Let's take it back to the early 2000s...
If I am going to be very honest, I would say my journey in the beautiful world of Technology began at the age of six.
Yes, I said, six years old.
My Dad was pretty exposed. I remember vividly the day he brought the desktop home. You know how computers were at the time, I doubt they were flat-screen monitors at all. As children, my siblings and I were very excited.
That was the period I learned how to type. Back then, there was this software called “Mavis Beacon”, it was really popular at the time. I was a child I really had nothing to do, so I spent most of my time learning how to type, playing around with CorelDraw, and everything I could lay my hands on.
Fast Forward to when I got to secondary school in my very first year, if you’re not Nigerian, our first year in secondary school is called Js1, that is Junior Secondary School 1. I am not exactly sure how it happened but my Computer teacher then found out I could type fast and he was astonished, mainly because of my age because I was about 11 at the time.
From then on, he used to call me to type a truckload of documents for him, even down to examination questions.
Looking back now, my Computer teacher used me and my time. But then, I was a child, so I was just really excited to type for him. I mean I got to stay in this Computer Science Classroom which was sophisticated, and then he would always brag about me to Senior Students whenever he was teaching in class. He probably even told them I could type up to 200 wpm.
Nevertheless, I honestly feel this was my very first exposure to technology and I was quite computer-literate at that young age.
Well, you might be guessing that I discovered I wanted to be the next world-renowned programmer as a child…
I am sorry to burst your bubble, I didn’t discover anything. I most definitely fell into the bandwagon of kids that wanted to study medicine. I was exposed to computers, but then nobody ever told me or instead I was never even surrounded by people that could have told me that I could make a career out of pressing computers.
But when your Father is a doctor and your mother is a nurse and your extended family is made up of Nurses as well, the chances of you wanting to go into that field are quite high.
My name is Queendoline and this is my Journey as a woman in the field of Technology
My Journey Before Embracing Tech
Before I reached the realization that I wanted to have a career in the field of technology I was pretty much a young girl who wanted to do well in school, I mean I did not end up studying medicine as I planned but regardless, as a student in the University, I just wanted to be like the Best Student in my class. I felt like doing that would compensate for my loss of studying medicine.
Other than wanting to do well in school, I had a mini career as a dancer in my hometown “Akwa Ibom” and in my school.
At the time, the name Queen would always be associated with “Queen the dancer”. Dancing was and is still my passion, so I did lots of it in my 100 level and 200 level.
As an undergraduate in any University in Nigeria, you are probably familiar with events such as “faculty nights”, “departmental nights”, “burn fire nights” etc. Those dancers who are usually invited to entertain the crowd?
Yes!
That was me, that was my part-time Job, I honestly was not even getting paid, I just enjoyed dancing so I didn’t mind if I got paid or not. You know when people say “do it because of the passion and not the money”, that was me and is still me. I would literally dance anywhere and I don’t care if I am getting paid or not, but getting paid would feel good though, don’t get me wrong.
Sometime in my 300 level, I decided to leave the dance crew I was a part of. In my head, I wanted to focus more on school, and it was already clear to me that I was stuck in the course I was studying and medicine was nowhere in sight if I wanted to just move on with my life. So I decided to just study the course as if I was studying medicine. To do that, I had to cut out distractions. I concluded that I was going to be a solo dancer and do my own thing.
During that same period, I explored the makeup industry. I was so obsessed with makeup and makeup tutorials. If you saw me on my phone looking very serious, chances are; I was most definitely watching a makeup tutorial.
It got pretty serious, that I became a makeup artist in my 100 level but that only lasted up until my 200 level. I wanted to scale up as a makeup artist but it didn’t work because I was too broke to get more products.
Ladies, you know how expensive good makeup products are. I honestly just gave up when I could not get support to scale up my business as a makeup artist. Putting this part in this article because it was a really exciting time in my life, that was how I was able to make a reasonable amount of money by myself for the first time ever in my life.
In my 300 level, trying to be the best student I could ever be, my university decided that we borrow a course from the computer science department called “An introduction to programming”.
