Season's greetings and happy holidays. It feels surreal that we're at the end of another year, like it was just January yesterday. I started this year with so much uncertainty but one thing I was certain of was that I was going to put in the effort. The year went by so fast, so many things to take away. Let me take you on a little journey of how it went:
Higher Education
In December 2021, enrolled for a 4 year programme to study Computer Science at the foremost polytechnic in Nigeria, Yaba College of Technology. Yeah, that's how much programming had "influence" on me. I know it wasn't a prerequisite that I studied the course. But I wanted more and what other than that? And I can say it's been a great journey so far, taking a deep dive into what I love. Currently on a CGPA of 3.43/4 and I couldn't be happier even I knew I could do better.
First Fulltime Job
The reason I'm quite impressed with my performance in school is that I got my job as an intern in April, my boss knew I was still schooling and decided to take a chance with me either way, and it's been a great experience for the both of us. I didn't think I put in much effort in my first month but I got recognized by the MD in just 30 days. Pinch me please. We made it official 3+ months later. Thank you Zummit.
Best Gig
And my team at Zummit is great one. We had a 14 y/o kid at some point who was interning, he was a genius. And there was Zee, words can't describe her. But the best highlight was someone I never expected. Now, he is a backend dev, I'm frontend and we were never paired at any point for any feature(none I can remember) but he somehow managed to always look at my work and paid close attention to it. He had a paid project he was working on and needed a frontend person, and I was the only who came to his mind. I couldn't wrap my head around it when he called and told me about it. I had a call with the PM and after concluding, I realized this path was the right one for me. I never thought I could negotiate the amount I did for a single project. And the best part, the project was fun.
In the pipeline
I saw a particular problem in the tech ecosystem I think most people just wave off or don't really think they could do something about. And in all sincerity, I don't think anyone could do anything about it too but I tried anyways. I drafted a document in that regard, sent it to the Twitter of a particular man I see as mentor(I don't know him in person, in fact I don't know most of my mentors in person). I forgot about it and after 5 months I got a response that has lead to kicking starting the project. The response? Just 3 words; "start building now!". Yup, the motivation I needed. We're currently designing the workflow of the entire system. Hopefully, we will get to building soon.
Mentor??
It sounded very weird in my ears when someone referred to me as their mentor. I mean I am still learning please. Anyways, I've 5 developers who I try to guide on the right path and I try to do my best. It's not easy being the lamp for others but if you keep at it diligently, it ensures one thing; you don't get snuffed out. I had to go the extra mile to make sure I wasn't giving wrong information to my guys which in turn lead to me getting better myself, win-win. That's more reason why I'm not going to stop doing this.
As the lights fade...
I couldn't have asked for a better year. And I going into the new year with enthusiasm. Lots of bit have been missed but these are the major highlights for me. I don't know what it holds but I'm sure of one thing; I'll keep putting in the effort, I'll always do.
Thanks for reading. I wish you all the best in the new year.