Wilson @ Maker Faire Africa 2010

Maker Faire Africa is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and creation. Here you will find the Makers who showed their work at the 2010 event in Nairobi Kenya. Work ranges from time saving devices for agriculture to alternative energy sources from design with recycled objects to social media applications for mobile phones. Per maker you will find a short synopsis of their work, their contacts details plus a possibility to collaborate with them. Match your skills with one of the Makers. Click the thumbnail on the left to open my video.

Mission - Zanzibits - Zanzibar

From Zanzibits "Wilson is a web developer and trainer with Nairobits. In previous visits to Zanzibits, he has given lessons to both students and trainers. This time he focused just on the trainers, offering advice on administration, HR issues, managing staff and students, problem solving, bookkeeping, finances, and back-end management..." click here to read more.

The dressing code +254

This month I would like to share with you my views about dressing code or your wardrobe. Do you care about what you wear? What matters most to you? Is it the label, the designer, origin, the fabric, color or...

In this month post I would like us to look at dressing code which some of us might say it is obvious or simple. I'm not that a fashion guy but I have some sense of reflection when it comes to what I put on.

Why do people wear clothes? Is it to cover them selves, look attractive and fashionable, and follow some protocol in a company or an institution (uniform)? There are many other reasons that you have and list is endless no doubt about it. The fact is that every one of us is unique and self-driven in different ways and so dresses in a particular way for a reason. Let us look at some of these reasons;

• The work you do.
• Religion.
• Origin.
• Climate and weather patterns.
• Age.
• Fashion.
• Your body size.
• Occupation.
• Culture and traditions.
• Events.
• Occasions
• Etc.

How can your dressing code cost you a job or an opportunity? Come to think of this it applies to both boys and girls and every one of us has a personal style (what I call the "Me" culture) on how they dress and do things. To some extent I agree but when it comes to other situations some "Me" culture needs to be dropped and replaced by new ones.

I don't have answers for this but you look around and dress to what you can term is appropriate in your environment. Have you ever come a cross the saying that says, first impression counts?

I know this can be used in many contexts but using it to address the subject, the part of impression is also what you wear and also inline with the subject we have got different arrays of cultures which also influences the way we dress for example; the youth culture, older generation, singles, married, young and the restless etc. Whichever category you fall I urge you to dress appropriately (You know what's best for you where and when).

Are there any bench marks to the way we dress? From my point of view the answer is yes. Let us look at one practical example, the way you would dress for work is not the same as when going to a disco party or a football match. There are though lots of exceptions to how we dress in the 21st century whereby our offices are just within the living room.

Meaning you can work at home and still deliver. Amazingly in some organizations or companies dressing code doesn't count, you are flexible to put any clothes (descent in this case, you can't come to work with a vest) and what counts is if you deliver or not. But still remember it depends with many factors to be in this kind of a situation some I have mentioned above.

My advice to youth out there who are preparing for job interviews is to dress appropriately when going for the interviews. This might cost you an opportunity if you don't take it into account.

Lastly if you succeed in getting the job please learn the organizations culture and adapt to it. In some cases during the interview the interviewer might share with you the dressing code for the job or in unexpected situations your might be told while you are on the job.

This is October's edition till next month thanks for reading. Travel outside your continent, country, region, city, town, neighborhood you name it. You will see why dressing code is such an important thing in our society.