There are some careers where experience trumps education, and vice versa(again, this is me still discovering after trying to apply for some contracts)

Fields like engineering will value experience over education for obvious reasons but not fileds like “Computer Science” (for sure), you just need to show an online profile of what you have done (and that’s what i call reputation)

When it comes to experience, reputation is just as important.

Some companies or institutions may allow you to substitute experience for a college education, but others have a tougher policy, requiring a college degree, no substitutions.

So what can you  do if you lack education or experience? I personally know that interning offers a great opportunity to get that experience and show you’re willing to advance in your career. Likewise, volunteering can give your CV a great boost; look for positions that will give you the job experience you need, even if it’s not in your field.
so when it comes to experience versus education, i really don’t know. If you’re on the hunt for a job, just try as much as possible to find ways to strengthen the part you’re missing.

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Today as i was going through an article i asked myself “what creates value in a market place?” And on a serious note it is scarcity.

When a lot of people want something that’s very hard to find then it is considered to be valuable. And am not trying to say that being abundant is a bad thing, but when something is abundant then it is very cheap, which is good to some people, especially those who want the particular commodity but not to the guy who is selling it. so the law of scarcity is very clear.

Now lets assume you are a resource trading in an open market, ask yourself these questions:

1. would you like to be scarce or abundant? and if you are abundant,
2. How would you migrate from abundance to scarcity?
3. how would you make yourself more valuable?
4. what makes you different?

you can increase your worth and be among the ‘scarce ones’ by coming up with brilliant ideas at your work place e.g picking up extra tasks or responsibilities or by going back to school for an extra certificate or degree, and by doing the one and most important thing i cherish doing here at the NAiLAB, NETWORK and NETWORK SOME MORE!

The ICT Board’s deadline has come and gone. The number of people that have come to the NAILAB for assistance drafting and submitting their ideas in was beyond my expectation in every manner. There were more ladies than gents! If you know me I am definitely no chauvinist, but that was very impressive. You go girls! One thing that struck me though was the enormity of the innocent yet potentially destructive naivety we have as young folk on the power the technology we have aptly embraced has to destroy as it has to create.

Here’s an extract from ‘How The Mobile Internet Could Change Everything’ by Luke Allnutt. Read it carefully..

“In the future, old forms of repression — closing down publications on trumped-up tax charges, beating and imprisoning critics — will exist side-by-side with the new — infiltrating opposition movements through social networks or government-sponsored
cyber-vigilante campaigns.

Just as dissidents find more innovative ways to beat the system, so the governments will fight back with both increasing sophistication and the same old brute force. The mistake both the utopians and neo-Luddites make is by giving too much credence to the idea that technology can fundamentally change human nature. For every article about how Twitter will save the world, a cyber-fatalist will argue that smartphones have turned us all into zombies.

Both are wrong. It is not technology per se that has the power to change the world (for good or bad), but rather the innovation and creativity of the people enabling and using it.”

Let me talk like a grandfather would to his grand-kids. “My children, watch yourselves. From among you there will be those that champion great good and productive solutions to the problems you will increasingly face. But let me caution you, for from among you, the problems you face will find their creators, champions and beneficiaries.

The day we learn that it is not the tool, but the wielder of the tool we should be weary off, we might last a little longer as a people, a purpose and a planet. So, you, what do you have there?..

User experience (UX) in Africa refers to the interaction of a person with a system including their actions and perceptions, i.e., what the person wants to do, what they actually do and their feels about using a system.

There will be a talk here at NAiLAB on the 27th of July 2010(Tuesday) and the title of the talk will be : Opportunities for UX; User Experience in Africa. The time for the event will be 1730-1900hrs, and our speaker will be Stephanie Awori, a Web developer at X-Emplar Limited.

So lets not miss this opportunity to get the vast ideas that Stephanie has to offer.

Going back to talking about cycles, human behavior is cyclical as well. How so? Well we went from community oriented beings to individualism in the last century and we are working our way back to the community. That’s what TED talks are all about. And this has been proven to be the best way forward. A simple example is the browser that you are probably using, Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla is an open source project that anyone can contribute to as long as you are making better, same with any Linux Operating System.

