Google is also committed to building a developer ecosystem where women developers can thrive. Our Women Techmakers program is dedicated to supporting women in technology through community initiatives for them to connect and network, build visibility and access exclusive training resources. Ire Aderinokun joined the first International Women’s Day Summit in Lagos in 2016 where she learnt about the Google Developers Experts network. She went ahead and applied, and is now part of a global network of developers with deep expertise in Google’s technologies and who volunteer their time to share their knowledge with others.
Training for Africa’s Software Developers
The Google and IFC e-Conomy Africa 2020 report also established the need for upskilling and education opportunities for developers to boost their capabilities. In line with this, Google has an ongoing commitment to train 100,000 African developers on Android, Mobile Web and Cloud technologies. To date, Google’s Africa Developer Scholarship program has offered 77,000 training opportunities to developers from 54 African countries, as well as professional certification opportunities to the top 1,500 learners. Our content partner for the program, Pluralsight, provides a custom learning platform for the developers to not just learn, but also continuously assess and apply acquired skills as they progress through the training. Looking forward to how this developer training translates directly into employment opportunities, Google has been working with Andela to develop a job network which will provide developers who go through the program access to entry-level work opportunities. Applications are open until May 28 for the 2021 Google Africa Developer Scholarship class, with 40,000 training opportunities available for African developers.
We welcome you to view our I/O talk
The Future is Africa: African Developers are Building for the World, and to dive deeper into the data behind our talk by reading the Google and IFC
e-Conomy Africa 2020 report, and the
Africa Technology Ecosystem 2020 research. Developers, we hope to see you at an upcoming meetup!