Software students develop website for Kenyan government
Tuesday 20 December 2016
Talented software engineering students at the University of Salford are creating web software for the Kenyan government.
Working with Dutch software development company Competa IT, the students are building an investment portal.
The students are given client requirements and keep track of their progress by receiving frequent feedback from Competa and representatives from the Kenyan government, through regular Skype meetings.
Jo Greenwood, one of the Master’s students who is involved in the project said: “I’ve found the project really enjoyable. We’ve been given the chance to work on a live brief using a method of working that is becoming more popular. I am self-employed, and I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to work in a team using Agile methods".
The students are using a cutting edge approach t
o software development called Agile methods. This means each part of the software is developed in stages, technically called sprints, instead of being developed all at the same time. This is beneficial for the client, because they can make alterations to the software during the development process, resulting in the end product being more useful.
The other Masters students also involved in this project are Mohammad Pooladi, Umar Dayyabu and James Musker.
Kim Massaro is tech lead from Competa IT based in The Hague, Netherlands. She said: “It has been a delight to work with students from Salford University on this project. We have already had some initial excellent feedback about what the students have done from the Kenyan government.
“Agile software development methods are not a widely used in Kenya at the moment, but the Government there is interested to apply these techniques. At Competa IT we think it is beneficial to have students working with us, because they are the future. These students already have strong knowledge in this area, so we found that they were quite easy to train up. Of course it is mutual, this kind of project benefits the students because they will have the modern skills that they need to get employment in the industry”.
Kim has been mentoring the students while they have been working on the project, and has visited the University of Salford to do so. She has also given a guest lecture to 
undergraduate computing and software engineering students.
Dr Julian Bass, a Software Engineering Lecturer within the School of Computing, Science and Engineering said: “There are huge benefits for the students in working on something like this. They are working as part of a virtual team, with a real client using modern techniques for creating software. Employers tell us these are excellent skills for them to have, and will be of great benefit to them in their future careers”.
For more information about the Masters courses that are offered by the School of Computing, Science and Engineering, click here.
Photographs by Charlotte Trott | 0161 295 0270
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Victoria Barker
0161 295 4779
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