This is the third in a series discovering how nerds, in Nairobi, get their stuff done. You can read the first and second posts if you haven’t. Interesting to note, most have pretty much the same tools accessible to them as those interviewed here. Cool beans, huh?
This time we focus on the girls who are rockin’ the Nairobi tech-scene…

5. Juliana Rotich – Ushahidi Co-Founder and Program director.

Who you are and what you do?
I am the liasion between the developers in the Ushahidi open source project and its users. My forte is DB management, though most of the time I do User engagement/interface stuff. Oh yeah, + the travelling and the speaking about Tech in Africa.

What hardware do you use in the office?
Confessing that it is not a Thinkpad running Ubuntu like all of you I just have my MacBook pro, a brother printer, though just got a Canon network printer+scanner combo that uses wifi. For internet I have a 10 Mbps line from Comcast + Cisco N-series router.

What hardware do you use at home?
Same as above.

What software do you use?
“Mac OS X, Thunderbird for email (allows for encryption though haven’t gotten around to it.) + Lightning for calendar. Firefox browser (always!!) cant live without the Ubiquity addon. Tweetie for twitter (multiple account support)
- Typical MSFT suite of apps for mac
- iwork 09, particularly Keynote
- Mindjet Mindmanager for mindmapping (I wish it could do mind reading too
- Flickr uploadr
-Marsedit for blog posts
-Transmit (FTP)
-Textmate
- Vuze for bittorrenting. ”

What would be your dream set up?
“ooh man.
FTTH first. Huge monitor with a machine that has >8GB ram, superfast processor awesome graphics and sleek lines. None of that bulky stuff. So like a 27 inch imac i guess.
For travel, i just want a 13 inch Macbook pro. Not feeling the Macbook AIR. Or a netbook with touch capabilities, sorta like the modbook http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook”

6. Linda Kamau – Lead Developer, Ushahidi – Kenya

Who you are and what you do?
Linda is a 24 year old web and mobile applications developer with a passion for software development. She is a PHP freak with a degree in Business Information Technology. She is the lead developer for Ushahidi here in Kenya. Ushahidi is a non-profit tech company that specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection,visualization and interactive mapping.

What hardware do you use in the office?
A Mac book Pro laptop, Ipad and 1Mbps Zuku connection.

What hardware do you use at home?
same as above plus a desktop computer, Mobile phones, Digital Camera, Portable DVD Writer.

What software do you use?
Operating system – For the laptop – Mac OS X Version 10.6.3. For the desktop Linux – Fedora 8.
Social Media Tools – Use skype, gtalk, twitter, facebook.
Web Tools – Dropbox, google docs, YousendIt, Pastie, bit.ly
VIM editor to write code

What would be your dream set up?
Having a 42″ inch LED monitor where I can code from my phone and using bluetooth, I’m able to view the results of my code or be able to SSH(Secure Shell connection) from my phone to my desktop(this is the one connected to the big monitor).

7. Jessica Colaco – *iHub_ Manager

Who you are and what you do?
I am Jessica Colaco. A Researcher and Mobile Technology Evangelist in Kenya. I am also the *iHub_ Manager, Founder of Mobile Boot Camp Kenya and co-founder of AkiraChix.

What hardware do you use in the office
“I sometimes alternate with my Mac Book Pro and my Dell notebook. I dislike using Desktops and Monitors. Occasionally, i use my iPad, Nexus 1 (Voice Recorder, Camera, MP3 Player) and NOKIA N81 (Voice Recorder, Camera, MP3 Player).
I use a 20MB internet connection FROM ZUKU at the office ”

What hardware do you use at home?
I sometimes alternate with my Mac Book Pro and my Dell notebook most of the time. I dislike using Desktops and Monitors and may occasionally use the home Toshiba Laptop. Occasionally, i use my iPad, Nexus 1 and NOKIA N81. I use a Safaricom modem at home and Zain on my mobile phone.

What software do you use?
“Operating System is Windows XP with a twist of VMware running MEPIS. Social Media tools like Twitter via Web, Seesmic, Twidroid, Snaptu. Browsers: FireFox, Chrome, Safari (iPad), Opera Mini(Nokia) and Dolphin (Nexus 1). Snaptu for Blogs.
JCreator LE – for quick debugging of Java Apps.Sun Java Wireless Toolkit 2.5 to test and run JME apps. Notepad to write simple scripts. Alternate between Open Office and Office 2007. Picasa to upload photos to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa. Audacity… There is more…”

What would be your dream set up?
Haha. Controlling everything via the mobile phone charged and powered using solar panels. Connect the mobile phone to a portable projector charged and powered using solar panels, bluetooth keyboard, mouse and speakers, running most of the apps above. Yeah in other words instead of a super computer, we are looking at a super mobile phone. Well you said to go wild

There goes… Seems the ‘nerdettes’ are giving the dudes a run for their money! I also noticed that all the above are in some way involved with ‘benevolent’ initiatives i.e. Akirachix, Ushahidi, Mobile Boot Camp… What does that say about the guys?
Will be posting a Mega-Pack of How Nerds Get It Done in Africa! Already getting responses from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. PS: You can nominate who you’d like to feature in the next series in the comment area below…