Whether you plan to work as a software engineer, or are focused more on the business side of things, several programming languages can make your resume stand out to hiring managers. Even if you plan to work in an area where coding is not required, you will find that having some proficiency can make routine tasks easier and allow you to handle information in a more efficient manner. Regardless of what your degree is in, you will be expected to have a solid understanding of office software, and, depending on your field, there may be industry-specific software you should familiarize yourself with as well.

If you do not yet have your degree and are looking to boost your resume, consider committing to school. Many schools offer a full range of degree programs entirely online, so you do not need to turn your life upside down to attend. Concerns about how to pay for classes are normal, but there are many different ways to manage. You may be surprised at how much aid, in the form of scholarships and grants, you qualify for. For the balance, private student loans are easy to apply for and offer attractive repayment terms.

Python

Python is a great first choice for new programmers. It is more forgiving than many other languages, and it is easier to make sense of than more complex languages. Python is a great language for any office worker to pick up, regardless of their duties. It allows you to automate many of the routine tasks of a job, freeing you up for other duties.

SQL

SQL is a data management language. You use it to work in databases, so, if your job touches on those responsibilities, it makes sense to learn the language. Even if there is someone else who handles the database, having an understanding of what you can, and cannot do with SQL is valuable.

Follow Your Interests

Being proficient in python and SQL can be valuable for anyone in the business world. While many people think of coding as something left to programmers, having a solid understanding of how to write some code and how programming works transfers to other areas of your job. Understanding the basics of python, for example, will allow you to create models and answer questions in Excel. Knowing what type of information you can extract from a database in SQL allows you to ask better questions and create better solutions.

Of course, you should follow your interests as well. Programming is challenging, and if you are not interested, it will be difficult to stay motivated. One of the best ways to improve as a programmer is to create projects. While these projects may never reach any sort of market, they are valuable for helping you understand what you need to learn. Working in a language you are interested in and creating a project you find enjoyable will get you much further than following endless online tutorials. You will also find that once you have a solid grasp of one programming language, the others come more easily.

The global mobile internet economy is booming in accord with the world’s population, and the US and developed Asia are leading the way. But with only 3, 795 million (49%) of the world’s population connected, there is still a big room for other regions to catch up.

The current population of internet users is disproportionately distributed globally, creating a usage gap of 3,288 million. Alas, Sub-Saharan Africa is sitting at the bottom of the future economic boom.

Current mobile internet economy has been based mainly on 3G and 4G networks but the future of mobile internet lies on the fifth generation etc.

According to GSMA Mobile Economy 2020 report, in 2019, 4G became the dominant mobile technology across the world with over 4 billion connections, accounting for 52% of total connections (excluding licensed cellular IoT).

The report indicated that 4G connections will continue to grow for the next few years, peaking at just under 60% of global connections by 2023. But 5G-based internet will hit 1.8 billion connections by 2025, covering a staggering number of the world’s population that could be evenly shared, if every region plays its card well.

Over the next five years, operators are expected to invest around $1.1 trillion in mobile capex globally, and about 80% of it will be in 5G networks.

IoT is expected to play an integral role in the future internet economy. The GSMA report said between 2019 and 2025, the global IoT connections will more than double to almost 25 billion, while global IoT revenue will more than triple to $1.1 trillion.

“IoT connections will reach almost 25 billion globally by 2025, up from 12 billion in 2019. The business case for IoT is shifting from just connecting devices to addressing specific problems or needs with solutions to collect, process and integrate data from multiple sources, which can then be analyzed to create value and provide actionable insight.

“Enterprise IoT connections will overtake consumer in 2024, and will almost triple between 2019 and 2025 to reach 13.3 billion. This will account for just over half of all IoT connections in 2025,” the GSMA report said.

Consumers are expected to embrace IoT and use it in new areas of everyday living such as; energy efficiency, home security and fitness and well-being monitoring. With the number of new activities expected to be powered by IoT, the connections are projected to double to 11.4 billion in the same time frame. The report noted that more and more devices include connectivity built in by default and interoperability within the ecosystem is increasing.

Unfortunately, in this great future of mobile internet, Sub-Saharan Africa is at the bottom of the economic chain.

Out of the 1.8 billion 5G connections expected by 2025, developed Asia is projected to have 50%, North America, 48%, Europe 34%, developing Asia, 22%, GCC Arab States 21%, Russia & CIS 12%, Latin America 7%, rest of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 4% and Sub-Saharan Africa 3%.

“Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the fastest growing region, with a CAGR of 4.6% and an additional 167 million subscribers over the period to 2025. This will take the total subscribers over the period to over 600 million, representing around half the population,” the report said.

While Sub-Saharan Africa mobile internet subscription is expected to hit 600 million in five years, the internet connectivity will still be largely powered by 2G, 3G and 4G networks. This is due to insufficient 5G technology in the continent as many of the countries in the region are yet to start 5G roll outs or to build infrastructure in relation to that.

Considering other regions, developed Asia and North America have the highest percentage of the economic benefits because they are leading the charge of 5G deployment now. Though the US-China conflict is stymieing the Huawei-led 5G deployment that would have put Asia in clear leadership, developed Asia still leads North America.

Apparently, there is a global struggle with the 5G network technology that extends to its devices. But while the rest of the world is pushing to contain the challenge, Africa is still struggling with its 4G roll out. Apart from South Africa, the rest of the continent is yet to take the basic steps for 5G infrastructure.

While COVID-19 has created an excuse for the insouciant attitude of most countries in Africa regarding 5G roll out, it also gave reasons why it should be a priority. The new normal introduced by the pandemic is powered by the internet; the world went virtual as the crisis escalated, forcing people to stay at home and halting traditional economic activities. With the new normal, fast internet became key to successful online living.

