From experience I know either set your goals for the new year a few months before the end of the current year and be guaranteed some success or end wondering why you’re not developing as some of your colleagues and age mate. Not to mean to compete though, just emphasizing taking full responsibility.
Last year, I planned to be a better coder, tech trainer, team member than the years before.
At the moment of this writing am enjoying every moment I spend with fellow founders and employees at Gagawala Graphics limited. A branding agency located in Kampala, Uganda along Nasser road, where I double as a web developer and operations manager. We intentionally work in an open work space, producing crystal clear prints, graphics, webs and mobile apps. Doubling responsibilities has never been as easy as said however much it’s a joy to see accomplishments in a good timing and through a peaceful way. Ours is a brand where people don’t get bigger salaries but everyone reports at work everyday, inclusive weekends sometimes.
Towards mid 2016, I met someone who would actually be a fellow coder and great friend. I hadn’t found a challenge before until I met him. We shared ideas about our work and personal goals. You can really see someone energized and ready to face any code challenge in favor of helping businesses improve. He sets himself deadlines and meets them most of the time, he loves to help out friends if they are failing with a code challenge. It’s for Ronkas that I manned up and coded my first ever Hybrid Mobile app, which has taken me about 10 months. Being able to extend WordPress and build a custom API which serves our mobile app, has not only challenged me, it has made me a better coder and a web developer.
I have also held a couple of tech training classes throughout this year teaching the basics of technology in local communities, to web development at Hostalite Cyber Academy and Metajua a coffee processing company.
To be sincere am happy 2017 have achieved some and looking to 2018’s task. So what’s in the goals?
Languages.
With the availability of internet which looks to get cheaper next year, I hope to use this opportunity to learn some French and Swahili, which will be a big inspiration for the taking on Chinese. China an interesting country that I would love to visit someday maybe to import some tech items to my country or even export skills. I decide to learn French, because I love it and am looking forward to make friends which our neighbors in Kenya and would love to communicate effectively as much as possible.
Career upgrade
My path into technology started with selling translated movies to being a typing to serving in an internet cafe as assistant helping clients who were not comfortable to search on their own, repairing and troubleshooting computers and networking them to make sure they share resources efficiently.
During my free time, I could learn about coding in HTML, PHP and little bit of JavaScript. When I left internet cafes, I co-found a business offering computer repair, network setups and consultation to internet cafes and small offices. Cutting the long story short I was aspiring to be a web designer which have done for some years and now want to upgrade to web and hybrid mobile app development. That said, in the new year I should be a MEAN or MERN stack developer. Able to use Mongo db, Express, ReactNative and NodeJs efficiently.
Music
As of now all I can say is that the piano has got 8 notes which are C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B also called 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 keys on the scale. These notes run across the low and high pitch sides whereby the low pitch is the left whereas the high pitch is the right of the piano. The player has got 10 fingers numbered started from the thumb as 1 to the little(pinky) as 5,
At the moment am able to play the 8 notes as well as the C, D and F chords. Looking forward to a better piano and guitar player before end of 2018.
I have a feeling I want to communicate and connect with many people of different life backgrounds and my involvement in such things will help.
Want to advise me anything or wanna share with me your goals, let’s meet in the comments.
Tag: Kampala
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What will be able to do in 2018?
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Our dreams have been awaken!
One of the reasons we started a community Mobile Digital Hub, is to introduce as many people as possible to technology in Uganda and around the world. Fulfilling this that task won’t only teach most Ugandans about technology, it will also encourage learning of many important skills for life.
We discovered that most people who applied for the training were older than 19 years and had either little education background or none at all. When we introduced them to internet, and they learned how to carry out simple research with the internet you could see each of them one searching something of their own interest. One of them was searching about money lending businesses, the other was searching about the best schools in Uganda perhaps because she has a daughter who could start to go to school soon.
On the graduation day we gave out both certificates of completion and participation, we also received a lot of feedback from the learners. [Photos coming soon]
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Kansanga, first Ugandan town to publish local content online?
In 2016, I had an opportunity to attend several web and blogger meet-ups in Kampala, Uganda.
With hospitable people, Uganda has over 1000s of tourism businesses contributing millions of dollars to the economy of the country.
Tourism is enabled because of the nature of the country which is gifted with rivers, lakes, hills & mountains, very unique and miracle making hot-springs, wildlife and abundance of the biggest bird species on this planet!
