2025-08-12 –, Main Hall
Everyone who is serious about doing well in software rightly pays attention to their technical abilities and their development. That's necessary, but not sufficient.
Fanaka is a project to lift up African success in the global software industry, by adding a rigorous and structured approach to the personal and social dimensions of the skills required.
Despite an abundance of skills, two things can been seen effectively holding back African success in the industry.
The first is a dimension of personal skills. The expectations and practices of the software industry, especially the global industry, are not always familiar or obvious to African professionals.
The second is social: success needs to become a common project, not just individual wins, so that every step forward in understanding is shared with others, and so that in turn the rest of the industry understands better how to recognise African software excellence.
I am a Director of Engineering at Canonical. I work in Engineering Excellence, and lead software documentation efforts for the company.
I have a keen interest in Python and open-source software in Africa - I helped organise the first PyCon Africa, and DjangoCon Africa.