I really really miss when the ecosystem in Lagos was very intentional about smaller networking events/communities. I loved it so much, a good chunk of my favorite experiences in the ecosystem were gotten there. - Usable - Facebook DevC - Frontstack -ForLoop Now, it just feels like we’ve lost a sense of community and I feel bad for people that didn’t experience how the ecosystem was in its early stages. A lot of my career and the way it has been, I owe them to these communities and events. The first tech event I attended was Usable in 2017. In my life, I had never seen as much tech enthusiasts gathered in one building sharing their knowledge. That particular experience did it for me, I knew I wanted to be part of this ecosystem. I was so fascinated and at that point I felt really really happy. I miss the way the ecosystem was before but I understand that growth is important and our ecosystem has still not recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yeah you are right. Not really COVID alone; I think tech has changed really drastically, a lot of programs and events that used to come to Nigeria in the early days aren’t not so coming anymore. There’s this Africa Summit that happened in Landmark in 2017, It was 3 days hosted by Ingressive and some other partners. I met Ian, the early cofounders of Andella, The guy that started OLX, a lot of other people and a lot of amazing people from west Africa tech—2017,2018 was really a year you would love to be in tech.
@coder_blvck I miss those days too. Life was beautiful and a lot of new comers could find homes very easily.
@coder_blvck The people are now experienced and out of the country.
@coder_blvck I was at ApiConf yesterday and was talking to @Motushbae how I got to know so many people & build relationships. @udezekene did a madness with Usable. DevC wasn't left out too & a lot of people who recognised me yesterday knew me from DevC
@coder_blvck My career would have taken a different path if not for Facebook DevC.
@coder_blvck Nowadays we are focused on numbers over impact. The moment community became what people could add to cv over making impact, I knew there’d be problem. Everyone wants to gather over 1k people and make impact on almost none as long as it looks good on CV 😂
@coder_blvck I owe my dev journey to Facebook DevC Abuja, I mingled with like minds. I missed those times FR
@coder_blvck Simpler times, for real! Small meetups to learn and build stuff, with enough time to properly double down on important concepts and also focus on individuals.
@coder_blvck True ForLoop DevC built great community and networks
@coder_blvck Usable was the first event for me also, walking Herbert Macaulay was memorable. Then the events got weirder and lost touch with the communities, recycling speakers, limited mentorship opportunities etc
@coder_blvck “You were early” succinctly explained