You are correct. However, it’s not all up front; it breaks down as follows:
Code 101, $100: lets you know if coding is something that suits you
Code 201, $3,500: qualifies you for an internship position in web development
Code 301, $4,500: qualifies you for an entry level position in web or app development
Code 401, $12,000: qualifies you as a web or mobile app developer
And it’s 50% less expensive here than in the USA…
“Quite right, I doubt Einstein was the sole product of schooling.”
You can guarantee AND he was also dyslexic.
The Caribbean needs to get with the program and stop trying to turn everything into a major production….so far most of the people their school system has produced are sheeple, human drones following a script and their true genuises are marginalized and sidelined while most of those with degrees are abject failures…but they cannot see it, too full of stupidity.
@WARU
Your finger is right on the button. It’s not as easy as wanting the big salary, attending a few courses and sitting back on a beach enjoying cocktails. I had a step son who told me he wouldn’t be working past 40 as I was, that he would be sitting on a beach with cocktails having made his millions. Sadly he died in a road accident at age 38 and nowhere in sight of making millions as a Systems Analyst, a job he hated – he didn’t even have any significant life cover to pass on to his young son after his death.
Everyone with $$$$ in their eyes and contemplating IT as a career should read Jack Wallen’s article
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-signs-that-you-arent-cut-out-for-it/?ftag=TRE20d3f17&bhid=121495013
So much of it is brutally true – having worked all the hours 24/36 and even 72 hours without sleep over 34 years, bullet 3. makes me smile, 3 am dense fog, a foot of snow around and I have difficulty getting down our road with a motorway journey of 150 miles in snow with 1 or 2 lanes blocked and idiots speeding and sliding on my way to fix a problem is when I have questioned why I did the job but that thought lasted only minutes. I really loved the job and the lifestyle, technology has always been my passion.
@PLT The cost still seems non-trivial to me if a youngster is starting out today with modest means – a youngster with parents who have struggled to give him/her lunch money and that’s with free education and free bus travel, a rare talent who is more the real Mc Coy than the affluent ones who are able to stomp up the fees without a second thought.
To every upside there has to be a downside and technology is no exception.
Psychologists Call Out Tech Industry and the Psychologists They Hire to Design Programs to Hook Kids on Tech
By B.N. Frank
While American public school systems collectively spent billions to provide “high tech” educations to students, Silicon Valley parents have been limiting their own kids’ use and exposure to technology in their homes and sent them to private low-tech schools. These Silicon Valley parents have been getting more media attention recently for their increasingly desperate and extreme measures in preventing their own kids from using and being exposed to screens. This includes spying on their nannies.
snip
According to an August article from Vox, most people have no idea these companies hire psychologists to assist them in designing these programs. Classy, huh. Many former tech designers, inventors, and investors have expressed remorse for their past roles in creating addictive technology. Some are trying very hard to raise awareness so that this will be stopped.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.