I’m writing this blog post cuddled up in a tent in Naivasha’s Crayfish Camp while attending the 2011 Kenya WordCamp.
WordCamp Kenya is a conference about the world’s most popular blogging software WordPress. Developers, designers and users will come together for talks and workshops related to WordPress and to publishing on the web, and to network.
WordPress, of course, is the rockstar of online web publishing. It is so good that it is used to power 14.7% of the top one million world’s biggest websites. In the USA, WordPress has been used to create and manage 22% of all new websites in the year 2011. It is used in 8% of the websites on the entire web. Clearly, WordPress is the one of the biggest and most widely used CMS.
I’m here primarily because I am one of the speakers at this conference. I had an interesting presentation on DukaPress yesterday. If you are not attending this event, well, pole kwako.
I would say the majority of the people who made it are bloggers from Kenya – very prominent Kenyan bloggers. It has been wonderful meeting some of the people I look up to. It is very good to see that Kenya has a very strong and thriving blogosphere.
However, I am disappointed in that I found that the number of WordPress developers here is relatively small. In fact, my observation is that in Kenya, generally, WordPress developers are few and far between. For example at DukaPress last year we wanted to hire a number of WordPress developers but could not find more than one or two who actually had experience with WordPress from all those who applied for the jobs.
I feel that this represents a massive opportunity for developers in Kenya. WordPress is HUGE. In fact, on almost all of the “freelancer” websites (like freelancer.com, guru.com, elance.com etc) the vast majority of all programming/web development jobs are related to WordPress. If as a developer you know how to work well with WordPress, you can easily make money online, offline or both. Just look at what our small team has been able to do with DukaPress.
Think about it. Can you take advantage of this opportunity?
PS: You can get more information on WordCamp Kenya here. You can follow the event live on Twitter by following @WordCampKE or #WCKE which is the official hashtag.
I have to agree, WordPress is where the money is.
When I was concentrating on Drupal it was very difficult to find a job. Now, with WordPress, I am turning away more jobs than ever. Almost everybody wants to convert their sites to WordPress.
I used to charge $30 for a job here:
http://fiverr.com/jzigbe/convert-your-website-to-wordpress-theme-perday
http://fiverr.com/jzigbe/convert-your-psd-file-to-wordpress-theme-perday
Now, I will not do a job for less than $100.
As for WorldCamp in Naivasha. I wish I was there. However, for health reasons I could not make it.
Kelvin, I hope you keep us informed of the what is happening there.
Nice! I am happy that you are doing well.
You need to write another post and tell us more, I personally wasn’t there bcos of a problem that I dnt tell God about early enough. I would like to hear more about your dukapress presentation and thank you again.
Guys, have a look here for a comprehensive “report”: http://www.savvykenya.com/2011/11/wordcamp-kenya-tales-from-naivasha/
It sounds like a great opportunity!
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