Advice for Friend in Kenya - Programming

[abdulmuhsee]

I have a brother-in-law in Kenya that has a kinda crummy job and no means of getting to a country where he can work at a job with a livable wage.  He has a laptop, and I thought that maybe he could try to teach himself a computer programming language or some such.  Is this a viable way for him to make money?

What programming language should he learn?

Are there companies or online contractors that would hire a Kenyan who had the ability to program in the desired language?

[Findecanor]

It's doubtful.

[tp4tissue]

Communication would be too unreliable..

It doesn't make sense to enter a field with no local hub.

He's better off becoming a tradesmen or joining a gang to deal drugs, Either one....

[JP]

Although TP4's advice is certainly pragmatic I don't think you can discount coding as a viable path to better opportunities. According to a Wired article, Kenya has a $1 billion tech hub home to over 200 startups. If this digital transformation continues through investment from multinationals and a growing number of startups just imagine where Kenya will be a decade from now. There are also freelance coding jobs online but there can be stiff competition from the large talent pool available throughout the world.

https://www.wired.com/story/kenya-silicon-savannah-photo-gallery/