Kenyan developers will help test drive an initiative by Computer Scientists at the Carnegie Mellon University that aims at formulating a professional certification for Software Developers.
Kenya is sponsoring development of the certification through the Kenya Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project (KTCIP), which is funded by the World Bank and headed by Victor Kyalo. The project is dubbed Chipuka, a Swahili word meaning “to emerge or to spring forth.” It is one of a portfolio of projects the government has created to support development of outsourcing services for information technology-based business functions.
Sponsors lauded the Kenyan ICT sector for its broad investment in technology infrastructure and education and thus welcomed the idea of Kenya helping create what will eventually become an international benchmark. Though there exists various certifications, none is able to test the skill of the developers other than just sourcing for general software knowledge.
According to Project manager Philip Miller, a Project Scientist at the School of Computer Studies (SCS), the project is set to be ready by March 2013 and be operation in Kenya by October 2013.
