As a child I’ve always loved computers, I am always awestruck at how much a computer could do. Throughout my primary and junior secondary class I always win the award for best in computer studies. I got my first laptop at age 13, and my favorite activity on the laptop was typing, I completed all challenges on Mavis Beacon (I was the fastest typist among my friends) and playing games (Moto GP, Kill Switch and Spiderman).
During our introductory class in Senior Secondary Class 1 (SS1) we were asked to write down our future ambition, I wrote “I want to be a computer programmer) this was back in September 2008, I knew nothing about programming, I only read somewhere what computer programmers do.
My background
In 2015, I got admitted into Computer Science Department of University of Abuja. I was so happy, I finally got the opportunity to study my dream course, I couldn’t wait to start programming, even though I was scared because I’ve always been fed with the gate-keeping statement “You need to know math to be a good programmer”. This statement has always discouraged me because I wasn’t good in math. After a year in school, I thought I would have started writing codes, and building apps (I’m sure that’s the expectation of every computer science student in Nigerian universities) My expectation was cut short when all my first year courses were filled with math, statistics, physics, and all other irrelevant courses. After my first year, I lost interest in college, I devoted little time to school work, but I didn’t want to dropout, I promised myself that no matter how discouraging it was I’d push through.
How I Started
In 2017 I started volunteering for an NGO, the founder of the NGO knew I was tech inclined so he wanted me to manage their website. I didn’t know anything about web technologies, my 2 years in the university I didn’t learn anything about web technology, but I didn’t let it hinder me, I took the challenge. I’m always quick to understand new concepts, so I went online to learn how to manage a website, during my research I learnt how to know what technology a website is built with. I found out the website was built with WordPress, I read up articles on how WordPress works, I started managing the website (I update blog posts, post pictures to the gallery, check comments, etc.) On days that he didn’t send me contents to post, I’d log into the admin portal and play around with things. I love how the web works, I started indulging myself in WordPress technology. In 2018 I registered for the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) scholarship, I wrote the scholarship exam and aced it, I enrolled for the diploma in web development. On the first day of class, I doubted myself, I questioned my intellect, what if I’m not good enough? What if I’m not smart enough? Well I’ll never know unless I try. First day we started introductory HTML, I feel in love. I was appalled at how a single line of code <p> </p> would create a paragraph in a web page, I was eager to learn more, I’ve finally found something I loved doing. I got back home and started learning more, I couldn’t wait to go to class the next day. Few weeks after learning HTML, we moved to CSS, at first CSS was hard, then we went on to JavaScript, JavaScript made me question if web dev was the career for me. But my tenacity kept me going.
The Journey So Far
It’s been a very interesting and tough journey, the concept of limitation was not in my way of life, little did I know that by 2020 I’d be catching on to a career I hadn’t realized I’d been passionate about since I was 13
Sometimes, we don’t realize how far we have come until we take a moment to pause, step outside ourselves, and analyze our route and progress. It feels like there is an overwhelming amount of information to learn still as a Developer. There is always a lesson in the challenge. The process of learning never leaves the atmosphere of a developer’s environment. I'm not where I want to be in my career, but I'm not where I used to be. I started with no related background study. I had no money to spend on expensive courses, but I learned that if you put your mind to it, you can do it. You have to be willing to work hard, learn a lot, and be consistent. Everything I've achieved in my career today is a result of hard work, Passion, consistency and perseverance. I've learnt to celebrate the small victories and stay committed to lifelong learning.
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