•The President has been at the forefront engaging global technology leaders to ensure that the country gets its rightful attention and strategic investments in matters of technology.
•The demand for African software developers is growing according to a report by Google-(2021).
Image: HANDOUT
In the fourth industrial revolution, where data, and information are at the heart of every business and industry, cloud computing has emerged as a revolutionary tool that is shaping the future of work.
With the evolution of technology, it is important for young people to learn and adopt this new technology.
Fortunately for the African continent, the fate is changing with the internet bandwidth becoming affordable and faster, not to mention the presence of global tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Visa in Kenya among other countries.
Kenya today is regarded as a tech leader in Africa with technology being at the center of the government's vision.
The President has been at the forefront engaging global technology leaders to ensure that the country gets its rightful attention and strategic investments in matters of technology.
When the President visited Silicon Valley in San Francisco in mid-September for the 2023 US-Kenya Business Roadshow , he met with tech leaders where he sought to expand Kenya’s development in tech innovation.
Through his engagements while in the US, we have seen Amazon Web Services setting up a development centre in Nairobi, the heart of Silicon Savannah which is the second among the top three tech ecosystems in the continent.
This reaffirms that Kenya is an attractive global investment destination besides being a continental leader in technology.
Moreover, cloud computing technology is growing across the globe with related skills providing numerous advantages that are beneficial not only for personal growth, but also for businesses success.
The demand for African software developers is growing according to a report by Google-(2021).
Additionally, the recent research by Precedence Research- Cloud Computing Market Size 2023-2032 states that the global cloud computing market is expected to cross $1 trillion by 2028.
This has, of course, led to a huge increase in the demand for cloud computing professionals.
Finding the right skills might be one of the various hindrances in the accomplishment of this ambitious goal.
Thus, this is a golden time for young people who wish to make a career in cloud computing to start up-skilling and re-skilling.
While this space has been on a positive growth trajectory, there is still more to be done particularly on matters of inclusion.
The gender disparity exists in the technology field today with women access to digital technology opportunities remaining a major barrier to equal participation.
The development centre will help young engineers both women and men, to learn, gain experience and work side by side with global engineers, inspiring the next generation of engineers and contributing to the transformation of all sectors.
Today, Kenya has about 60,000 software developers, according to the African Developer Ecosystem Report 2021.
The country comes in after Nigeria, which has about 85,000 professional developers and accounts for 12 per cent of the developers in Africa.
As Kenya strives to grow its cloud computing talent to serve the local and global clientele, work readiness- skills development commands only 15 per cent of Africa's developer ecosystem and men being the majority according to Africa Developer Ecosystem- 2021 Google report.
The launch of this centrer is genuinely exciting and timely.
With the developers’ ecosystem growing daily, more women are encouraged to take up STEM programmes like Ajira AWS re/Start and other current collaboration initiated by AWS with Universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions are inevitable.
Such programs will help address talent demand at the development centres and the industry at large and consequently bring about the employment creation and transformation of the digital economy in the country and beyond.
Cloud computing is a field that is rapidly growing and there is high demand for cloud computing talents.
With the majority of local and global organisations migrating their IT infrastructures to the cloud, numerous job opportunities will be created.
So far the AWS has collaborated with the ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, and the Ministry of Health, where it developed and hosted a cloud-based data application, the Centre for Epidemiological Modeling and Analysis (CEMA), which used data to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Kenya.
By collaborating with various Kenyan government ministries, parastatals and other businesses in the country, more jobs will be created for young people.
Young people who will invest in learning cloud computing will position themselves for success and a fulfilling career, besides contributing to the progress and transformation of the digital economy.
Writter is the Co-founder and managing director eMobilis Technology Training Institute