However, every part of Uganda has something that the world doesn’t know about or will never know about unless it’s shared on internet where over 4 billions of people end up for information.
I live in Kansanga, a township which is only 6KM away from the city center of the capital city, along Ggabba Road.Through this town Pope Francis passed from Munyonyo to go to Kololo and meet the youths congregation on in his visit.
Kansanga a home to 2 big international universities; Kampala International University and International East Africa University. A home of several Banks, fuel stations, and a lot of malls with restaurants, clubs for entertainment and gardens good for hosting special events.
Kampala International University main branch in Kansanga
I believe that all of this information is worth uploading on the internet.
Thus I took the initiative to build the first website of this township, which will allow the locals and anyone to contribute anything about Kansanga for free of cost. Of course there will be a challenge to moderate and maintain the hosting of the website online.
I have a small business strategy in place for guidance.
I would encourage everyone to participate as well as the people living in other towns to copy the idea for their own towns.
Here is the link of kansanga.com clicking sign up, it will take you less than one minute to to get a free account and start your contributing.
Also find out more about Kansanga on wikipedia at the following link => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansanga where our website is also referenced, putting us in a good position to develop this idea. -
Simplest WordPress plugins creation, Part 1.
There is no question WordPress is the most popular Content Management System, in the world of CMS possibly because of it’s simplistic and the free blog platform wordpress.com and support for several features; theming, plugins, widgets, media management and more being the most notable. I personally love SEO support that it comes with out of box.
WordPress.org has over 45k plugins!
Actually wordpress.org has ove 40,000 plugins and more are coming in. So why do I teach someone who to make a plugin? Simply because you may have an idea that is not yet executed though it could be useful to you and other WordPress users. So if you read this short tutorial and other parts, you will be able to do that whenever you want.
Tip: WordPress plugins can be monetized hence make some income for you.Prerequisite knowledge you should have/know.
It’s important to check yourself for the technologies below.
- HTML, CSS & PHP knowledge (Must)
- Javascript/Jquery/Angular knowledge is a plus
- A text editor such as Notepad++, Brackets & Sublime, etc.
- A fully working WordPress installation, running on a local/private server. Testing on local(development) set up, is recommended in order not harm the website the visitors are viewing.
Step 1. In a folder of your choice, create a main PHP file of your plugin and name it. e.g my_plugin.php
For preview purposes, I suggest to create a folder, residing in the WordPress plugin folder.
Which is located at /wordpress_install_folder/wp-content/plugins
If you have xampp installed on your development machine, you have this folder in the path; c:/xampp/htdocs/wordpress_install_folder/wp-content/plugins
Step 2: Add plugin code to the filea.Tell WordPress about your Plugin
A WordPress plugin begins with code that describes the plugin, they code is so helpful for installation, uninstall and management of the plugin. It also makes extending the plugin or updating it’s code easier. Such details include:- Plugin Name, Description, Tags, Author, Version, Author URI and etc. As a general rule of thumb this code goes at the start of the file, enclosed in comments.
Example:
/*
Plugin Name: My Plugin
Author: awebdesigner
Author URI: http://fictiontoactual.wordpress.com
Description: My Plugin is a cool plugin and it will print the date at the footer of website. For illustration purposes.
Version: 0.0.1
*/
b. Add code to do the real thing
add_action(‘wp_footer’,’print_date’);
function print_date(){
echo date(‘Y’);
}
Step 3: Compress and upload to server.
Let see it in action. Compress the plugin and upload it to your site.
Notice: Since WordPress is coded using PHP, it’s plugins supports everything PHP supports, includes, services, MYSQL etc. Don’t limit yourself.
What’s next? Improving the functionality of our WordPress Plugin by adding to the Admin Menu, integrating a form which saves something and display to the users.
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More good news about the web design class.
Some of you have heard that starting this June 6th, 2016 I will commence a personal web design training class. If you don’t know yet, you can go here and here to learn more.
Today I have come to share more good news about the same. Many of you have been asking me where will it take place and how much will it cost.
Basically my plan is to offer 3 web design training packages targeting individuals at different levels that is to say; Starter, Intermediate and Advanced. Where` each Package will take 12- 18 days, 2 hours each day.
The starter will be a cocktail of everything, you need to know about ; Intermediate and Advanced will be focused and so specialised, to help you develop from one level to another e.g. from starter to intermediate to advanced respectively.Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Which class is this June?
The Starter class.
Where will it take place?
We were able to come into partnership with KWS Oriental Technologies to allow us have these classes in their office.
