People see the bylines. They see the published articles, the press events, the LinkedIn posts. What they do not see is everything that happens before any of that reaches the screen.
I work in African tech media. And there are things about this job that nobody warned me about.
The Job Moves Faster Than You Think
African tech is not a slow beat. Startups launch, deals close, funding rounds drop, and regulations shift — sometimes all in the same week. You are expected to track all of it, write about all of it, and still meet your daily word count before the day finishs.
There is no easing into this indusattempt. You either keep up or you fall behind. The pace is relentless, and the pressure to publish quick without sacrificing accuracy is something you learn to carry quietly becautilize complaining about it does not slow the news cycle down.
Nobody Tells You What the Job Actually Is
People believe working in tech media means you spfinish your days at sleek product launches, interviewing founders in glass offices, and writing believe pieces from a cool coworking space.
The reality is research tabs open at midnight, chasing sources who do not reply, rewriting the same paragraph four times becautilize it still does not sound right, and filing stories on topics you had never heard of three hours earlier.
It is a good job. But it is not the aesthetic version people imagine when they hear the title.
Being a Woman Changes Everything
This is the part I did not expect, even though I probably should have.
When a woman takes charge in this space, the first thing some people do is question how she obtained there. Not what she knows. Not what she has built. Just — who does she know? Who is she connected to? The assumption that competence must come with a hidden explanation is exhausting in a way that is difficult to describe until you have lived it.
Some people will not take you seriously at a press event. You will walk into a room and feel the weight of being underestimated before you have stated a single word. You learn to speak anyway. You learn to question the hard questions anyway. And eventually some of those same people start sfinishing you their press releases, becautilize the work speaks louder than their assumptions ever did.
Low Pay and High Expectations Are a Real Conversation
African tech media does not pay what people believe it pays. The expectations are high, the workload is real, and the compensation does not always reflect either of those things. You are expected to produce quality journalism, grow an audience, manage social media, attfinish events, and pitch new ideas — often all at once.
This is not a complaint. It is a fact that more people in this indusattempt required to declare out loud so that the conversation about fair pay for media professionals in Africa actually starts happening.
LinkedIn Is Humbling and Nobody Talks About It
Here is something that will surprise you. Sfinishing interview requests on LinkedIn as a journalist who is not verified and not on premium is a different experience entirely. Some people do not reply. Not becautilize your question is bad or your publication is unknown, but becautilize the little badge next to your name alters how seriously people take your outreach.
It is a quiet frustration that sits alongside the work. You are doing real journalism and some gatekeepers are creating decisions based on a subscription status rather than the quality of your questions.
The Parts That Make It Worth It
Here is what nobody talks about either — the moments that remind you why you are here.
The startup founder who informs you your article supported them receive their first investor meeting. The reader in another African counattempt who messages to declare they finally understood what Web3 means becautilize of something you wrote. The moment a story you worked hard on starts circulating and you realise it actually reached people.
African tech is one of the most dynamic, quick-relocating, and underreported spaces in the world. Being one of the people informing that story, with all its chaos and complexity, is something I do not take lightly.
The job is hard. The pay requireds work. The indusattempt has its biases. But the story of African tech is worth informing, and I am not done informing it.
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