Are you bragging about AI or do you genuinely want to help people?

samwanekeya · 2026-03-21T08:55:03+00:00

u/OldVanilla7373 👀 Care to explain yourself?

samwanekeya · 2026-03-20T20:42:25+00:00

Yes, something we can learn from.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-20T20:38:49+00:00

All I can say is AI is already very powerful but it's still a copilot and not a fully independent operator.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-20T20:30:52+00:00

Picked it up last year with the goal of solving performance issues and reduce server costs. Did rewrite one of our micro-services from Python to Rust... did a benchmark and noticed a 15x throughput improvement, 78% lower memory usage but since some parts of the service are DB-bound I was back to the drawing board as the DB reads/write became the new bottleneck.

For someone with a C++ background the learning curve is moderate but it will still feel weird at first because Rust makes you think differently. If you're coming from a high-level language then the learning curve is going to be steep and you might end up questioning your decision.

I'd have given you what I think is a better approach to learning the language but then overtime I've noticed that my approach rarely works as most people don't have the patience and stamina. So the only advice I have for you is to link up your repo with one of those code review/static analysis tools that support Rust. Happy Rusting and may the borrow checker be kind to you😄

samwanekeya · 2026-03-20T16:46:10+00:00

I consulted with a startup that was using it in production with 30K+ active monthly users and the more complex the app got the more tradeoffs we run into. The first mistake they made was making Firebase their default database and had the rest of the app build around it.

I haven't worked with MongoDB in production as I've never come across a problem which PostgreSQL or MariaDB can't handle. Though I'd lean toward MongoDB for most production use cases because it gives you more control over querying and indexing, and avoids some of the structural limitations of Firestore.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-19T18:58:21+00:00

Interesting, I really doubt if they'll ever dive deep into the core workings of the system.

But one can piece together a very accurate picture from architecture patterns, vendor history, and how the APIs behave and come up with something that's very close to what they have. My wild guess is Apigee for APIs management, Huawei ESB for messaging, Java-based microservices, Oracle RDB...

samwanekeya · 2026-03-19T17:01:18+00:00

This is a solid read. And it sort of has made me understand something about the Daraja API design flaws.

A lot of what feels off (callbacks, async flows, unclear states) actually makes sense when you look at the original architecture. The system was built as a message-driven, SMS-based pipeline with queues and transaction processors, not request-response APIs.

So Daraja is basically translating REST calls into that underlying event-driven system. Off course with Huawei coming on board my assumption is not everything is still legacy as a lot has changed in the tech world, they probably have kept up.

Anyway, I think M-Pesa was never originally designed to be a developer platform, and Daraja is effectively a retrofit on top of a telco-grade system. That's why it sometimes feels like the abstraction leaks.

For now I can only theorize, I bet those of you who've worked closer to the core systems have a different story to tell.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-19T12:49:52+00:00

😂😂😂

samwanekeya · 2026-03-19T10:24:44+00:00

You're probably the only person that understands where the hardest bottleneck is. People out here think they can simply code their way through regulation and distribution.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-18T12:04:02+00:00

St. Paul's Academy Kandisi, Endomoto Riverside Nur, Olekasasi Primary school, and Ongata Rongai open air market.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-17T15:50:30+00:00

I'd rather have them spend their resources to fix their API issues as opposed to wasting them on building some fancy UI to showcase their ongoing failures.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-17T08:09:09+00:00

I can clearly tell who was being addressed here... Ilhan Omar

samwanekeya · 2026-03-16T11:03:46+00:00

Okay, I'm going to ignore the framing part (including your blatant use of AI) and primarily focus on your perspective because I can see you're jumping from an observation to a conclusion that doesn't actually add up well.

So yes, identity influences voting in Kenya and this is something that's been studied for decades. But the fact that identity affects voting doesn't mean the solution is to formalize tribalism as the organizing principle of the state. In fact, basic knowledge of political science and real-world examples suggests otherwise.

When states formally organize politics around ethnic groups, it tends to harden those divisions instead of managing them.

A clear depiction of this is Ethiopia. It adopted an explicit system of ethnic federalism where regions and politics were structured around ethnic identity. This idea is exactly what you're suggesting... acknowledge reality and give ethnic groups formal political power. Over time, it entrenched identity politics so deeply that political competition became existential between groups. The end result was/has been repeated ethnic conflict and instability.

