MY TECH JOURNEY: GROWTH SO FAR

MY TECH JOURNEY: GROWTH SO FAR

How it started

Joining the tech world was my only option from the start. From a young age, I had always been interested in the mechanics of things, cracking down devices to the smallest bits just to find out how each component functioned to get the outcome rather than just being excited about the invention of a new product. Even while I was picking a course to study at the university I just knew it had to be an engineering course and nothing else. I ended up choosing Computer engineering over Mechanical and Chemical engineering, even though I wasn’t much of a programmer then, it still felt like the right pick.

The Initial Game Plan

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Later on that year, I was introduced to network engineering thanks to an internship I did at New Horizons, Nigeria and I was intrigued!! It felt like I just had a breakthrough in the tech world with all the inside things I had learned. With that, I took the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) exams and I got my certificate cause I was so confident that this was going to be my career path. I had made big plans to improve the telecommunication sector of Nigeria, I even started keeping tabs on Funke Opeke, the CEO of Main One and her goal to bridge West Africa's digital divide and make Internet services more widely available became mine too. Funke Opeke was one of my major inspirations.

A Twist in the Game Plan

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Come summer of 2019, I started a remote internship, HNG 6.0, a Beginner Software Development Training, it was very exciting, tasking, and an eye-opener. Joining this internship turned my career around although it wasn’t a smooth ride, I started with learning Html, CSS and Javascript for frontdev then eventually moved on to backend and started learning PHP. At that point in my life, I was confused, to say the least, I really wanted to join the machine learning team but I couldn’t because I didn’t even know how to code in Python at the time. It felt like a challenge to me and that was how I started my ML journey, I learned Python with help of Youtube videos and online courses. I moved on to machine learning when I felt I had enough experience with Python. Choosing to study machine learning has been one of the best decisions I made regarding my tech journey. I feel like I am a step closer to my childhood dream of building robots one day (sci-fi movies have kept my dream alive!!!).

Conclusion

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I know I am currently a novice when it comes to this tech thing and there is still a lot of things to explore in the world of tech and I am psyched about it (I honestly don’t think we could ever know enough, there is just so much to explore!!). One thing to be sure about is that all that needs to be known will be known at the right time because a goal has been set and it will be achieved. I’m currently taking it one step at a time and no nature’s force is going to stop me or anyone out there who is motivated.

It is also important to know that your tech journey could start from anywhere little as it may seem but where it starts doesn’t matter, but where it ends does so as much as we want to take it one step at a time it doesn’t mean we should dull. To stay on top of your game, I recommend:

  • Joining a tech community (like She Code Africa )- This community has been very supportive to the growth of my career, it has helped me improve my skills, mentors are readily available to answer every question, your get to meet people that have the same goals as you, and every day you are inspired to not give up on what you want to achieve.

  • Taking courses and setting strict deadlines for projects and assessments

  • Set specific goals for completion with a stated deadline. Start building projects- this is where your real growth begins

  • Subscribing to weekly or monthly newsletters to be updated on your designated tech track.

Keep in mind that these might not be all you need for your growth in tech but this is what has helped me so far.

#tech #tech-journey #machine-learning