Let me tell you about my friend Tunde.

Tunde is a backend engineer in Lagos. Very sharp guy. Writes Go like poetry. If Postgres were a woman, Tunde would have married her already.

Last year he got a remote job with a startup in California.

Everybody celebrated like he had just been drafted into the NBA.

His mum told the entire church.

His uncle suddenly started calling him “Engineer Tunde from America.”

But nobody warned him about one small detail.

Time zones.


The Lagos Remote Work Experience

The job offer said:

“Flexible hours. Fully remote.”

What they meant was:

“You will work Lagos hours… and California hours… and sometimes both at the same time.”

Tunde now wakes up at 8am Lagos time.

  • Standup with the local freelance project
  • Fix bugs
  • Deploy small patch

By 2pm, he tries to nap.

But Lagos will not allow that.


Generator noise.

Danfo horns.

Someone shouting “Pure water! Cold pure water!”


By 5pm, he’s back at the laptop.


Now the California team wakes up.

Slack messages start flying.


“Hey Tunde quick question.”

“Hey Tunde can we jump on a quick call?”

“Hey Tunde production is acting funny.”


And you know that word “quick” in startup English?

It means one hour minimum.


The Double Salary Trap

Now here’s the twist.

Because he’s in Lagos, people assume:

“Ah this guy is remote, he must have time.”

So suddenly Tunde has:

  • The US startup job
  • A Nigerian fintech side contract
  • A cousin’s “quick website”
  • His church’s streaming system

At this point the man is basically running AWS Lagos Region from his bedroom.


The Real Lagos Productivity Hack

But last week I visited him and discovered his real productivity secret.

On his whiteboard he wrote:

RULE #1
Never agree to meetings before 6pm.
Americans think Lagos is always hot.
Tell them you're outside walking.

I asked him why.

He said:

“Bro, if you don’t protect your time, Silicon Valley will schedule your entire life.”

My Observation

Remote work has created a strange new Nigerian species:


The Lagos Tech Vampire.

We sleep during the day.

Work at night.

Drink too much coffee.

And somehow still show up to weddings on Saturdays.


But the truth?


For many of us, this is the first time Nigerian developers can compete globally without leaving home.

That part is powerful.

Even if it comes with insomnia.