Straight answers about learning tech in Nigeria.

What does tech training actually cost in Nigeria?

Between nothing and about ₦920,000, depending on how deep you go. Anyone quoting a price only after you fill a form is telling you something about how they sell.

The honest range across Nigerian providers in 2026 is wide. Free community programmes and entry bootcamps sit at ₦0. Short skill courses run ₦50,000 to ₦150,000. Intensive programmes of two to three months run ₦250,000 to ₦450,000. Full year-long diplomas run ₦700,000 to ₦1,200,000. Anything above that is usually a foreign programme priced in dollars.

What TecPal charges:

Instalments are available on every paid tier, and 7.5% VAT applies at checkout as it does everywhere in Nigeria. The thing worth checking with any provider is whether the price includes the assessment, the certificate and any career support, or whether those are separate later.

How long does it take to become job-ready?

Six to twelve months of consistent work for most people, if job-ready means someone will pay you. One week tells you whether you want to try.

Be careful with anyone promising job-ready in four weeks. Four weeks is enough to build something small and know whether you enjoy the work. It is not enough to walk into an interview with a portfolio that survives scrutiny.

A realistic shape, assuming ten to fifteen hours a week:

• Week 1, you know whether this is for you at all. This is what a free bootcamp is for.
• Month 1 to 2, fundamentals, and one small thing you built yourself.
• Month 3 to 6, real projects, code review, the habits employers screen for. Junior roles start becoming plausible in the shorter tracks like QA and data analysis.
• Month 6 to 12, a portfolio with depth, and interviews you can hold your own in for engineering, product and cloud roles.

Two things shorten this more than the school you pick: doing the projects rather than watching them, and having someone review your work. Two things lengthen it: switching stacks repeatedly, and studying alone.

Do I need a university degree to work in tech?

No, and this is one of the few fields where that is genuinely true rather than aspirational.

Nigerian tech employers hiring juniors screen on a portfolio, a technical conversation and whether you can be taught. Most have stopped asking for a degree class, and many have stopped asking about a degree at all. What replaces it is evidence: code you wrote, a design case study you can defend, a dataset you actually analysed.

Where a degree still matters: some multinationals with rigid HR filters, roles requiring a work visa abroad, and research-heavy AI positions. If those are your target, the degree is worth having alongside the skills.

What consistently does not work is a certificate with no work behind it. A certificate says you attended. A portfolio says you can do the job. Ask any provider what you will have built by the end, and be suspicious if the answer is vague.

How do I know a Nigerian tech school is not a scam?

Six checks, all of which take under ten minutes. Any provider failing more than one of them is not worth your money.

• An RC number you can verify. A registered company has one. Check it on the CAC portal. TecPal operates as Tech Stars Ltd, RC 9435573.
• A physical address you can visit. Not a PO box, not "Lagos". A street address, and a receptionist who answers when you turn up unannounced.
• Payment to a corporate account only. This is the big one. No legitimate school asks you to pay into a personal account, ever, for any reason, no matter how convincing the explanation. If anyone asks, stop and report it.
• Published prices. Hidden pricing exists so the number can change based on how much you seem able to pay.
• A curriculum you can read before paying. If you cannot see week by week what you will learn, they may not know either.
• Certificates that verify. Ask how an employer confirms your certificate is real. If the answer is a PDF or a screenshot, it is worth nothing to a hiring manager. TecPal certificates carry a code that anyone checks free at tecpal.ai/verify.

Two further signals worth weighing: outcome claims with no stated method, and testimonials with no full name, role or employer. Neither is proof of a scam, but both are proof of unwillingness to be checked.

Is a coding bootcamp worth it, or should I teach myself?

Self-teaching is free and works for maybe one in ten people. What you pay a school for is structure, review and the fact that quitting becomes visible.

Every technical thing you would learn in a paid programme is available free online. That has been true for a decade, and most people still do not finish. The reasons are consistent:

• No sequence. Free material is abundant and unordered, so you spend your energy deciding what to learn next instead of learning.
• No review. You cannot see what you do not know. Working code and good code are different things, and only someone more experienced can show you the gap.
• No deadline. Nobody notices when you skip a week, then a month.
• No peers. Being stuck alone at 11pm is where most self-taught attempts quietly end.

So the honest answer: if you are highly self-directed and have a technical friend who will review your work, teach yourself and keep the money. If you have started twice already and stalled, the thing you are buying is not information. It is structure and accountability, and that is worth paying for.

Either way, try before you pay. A free first week costs you nothing and tells you which of those two people you are.

Can I start if I have never really used a computer?

Yes, and you should start with computer skills rather than jumping into code.

This gets glossed over by most providers, who quietly assume you can already type, manage files and use a browser confidently. If you cannot, a coding course will feel impossible for reasons that have nothing to do with your ability.

Start with the fundamentals: the keyboard and typing speed, files and folders, a browser and search, email, a spreadsheet, and staying safe online. That is a few weeks of work and it makes everything after it possible. TecPal runs this as a Foundation course, Computer and Digital Skills, for exactly this reason.

Nobody should be turned away for starting from zero. Be wary of any school that makes you feel embarrassed for asking.

Can I really earn in dollars from Nigeria?

Yes, and it is harder than the adverts suggest. The skill gets you considered; communication, reliability and a track record get you hired.

Nigerians work remotely for foreign companies every day, and the pay difference is real. What the recruitment adverts leave out is that you are competing globally, and the bar for a remote junior is higher than for a local junior, because a remote employer cannot supervise you closely.

What actually moves the odds:

• Written communication. Remote work runs on writing. Clear, complete, unprompted updates matter as much as your technical skill.
• A visible track record. Public code, shipped projects, or a documented case study. A CV alone does not clear a global filter.
• Local experience first. Six to twelve months at a Nigerian company makes you dramatically more hireable abroad than going straight for remote roles.
• Reliable power and internet. Unglamorous, and the thing that most often ends a remote role early. Solve it before you need it.

Treat any specific salary promise with suspicion, ours included. Ask how the figure was measured and over what sample. If a school cannot answer that, the number is marketing.

Which tech skill should I actually learn?

The one whose daily work you would not mind doing for years. Chasing the highest-paid skill you dislike is the most common expensive mistake.

A rough guide by what the work feels like:

Two practical notes. QA, data analysis and marketing tend to reach a first paid role fastest, which matters if you need income sooner. And the fastest way to decide is not more research: it is one week of actually doing each thing you are torn between.