When a young Cameroonian player signs in Europe, the question asked is never "can they play?". They've been watched play, that's why they're signing. The question is adaptation: the pace, the language, the cold, the pressure, the isolation.
Remote work from Africa works exactly the same. Technical skill isn't the subject — it proves itself in two weeks. What decides is everything else.
Since 2024 I've been contributing to a home-care management platform for a British client, from Bafoussam. Here's what those two years taught me, without embellishment.
The time zone is a false problem
It's the objection you hear most, and the easiest to dismantle.
Cameroon is at UTC+1. London is at UTC+0 or +1 depending on the season. The gap is zero to one hour. I'm more synchronous with London than a developer in Lisbon is with Berlin.
With Canada it's five to eight hours — real, but manageable: I ship in the morning, they review in the afternoon, I pick up their feedback the next morning. That daily rhythm works better than people think, provided you accept that an answer arrives in a day and structure the work so you're not blocked on it.
The time-zone objection often masks a less admissible one: the fear that the work won't be up to standard. Better to face that head on.
The real obstacles
Electricity, not connectivity
Contrary to received wisdom, the internet connection isn't the main problem. Fibre exists in Bafoussam, it's decent, it's expensive but affordable for a professional.
The problem is power. Cuts happen, sometimes for several hours.
My answer is material, not rhetorical: a UPS that carries the workstation and the router, a laptop whose battery life is a purchase criterion, and mobile tethering as backup. Total cost: a few hundred euros, amortised on the first incident avoided.
That isn't a comfort detail. It's what separates "he sometimes disappears" from "he's reliable". A client doesn't judge your context, they judge your availability.
Proof of reliability must precede trust
A developer in London benefits from a favourable prejudice. I have to prove before being trusted. It's unfair and it's how it is.
The right response isn't to complain about it, it's to make the proof easy to observe:
- Ship small and often. Three merge requests a week build more trust than one big monthly delivery, even a better one. Visible regularity is a signal.
- Write down what you're doing. A daily comment on the ticket: what's moving, what's blocked. It costs two minutes and removes all anxiety on the client's side.
- Flag problems early. Saying "this will take two more days" on day 1 is manageable. Saying it on day 3 creates a crisis.
After six months, that prejudice disappears entirely. You simply need to know you have to cross it.
Writing becomes the primary skill
In person, you compensate for a vague message by turning to your colleague. Remote and asynchronous, an ambiguous message costs a day.
What I've learned to do:
- Context before the question. "I have an issue with the hours calculation" is useless. "On enhanced-rate hours, the case of a visit straddling midnight isn't defined in the spec — I propose counting each slice at its own rate. Does that work?" gets answered in ten seconds.
- Propose rather than ask. An open question asks your counterpart to think. A proposal only asks for agreement.
- Write in the ticket, not in a DM. What's in the ticket is findable in six months. What's in a DM is lost.
That discipline made me better on local projects too. It's the unexpected benefit of remote work: it forces a clarity you never otherwise reach.
The language, honestly
My English is professional, not native. In writing, no problem. In a meeting, on a dense technical subject with several people talking over each other, I sometimes lose the thread.
What I do: I ask for the agenda in advance, take notes during, and summarise in writing after — "here's what I understood, correct me." That summary is useful to everyone, native speakers included.
Claiming it's perfect would be a mistake. Compensating with method works.
What it brings, and gets underestimated
A technical constraint that makes you better
When your daily context includes power cuts, variable bandwidth and modest devices, you develop reflexes your colleagues don't have.
I notice screens that block on a network call, because I suffer them. I notice oversized bundles, because I download them. I notice interfaces unusable on a 5-inch screen, because that's my test phone.
Those reflexes benefit the whole product — including London users. The constraint is a competitive advantage, provided you present it as one rather than apologise for it.
An understanding of markets others don't have
A European client targeting Africa needs someone who knows that people pay by Mobile Money, that data is counted, that Western first names aren't universal. That knowledge isn't learned from documentation.
The current problem, and it's real
Remote work has opened doors, but access remains very unequal.
Payment is the most concrete obstacle. Receiving money from Europe or North America in Cameroon involves fees, delays and sometimes outright refusals. Some freelance platforms don't serve our countries. Some clients give up on discovering they can't pay through their usual process.
Hiring prejudice persists. The day rate offered for identical work varies by country of residence. It's called "cost-of-living adjustment"; it's a discount applied to geography rather than to the value produced.
Professional isolation is the most insidious. No colleagues to show a piece of code to, few accessible conferences, a small local community. That's why I write these articles, and why I ran a React Native study group: building locally what doesn't exist yet.
What I'd advise someone aiming for this
- Make your work visible. A portfolio showing real projects with context and outcome is worth more than ten applications.
- Write. One well-made technical article on a subject you master positions you better than a CV. It works while you sleep.
- Start with a short engagement. Nobody hands a six-month project to a stranger. Two well-executed weeks open the rest.
- Invest in your material reliability before investing in your kit. A UPS before a second monitor.
- Don't undercut. A low rate attracts clients looking for a low rate, and those are the hardest. A fair rate, defended with concrete references, attracts better counterparts.
That last point took me the longest to understand.
My full career history is on the home page, and the case studies here. If you're looking for a developer who knows both realities — products for Africa, European standards — write to me.