The 'Africa Developer Ecosystem Report 2021' compiled by Internet services multinational Google shows that, despite the global economic challenges and those associated with the pandemic, demand for African developers reached a record high in 2021.

Following a 22% increase in the use of Internet services among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on the continent, the need for Web development services also increased alongside higher demand for remote development work.

Further, 38% of African developers work for at least one company based outside of the continent. This is evidenced by the magnitude of growth in Nigeria’s professional developer population, which added an estimated 5 000 new professional developers to its pool in 2021, Google says.

Despite a contracting economy, the pool of professional developers increased by 3.8% to make up 0.4% of the continent’s non-agricultural workforce. Salaries and compensation also increased and more developers secured full-time jobs.

Additionally, venture capital investments in African startups rebounded as the digital economy expanded, and African startups raised over $4-billion in 2021, two-and-a-half times more than in 2020, with fintech startups making up over half of this funding.

The shift to remote work also created more employment opportunities across time zones and continents for African developers, while lifting the pay for senior talent. As a result, international companies are now recruiting African developers at record rates.

“While Africa’s technology innovation sector is making great strides, global tech companies, educators and governments can do more to ensure the industry becomes a strategic economic pillar. At Google, we are intent on further igniting training and support for this community by bridging the existing developer skills gap and concentrating our efforts on upskilling female developers who face pointed challenges,” says Google in Africa MD Nitin Gajria.

Without access to in-person education, or affordable, reliable Internet access and at-home equipment, female developers struggled to make gains last year. This can be seen in how the gender gap between male and female developers widened, with 2.5% fewer women developers in the workforce than there were in 2020.

Following a series of initiatives, including developer advocacy, startup acceleration, training programmes and global technical mentorship, that the company has implemented over the last ten years, Google aims to train a further 100 000 developers across the continent by 2022.

Africa is home to more than 150 active Google Developer Groups and 100 Developer Student Clubs in Africa. Combined, these groups reach over 200 000 community members in 40 of the 48 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region.

Google's study was conducted across 16 sub-Saharan African countries through fielded and analysed surveys of software developers, as well as interviews with local experts. The 'Africa Developer Ecosystem Report 2021' is the second in a series of studies on the state of the continent’s Internet economy.

The first, published in conjunction with development finance institution the International Finance Corporation, found that Africa’s Internet economy has the potential to reach 5.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, contributing nearly $180-billion to Africa’s economy. The projected potential contribution could reach $712-billion by 2050.

“To reach this potential, we have to provide better access to high-quality, world-class skilling on mobile technologies platforms coupled with increasing connectivity in Africa. Our effort to increase connectivity is focused on infrastructure, devices, tools and product localisation,” says Gajria.

Educators, technology companies and governments can help developers succeed by improving Internet access, education and business support. Bootcamps and certifications, run as part of formal and informal education, are working to bridge the vocational training gap between traditional education and employment moving forward.

“Global technology companies are investing in digital skills-building across the continent to improve job readiness and alleviate the tech talent bottleneck. Governments can also play a vital role in strengthening the developer pipeline by investing in both Internet access and education,” he highlights.