In a world that is largely governed by Information technology, many of the practioners in the field find themselves starting up their own jobs as the primary capital needed is a laptop plus an internet connection. In today's career spotlight we bring you Charles Tembo whose only soley survives on his laptop and has designed a number of very IT solutions. This is what we asked

In a nutshell what Charles do as a Software Developer and what motivated him to pursue that career path?

"Well, I do software Engineering and System Analysis and Design, I write source codes from start to finish, and deploy my software on live servers like AWS, VULTR and other Cloud services. I set up the servers and maintain them. I go ahead to train my clients on how to use the systems that I develop.

Well most of my clients don’t really understand much about the world of ICT so I try to be patient and wait till they learn how to use that software program. Then I keep checking on them in case there are problems. In most cases new adjustments arise after a few months of software being in use (Add this add that, change here change there), so I try to be patient with them because it builds my career, character and Integrity.

I was motivated by my lecturers at Makerere University as well as Mr. Travis and Bucky Roberts (The New Boston) youtube tutorials taught me how to program. "

Charles writing code for a new project

So Charles, what is cool about this kind of work? Are there challenges?

There are many challenges.  Sometimes the client will give you half-baked requirements, you try to ask him for more and tells you "That is all". But when you build the first prototype, he (Client) starts to realize more is needed. Sometimes I fail to read the client requirements and then i end up doing a completely different prototype, this can consume much time.

When I get more projects with same time limits, I find it difficult to have enough sleep, but this is for a short time.

You must be clever and wise to do programming because when you are thinking, you are doing it for 1000s of people, the entire company operations rests on your shoulders.

What keeps you going when the challenges seem grave?

Man, I just do not have a choice, the moment I take a project, I always want to finish it. I do not remember any project I have failed to finish with full entrustment from my client. I have the courage to do things, hardwork is in my DNA. I will have a sleepless night just to make sure my client is happy and that am able to meet the deadline if he has motivated me.

What was your experience like while starting out in this field?

I did not know about programming till my second month in the University. C programming was my first programming language.  Doing anything like Computing sounded so awkward to me, I wanted to be an electrical engineer, but when we did the first exam, I realized there is no going back,

I am a computer Scientist and that is all, So I started getting committed to my learning, watching tutorials and reading PDF files. I did not learn computer languages while in school, I concentrated on learning the principles. Because I had a mind that C language can do it all, but when I looked on other people’s works, I started to think of accepting to learn more technologies like the web. Today am web/Java/Android developer

What skills does one need to be a Software Developer, how important are those skills and how can someone perfect such skills?

Programming and software engineering skills are very crucial.

Software engineering requires you to be able to collect, analyses and document the user requirements because if you do not understand user requirements, then you cannot write any single line of code because you will keep deleting code.

Programming requires that you do real source code writing, this is always among the last steps of software development. This is where you write PHP or JAVA or Django and many more others.

Customer interaction. This requires you to be a friend to the client. These clients like insulting us, they say we are proud , so he will try to show you that he is better than you, but swallow the pain, do not speak much. You also need to know how to price your effort while interacting with clients, sometimes you do not need to ask for huge amounts of money from a small company.

Has Charles had any rewarding events so far, if yes, what are some moments that made you proud to be a Software Developer?

Yes, signing my first client on School Plus (A school management System)  was a great achievement, yet I did not show the pride, it was just a motivating factor.

So what is the future like for this career field? What trends are you seeing that are going to define the field 5 years to come?

Changing lives of people using IT, for the last 2 years, I have tried to simplify the lives of people who work in schools, including the classroom room teacher. I am looking forward to simplifying the work of the Police, Lawyers and Doctors (These are products in the Kitchen), Am also looking forward to improve security in our communities using IT.

Finally what advice would you give someone who dreams of walking on the same career path you are on?

Yes, I advise that someone to work hard, especially on your thinking capacity, and endurance, be good at adapting to new things because IT does not stick to one thing, every client will come in with new ideas and you have to develop them, because you have already made a name. Or you want to make a name. I personally survive on my computer and nothing else.