He indeed keeps His covenant

All through Sunday school, I've trusted in God -- sometimes only in thought and words, but not with a full conviction within my heart.
All the same, this 'trust' has always saved me from situations, granted me some requests, and fulfilled some promises from God.
A couple of days ago, I was faced with a situation that almost threw me off my urge and left me in a dilemma.
Calmly, I spoke to God (the way I know how to) -- and he saved me.
He's kept His part of the bargain. l now have to keep mine.

Am I ready?

A lot of young CS grads in Ghana – myself inclusive – hope to have their own start-ups after school. Others just want to be employed so they earn some income. The job market, however, is very competitive and the barrier of entry for start-ups is pretty daunting.

The real barrier in my opinion is the fact that most of us want to be perfect before we start our own enterprises or even bid for projects. How do you become perfect without practice?

I remember instances where I did get some projects to work on. I was scared of failure because I thought I was not ready. Guess what, as I started to work on the project, my skills sharpened and I gained new insight into Software Development.

Then comes the next fun-killer, (some) organizations not trusting in the abilities and skills of their young interns/employees, when they design software in-house. These organizations do not even test the software to ascertain its good and bad parts. They only want to buy software they feel is complete and professional – from well established vendors. Sometimes, these ‘so-called’ professional software do not even meet the requirements of the organizations!

This attitude dampens the spirit of these young, enthusiastic interns who literally ‘kill’ themselves to develop something.

It’s about time we start believing in our own folks’ abilities and inculcate the habit of testing in-house software so we get the right software to meet our requirements.

To my fellow yet-to-be developers/entrepreneurs, let’s not be afraid to be ‘thrown into the pool’. With determination and self-belief, we would stay afloat and conquer.

Let’s do it.

My three joys in two days

The last couple of days have been full of activities -- tiresome, but rewarding.
I came to Accra for the G-Ghana Conference at the Alisa hotel (I actually cancelled two lectures I had to deliver, so I could attend this conference).

So what activities have I undertaken since Wednesday?
On Wednesday, I actually combed the whole of Accra (hyperbole) for a new battery to replace the dead one that was shamelessly squatting in the battery compartment of my Gateway NV5212u laptop! The search proved futile. I consoled myself by buying other computer accessories rather.

Thursday was the day I had been waiting for -- G-Ghana 2011 is here. I actually had a bit of trouble finding the Alisa Hotel. A lot of enthusiastic developers and tech geeks were there; I actually felt like a geek myself.
The Google team really had a lot to offer -- Chrome, HTML5, CSS3, Android, Maps, Mobile et cetera. In the course of the programme, I met a dude who showed me a place adjacent Busy Internet where I could actually get a battery for my laptop -- and guess what -- I actually did get one. My first joy. Another highlight of the day was when I joined the Eduction track of the conference. Participants were introduced to Eclipse and Google Web Toolkit. I went home fulfilled at the end of the conference. I couldn't wait for Friday.

I woke up on Friday morning feeling really great. I got to the Alisa Hotel environs and decided to pass by a bookshop close by. I walked in and found a book I have been looking for, for the past year -- Software Engineering by Ian  Sommerville! My second joy. I went back to the conference grounds and joined my teammate (we were divided into teams the previous day), Dr. Agyepong, so we complete the task given to us -- completing and enhancing a Picasa app demo. At the end of the day, the completed apps of participants were judged; ours won!
Then came the moment I still can't believe -- we were both rewarded with the new android IDEOS smartphone with google! My third joy.

The whole experience has been worthwhile and fulfilling, and if there's something I've learnt, it is the fact that, the more you teach, the more you understand; the more you give, the more you earn.  ;-)

Check out G-Ghana