African remote software engineers: Get ready to go international!

What is Remote Work? 

Remote work is a working style that allows professionals to work from outside of a traditional office environment. It is based on the concept that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully.

Remote Software development jobs have always been in high demand for technology companies across Europe. And the problem of finding excellent remote programmers is one that all technical professionals, including CTOs, IT managers, IT project team leaders, and HR representatives from Europe, struggle with.

As a result of the intense rivalry and high demand for talented engineers across the globe, some of the top tech companies in the world are now focusing on a new market and hiring the top talented remote software engineers from Africa.

Here are 6 qualities that a developer ought to have to advance within the world of remote software engineering:

1. The right tech skills

Invest in skills before looking for a job. Becoming a remote software engineer starts with having the right tech skills.

Before looking for remote work in the tech world, you must at least be familiar with programming languages and frameworks. Know how to deliver efficiently, be scalable, and write clean code. A wise developer is always pushing toward learning more. You have to keep the ball rolling. The tech world evolves daily, so neither do you.

2. Bridge the Culture gap effectively  

You must recognize and appreciate cultural differences. Prepare to modify your soft skills. Even if you speak English fluently, your new colleagues may miss subtle meanings or misinterpret something due to your unique accent.

However, while globalization, in theory, helps organizations scale up their operations, cultural and societal differences and the ethical implications of offshoring can throw a major wrench in the works. Hence that bridging the culture gap in distributed teams is critical — a situation that can make or break your remote software engineering career operations.

3. Communication

Sometimes face-to-face communication is hard, but working in a remote setting becomes harder. To become successful in remote work, you should be communicative in all possible ways. There are a lot of online collaboration tools out there that are designed to ease up your remote working process. Just look at them and try to understand what they are capable of.

4. Connect with developers in a community

Developer communities are excellent places to meet other remote software developers worldwide. In these communities, you will be able to meet a variety of developers with varying levels of experience. This allows you to ask questions, respond to others' questions, and learn new things based on their responses.

Examples include GitHub, Stack Overflow, HackerNews, Hackernoon, and many more. They will help you connect with different experienced engineers and help you grow and succeed in your career.

5. Time Management 

This might sound similar, but there is a considerable thing regarding remote developers. Great programmers understand that software development involves technical as well as creative thinking. The process can include a lot of variables and complicated dependencies. 

That’s why you need to have some tips to help manage your time well, like creating a plan, prioritizing essential tasks, breaking it into small chunks, delegating, and knowing your disruptive periods like time to check your private emails and Social Media channels. 

6. Learn to provide and receive feedback

As previously stated, the tech world evolves daily, so neither do you. But you can’t learn unless you receive feedback on your work; otherwise, you will remain in the same circle. After all, professional criticism, whether negative or positive, is an essential component of necessary growth and success.

Furthermore, as a remote software engineer, be proactive when providing or receiving feedback. Always remember that the main goal of feedback is to help your peer improve, not to crush your peer's effort. Provide constructive rather than destructive feedback.

Conclusion

Solid soft skills and good remote work practices are essential to your career development as a remote working software engineer. These include the willingness and ability to learn quickly, the willingness to give and accept feedback, commitment to your project, bridging the cultural gap, and most importantly, communication skills. This will prepare you to advance and succeed in your career in the world of remote software engineering.