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Question of the Day: Are you keeping your Prime subscription?
IT professionals better off in SA
- Thread starter rpm
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medicnick83
Paramedic
... Credit being blamed for this problem.
Sackboy
Executive Member
SA may be a safe haven for a short time, but it will never be the best place for IT. Apart from suk salaries, the technologies are different. SA is far more small scale than the UK, utilising LINUX instead of UNIX, and Open source or OTC instead of proprietary software. If you want to be at the forefront, you just can't be here.
guest2013-1
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Really? You REALLY believe that?
Mark Shuttleworth ring a bell? (The first person who jumps to mind)
I reckon 80% of the useful things in the world (not only technology) was invented by Saffers.
You really don't need to be anywhere but here, however, I can understand why some leave to be in the UK/USA etc to get their stuff across and done.
SA could be at the forefront... it's just nobody wants to stay here for various reasons. Be it funding or crime or whatever.
hyperian
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I dont know about that hey - i work for a medium-sized SE company in Cape Town (80 or so employees) and we are a .net shop all the way.
Financial services in ZA = Unix mostly, unless you go to a certain greenbank that is not so into the Unix, mut more into the monkey soft. From my experience, most financial service firms prefer to stay away from free open source software.
Abe
Expert Member
Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
Could be, but it's not and won't be soon.
Nope. Too much politics (government hands) in employment opportunities.
If you're using only proprietary software then you are not at the forefront.
kds
Well-Known Member
I disagree. salaries here can be quite competitive if you take into account the cost of living. Linux is used in smaller companies yes, but in big ones they are all Unix shops. For example Vodacom has one of the largest IBM portal environments in the world. The have incredibly huge Unix clusters running their back-office systems. The same goes for all the big four banks, except Nedbank who run Windows.
Around the world there is a migration to Linux because of cost savings on licensing and the fact that it can be run on commodity hardware, everyone from Oracle to SAP runs on or uses open source is some way.
Thanks to globalisation you can be at the forefront anywhere in the world. Shuttleworth was one of the first CAs in the world. Nedbank won a credit card processing tender for Credit Lyonnais beating out competitors from around the world awhile ago. These are just two examples that spring to my relatively uninformed mind.
What the hell are you on about? Linux, Unix, FOSS and proprietary software all have their place.
Use the tool that's right for the job!
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
I'll rather stay in good old ZA... than battling things out overseas...
Sackboy
Executive Member
Where is Shuttleworth now? Need I say more?
Which things were invented here (by IT professionals)??
Sackboy
Executive Member
LOL, but it is naas hey?Monkey gland sauce already counts for 50%
Spur and Appletiser too, but we're talking tech.I disagree completely - Salaries are nowhere near competitive and the gap is widening even further now with the rising cost of living in SA. What do you mean Oracle runs on open source? That package is whacking expensive. I've been at their HQ, I know them well.
True, they do have their place, but it's a lower place in the field. It's a POOR man's UNIX for a start. It isn't cutting edge, and in the tech game it pays to be in the front line.
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Don't quite agree with you.
South Africa has always been one of the most innovative environments for IT, mostly driven by isolation and the exchange rate. I.e. it's expensive to get off-shore people and products down here.
So we tend to develop much better multi-discipline skills and utilise products more fully than other 1st world countries.
In the US (and to a lesser extent, Europe), you'll find companies throw money at any problem. Down here, people tend to sweat the systems, making them perform to maximum capacity.
I've been dealing with US/UK/Europe software companies for many years and they're always amazed at what we end up doing with their own products.
Some of the in-house developed solutions you find in SA are absolutely world-leading.
This goes for the people down here as well. More than once we've had the 'gurus' from overseas arriving here, only to hear them comment that we're ahead of them, using their own products.
BTW, Unix is a very dominant OS in South Africa (been around for a few decades) with Linux only coming into serious production recently. Having said that, did you read the thread on the top Super Computers? Nothing inferior about Linux.
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Interesting article especially since i just arrived back in SA after 3 years in the UK. For those that don't know the situation in the UK is not good at all and rather than while away my time waiting for new projects or any work at all i decided to brave SA for a few more years for the excellent work experience it offers.
As far as SA being at the forefront of technology, i can honestly say in certain sectors we are. The financial services company i work at is one of SAP's largest customers which is my area of expertise. I am working on SAP technology in SA now that i only dreamt of working on in the UK added to this is the financial services experience i am getting. This would not be the case in the UK.
I know of four other Senior SAP Consultants and two SAP Architects that have also returned to SA from the UK for the same reasons. I got a call from a recruitment agent in the UK this week funnily enough, she also knew about SA's thriving SAP market and said that they were having difficulty getting people to leave SA for the UK at the moment.
As far as SA being at the forefront of technology, i can honestly say in certain sectors we are. The financial services company i work at is one of SAP's largest customers which is my area of expertise. I am working on SAP technology in SA now that i only dreamt of working on in the UK added to this is the financial services experience i am getting. This would not be the case in the UK.
I know of four other Senior SAP Consultants and two SAP Architects that have also returned to SA from the UK for the same reasons. I got a call from a recruitment agent in the UK this week funnily enough, she also knew about SA's thriving SAP market and said that they were having difficulty getting people to leave SA for the UK at the moment.
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Don't quite agree with you.
South Africa has always been one of the most innovative environments for IT, mostly driven by isolation and the exchange rate. I.e. it's expensive to get off-shore people and products down here.
So we tend to develop much better multi-discipline skills and utilise products more fully than other 1st world countries.
In the US (and to a lesser extent, Europe), you'll find companies throw money at any problem. Down here, people tend to sweat the systems, making them perform to maximum capacity.
I've been dealing with US/UK/Europe software companies for many years and they're always amazed at what we end up doing with their own products.
Some of the in-house developed solutions you find in SA are absolutely world-leading.
This goes for the people down here as well. More than once we've had the 'gurus' from overseas arriving here, only to hear them comment that we're ahead of them, using their own products.
BTW, Unix is a very dominant OS in South Africa (been around for a few decades) with Linux only coming into serious production recently. Having said that, did you read the thread on the top Super Computers? Nothing inferior about Linux.
+1000
I have had lengthy and at times rather heated conversations with former indian colleagues of mine in the UK about how innovative South African's and companies in South Africa are.