GDSC UniversityOfZimbabwe

Zim Developer starter pack. Disclaimer: Some of the advice here goes against the usage policies of the platforms mentioned. Part of being a newb developer is signing up for tonnes of cool trial periods or accessing great services online like chatGpt or Stripe. But the problem with being based on Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 is that many a time you bump into a service you really love but can’t access it because they “don’t offer services in your country” or they “don’t accept prepaid Mastercards” that are given out by most banks. So here’s a thread of how I went about it. Feel free to add yours too in the comments. Ps, this is a way to cheat the system and may not be the most compliant way to go about it. – at Harare, Zimbabwe

How to take your portfolio live I always procrastinated deploying my portfolio, I never really thought I had the time and somehow I always thought it’s going to cost me quite a bit of money without bringing any noticeable return. Most of my freelance work is from referrals but every once in a while I get a client who asks “Can you send your portfolio/past work” and I usually start running around putting my past projects together to show them. Recently I found that it’s quite easy to have your portfolio website and even a blog up and running in no time at all, for close to nothing. These are the steps and the relevant information you need to know. 1. Getting a domain. Getting a domain is usually the “stressful” part because you start thinking about email hosting, websites hosting etc. well not even. So head over to your favorite domain registrar ( I use namecheap.com ) and type in your desired domain name. If you want value for money, I recommend going for a .me domain or for a .tech domain. Naturally you’d want a .com domain and if you really want it that’s owkay, but it’s a bit more expensive and this article aims to keep it cheap and affordable. If you’re a university student you can actually get 1 year free on namecheap.com for a domain and ssl certificate. 2. Picking webhosting. namecheap.com offers affordable shared hosting starting from as little as $1.98 (on offer), which is actually quite affordable. If you’re working on a very strict budget you can head over to GitHub and host your portfolio using GitHub pages. GitHub free tier allows you to host one personal website and unlimited project sites using GitHub pages. Head over to GitHub and create a repository with the format your_username.github.io afterwards navigate to the settings of the repository, under Code and Automation click on pages and type your domain name under Custom Domain. 🔗 docs.github.com/en/pages/con… Now all you have to do is add your code to this repository and push it. If you’re deploying through a branch your site should be up in under 2 minutes. 3. Custom email Another important piece of your online presence is a custom email ie your_name@your_domain.com . Email hosting can be quite pricey, but luckily I’ve done the research for you and found you the bestest offer😅. Heard over to Zoho Mail ( 🔗 zoho.com/mail/zohomail-prici…) pricing page and check out the packages, affordable right? Now scroll down to the bottom where there’s the Forever Free plan. This plan offers you 5 Users each with 5Gb storage space (a lot for emails) and the great part is it has a great and clear walkthrough of how to add your own custom domain. If you’re an iPhone user and already subscribe to iCloud+ you can also add your custom domain and use your iCloud hosting, however the instructions from iCloud weren’t very clear and I gave up midway. This should be enough to get you started with taking your portfolio out of http://localhost to the WorldWideWeb. Thank you. Credit to: 1. @GitHubEducation for the GitHub Student Pack 2. @Namecheap for amazingly priced domains 3. @github for GitHub pages. 4. @iamngoni_ for introducing me to Zoho Mail. 5. @ZohoMail for the Forever Free Package. @ZimDevelopers @gdscuz #techtwitter #TechEnthusiast – at Harare, Zimbabwe

Got a good good night’s sleep yesterday💯. I should visit more often.

I’m halfway through the User Stories for my App, this is the 3rd app idea I’ve actually started working on. The first app was an application that allowed students to search for accommodation and pay rentals without having to pay hefty agent fees. Up until this day I don’t know why I stopped this project. I guess I just stopped believing it could really sell. The second app was an app that allowed students to generate research topics over the OpenAI API. I gave up on the project when I realized students generally don’t want to spend money😂😂. I’m still thinking of ways to monetize it and make it a free service. (It’s still live at project--r.site ) This third app I really believe in, been thinking of building it for a while now. I’ve never got the time and resources to actually implement it, but who knows maybe this time I’ll finish it. Who knows🙃. After all, the important part is starting. I have a tonne of amazing idea for apps or services, just like a lot of other devs out there😂 I just recently committed myself to build and deploy a product every month. Who knows, maybe I’ll stumble on my own “The Facebook” or “Backrub”. #tech #Flutter #startup

See you there guys😉. Bring a friend too. #GDSC #tech