Hello! Before we get started, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m an infinite learner. Like you might’ve known already, I come from a non CS background as I studied zoology in the Uni and so I like to think I work and research twice as hard as any computer science grad would. I had always had my interest in tech but it was mostly an hobby; and even most of my friends back in school were computer science students. I dived into tech immediately after my service year and it’s been a steady but rocky journey since then. I joined Interswitch last year and I mostly do frontend development works. I also write mobile applications with React Native.
Over the years, you must have worked on several different exciting projects and have collected a lot of experience. How did you get started? How did you get your first job?
Hmmmm…about getting started, shortly after my NYSC, I got an IT admin job with a small logistics company where I had to manage the company’s e-commerce websites and several other platforms. From there I became more curious as to how CMS worked and then decided to look into frontend development. As time went by, I applied for the popular Google Udacity Schorlarship powered by Andela and I got it. Later on I decided to resign and focus on my dev journey. I also attended a couple of bootcamps and trainings one of which, Stutern organised. Before my dev internship ended at stutern, I was already getting external gigs (projects) and even decided to team up with a couple of friends to set up an Upwork Agency, where we’d get jobs (projects) on Upwork and deliver as expected. So, up until I joined Interswitch last year, I had never really worked officially as a fulltime developer for any company. I also had to intern and pass through the Interswitch Dev Academy before ulitmately joining fulltime as a software engineer.
What would you say is your biggest success so far?
So far, my biggest success would pretty much be my decision to resign and focus fully on my programming dream.
What is your perfect mentee like?
An aspiring developer, with or without the school computer science background, fully determined and ready to dive into tech.
What advice can you give to young people entering the industry?
Stay strong, determined and focused. The sky is only your starting point.
