Social coding and software development platform, GitHub, announces its first-ever event for developers in Africa.
The event will be in the form of a virtual meetup and will take place on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, from 3 pm to 5 pm WAT or 6 pm to 8 am EAT.
The event will kickstart a series of monthly online meetups geared towards building a vibrant community in the region. The meetups will inform on the latest GitHub workflows, latest features and how one can contribute to Open Source.
The events will feature speakers from GitHub as well as other prominent Open Source maintainers from Africa.
Click to sign up and be part of the first GitHub event in Africa.
Last year, GitHub CEO, Nat Freidman, visited Nigeria and Ghana to meet with developers and entrepreneurs. Learning about how “GitHub can be of service” as Microsoft, GitHub’s parent company broadens its horizons as a developer-centric company. He also shared that GitHub will be looking to hire remote developers from Africa soon.
Developers on the African continent have become one of the major contributors to the GitHub platform. With Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria recognized as the fastest-growing countries by open-source repositories created.
In the 2018 GitHub Octoverse regional report, Nigeria represented the fourth fastest-growing developer community on GitHub. With 1.6x as many contributors in 2018 than in 2017.
Microsoft is introducing a two-day virtual event aimed at beginners in tech. The event dubbed Start. Dev. Change. targets beginners that are looking to learn new software development skills.
The virtual event is scheduled to take place on October 14 and 15 starting at 3 pm GMT each day.
The Start. Dev. Change. sessions, Microsoft says will be applicable to anyone who wants to learn code. With basic computer skills being the only requirement needed. The virtual event will feature introductory level sessions on code development and no-code development tools such as Microsoft Power Platform.
The sessions will include training on multiple programming languages, intro to databases, intro to cloud, cybersecurity, power apps, power automate, power BI, etc.
Our goal is to enhance your technical skills by setting you up for success with the right tools to help you improve in your current job. Or prepare you to change careers and move into a technical role.
The event designed for beginners in tech will feature Microsoft Partner Program Manager, Scott Hanselman, as the keynote speaker. Other speakers include Microsoft Cloud Advocates April Speight, Cecil Phillip, Cassie Breviu and Dona Sakar.
RSVP to participate in the event and check the event page for other resources to get you started.
Microsoft Kenya announces that over two thousand three hundred Kenyan graduates and interns will receive Microsoft training and certification by the end of this month.
The initiative by the company is aimed at closing the skills gap. As well as prepare the students for the world of work after college.
The program which started in December 2019 has seen 800 Kenyan graduates and interns trained so far. It is expected to see 1500 more students trained on Soft skills and Microsoft technologies by September 2020.
Martin Ndlovu, Head of Skills Development at Microsoft 4Afrika, notes that ensuring workplace readiness for our young graduates is important in Africa.
“What’s even more important in Africa, given the youth bulge and widening skills gap, is ensuring workplace readiness for our young graduates who are finding that their degree doesn’t quite fit the requirements of 4IR and the digital economy.”
Maurice Oduor, a participant in the programme shares, “the initiative has prepared me to venture into the world of cloud. From here, I plan to invest in my career towards cloud computing and maybe be an evangelist in the future.”
Microsoft is currently running a campaign to recruit graduates to its Student2Business programme in South Africa.
The programme is opened to graduates who have completed a 3yr qualification in IT and Marketing.
Selected persons will be paired with participating organizations, usually, Microsoft Partners to gain workplace exposure. They will also receive training on the latest Microsoft technologies and get certified.
Mulaedza Mathoho is a beneficiary of the programme. He was paired with a Johannesburg-based consulting company as a Junior Data Scientist. Through the programme, he completed two Microsoft certifications, earning globally recognized certificates. Mulaedza shares that he gained invaluable experience in database development, data management and analytics that he can use to further his career.
Click to visit the Microsoft Student2Business programme to apply.
Epic Games, producers of popular game Fornite, yesterday took on Apple and Google in what might spark an app store revolution.
Something very interesting happened yesterday. News broke out that Apple has removed Fortnite from the iOS App Store. Referencing that the game company had violated its App Store guidelines. It wasn’t long before Google did the same. Since then Epic has filed a lawsuit against Apple. In what it says is to “end Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions on mobile device marketplaces“.
So this is what started it all. Epic Games introduced its own payment system, Epic direct payment, on iOS and Google. Knowing very well that this move will violate both the Goole Play and Apple App store rules. This, however, will offer users a 20% discount on the usual in-app purchases in the Apple and Google Play stores. That is where the store violation comes into play. Apple says they are using their own in-app payment option. Whereas when it comes to Google that isn’t an issue till the app in question is a game.
The game company sort of had it all figured out, knowing Apple and Google will come after them and they were ready for them. That’s because they released a 65-page lawsuit just moments after Apple removed their app from the app store. This, Business Insider says, “Fortnite set an antitrust trap for Apple and Tim Cook walked right into it“.
They also released a video mimicking Apple’s 1984 Macintosh commercial that introduced the Mac PC. Check it out below.
The Epic Games War
Epic Games is staging a fight that is bigger than them and concerns the wider 3rd party developer community in relation to the App Store. Most of these developers have complained to Apple but the giant seems to have its way. In recent times, Microsoft has been unable to bring its xCloud gaming service to Xbox users on iOS becuase of such issues. Epic calls it a monopoly in its lawsuit.
The question is will Epic succeed where others have failed? Will it encounter the same hurdles others faced and decide they have no choice but to play to Apple and Google’s tunes? When Epic wins this will it apply to the wider 3rd party community or will it be a special treatment as Apple notes.
We will find out soon enough i guess. What do you think?
More to come …
Update :
iDevice Care reports that Apple says it will not be making an exception for Epic. In Apple’s remarks, Epic created a problem for itself. Noting this “problem can be easily fixed if they send an update of their app that restores it to comply with the guidelines again.”
