What Tech Recruiters in Nairobi Look at Before Your Papers

A Nairobi tech recruiter posting a mid-level developer role gets 150 to 300 applications. They have about 30 seconds per application in the first pass. That is not laziness. It is maths. Three hundred applications at five minutes each is 25 hours. Nobody has that time.

So they scan. Fast. And what they scan for tells you everything about what matters.

Here is the typical order, based on conversations with recruiters at Nairobi startups, fintechs, and agencies:

1. Relevant job title or role description in the first line of the CV
2. Tech stack listed (do they know the tools we use?)
3. GitHub link or portfolio link (is there one at all?)
4. Previous work experience (where, how long, what did they build?)
5. Education (way down here)

Notice where education falls. Fifth. After everything else. And at many startups, it is not checked at all. The recruiter has already decided whether to call you before they read your school name.

When a recruiter clicks your GitHub link, they are not reading your code line by line. They are looking for signals.

Signal 1: Activity. Is the contribution graph mostly green, or mostly empty? Regular commits suggest someone who codes consistently, not just during a bootcamp or job hunt.

Signal 2: Pinned repositories. Do you have 2 to 4 pinned repos that show your best work? Are they clearly labelled with descriptions? A recruiter who sees "E-commerce app with M-Pesa checkout, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL" immediately understands what you can build.

Signal 3: README files. Is there a README in your main projects? Does it explain what the project does, how to run it, and what tech stack you used? A project with no README is a locked door. The recruiter will not try to open it. They will move to the next application.

Signal 4: Code quality. For technical leads who dig deeper, they glance at a few files. Are variables named clearly? Is the code structured logically? Are there tests? You do not need perfect code. You need code that shows you think about organisation and readability.

Your GitHub does not need to look like a senior developer's. It needs to show that you code regularly, build complete projects, and care enough to document your work.

A portfolio site is your highlight reel. It answers the question every recruiter has: "Can this person actually build things?"

A good developer portfolio in the Kenyan market has:

• A clear introduction. Who you are, what you build, what stack you work with. Two sentences.
• Three to five projects with live demo links and source code links. At least one should have payment integration (M-Pesa or Paystack).
• A brief description of each project: what problem it solves, what tech you used, what you learned.
• Contact information. Email, LinkedIn, GitHub. Make it easy for a recruiter to reach you.

What kills a portfolio:

• Tutorial clones. If your projects are identical to a YouTube tutorial, recruiters notice. They have seen the same todo app from 50 other applicants.
• Broken links. A deployed project that shows an error page is worse than no project at all. Check your live links before applying anywhere.
• No live demos. Source code is good. A running application is better. Deploy on Vercel, Netlify, or Railway. These platforms have free tiers.

One strong project with real users or real business logic beats five weak projects. Build fewer things, but build them well.

Everything before this point is about getting the interview. The interview is where the decision happens.

Technical interviews at Nairobi tech companies typically follow one of these formats:

Take-home project. You receive a brief. Build a feature or small app in 24 to 72 hours. Submit the code. This is the most common format at startups. It tests your ability to ship working code under a deadline, which is exactly what the job requires.

Live coding. You share your screen and solve a problem in real-time while the interviewer watches. This is stressful but reveals how you think, how you debug, and how you handle pressure. Practice with a friend watching you code before your first live coding interview.

System design. More common for mid-level and senior roles. You discuss how you would design a system (like an M-Pesa payment processing pipeline or a real-time notification service). No coding involved, just thinking out loud.

Pair programming. You and the interviewer build something together. This tests collaboration, communication, and whether you are someone the team would enjoy working with.

In none of these formats does your degree come up. The interviewer is watching your hands on the keyboard, not your certificates on the wall.

Many Kenyan developers ignore LinkedIn. That is a mistake. Nairobi recruiters live on LinkedIn. It is where they search for candidates, check profiles, and make first contact.

Your LinkedIn headline matters more than you think. "Software Developer | React, Node.js, M-Pesa Integration" is ten times more useful than "Seeking opportunities" or "Tech enthusiast." The headline is what appears in search results. Make it describe what you build, not what you want.

Your experience section should describe what you built, not just where you worked. "Built a customer onboarding flow with KYC verification, M-Pesa payment, and SMS notifications using React, Node.js, and the Daraja API" tells a recruiter everything. "Worked on various projects at XYZ company" tells them nothing.

Post occasionally about what you are building or learning. Recruiters check your recent activity. A developer who posts about debugging an M-Pesa webhook callback is more interesting than one whose last post was a graduation photo from three years ago.

At startups and fintechs: near the bottom of the evaluation. Many do not even have a field for education in their application form. If they do, it is optional.

At agencies: somewhere in the middle. Some agencies check degrees for client-facing roles where the client requires it. Others do not care at all.

At corporates and banks: near the top, but not as an absolute. The HR department uses degree requirements as a filter. But engineering managers often push back. We have seen hiring managers at Kenyan banks create "exception requests" for candidates without degrees who aced the technical interview. It is extra work, but it happens.

At remote companies: irrelevant. Most remote companies hiring in Kenya care about your timezone, your code, and your communication. Education is barely a line item on the evaluation.

The degree is a door opener at certain companies. It is not a skill validator anywhere. No recruiter thinks "this person has a degree, so they must be able to code." They know better.

Before you send your next application, fix these things first:

1. GitHub. Pin your 3 best repos. Add README files to each with screenshots, tech stack, and setup instructions. Make at least one commit this week.
2. Portfolio site. Build a simple one-page site. Deploy it. Include project links, a short bio, and contact info. This takes one weekend.
3. LinkedIn. Update your headline to describe what you build. Add project descriptions to your experience section. Post one thing about a project you are working on.
4. One strong project. If your portfolio is weak, spend the next 2 to 4 weeks building one solid project with authentication, database, and a payment integration. Deploy it live. This single project will do more for your applications than any other change.

At McTaba Labs, our 26-week marathon is designed so you graduate with all of this done. 8 deployed projects on your GitHub, a portfolio site, and skills in M-Pesa, USSD, and WhatsApp API. The African Stack that Nairobi recruiters are looking for. KES 120,000 with M-Pesa instalment plans.

But even without a bootcamp, you can build a recruiter-ready profile in a few weeks of focused work. Start today. Your next application will land differently.