Evaluating LLMs for Career Guidance: Comparative Analysis of Computing Competency Recommendations Across Ten African Countries
It addresses the problem of Western-centric biases in AI career guidance for African computing students, though it is incremental as it builds on existing frameworks and theories.
This study evaluated six LLMs for providing career guidance in computing across ten African countries, finding that open-source models like Llama and DeepSeek outperformed proprietary ones in contextual awareness, with scores up to 4.47/5, but all models averaged only 35.4% on cultural and infrastructure sensitivity.
Employers increasingly expect graduates to utilize large language models (LLMs) in the workplace, yet the competencies needed for computing roles across Africa remain unclear given varying national contexts. This study examined how six LLMs, namely ChatGPT 4, DeepSeek, Gemini, Claude 3.5, Llama 3, and Mistral AI, describe entry-level computing career expectations across ten African countries. Using the Computing Curricula 2020 framework and drawing on Digital Colonialism Theory and Ubuntu Philosophy, we analyzed 60 LLM responses to standardized prompts. Technical skills such as cloud computing and programming appeared consistently, but notable differences emerged in how models addressed non-technical competencies, particularly ethics and responsible AI use. Models varied considerably in recognizing country-specific factors, including local technology ecosystems, language requirements, and national policies. Open-source models demonstrated stronger contextual awareness and a better balance between technical and professional skills, earning top scores in nine of ten countries. Still, all models struggled with cultural sensitivity and infrastructure considerations, averaging only 35.4% contextual awareness. This first broad comparison of LLM career guidance for African computing students uncovers entrenched infrastructure assumptions and Western-centric biases, creating gaps between technical recommendations and local needs. The strong performance of cost-effective open-source models (Llama: 4.47/5; DeepSeek: 4.25/5) compared to proprietary alternatives (ChatGPT 4: 3.90/5; Claude: 3.46/5) challenges assumptions about AI tool quality in resource-constrained settings. Our findings highlight how computing competency requirements vary widely across Africa and underscore the need for decolonial approaches to AI in education that emphasize contextual relevance