They are located at ROZA Market/plaza. Room C-59
To get there move along Kafumbe Mukasa Road, towards Salabed logistics and cargo. At the opposite you will see the building. You may also trace directions by looking for Ovino mall since Roza market is slightly newer than it’s neighbour.How much does it cost?
UGX 300,000/= (Three hundred thousand Uganda shillings)
Why that cost, if I may ask?
- My course is hands on, but to meet the expectations we should have some tools.
- But it sounds good to be true. Well am not an institute so am not offering a certificate. Though am trusting that with the training materials, you will gain versatile practical web design skills to help you execute tremendously in your future projects.
- In the future fees may be adjusted but at least not possible now.
Any discounts?
Yes, if you bring your friend both of you get a 10% discount. That is UGX 30,000/= off.
What’s the payment deadline?
20th-May-2016, because we need to meet some prior costs, we have set up a deadline for submission of fees before commencement for proper preparation.
How do I pay?
You may send Mobile money or meet me in person and I pick it in Cash. To get my numbers find on facebook and twitter at @dwampamba.
Uganda needs informed, creative and self sustaining people, become one of those. Hope to meet you in class.
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The Web Design course requirements and outline
Recently I made up my mind and announced that I will taking you through each fundamental step of web design. So that you can become a person known for web design by creating tools which will help improve life in the world. Missed the news go here.
Let me highlight the requirements you need, the outline and finalize by helping you find out if this course is for you.What are the requirements?
1.Wireless enabled laptop.
We will do a lot of practice everyday we meet and sometimes we will need to be connected to the internet, to be able to achieve accomplish tasks. The internet will use, will be wi-fi. Recommended but not a must, to have a laptop which has a functional battery for a minimum of 30 mins. And your laptop should be installed with Windows Operating System.
2. Attendance.
You should be able to attend on Thursday, Friday & Saturday for 4 weeks at 5:00pm to 7:00pm each attendance. Failure to attend will be depriving yourself of the value you would get by attending everyday.
3. Language.
The classes will be strictly conducted in English language, the learner is expected to be able to speak and write English.
4. Note book and pen (writing material)
It’s important to write, though it’s not mandatory, I would advise you carry with yourself a notebook and pen.
The course outline
- Introductions
- Study plan and time table
- Web design process
- Web design with WordPress
- Web design with HTML5
- Adding beauty with CSS3
- Adding interactivity with Javascript
- Introduction to Web servers with Xamp and Wamp
- Web design with Joomla
- Conclusion.
Who is this course for?
For anyone whether have prior web design knowledge or not.
If you are able to speak and write, English this course is for you.
Can you use a computer and have passion to develop solutions to life challenging obstacles?
It’s for those who are in Uganda, and will be in Kampala for the period of beginning June to July.
Want to find out more please go here.
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A Web design crash course you must attend this summer.
I have made up my mind, I won’t be teaching web design to anyone! I will practically take you through step by step.
I would like to invite everyone who would like to attend. You’re warmly welcome to learn and practice HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, PHP, WordPress and Joomla on Xampp server in just 12 days!
Personally I have been learning web-design for a couple of years, since 2005. Learning everyday has empowered me with the skill which I will base on to teach you the anatomy of web design. You can see the outline of this course here.
The experience I have acquired in the web design industry over the years, is partly why am a co-founder and lead web designer at Gagawala Graphics Uganda Limited. Thus I earn my income doing web design, as well as work with non-profit communities/organisations doing web design which is helping me build effective networks, travel places, improve my entrepreneur knowledge and develop a lot skills like blogging, consultation, communication and training.
On the right with Nicholas Katushabe, a partner in business and new real life friend at the CMS SUMMIT 16, in Kampala at Gems Cambridge International School.
Over the years have built standout sales leading; tourism websites, entertainment websites, accommodation & meals websites, sports news websites, business websites, church websites and personal brand websites from scratch using HTML to CMS using either Joomla or WordPress.
Take a look at some of those websites below.- Break Fast Jam event
- Africa Wild Explorations
- East Africa Tourism Guide
- My Clean Kings (NBK Clean Kings International)
- Kaweesi Mark
- Righteouness Palace Ministries
- United Women Platform for Empowerment and Development
At the extreme bottom (footer) of each website is a designed by or powered by or developed by tag credit. Which is either attributed to my brands i.e Gagawala Graphics and You Inspire You.