A little back story, I am an agricultural science student and there was this stereotype around that borrowed course in my faculty. My older colleagues complained about it, I kept on hearing remarks from them like “The course is very difficult”, “everybody in our set failed it” you get the point.
I’m the kind of person that gets motivated by remarks like that, I mean I didn’t understand why they were all complaining until I attended my first computer programming class
After concluding that I might most definitely fail that class and it might just destroy my almost-perfect CGPA, I decided that I was going to do something about it.
I began to ask questions, every single person who had taken the course before, especially those in the computer science department told me that the course was a walk in the park and that in fact, I did not even have to read for it. This was in contrast to the mindset of my classmates and colleagues who just thought the course was made for people to fail.
Covid came and we went on a break. One of my goals was to make sure I learned that course properly just so I do not fail.
I remember taking my textbook home, you know this thing where you take your books home for holiday hoping to read them and eventually you realize that you are not going to read them.
That was my situation, I mean I began to study it but I wasn’t just getting it, so I gave up and said to myself that I would learn it when school began.
But then I didn’t completely give up, I only gave up on reading the textbook because it was not very comprehensive. At the time, I had a best friend who was a computer science student, so he knew this stuff.
He used to talk about coding, 100 days of coding challenges, and all. At the time I was not interested, I knew people could code but I honestly did not think much of it, I just wanted to pass my computer science exams and rest.
Nevertheless, I decided that I wanted to learn how to code. I downloaded this online coding app on my phone called mimo, this app had different languages you could learn; there was Python, Java, JavaScript, HTML, etc.
Without prior research on anything I just started learning for fun, I remember learning HTML, and I felt like it was a waste of time. I mean everything I was doing in HTML just felt like I could type it with Microsoft word. Honestly I was so ignorant and I didn’t even do any research, I was learning it for fun and I wanted to impress my best friend.
After about a week, I gave up again. My excuse was that I needed a laptop and I couldn’t continue to do anything with just my phone.
Looking back now, I am a little bit mad at myself, because I wasn’t very curious, I did not ask questions, and I didn’t even explore more than HTML. I learned something in python but it felt very abstract to me so I left it. I feel like if I had discovered CSS and known that you do not use just HTML to create a website then knowing who I am I wouldn’t have given up. I honestly would have sought a laptop by any means.
After Covid…
Covid break was over, and I went back to school to face the harsh reality that I still had to pass my computer programming exams and I wanted to get an A. By this time, I still had zero knowledge of what I was going on in class. The only thing I knew was;
public static void main
We had to learn a little bit of Java, data structures, and algorithms for the exams. Just the introductory part of it though, but to me, it felt like I was asked to prepare for an interview to work at Microsoft.
I decided I was going to do everything within my means to pass this course. I remember learning from two people; I had two friends from the computer science department.
I was so desperate to understand the course that I had to pay a visit to one of these my friends, Udomisor, and shout out to him. He has been coding since I knew him, currently a backend developer and a product designer.
I saw vsCode for the first time on his laptop, he was the one who showed me how things worked, and taught me about variables, if/else statements and the things I needed to know.
Looking back, I am not sure what I understood but it just makes more sense now that I am in the field. He even gave me this book on Java. I think the name of the book was “Beginning Programming with Java”.
I had another friend Kachi, shout out to him as well, he is currently a full stack developer, blockchain developer, and a graphic designer when he wants to be. He was the one who taught and explained algorithms to me.
My Best Friend at the time also introduced me to W3Schools. Before he even did that, I had already gotten a course which he warned me not to get because W3Schools would have everything I needed. But then my brain felt like I had to do everything at my disposal so that If I ended up failing I would feel like I did my very best.
To cut this long story short, I was doing the most, I was reading this Java book like my life depended on it, I even watched a Java tutorial with “Programming with Mosh” on Youtube. I Was sleeping inside W3Schools literally.
Exams day came and I promise you that It was super easy. I am not sure what words I can use to explain how relieved I felt. That is when I realized that I actually did too much for the exams and I finally understood why people who were in the computer science department didn’t have to read to pass the exams, that is to tell you how easy it was if you just understood the basics. And at that point, I had studied so much that I knew more than the basics.
