The Competence
Question
In an industry moving this fast,
how do we even know if we're good at this?
The Competence Question
When the Goalposts Keep Moving
The tech industry doesn't wait. A framework that was cutting-edge six months ago is legacy code today. In Nigeria, this creates unique pressure. We're building while dealing with power outages, inconsistent internet, infrastructure constraints and we're still expected to ship at global speed.
So when someone asks about competence, they're really asking: Can we deliver quality work when the definition of quality changes every quarter?
Certificates Don't Equal Competence
There's a pattern: someone finishes a bootcamp, updates LinkedIn with three new skills, and genuinely believes they're ready. Six weeks later, on a real project, they realize none of this prepared them for actual work.
Certificates prove you showed up. They don't prove you can build systems that work when the server crashes at 2am.
Real competence isn't about knowing everything.
It's about knowing how to figure out what you don't know quickly enough to matter.
What Actually Makes Someone Competent
After years of building teams, I've noticed truly competent people share traits that have nothing to do with their resume:
They admit what they don't know, quickly. No pretending. Just: "I don't know this yet, but I'll figure it out."
They understand systems, not just tools. They know why certain patterns exist, when to use them, and when to break the rules.
Most importantly, they build things. Not perfect things, but things that work in the real world with real constraints.
The Nigerian Advantage
Building competence here means dealing with constraints most global tutorials don't mention. These constraints don't make us less competent they make competence look different.
A truly competent Nigerian developer writes code that works offline, handles interruptions gracefully, and doesn't assume reliable infrastructure.
Staying Competent in the Chaos
Stop trying to learn everything. You can't. Focus on fundamentals that don't expire. Build things constantly real things that solve actual problems. And accept that competence is uncomfortable.
The moment you feel completely comfortable is probably when you've stopped growing.
The truth nobody talks about
Everyone feels behind.
The senior developer still googles basic syntax.
The tech lead still reads documentation.
The CTO still asks junior developers to explain new concepts.
The difference between competent people and everyone else isn't that they know more. It's that they're more honest about what they don't know, more systematic about filling gaps, and more comfortable with the fact that in tech, you're always learning.
The Real Question
So the question isn't "Am I competent?"
The question is: Am I learning? Am I building? Am I honest about gaps? Am I solving problems I couldn't solve last month?
If you can answer yes, you're competent enough. The rest is just practice, time, and the willingness to keep showing up.