My Journey To My First None Intern Tech Job

A Little history:

As a kid, I was only into hardware, I liked arranging stuff, joining wires, and seeing stuff I am doing right at my face. I will probably venture entirely into the internet of things permanently someday, cause I love hardware and they are a lot more friendly.

I had a very brilliant brother who knew almost everything, he read mechanical engineering in University of Ilorin, and he has a tech firm today, doing brilliantly well.

He introduced me to my first programming experience using QBASIC, from QBASIC to Visual Basic, from VB to html.

My learning was halted, has I gained admission into Federal University of Technology Akure. All that was in my mind is making my admission permanent, cause the fee was too big to fail and yes I achieved that, which is why I have my BTECH in Computer Science(Taofeeq 2 : FUTA 1).

During the cause of my study, I was trying to pick things up again, but I lacked the right mentality, guardian and time management. I was jumping from language to language(Javascript, C#, PHP, Python). No idea how to make any of them work like I see on the internet, it was just solving Math problems from website to website.

Rather than tell my entire story, I recommend you read more in-depth article about where to start if you are looking for direction, like this one

The break through:

It was 10 days or less to my project proposal, I was still struggling with the project topic I was assigned (sorry can’t remember). I finally pleaded with my supervisor for a change of topic to Development of A Web-based Pharmaceutical Inventory Management System. To be honest, I didn't know how to go about it at the time, but I believed I would find a way. Luckily for me, I searched YouTube and “taaa daaa” there are so many tutorials on inventory management. All I needed to do is learn from it, research and build my own project from there. I did so and trust me it was not easy and I have so many friends to thank for that, cause I hardly understood what was going on, I was just watching YouTube videos and joining the codes together.

This project exposed me to so many things that were hidden to me and it finally made me realize I can do this.

Leaving my Comfort:

After graduation I left home, I needed money to pay bills, I was able to secure a IT Support Technician role, I was in charge of the whole company ICT.

I did that for about 3 months, I left when NYSC called, I decided not to resume as I was missing on interviews, wanted to continue my software development journey and I was willing to risk my 1 year journey of NYSC with no Job or at least get an internship for experience sake.

I already had a couple of offers that I should resume upon getting back from camp, but COVID happened, the rest was history (back to square 1), we all know the story.

Frustration Setting In

I got tired of writing codes no one is using, families were starting to question if I was into yahoo or what exactly. Truthfully there was little or no difference between how I was coding and how a depicted yahoo boy has to stay up all night.

One day, I decided to call one of the companies I had interviewed with, I don’t mind working within any capacity. That was May 2019. I started working as Intern and was paid a stipend in the name of “Data money”.

I didn’t have a choice, I took it and I am very happy I did, because what I know today is the result of that decision.

And yes the romance is still on, I have been able to work on a wide range of projects building Customer relationship management systems, Auto Mart Platform, Investment Platform, Movie Repository (Currently working on) and many more.

The Good News

After many interviews and solving many take home assessment, stages of interviews without replies, I have successfully landed my first offer letter as Software Developer and yes my income is miles ahead of my current earning. I am still very much opened for offers to.

Here we go:

I'm not super smart, I work really hard: Periodically, during my cause of learning, I often ask friends for help and explanations on how best to solve a problem. I always try to encourage friends that, as with most things in life, programming becomes less complicated with familiarity.
Learning is the name of the game: Here’s the deal–you will either be constantly learning or you’ll be a terrible developer. Technology changes at a ridiculous and awesome pace. For all the encouragement you’ll hear (mine included) to focus on the fundamentals and stick to one thing and become great at it, it’s just as important to stay somewhat up-to-date with current industry trends. Good developers are well-informed and broadly-capable.
Documentation is hard (to read and to write). Writing documentation is really difficult, which is probably one of the reasons why reading documentation effectively is hard to learn. This is one area where I still experience some daily struggle. Picking up a new library, framework, or language from documentation only is a challenge for me. As with almost anything, though, the more I use documentation on a daily basis the easier it is.
Becoming a developer is not easy or fast. I’ve read a lot of posts about folks launching their tech careers in a matter of weeks or months. That’s pretty sweet. It took me two years, a ton of work, and even more luck. Thankfully, I was given opportunities along the way that let me prove myself, fall flat on my face, learn from my missteps, and keep moving forward. If you choose to move in the direction of vocational software development, be prepared for discouragement and disenchantment along the way.
Giving back is a key part of the process. Along the way, I’ve been helped and encouraged by so many peers and experts in the field. As a part of my learning process, one thing I’ve tried to do is help others who are on the same journey by providing encouragement, resources, and feedback. Not only is that rewarding and helpful for my process, but I also see it as an imperative. I’ve received so much from the development community. The least I can do is give a little back.

Conclusion

There’s no secret to becoming a developer or to getting a job in tech. (Actually, there might be and I just don’t know it.) In my experience, it’s all about the effort you’re willing to put in.

No athlete wonders how they achieved greatness in their sport. No soldier wonders how they became proficient in their tasks and drills. It was by design; it was intentional; and it was hard work. Get started today.

REFERENCE Debrief: My Journey Into Tech