The results came out and I got an A. Yaayyyy!!
That was it for me, that was the point I realized that I wanted to code.
But that didn’t happen immediately , I still didn’t have a laptop and I knew for sure I needed a laptop if I wanted to take things very seriously. Hence, I had to take a break until I could get a laptop.
During this period of waiting, I started to engage myself in a few things. I knew for sure I wanted to get some kind of digital skill. I started learning how to trade forex and binary trading. I remember getting a scholarship from Udacity to learn digital marketing. I started learning that since it didn’t really require having a laptop and I could just do most things from my phone.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, I started learning cryptocurrency, At that time it was a pandemic amongst my classmates, it honestly felt like if you were not doing anything in the world of crypto you were missing out and of course, your girl had to join in and I don’t regret it at all, because I made some cool cash.
Finally, in December 2021, I was gifted a laptop by my mum. Before getting the laptop, I had already started exploring Tech Twitter, I already knew that I wanted to get started with Frontend Development. The first thing I downloaded on my Laptop was vsCode and my sister paid for “The FullStack Web development course by Colt Steele” for me.
Officially my Tech Journey began in January 2022
Tech Transformation: My Journey of Success, Overcoming Obstacles, and Personal Growth in the Industry
I like to think of myself as a very serious person, I love to read or rather I love studying, especially if I have to do it for an exam. I’m not sure If I am weird but I think this is one of the attributes that helped me on this journey.
I had heard of how important it was to learn in public and share your journey in public. I remember my sister also advised me to talk about whatever I was doing on my LinkedIn, buttressing the fact that learning in public exposes you to a network of people in your field as well as potential employers and connections.
I took it upon myself to do just that. I started the 100 days of Code Challenge on LinkedIn, but unfortunately, I couldn’t keep up with it, even though I was learning how to code every day.
I was consistent with sharing my learnings and everything I built on Twitter. I was able to connect with more people that were also learning like me and people who were already in the field. The Tech Twitter community was so welcoming and supportive, everyone there is just willing to help and share Opportunities with you and I fell in love with it.
During this period I joined a Web development Bootcamp that was organized by Empower Her Community. I may not have been the most active during this Boot Camp because I was struggling with going to school and joining classes organized by the Bootcamp. It felt more convenient to learn on my own.
Unfortunately, I was not able to graduate officially from the Bootcamp but I was able to build a landing page that I designed and converted into code, which was the final project we had to do. I was so proud of it because I designed it myself, I did not even know I could get designs from dribble or Behance. This is a link to the landing page I built for queen's sapphire landing page.
Nevertheless, the Bootcamp was amazing, and I met my very first female friend in Tech Jessica Joseph. I remember we spoke at length about how we wanted to be successful in this field and how we would collaborate on projects.
Jessica and I worked together for the first time, and the second time we built a Cinema Website that got lots of engagements on Twitter. I was so proud of myself and I wanted to do more. The post has received a total of 9918 views since then.
From then on, I always posted all my projects on Twitter no matter how small or how simple it was, I just wanted to put myself out there because what is the point of learning in secret?
The most heartwarming thing for me was the fact that people reached out to me on how much I inspired them with my learnings, I made more friends in the Tech Space and that just accelerated how much I wanted to learn and be better.
Then Technical Writing came along…
I got interested in technical writing because I heard loads of times from my senior colleagues in the industry that writing helps you understand what you have learned better. So I decided to start writing, and fortunately for me, that was when the SheCodes Technical Writing Boot Camp came along. You can read my full experience of the boot camp here.
After the boot camp, I knew I also wanted to take Technical writing seriously. I wrote a few articles that period, but after the boot camp, I did not write as much anymore until a technical writing opportunity came.
Someone reached out to me on Twitter to apply as a guest writer for a certain publication, Frankly when I saw the message I did not think much of it. It was one of those messages I just wanted to leave on read.
I only felt this way because I had gotten messages like that in the past about getting a paid gig, or getting a particular job, and it always led to a dead end. So I was just discouraged.