Highlighted with the yellow ribbon on the Meet our team section, screen shot taken from Gagawala Graphics official website.4 Reasons why you should attend this course.
- Develop a highly rewarding, paying and creative skill that changes the way we connect, collaborate and sale allover the world!
- Become an solutions provider.
- It’s affordable, short and comprehensive.
- Get inspired by someone who learns, develops and sales.
Is this course for you? Please see requirements and outline here.
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Are you a web developer, software developer or mobile app developer in Africa, lend me your ears.
Like they say practice makes perfect but when it’s done right.
That said I encourage you to involve in team work effort products. By that I mean don’t do things alone.
Hook up someone who can help in writing the idea, someone else who can plan the User Interface, also let someone help on the database bit then you can code.
When it’s done, it’s good to hook up a friend, who can record a pitch video about the product and share it. Because who knows, this could be the opening door to the world of opportunities.
Why do I recommend assigning different tasks to different individuals?
Because it will most likely bring the best out of each individual involved. It may also inspire you to learn and develop other skills from the same individuals. Without spending much time looking for where and who to learn from.
Furthermore, it will help you a lot in personal development since here you can easily comprehend your abilities on how you work with others. Which is important because everywhere in the world you cannot work alone. Not even in your own business.Tip: Don’t give up on developing because not everything you develop must be welcomed by the world. Just keep on learning, developing and sharing soon sales will be closed.
Happy coding!
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How did I make it to the CMS SUMMIT 16 in Kampala.
First things first, so let’s get somethings out of the way, CMS is an acronym to mean Content Management System. Examples of CMSes are WordPress(most pupolar), Joomla (Youngest of the giants released in 2005) and Drupal(Oldest not only CMS but a great CMF too).
How it started in brief.
In 2006, I started playing around with HTML and Javascript drawing inspiration from movies and video games. Times were tough and I didn’t get to do anything useful for over a year before I was attracted by PHP and started developing simple web based applications.
Sooner than later, I met someone who wanted a website designed for his start up tourism business. On landing this job, I was so excited. But it was such a challenge after-wards, a challenge worth taking though. In fact through determination but not prowess, I was able to deliver the project in a few months.
Developed a couple more web apps in plain HTML, CSS and PHP before I was introduced to Joomla 1.5. I admit, it was a life saver by then, because everything came already engineered. No need to write any piece of code but you could have a website up in a day.
In 2014, someone else recommended I try out WordPress too. But I was like why? The answer simple, it eases life. From then on, I have never looked anywhere else.The first word about CMS Africa summit.
In most cases, we first hear about things from friends, the people who care. And for me it was none other than Job Thomas from South Africa. A friend I met on twitter after searching for WordPress enthusiasts.
Even without knowing me in real life, he was welcoming, free and open-minded, ready to contribute knowledge in anyway, he can. I remember disturbing him with a couple of coding related questions, but he pointed me to WordPress forums since he wasn’t a coder, he thought things would be easily solved, if I submitted to forums.
We conversed for several days then weeks before he introduced me to CMS Africa Summit. CMS Africa summit 16, is a gathering of coders, web enthusiasts, mobile app developers, students of all professions, educators, bloggers, & entrepreneurs etc. Interestingly, it’s coming to my city – Kampala. That means no need to pay air ticket bills. It will bring together 30 keynote speakers and several sponsors. Additionally there would be a 48 hours hackthon.
Sounds interesting so I registered on the website for a 2 day ticket.Day 1. Highly motivated.
It’s in the wee hours of the morning of 1st-April, 2016, I have my back pack ready excited to attend a web summit for the first time in my life.
Together with my friend @MutebiIvanJunior – a social media student and successful practitioner, we get on the road, grab a public 14 passenger van on the way to the heart of Kampala; commonly known as Town. All is good, though we are nervous whether we get there in time. You know the tickets have the dates but not the time.
As we get to town, the clouds are changing from sky blue to smoke gray, things look okay as we are optimistic nothing will stumble. After all, it’s been months of total hotness without any single drop of it.
It’s now about 7:30am, and we are already in Town for the second taxi to Luzira, we even have to be faster because we don’t know the kickoff hour. Thus the aim is to get there as early as possible, unless we could miss out something.
Soon after 25 minutes, we are in Gems Cambridge International school jurisdiction – Luzira town. Before we go head to head with the gifts of mother nature to the farmers.
Before 9:00am, we are at check point, security confirming we are not carrying anything dangerous. And we are ready to join the audience!
