Microsoft is on the look out for engineering talent from across Africa to staff the Africa Development Centre(ADC). The centre will be officially launched in an event tonight. Which we will bring you more details on, so bookmark this site and stay with us. Microsoft executives of the project like Phil Spencer, CVP Gaming visited the President of Kenya ahead of the launch.
The company says it is “seeking engineering talent from across the continent to fuel AI, machine learning and mixed reality innovation.”
Hiring Local Software Engineers
Microsoft has started hiring for various roles and positions in the African Development Center. It plans to recruit about 100 full-time software engineers by the end of 2019 across the two sites in Nigeria and Kenya. Expanding this number to 500 recruits across the two sites by the year 2023. The sites include the Cognition team to be based in Lagos and the Windows team in Nairobi.
Michael Fortin, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft shares what the ADC will mean to the software engineers. He said;
“Our desire is to recruit exceptional engineering talent across the continent that will build innovative solutions for global impact. This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries. And be plugged into a global engineering and development organisation.”
Microsoft to work with Local Universities
Microsoft will partner with some of the local universities in Africa to build its talent pipeline. By creating what it calls “a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum“, it says this will be “totally unique to Africa”.
Microsoft also says Graduates will have access to the ADC. Building a relevant and meaningful career in data science, AI, mixed reality, application development and many more.
Toni Edward Solarin-Sodara selected as 2018 Microsoft Ignite Community Reporter.
?: Andela Nigeria
Microsoft’s developer and IT professional conference Ignite will be taking place September 24th to the 28th. Like last year, individuals have been selected from the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and Regional Director(RD) community. These individuals will become community reporters during the conference period, keeping us up to date. The ignite community reporters specialize in varying fields of tech making it possible to hear about the various tools and their development opportunities.
Microsoft MVP Visual Studio and Development Technologies, Toni Edward Solarin-Sodara who also is a software engineer at Andela Nigeria has been selected. Toni will join this years Ignite Community Reporter’s in Orlando, Florida where the event will take place.
“We’re excited to bring a new crew of Community Reporters to Microsoft Ignite!
Last year we had 10 reporters from the MVP community helping you stay close to the action through the Microsoft Ignite Live Stream on Day One of the event.
Interviewing speakers and attendees throughout the week and keeping you connected to what was happening on social.”
Fellow MVP, Microsoft Office Apps and Services, Tracy van der Schyff from South Africa joins Toni as the only African MVP’s in the crew.
Toni says he’ll “be the resident engineer reporting on all things software development, from .NET to Azure to UWP apps”. So if you are looking to getting scoops of what’s being announced at Microsoft Ignite follow his twitter feed for updates.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, will be speaking at the keynote event on Microsoft’s vision for the future of technology. We will have the live stream available to watch. So join us explore the new tools and technologies that’ll be coming.
Featured Image: ?: Andela Nigeria, Toni demos during ALCwMicrosoft
Microsoft is on a quest to recruit students from Lagos University into software engineering roles at its Redmond campus
The initiative dubbed Africa to Redmond is set to take place in selected Universities across the continent. Part of an ongoing effort to recruit students from Africa into full time engineering roles at Microsoft. This is part of Microsoft’s plan to showcase the talent pool in Africa.
The second iteration of this program. Selected universities will be participating in this graduate role initiative..
The recruitment process is going to be in three phases. An online Coding challenge, Phone and In-person Interview. Starting with an online coding challenge for final year students. A panel of Judges will review the entries and selected applicants will be scheduled for an a phone-in interview. Selected candidates from the second stage will have an in-person interview. A successful candidate from the three steps will join Microsoft for a full time position. The candidate will be assigned to an engineering team once they accept the offer.
Here are some details about the Lagos University graduate role.
Africa to Redmond Software Engineering – Graduate Role / Applicants from Lagos University Only
Description:
Do complex problems make you thrive? You are intellectually curious and love to innovate and collaborate?
If so, join Microsoft to envision, create and build the solutions and tools of the future. Together, let’s empower billions.
What do Software Engineers do at Microsoft?
Software engineers (SWEs) collaborate with a committed team to design, develop and test the next generation of technology solutions for millions of people. This is where grassroots innovation and large-scale engineering coexist. The environment can lead to some fascinating stories!
Responsibilities:
As a Software engineer (SWE) at Microsoft, you will work in a team with other SWEs and program managers to solve problems and build innovative software solutions. You must be customer-obsessed and display a drive for quality.
Are dedicated to building software to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
You will also be expected to demonstrate an ability to learn and adopt relevant new technologies, tools, methods and processes to leverage in your solutions.
Qualifications
· Currently pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD degree in engineering, computer science or related field.
· A year or two of experience in object-oriented programming languages such as C++,C#, Java or other programming languages.
· Understanding of algorithms, data structures and other systems architecture factors that affect code quality, performance and customer experience
· Some experience building software outside of the classroom environment like an internship, hackathon, research project or related experience preferred
· Ability to work in a team and effective time management
Are you a student of Lagos University, Nigeria? Click here to apply. Don’t forget application deadline is August 7th. All the best and come share your experience and journey with us.
