u/guydoctor0

I'm considering a trip to either of these two places but I don't hear much about the solo travel or backpacking culture. I imagine it's quite limited but it's a region I'm super keen to go to.

I considered Senegal but I don't speak French, and one of the things I enjoyed in other parts of Africa (like Namibia, Botswana, South Africa) is how easily it was to talk to people. However, it's a country that would be super interesting to visit I'm sure.

For Senegal I'm looking at Dakar, Gorée Island, Ngor and potentially Sine-Saloum, while for The Gambia I've been looking at Banjul/Serrekunda, the coast and potentially seeing the chimpanzees upriver. I'm not looking for an organised tour and would mainly use public transport/taxis and day tours where needed.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually travelled solo/backpacked there recently:

• Were there hostels or particular areas where you naturally met other travellers?
• Did you find Dakar or the Gambian coast more social as a solo traveller?
• And in Senegal specifically, how limiting was speaking little/no French when it came to meeting locals and travelling independently?

I'm also interested in wildlife, beaches, local culture and just spending time somewhere rather than rushing through a checklist of sights. I've travelled independently in southern Africa before, but West Africa would be new to me, so I'm especially interested in how the experience compares. My budget is around £1000 for the week but it's flexible, and I'll be travelling backpacker-style

I'm thinking of doing a solo trip to Senegal from London, for a week. Mostly as I've never been to West Africa and I hear that this is a good place to visit :).

Problem is I don't speak French but am keen to meet other English-speaking people including travellers - does anyone have any recommendations on say places to stay, or if there's any groups I can join? I heard Instagram has a bunch but not sure which!

I imagine I'll be based in Dakar (or in that area) most of the time given I can only spend a week

Hi, I created a post earlier asking for sources of career advice but thought I'd make a proper post with more context.

I've been with my current company (in London) for around 8 years, but my career trajectory has been a bit messy.

I started on the graduate scheme and spent my first few years doing software and data engineering work (Python, SQL, data engineering, and later some React and frontend work).

I then took a planned career break for around 2.5 years for personal reasons and travel.

After returning, I spent a long period in mostly non-technical work (things like spreadsheets, user support and admin-type work), before moving back into software engineering about 6 months ago.

So despite having 8 years with the same employer, only around half of that time has been spent doing actual programming.

Because of that, I feel rusty and worry my CV won't be very competitive, especially compared to candidates with continuous technical experience.

I'm not sure whether I'm realistically junior, mid level, or somewhere in between.

What would you do in my position to get your career back on track? Should I focus on building another year of experience where I am, or start applying now? What skills would you prioritise?

The company is restructuring and there's an impending redudancy round so am preparing for the worst

I work in tech as a software engineer but I've had bit of a messy ​​history. I've taken a long career break and I've also spent long periods on the bench, and have been placed in non technical roles. Only been at the company for 8 years since university ​of which maybe half of that was programming sporadically spaced out (with the bulk in the first few years). At this stage not even sure if I'm junior or mid level.

The company has restructured and looking into a redundancy round. I'm worried my skills just won't be sharp or competitive enough and looking to get my career path a bit more stabilised.

Just wondering if anyone has advice or recommendations on how to get career advice where I can talk to someone, explain my situation and get a bit of help? ​​​​