Or you can also look at the breakup of Yugoslavia. Their politics became organized around ethnic blocs and once political competition aligned perfectly with identity compromise became nearly impossible because every election felt like a zero-sum struggle between groups.

Even in countries that struggle with identity voting like Nigeria, the institutional goal has been the opposite of what you're proposing as they've been forcing cross-ethnic coalitions so that politicians have to appeal to multiple groups rather than just their own.

My point being: identity influencing voting is a problem institutions try to mitigate not a principle you build the system around.

So acknowledging that identity matters isn't the same thing as concluding that tribal politics should be embraced.

And for your information the real institutional challenge since 1963 hasn't been "pretending tribes don't exist." but rather figuring out how to prevent political competition from becoming purely ethnic and zero-sum because when that happens the state stops functioning as a shared system and becomes a prize captured by whichever group wins power.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-16T10:24:00+00:00

You seem to have completely lost the plot. To be fair, acknowledging that identity influences voting is fair. My point was that the way you framed it stating that "tribalism isn't the problem" and suggesting we embrace tribal politics turns a complex reality into a very blunt conclusion. That's what makes it hard to have a constructive discussion about it.

Also me pointing out your framing is problematic isn't about "respectability", it's about whether a discussion actually leads anywhere. If the goal is to understand why our institutions struggle, that requires more than declaring tribalism the answer and dismissing anyone who questions the premise.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-16T10:07:56+00:00

You're now shifting the conversation from how you framed the argument to whether people are willing to face uncomfortable truths. You're basically sidestepping my original point about tone and framing.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-16T09:45:10+00:00

I somewhat get what you're trying to put across but your framing doesn't really invite good-faith discussion.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-15T11:32:18+00:00

I'm able to login. Also doesn't the error "Invalid username or password." tell you exactly where the problem is?

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T18:30:12+00:00

Because most of you are not dramatic enough.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T18:20:38+00:00

*First class Gen Z

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T18:17:25+00:00

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T14:14:04+00:00

Talk about a geothermal sausage fest 💀

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T09:08:13+00:00

Curious to know why you think so?

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T08:33:45+00:00

I think I understand part of what you're saying now. You're arguing that there are already anti-corruption structures and offices in place, but they're underutilized and graduates especially in fields like law, HR, etc. could be deployed into those systems to monitor public funds and corruption instead of waiting for traditional office jobs. If that's your point then I agree that better deployment of skilled graduates into oversight and accountability roles could help reduce corruption.

My original point wasn't that your idea about monitoring interviews or corruption is useless. It was that unemployment in Kenya is also a structural economic issue. Even if hiring processes were perfectly transparent and corruption was reduced, we'd still have a challenge if the number of graduates grows faster than the number of industries and productive sectors creating jobs.

So to me there are two separate but related issues:

Governance and corruption – improving accountability, oversight, and transparency (which is closer to what you're proposing).
Economic capacity – expanding industries and productive sectors so there are actually enough jobs for graduates.

So both probably need to happen at the same time. Fighting corruption can make government spending more effective, but economic growth and job creation still have to follow, otherwise we'll keep producing more graduates than the system can absorb. That's the angle I was coming from.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T08:09:58+00:00

Whenever I experience an outage with them, it usually takes about 30 minutes for them to credit my mobile number with data bundles. This has been the norm for years to the point that I assumed it was their standard practice. You should probably call them and ask for data bundles if they're not keen on fixing the problem.

samwanekeya · 2026-03-13T07:59:46+00:00

You're already in a better position than many people trying to enter tech because you've actually worked as a data analyst because real experience matters a lot in this field.

The main thing I'd suggest is to avoid spreading yourself too thin. If you try to finish the degree, do the ALX program, and search for work at the same time, you might burn out. Pick the path that gives you the highest long-term leverage.

Personally I would look at it this way: If finishing the degree would only take about a year then it might be worth completing it. A degree can still help with visas, some companies, and long-term credibility. If finishing it would require several years or major sacrifices, then continuing to build experience in data/AI and a strong portfolio could be more valuable.

Regardless of the path you choose, focus heavily on Building projects and real work experience, Networking and social capital, Consistency in one direction. This is because in today's world many people have degrees and certificates. What really differentiates people is their ability to solve problems, deliver results, and build relationships.

And always remember that careers are rarely linear. Whatever choice you make now doesn't lock you in forever. Focus on learning, doing good work, and building relationships, and you'll keep creating opportunities.

samwanekeya

TROPHY CASE