From TEDx

And thus, as we work together on things such as the Kibera project we complete the cycle to getting back as community oriented beings as well as make the World a better place! The Kibera Project was aired live during the TED Talk and the pictures below show the standing ovation it received when it was aired at the iHUB next door.

Two things about being human…and why I think TED loves Kibera.

In the ‘biology’ sense, i guess that in our most basic, we are a cell of some sort. In the most basic ‘physics’ sense..i believe its the atom. But in reality, no not the science one or the one that requires any sort of intellect; in that reality, in our most basic form, we are an idea.

From TEDx

The other thing about being human is actually pretty common…and strange. You know this experience. You know how fashion, color, architecture and music trends to be cyclical? Yeah, i think human intellectual Renaissances are the same way. When you get to the top of our intellectual game, the masters of thought and creation, the force behind real ‘newness’ in our generation, the TED way, what is the one thing that is easiest to appreciate? I did not put much thought into it (because sometimes i think that is what ruins everything) I think it is the simplicity of the ‘idea’. Not an idea like you understand the idea. No, just the existence of the ‘idea’. The essence of it. Its simplicity, its realization outside a room of information, its application, its basic essence. This, incase you did not know, is the Kibera way.

From TEDx

So, I think, at our greatest point, we meet our starting point. TED meets Kibera. And who does not like a guest from the future? Its like ‘Back to the Future’ (the movie: google it..) right now! For TED, its a certification of success; you didn’t just reach the world, you went back in time and changed it!

Now that’s something to e-mail home about!

#140conference was held here at the NAiLAB on Saturday 19th, and it was really good listening to people like Moses Kemubaro, Aly-Khan Satchu, Marten Shoonman and many others sharing their ideas with us.

The theme was about ‘Social Causes in the Real-Time Web’. And on a serious note, it is very important to integrate your business with social media. E-Marketing is one very important concept that would make your business easily expand. “Make Business come to you” Thats one of the things i have learnt in the course of this week from my colleague MT.

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From BarCamp_Nbi_10

Well…BarCamp/WhereCamp was here and they gave it all away! The Ideas people got from ICT Board of Kenya, Google, Ushahidi, iHub, NAiLAB, Mocality and many more others……was priceless! So if you missed it, bad luck.

This was a two day event which started on Saturday and ended on Sunday 13th. And to all of you who attended I’d like to say a huge thank you on behalf of the NAiLAB and the iHub who co-hosted the event.
And oh! one more thing, I like the cool T-Shirts that everyone got after the event.

From BarCamp_Nbi_10

Feel free to check out some more cool photos here! or just click below the picture above, you never know, maybe you were caught on camera snoozing? We are editing the videos, and they will be up soon.
And the slide show is here on the right for you to see!
Thank you all.

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Yup!  The BarCamp Nairobi 2010 is going down!  The summary of what Bar Camp is  can be read below.  We have just less than 24Hours to get the iLAB and iHUB packed with 500 hundred (you read that right!) people for two days.

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. And in less than 24hours they are going to be right here at the iLab and iHUB in Nairobi.

From NAiLAB

Tonee and the Guyz from Google sat down and had a strategy plan on our table of brilliance about tommorrows event…..seriously this has to be an event not to be missed…..and yes the even is going to be going on for 2 days!

From NAiLab

A planning meeting was held at the iLAB this afternoon with Phares Kaboro, Tonee Ndungu and some guyz from Google to run through the specifics of the event. A few new ideas were thrown on the table and to be honest with you…they were cool ideas.

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This was a busy day….We had a surprise visit from Tipape & Tumaina of Pillar for Maasai Development www.maasaipillars.org We discussed the 1%CLUB in great details and even invited them to join as members. They are working on posting a project on the international website (www.onepercentclub.com) for construction of the floor of a school in Rombu area, Loitoktok. We look forward to hearing more good things from these two lively guys!! MT.

And some Engineering students from Penn State Uni, met with both Tonee & Crystal to discuss the creation of a bag! yeah, some technical medical supplies bag!….yeah, am also wondering what kind of a bag that was, but then the technicalities of the bag are going to be explained in detail in the next blog. Judging from the number of students working on the bag it just makes me feel that it’s going to be one innovation of a century…….yeap! The two pictures below explains it all.

Clearly, it was a full house at the NIALAB, and all i have to say is “Lets Incubate!”