🤖 Digital Bytes Newsletter

Michael Nyamande

Jan 20, 2022 • 5 min read

Today is a pretty exciting day, today we sent out the first issue of our newsletter. If you're receiving this, it means you we one of the first people to subscribe using the Codebytes website😅. We are very grateful 😊 you decided to take this journey with us, and if any time you feel like you don't want to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe using a link at the bottom of the email. That said, I hope you stay🤞

Each week we will curate the very best in tech, bringing you tutorials, explainers, tips and other helpful resources. Whether you're a junior or senior developer, UI designer, data scientist, DevOps engineer, tech lead, product or project manager, this will be your weekly dose of golden tech content!

Here are our favourite articles for the week:

To kick us off, we look at what is perhaps the most viral app of the decade, TikTok. In just 4 short years, the short-form video sharing has gained 1 billion monthly active users, a feat that took Facebook and Instagram at least 8 years to do. It also beat out Google to become the world's leading domain.

In this article we examine what factors lead to its massive success, hopefully, you can learn a trick or two to use on your own products.

Our second read is based on Zero to One, the best selling book by Peter Thiel. In the book, the Paypal co-founder outlines 7 questions every startup needs to ask to ensure success. Thiel is an early-stage investor in companies like Facebook, Stripe, SpaceX, Linkedin and more, so it goes without saying he definitely knows what he is talking about.

Enjoying the article on our website:

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Giveaway Alert: To celebrate our first newsletter we are giving away a free copy of Zero to One 🎉. Simply reply to this email with your favourite question from the article and why you think it's the most important. The best response will get a free copy of the book 😅

In-depth Perspective: Chatbots 💬

With restrictions brought about by Covid, businesses have been focused to adopt more technology to power their operations. In no area is this more apparent than in customer service and digital service provision. Businesses in these fields are increasingly relying on chatbots to lessen the burden on the workforce, while at the same time increasing customer delight.

Globally chatbots are being developed for services such as banking, customer service, education, e-commerce, awareness campaigns and so much more. Here are some advantages of chatbots and why you need to start learning how to develop them today:

Easy to use since they are conversational (no buttons, tabs or gestures to learn), it's just text. This can even be further enhanced with AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP)
No need to convince users to install another app. Chatbots are built on platforms where users already are e.g Whatsapp, Facebook, etc.
In most of Africa, Internet Service Providers offer special bundles for social media platforms, these are used by people who may find normal data too expensive. By offering chatbots, you can also reach this otherwise untapped userbase.

Chatbots are a developing space that people in tech need to pay more attention to, especially in Africa. To learn more about this space, check out this video done by a community member, Sandra Usiku:

Chatbot Technology in Zimbabwe

If you're interested in this and want to start developing chatbots, check out our beginner-friendly tutorial on how to code a simple Whatsapp chatbot using NodeJS below ⬇️⬇️

Meme of the week

Are you even a programmer if you are not guilty of this cardinal sin 🤔

Our favourite thread this week 🧵

Are you a developer looking for a new job?

With the increase in tech adoption and the rise of remote work, there's never been a better time to be in tech. Physical borders are now irrelevant and you can now work for (almost) any company in the world as long as you have the skills.

@saviomartin7 lists the best sites for developers to find jobs.

Awesome Sites To Find a Job As A Developer

A Thread 🧵👇
— Savio Martin ⚡️ (@saviomartin7) January 12, 2022

Still, prefer local jobs or just want to keep your options open?

A community member, Berzel Best, has developed a local job posting platform Senza. Here are some of the latest tech jobs listed on Senza:

IT Intern in Harare, Zimbabwe | Internship | Fixed Term - Senza

Environment Africa is looking for suitable qualified and experienced individual to join their team on a 3-month internship which starts immediately. The incumbent will be responsible for providing IT support. This role requires a dedicated and detail-oriented person who is capable of multitasking. T…

Senza

Full Stack Developer in Harare, Zimbabwe | Intermediate | Full Time - Senza

We are looking for software developers to join our team. We are software, business and brand development studio. We build products and we build businesses. All of our platforms and systems are developed from the ground up and you should be ready and able to develop a platform from conception to comp…

Senza

You can check out https://senza.co.zw/jobs/information-technology for the full list of tech jobs.

EOF 🤖

That's it folks, that is the end of our first newsletter, I really hope you all enjoy it. Do reply and let us know if you liked it. If you did please share it with your friends and colleagues and get them to subscribe 😅.

*Also don't forget our Give-Away, simply reply to this email and stand a chance to win a copy of Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

Yours Technologically

-- Michael

Here are our favourite articles for the week:

In-depth Perspective: Chatbots 💬

Meme of the week

Our favourite thread this week 🧵

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