“Do you know a good developer that I can work with?” is a question I get asked often. My response changes every so often depending on whoever is top of mind then and sometimes, when someone I know has been let down by whoever I was recommending, my advice is that they try the freelance marketplaces online.
The truth is there are not that many devs locally who can do what they claim to be good at. The few good ones are either too busy, can’t be bothered coz they work for some large company, or as when you engage them are gradually stop answering calls eventually disappearing completely. Add to that the fact that no one knows every good developer or designer locally and you have huge gap of jobs needing professionals, and unknown professionals needing jobs.
This is part of the problem Ndiringe are solving. They help local devs, designers and photographers make themselves more visible by displaying their work on the site. The founder, Kudakwashe Gore, says he realises this is just like behance but says behance is not known here and that they have a Zimbabwean take to the problem which has made them discover gaps in the Behance solution. “Ndiringe encompasses apps which Behance doesn’t, “he said, adding that there are also search engine benefits for professional showcasing their work on the site. “Since Google search is now geo sensitive and also indexes highly websites with fresh content…a user’s profile will likely be easily found on Ndiringe than on their own website”
Gore says in future they are looking to include polls which will enable the community to vote for the best work displayed on the site. If you’re looking for a great developer to work with next time, maybe Ndiringe might be the place to start.
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I think the gap that we have in Zimbabwe is people who can layout the requirements specs by translating the need by the actual client to models like UMLs and BPMs. Usually, the client wont be clear about what they want exactly so because the developer or designer wants money chop chop..they will accept anything. Whats next is they will jump into doing the task without plan, followed by a lot of experiment and doubts. Many projects in Zimbabwe reflect that kind of attributes. Most developers dont believe software projects must be tested. They just think it will just all be roses, hence when the client starts to complain they are not in any position to address any problem thereafter.
Very true @Mee Too.Designers who can interpret user requirements are in short supply and most programmers tend to overlap.Many a time the results speak for themselves.
some links on ndiringe are missing http:://, so they redirect to “ndiringe.co.zw/some/long/url/www.wilsoft.co.zw”
Thanks, will fix, you can send more feedback to admin@ndiringe.co.zw
That’s a very good idea. I have been to the site and its quite good
Well Done! Great website for developers and designers to showcase their talents, but the Admin needs to moderate every post as I can see that someone called “jukwa lukwa” has already taken advantage of this “weakness”.
Thanks for the update, didn’t see that coming, will fix ASAP.
To be honest with you I think a “national” platform for our artists is unnecessary and will only do more damage than good. I say this because Zimbabwean artists already have the “closest-neighbour” success mentality whereby they assume they’re the best because they’re better than their peers but only in the localized sense of the term. The world has become a global community, we can’t keep trying to compare ourselves with each other and say we are good.
I know some of you might say I have gone off at a tangent but my point stems from Kudakwashe’s comments on Behance. First off, you can find Zimbabwean design and photography professionals on Behance with the utmost ease. You can just filter the country view to show only Zimbabwe and view the most view or appreciated work by category. If you’re really looking for good Zimbabwean design/photography that can maybe hold its own with the rest of the world I don’t see why you wouldn’t go to Behance. I think the site is better suited to developers and other such professionals who can’t find a space on Behance but with regards to it being a platform for artists, let’s stop justifying mediocrity by contextualizing it. (Case in point: the website itself looks dated. I’m not being malicious, open any international portfolio website and compare its aesthetics with this one.) I’m tired of celebrating anything that comes out of Zimbabwe simply because it is that. Let’s be good at what we do even beyond our borders.
I wish you all the best with your idea though.
I totally agree with you on not creating ‘national’ for the sake of it. I think Ndiringe has an opportunity to create a real solution for people looking for local developers and designers. I know we could all use behance but really that platform is little known outside design circles so as a ‘discovery’ tool for non-creatives it’s not that effective. It’s effective elsewhere and that’s a good thing. I think contextualising already existing solutions to better fit local needs is a good thing if executed well to meet those local needs and not just ride on “use us because we’re Zimbabwean”
Thank you very much for your insight, Just to answer some of the questions.
1. Why a “national platform”, there has to be a scalable starting point, and once the platform works well locally then it can be extend to the international community with time (You know how facebook started and it’s not the first social media platform as well).
2. Design and features, the first phase was done solely by a developer, there are UX designers who are willing to contribute to the project and are already working on the UX of the platform, keep checking and soon you will see a heavy face lift on the site. There is quite a number of hidden features in the platform and they will be exposed as we go.
The project is being done by contributors out of passion and we hope it will grow bigger and better with time.
I want to contribute. What do I go about it? 😉
Hi
Just send an email to admin@ndiringe.co.zw