smallworld

Growing Cambodia's Developer Ecosystem: From Students to Engineers

Growing Cambodia's Developer Ecosystem: From Students to Engineers

Cambodia has a problem: not enough software engineers.

But more accurately, Cambodia has an opportunity: thousands of smart, motivated young people who could become world-class engineers—if given the right training, mentorship, and opportunities.

The question isn't whether Cambodia can build a thriving developer ecosystem. The question is: how fast can we make it happen?

The Current State

Cambodia's tech scene is growing rapidly, but from a small base:

Limited CS Education Universities teach theory, but practical skills lag behind. Students graduate knowing algorithms but not how to build production applications.

Language Barriers Most advanced technical resources are in English. Many talented Cambodian students struggle to access them.

Few Senior Engineers Without experienced engineers locally, junior developers have no one to learn from. Knowledge transfer breaks down.

Brain Drain The best engineers often leave for Singapore, Bangkok, or further abroad. The ecosystem loses its potential teachers and leaders.

Limited Opportunities Many companies don't believe Cambodia can produce quality engineers, so they don't hire locally—creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Breaking the Cycle

At smallworld, we've taken a different approach: invest heavily in training and treat it as infrastructure, not expense.

Hire for Potential, Train for Skill

We hire smart, motivated people—even with limited experience—then invest heavily in their development.

Our model:

  • Pair programming with senior engineers
  • Code reviews on every commit
  • Weekly technical workshops
  • Real projects with real stakes
  • Mentorship, not just management

The result? Engineers who would be competitive anywhere in the world.

Knowledge Sharing as Culture

Every senior engineer has a responsibility to teach. This isn't optional—it's core to the job.

We share through:

  • Internal technical talks
  • Documentation culture
  • Open source contributions
  • Community workshops
  • Mentoring relationships

Knowledge hoarded is knowledge wasted. Knowledge shared multiplies.

Building in Public

We open source our work wherever possible. Not just to give back, but to create learning resources in Khmer and English.

Cambodian developers can see:

  • How we structure code
  • How we solve problems
  • How we think about architecture
  • How we build products

Learning from real codebases beats textbooks every time.

The Developer Community

Individual companies training engineers isn't enough. We need ecosystem-level solutions.

CODE-C Conference

This is why we organize CODE-C—Cambodia's developer conference.

CODE-C brings together:

  • International speakers sharing knowledge
  • Local engineers presenting their work
  • Students seeing what's possible
  • Companies hiring talent
  • Community building connections

The goal isn't just education. It's showing Cambodia's developers they're part of something bigger.

Developer Meetups

Regular meetups create sustained learning:

  • Mobile Dev Cambodia
  • Blockchain Cambodia
  • Web Dev Phnom Penh
  • Product Engineering talks

These communities provide ongoing support, learning, and networking. They turn individual developers into a cohesive ecosystem.

Student Programs

We run programs specifically for students:

  • Internships with real responsibility
  • Workshops at universities
  • Open office hours for questions
  • Career guidance
  • Portfolio building support

The goal is to catch developers early and accelerate their growth.

Technical Excellence

We don't just want more engineers. We want excellent engineers.

This means:

  • Modern tech stacks (React, Node.js, Rust, Substrate)
  • Proper development practices (Git, testing, CI/CD)
  • System design thinking, not just coding
  • Product mindset, not just feature factories
  • Open source contribution

Cambodian engineers should be competitive globally, not just locally.

Language and Resources

Most technical resources are in English, creating barriers for Khmer speakers. We're working to change this:

Khmer Technical Content

  • Tutorials in Khmer
  • Translated documentation
  • Khmer code comments
  • Video lessons in Khmer

Bilingual Development Encourage developers to be strong in both Khmer and English, opening access to global resources while serving local needs.

Community Translation Work together to translate key resources into Khmer, making advanced knowledge accessible to everyone.

Real Impact

This isn't theoretical. We're seeing results:

Engineers We've Trained are now:

  • Leading teams at local startups
  • Contributing to international open source
  • Starting their own companies
  • Teaching the next generation

Products Built by Cambodian teams:

  • KOOMPI OS (operating system)
  • Selendra (blockchain network)
  • Baray (cloud storage)
  • Multiple web and mobile applications

Community Growth:

  • Developer meetups with 50+ attendees
  • CODE-C with hundreds of participants
  • Growing open source contributions
  • Increasing international recognition

The Multiplier Effect

Every engineer we train trains others. Every successful project proves what's possible. Every community event strengthens the ecosystem.

This compounds:

  • 1 trained engineer teaches 3 others
  • 3 teach 9
  • 9 teach 27
  • And so on

We're not just building a company—we're seeding an exponential growth curve for Cambodia's tech ecosystem.

Challenges Ahead

We can't ignore the challenges:

Competition for Talent As our engineers get better, foreign companies recruit them with higher salaries.

Scaling Quality Easy to train 10 engineers well. Harder to train 100. Much harder to train 1,000.

Keeping Up with Tech Technology evolves quickly. Our training must evolve faster.

Breaking Stereotypes Convincing companies that "Made in Cambodia" means quality, not compromise.

These are good problems—they mean we're succeeding. They're also solvable with continued investment and commitment.

The 10-Year Vision

In 10 years, we envision:

  • 10,000+ skilled software engineers in Cambodia
  • Hundreds of tech companies building products here
  • International companies opening engineering offices in Phnom Penh
  • Universities producing work-ready graduates
  • Cambodia recognized as a tech hub in Southeast Asia

This isn't fantasy. Singapore did it. Vietnam is doing it. Cambodia can too.

How You Can Help

If you're building in Cambodia:

  • Hire locally and train intensively
  • Pay competitively to retain talent
  • Share knowledge through talks and mentorship
  • Open source your work when possible
  • Support community events and education

If you're a developer:

  • Learn continuously and push yourself
  • Contribute to open source to build your portfolio
  • Teach others what you know
  • Attend meetups and build connections
  • Build in public and share your journey

The ecosystem grows when everyone invests in it.

The Stakes

Cambodia's economic future increasingly depends on technology. Countries that build strong tech ecosystems create high-value jobs, attract investment, and increase GDP.

Countries that don't become consumers, not creators. Dependencies, not leaders.

By investing in developers today, we're investing in Cambodia's prosperity for generations.

Every engineer trained. Every community event. Every mentorship relationship. Each one matters.

This is how we build Cambodia's future—one developer at a time.

About smallworld.xyz: We're building Cambodia's tech ecosystem through training, community building, and creating opportunities for Cambodian engineers to do world-class work.