Dev Retro 2022 - My Journey to Self-Reinvention

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future." – Jon Krakauer

Hello, awesome people on the internet, it’s a new year already and I am here to reflect on how I started out as a software developer in 2022.

Starting All Over Again.

2022 was a year of self-reinvention. Although I had been working as an Instrumentation and control engineer for the last 6 years, I enjoyed the experience of traveling my entire country Nigeria, going from Industries to Universities to either install, service, maintain or repair both industrial processes and laboratory equipment. I also had a great time facilitating training for personnel who handle the equipment on the best and most effective way to operate and care for the equipment for a longer life span. But at a point get bored of all these activities, and everything becomes routine to me and I began to consider seeking a more interesting and adventurous career, and of course, one with better financial reward.

By the end of 2021, I began to research what field will give me the freedom to constantly learn to improve myself and give me the flexibility to render service without having to be physically present at the client’s site like my previous role required. Although I knew something about programming because I minor in two programming languages C and C++ as an undergraduate, I knew almost nothing about what it takes to become a software developer. I’ve always thought people who are software engineers or developers are those with a computer science degree. Until I met a friend, Dapo Micheal who was a CS student during our university days and is now a senior software engineer (Full Stack).

He encouraged me to learn how to code, and he believes I will enjoy the experience of being a software developer more than that of my hardware industry. He shared with me the password to his Frontend Master account and a YouTube video link on how to become a software developer in 2021. After seeing the video and doing more research online, I was convinced to try out software development. I started by learning HTML on Frontend Master, then move to CSS I love the experience of styling and manipulating some lines of code to achieve beautiful web pages but I wasn’t consistent as I still travel to work for my instrumentation company.

Taking a leap of Faith

By the end of January 2022, I realized my total disconnection from my work, nothing interests me anymore about what a do every day, and I yearn to continue with my newly found love for software development. I was confronted with the fear of what will be if I quit my job to focus on software development, how will I survive paying bills and what will it be like to start all over again after having risen to the level of senior instrumentation and control engineer?

But at a point, it was down on me that I need a change, so I took a leap of faith and quit the job to focus on software. At some point in our lives, We all need a change to shake things up and approach our work and careers with refreshed enthusiasm. But some people aren't looking to just improve themselves – some need completely new beginnings and instead, seek to reinvent themselves entirely.

Self-Learning and Building Projects

In the first week of February 2022, I started to learn HTML and CSS all over again combining Frontend Master Course and Video Tutorials on Youtube. I was able to also learn git and Github, I created a GitHub account and built a few projects. Below are some of the websites that o cloned with plain HTML and CSS, and now when I look back, I can be proud of myself for how far I’ve come since the beginning.

Learning JavaScript and Getting Frustrated

Like everybody, I moved on to javaScript after I think I have gotten a pretty good grasp on HTML and CSS. I learned from the resources my friend gave me and youtube video tutorials that JavaScript is what made websites more interactive and even more fun to create these websites. I was excited to learn JavaScript but every time I watched a video tutorial on Youtube or read the material and video on frontend master, I feel I am missing out on something. I could repeat whatever it is that was done in the tutorial but I couldn’t solve any other JavaScript problem all about myself.

I immediately knew I needed a learning community. I began to search for a developer community online and I stumbled on ALX Software Engineer online fellowship. I quickly registered and sometime in April, I received a mail congratulating me for being selected for the ALX Software Engineer fellowship. After we were onboarded, we started with Ubuntu and C programming, we would receive learning materials and tasks to be completed within a certain number of hours. My problem became more complex. It was javascript I couldn’t have a hang of, and now it is C programming that I couldn’t understand anything from the learning materials let alone be able to do the tasks. I told myself, this is not what I wanted and I began to keep searching for a better community.

Getting Into TIIDELab Fellowship

After I almost give up on JavaScript, sometime around ending of March, someone in a WhatsApp group I belong to shared a link to registering for the Software Engineering fellowship at TIIDElab. I clicked the link and got registered. after going through a tough aptitude test on critical thinking, HTML, and CSS, a mini project task, and a final interview, I received a congratulatory mail sometime around mid-May that I made it among the 63 selected candidates for Cohort 4 out of 1005 applicants for the fellowship. I was so excited. Judging from the selection process and what I read from the previous cohorts about the fellowship online I have a strong belief that the Fellowship was what I truly needed.