Nevertheless, I just applied for the sake of it, so it won’t be like I saw an opportunity and I let it pass me by. The publication reached back to me and I have been accepted as a guest writer. I was not still impressed because I felt it was a scam, I honestly had no idea that I could write for a publication and get paid I had forgotten that I applied, but I still followed up with the process regardless.
Long Story Short, I pitched an article for publication, and they accepted it, I wrote the article and submitted it. I got paid for the article a month later.
This was the highlight of my Tech Journey in 2022. It was just 8 months, I was not even expecting to make money from Tech until maybe 2 years after. The only thing I felt then was “gratefulness and gratitude”. I was just really grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn and write and the privilege to be seen by the person who reached out to me.
I have been writing seriously since then, not just for publications but on my personal Hashnode account as well.
Challenges.
The main challenge I faced and currently facing is the fact that I am studying a course completely out of the scope of computer sciences, and it is really difficult most times to combine going to school full time and trying to upskill in my career as a developer.
I am graduating from school soon, so that is a relief though I have come to terms with the fact that my Tech Journey might have to slow down a bit until I can successfully graduate from school.
But regardless I am still pushing and I try to make a working schedule that would fit into my school work and my Tech career.
Personal Growth in the Industry
I made a tweet one day that said “Coming into Tech, you not only learn the technical skills but you also get to pick up soft skills along the way”.
In the past year, I have noticed how well my communication skills have gotten better. I was able to host a few Tech Twitter spaces that had more than 150 listeners on average. Hosting a Twitter space is just like public speaking, it is something I never thought I would be able to do but I did it and I know for sure that my communication skills and the way I would speak and relate with people in 2020 are completely different now.
Tech taught me how to work and collaborate with people. I do not think Tech would exist right now without remote work. I know collaboration could also happen in the physical work environment, but collaborating virtually without problems is another kind of skill.
Not only did I build solo projects but I also collaborated with my friend Jessica, I led a group of nine people on the Empower Her Community Frontend Slack channel and we were tasked to build an e-commerce website, I was also part of a group of 5 people in another Bootcamp training I joined called “Upskill” and we had to build a project of our choice.
You don’t just collaborate but you also pick up leadership skills as well. I am currently the Slack Channel Manager for the Technical Writing Channel of Empower Her Community.
Queendoline of 2019 would always run away from leadership opportunities. I usually fall into the follower crew because I do not like to be in charge of a large number of people. But with Tech, I decided to come out of my Comfort Zone, and try to lead. And I give myself Accolades because I know I am doing a good job so far.
Tech has made me a more disciplined person because I know for sure I have career goals I want to achieve and the only way I can achieve them is if I sit up and take the necessary steps needed to get to my Destination.
I have learned and I am still learning how to network with people and it is not just limited to the Tech Industry alone. I believe networking would take you farther than the technical things you learn.
I had the privilege to be featured in a series called "Developer Spotlight" by https://authx.radius.africa/. I granted an interview about how I am able to navigate growing my career in tech as well as being a student at the university. You can read the full interview https://radius.africa/blog/2023/02/02/developer-spotlight-2/
Putting yourself out there is extremely important, people are watching it may not seem like it but people see you and what you do. Your potential employer might just somewhere lurking around these social media platforms.
Conclusion
I am still on a Journey to become a very successful Developer and a technical writer, and every day I work towards that goal. I currently build projects with HTML, CSS, Javascript, and the JavaScript library called React, I also write technical articles for publications below is a list of some of my articles:
My journey in Tech has been so fulfilling. Extremely grateful to the people I have met along the way. My mentors never complained nor gave up on me whenever I ran to them for help, I love and appreciate them so much.
The amazing friends I met on this journey, my growth partners, have a special place in my heart. I really cannot wait for all our dreams to gradually fall into place.
My supportive friends in other industries, they’re so amazing and I love them so much.
My Dad ( In blessed memory), my Mum, and my siblings. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have them in my life, I do not think I could have come this far without their support, I feel blessed to have them in my life.
My Final gratitude goes to God. I love him so much for who he is because he has played the Ultimate Role in how far I have come right now.
This brings me to the end of this article, I am praying and hoping it was not too long. Happy Women’s Day and see you on my next read.