However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, stable internet became a challenge as people try to adapt. With download speed of 1.56 megabytes per second (Mbps), existing 3G and 4G infrastructure became more inefficient as more people move their activities online.

Mobile connectivity requires continuous investment by operators to keep up with demand and provide businesses and consumers with the service they demand. And governments at all levels are expected to take steps to facilitate network deployment and expansion; simplifying and standardizing planning procedures and regulations for site acquisition, colocation and upgrades of base stations and small cells; and adopting policies that reduce costs for mobile operators while spurring investment.

Africa has the most expensive internet data rate in the world, a situation that its telecom operators have attributed to poor economic policies that have characterized the continent’s telecom ecosystem for years. In Nigeria, the continent’s largest telecom market, some state governments charge as much as $11,600 for the laying of a kilometer of broadband cable. The situation has been complemented by the cost of maintaining basic network infrastructure that birthed poor service and exorbitant data.

Against this backdrop, the economic future of the 5G network in Sub-Saharan Africa is gloomy. GSMA made recommendations on how governments can take advantage of the economic opportunities that 5G offers.

“Government and regulators must play their part to help propel 5G into commercial use by implementing policies that encourage advanced technologies to be applied across all economic sectors,” part of the recommendations said. “To advance the mobile ecosystem and the digital economy overall, governments should strive, as much as possible, to lighten the regulatory load on the industry.”

When the business environment for mobile operators is less costly and more flexible, the performance and reach of mobile service expands, the pace of innovation increases and users’ confidence in the digital ecosystem is strengthened, the report said.

COVID-19’s disruption of the global economy took a toll on many sectors including the oil industry. But the tech industry is definitely adding value in the face of its horror. Sub-Saharan Africa is among the hardest hit economically, and its countries need to diversify their economy to survive the plague.

The 5G technologies are expected to provide jobs in key sectors such as Manufacturing/utilities and professional/financial services, contributing $2.2 trillion to the global economy between 2024 and 2034. It therefore presents an opportunity for Sub-Saharan Africa countries to create an internet-based economy.

The adage, “A fool at forty is a fool forever” is not indigenous to Nigeria but we have adopted it and even use it more than many of our native wise sayings. In most cases, this proverb is used to address and refer to people, who did not meet up to societal expectations. These expectations usually border around financial independence, marriage and family life, and general conducts. By this saying, a person, who fails to measure up to what is expected of him as an adult, is indirectly referred to as a failure or, worse, a fool.

Ordinarily, in our society, a young man is expected to achieve financial independence and wealth before the age of thirty. He is expected to set up a thriving business, build a house in the village and in the city, buy an exotic car, and then, marry a young damsel, who will help him to manage his wealth. All these should be in place before he clocks thirty. If he is still struggling or has no job or source of income at the age of thirty, know it that his village people will believe that he is an “efulefu” (a fool or a useless person). That is an ideology in an Igbo society. And believe me when I say that it is still present and that it positively and negatively influences our young men. Of course some of them meet up to these expectations, some genuinely, some fraudulently, while others don’t. Those that couldn’t meet up feel out of place.

Like I stated earlier, this ideology still exists in Igbo society as of date. But if we trace its origin, we will find out that it started when an Igbo man doesn’t have to wait for someone to employ him before he starts earning a living. It started in the days when young men grew up and picked up professions, such as farming, hunting, fishing, healing, and the rest of them. In those days, life was simple. So tell me why a young man shouldn’t have his own “obi” before he is twenty?

Some decades ago, young Igbo men still “hit” it early. But then, most of them go into apprenticeship at ages as early as nine or ten. They will stay with their “masters” for about seven years, so that by the time they are like eighteen years old, they are already managing their masters’ businesses as well as planning towards setting up their own. In those days, most Igbo boys own their own businesses before the age of twenty. I know this because while we were in the university, our age mates that “dropped” out of school after primary education were already “Big Men”. Then, they used to drive their exotic cars to UNIZIK to look for wives while their mates struggled to write assignments and jump buses. But, is the society still the way it was then? Your guess is as good as mine.

Now, formal education is the in thing. Everybody wants his children to become graduates and work in banks or telecom companies. People want their children to become doctors, lawyers and accountants. They no longer think that trading, mechanics, welding, and the rest are commendable professions. Things have changed and it has affected everything. This is why I said that a fool at forty is not a fool forever.

Some people do not realise that it does not take time before one attains the age of forty. A person that graduates from a higher institution at the age of twenty to twenty-two years may have to sit down and wait for his result to be processed before he heads for his NYSC. By the time he is done with NYSC, he would have been around twenty-five years old or more. By then, he still sees what his mates have seen. He will start jumping from one interview to another. If he by chance finds a job, he will face the fact that salary cannot even pay bills. Now, this is the young man that should build a house, buy a car and marry before he is forty. That is unfair.

The essence of this article is not to encourage laziness among those that are looking for excuses not to hustle. It is not to say that it is impossible these days to make wealth genuinely before the age of thirty. And it is certainly not to scare the youths into believing that they can’t make it before the age of forty. This post is targeted at those who felt that they have failed because they couldn’t meet up to laid down expectations before their fortieth birthday.

Most of us have crossed that line before we even found ourselves. Most successful people in the world did not break through before or during their thirties. People like Col. Sanders found themselves at the age that Nigeria retires people. But he was in society, where he was encouraged and, at the age of 62, he founded KFC, which is in different countries of the world today. People say that age is nothing but a number; that philosophy should also be applied here. That a person wasn’t fortunate to break through before he got into his forties doesn’t make him a failure or a fool. He still has all the time in the world to find himself, if he truly wants to.