The beginning of Structural Learning

On June 8, we were onboarded into the 6-month intensive Fellowship at TIIDELab. To continue to stay on the fellowship, you must be ready to commit more than 72 hours a week to learning and working on your tasks. A typical day at TIIDELab starts at 9 am with a Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) of 30 questions in 15 minutes, followed by a 30 -40 minutes standup call, then a 2-3 hours technical class, 1-hour coding partnership session, 1-hour peer review session and 3 hours team presentation session all these equivalent to 9 am to 6 pm Job.

In the First Month, I learned Data Structure and Algorithms, before moving on to HTML and advanced CSS in the second month, then JavaScript in the Third to 4th month, and finally React.js while learning and simultaneously implementing the lessons learned in my team project, at the end of the fellowship, I have successfully worked with a team of 8 to build an Adtech web app that helps small businesses manage and optimize their social media account for more sales. The fellowship was Hybrid with 80% virtual for technical classes and 20% Physical for professional development classes. If you wish to learn more about the fellowship check my monthly articles throughout the fellowship here.

Getting Started with Technical Writing and Contributing to Open Source Projects

I love to write, I had been writing poems and self-development articles for blogs and but I knew nothing about technical writing. in the mid of August, Our React.js coach Ayodele Samuel Adebayo at TIIDELab introduced us to technical writing and had a 2 hours session putting us through the nitty gritty of technical writing, he encouraged us to try out the Hashnode Writeathon to test our ability. I found it fascinating and I entered four articles into the contest, one of my articles was ranked among the top 10 articles during the contest and I've gone ahead to publish more articles on Hashnode.

In October, I learned about Hacktoberfest. I have never heard about open source before then, our React.js coach Ayodele Samuel Adebayo also introduced us to open source contribution, he organized a 2 hours class where he walked us through the importance of contributing to open source and how to get started with open source contribution. I was able to contribute to three open-source projects and earned some badges. see the mail below for my badge claim.

Speaking at Tech Events

I am one who gets fascinated with people who have public speaking skills and I have constantly looked for the opportunity to learn and try out public speaking. In October, I saw a tweet to register as a speaker for one of the biggest tech events in southwest Nigeria, DevFest Ogbomoso 2022. I registered and I got a mail to submit a topic and an overview then an invite came to be interviewed as a prospective speaker. After the interview, my topic was accepted and I went on to be on the lineup of speakers for the event, the organizers made a tweet of my quote after the event. After that, I got an invite to participate in a round table discussion tech hangout in my community organized by the State Commissioner for Innovation and Business, and also got an invitation to a tech and innovation stakeholder meeting organized by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). I attended a total of 5 tech events this year and speak at two of the events. Something I am very much grateful for, as it helped me evaluate my public speaking skill and boosted my confidence in speaking before a large number of people.

Finishing Strong in The Fellowship with an Honor Award

As the saying goes - when the going gets tough, only the tough get going. From the begging of the fourth month in the fellowship, eviction started flying around, and a member of my team was evicted for not meeting up with the required tasks among other requirements. My team was reduced to 9 members. Some teams were reduced to 8 and 7 members. By the end of the fellowship, my team had reduced to 8 members. During graduation, I was awarded a volunteering service honor award for voluntarily reviewing the monthly article of each of the fellows throughout the fellowship. See the award and my fellowship completion certificate below.

Closing 2022 with an internship offer at CodeSquad

Barely a week after graduation, I began my search for an entry-level software developer role or an internship. I made a couple of applications online, some with rejection letters and some with no feedback. On December 26, I got an invite with a Google Meet link for an interview for the role of an intern software engineer (Frontend) at CodeSquad- A start-up company that focuses on building software solutions for government and enterprise. Three days after the interview, I received a call from the Co-founder asking if I will be available to resume with them by January 4th. That was one of the happiest moments of my year 2022 after I graduated from TIIDELab.

Come January 4th, I will be resuming at CodeSquad, I am excited about this opportunity and I look forward to making beautiful memories in the company, working and learning from professionals, and experiencing growth with the company.

Wish me well.

2023

I hope to be consistent with my technical writing and get paid writing gigs.

I hope to keep learning and honing my skills and contribute to more open-source projects.

I hope to build two side projects with Tosin Iyiola at the Backend.

I hope to be able to put myself more out there and contribute to the growth of young people who want to learn tech skills.

I hope to actively promote my work on social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp, I believe this strategy will contribute to my progress in 2023.

Final Note.

I am grateful to God for giving me the courage and clarity to take this tough decision despite of my fears. I am also grateful to my friend Dapo Micheal for being my guardian angel at the point when I was clueless. I am looking forward to every opportunity to keep developing my skill while keeping an open mind to connect, collaborate and work with like minds in solving problems and building scalable software solutions.