It’s exactly 6 years since I pivoted from a career in Law to a career in Tech

And you all know I’ll write an epistle about this

Pivoting from Law to Tech was not a well thought out plan and sometimes, I look back and wonder how I got here

Many of us were forced to choose a career path by the time we were teenagers

That's so much responsibility to place on tiny humans who don't even know what to wear the next day

Somehow, we were told that's how life worked and we needed to choose something as important as our career and stick with that choice for the rest of our lives

I knew one thing I enjoyed doing was reading. It was the only thing nobody had to force me to do.

So when going through careers in the prospectus, I chose Law because there are no Lawyers in my family and because Law involves reading an awful lot of material.

After making that choice, I wrote the usual exams required for admission to University to study Law.

While waiting to start Uni, I got a summer job at a Cyber cafe.

I wanted that job mainly because it meant I did not have to pay for browsing the internet and I could read a lot of articles on random things that caught my interest.

I quickly joined so many chat rooms about Technology because I really wanted to do something in that space but felt like my fate was sealed.

I had chosen Law and that was the end of that

At a time, I was looking for cheat codes to finish Grand Theft Auto and that chat room had a lot of people who knew the way forward.

I know, I know. Cheat codes are appalling

One of the chat rooms I joined had a lot of enthusiastic gamers who had real lives outside the internet

For whatever reason, the conversation moved from GTA cheat codes to ASL and what we were doing IRL.

One of the people in the chat room was in Harvard studying a combination of Law and Technology. That was news to me.

I had no idea that there was a centre where Law and Technology met.

I hounded him with so many questions until he practically got tired and asked me to contact one of the Professors at the Berkman Center

I send out an email to said Professor saying that I was a teenager in Nigeria looking forward to studying Law but having a bias in Technology. Blah blah blah...It was a long email

Some days later, I received an equally long response.
Basically he told me he did not know all the answers but I should focus on what I could do now - study Law but keep my mind open to opportunities.

Then I started uni. One of the worst experiences I’ve had because Nigerian university system is designed to break you.

And in some ways, I allowed myself to be broken.

During one of the strikes at Uni, my sisters and I continued our GTA and MK game lifestyle

Still used cheat codes so joined chat rooms to know what the latest codes were to have flawless victory on MK

Somehow, someone had mentioned MIT Opencourseware (OCW) during one of the conversations in the chat rooms.

I saw that and excitedly joined MIT Opencourseware. It was one of the best things that happened to me and I am always grateful that a group of educators decided to publish their materials for people like me to read.

It meant I had MIT education without ever attending MIT!

MIT OCW is basically a platform where all the undergrad and postgrad courses in MIT are published for public consumption.

It was my sandbox. I learned the fundamentals of Computer Science there and it helped me make the decision to focus on ICT and IP Law as my area of specialisation.

It was not a practical decision. There was no ICT/ IP specialisation in my Uni so I specialised in Oil and Gas/ Environmental Law.

Then I met @gbenro and he'd just started a new tech company. I practically hounded him until he gave me an opportunity to work with him.

The first sale we made, he gave me N20k! I never esperredit! Then I'd watch him take endless Microsoft and other exams.

I figured I'd do the same especially as he was originally from a non tech background and seemed to get a hang of it. Basically, he was my role model.

I kept learning a lot on OCW, and I discovered the world of remote working. I was able to work remotely for companies.

My longest contract was with a company in New York (Ergo). @AyodejiAdeyanj2 referred me to them and I am grateful because without his referral, I don't think they would have given me a chance.

After NYSC, I still didn't know how I'd pivot to Tech so I decided I'd continue practicing Law and find a way to specialise in ICT and IP.

Then qualify at the New York Bar because New York was the best place to gain more experience in ICT/ IP Law.

Or so I thought.

I practiced in Nigeria for a few years and it was soul draining. I took on several side gigs (including my Ergo gig), did the whole CAC and FIRS thing. I knew for sure I could not live like that forever.

Had what I call a quarter life crisis in 2010.

I decided I'd study for a Masters degree in ICT/IP Law in the UK and spend the months left on my UK visa to study for the New York Bar.

Then fly to New York to write my exams, get qualified and practice there.

Things didn't quite work out that way.

After my dissertation , I got the study materials for the New York Bar and planned out my study strategy.

Living in London was more expensive that I planned and even with my income from my consultancy gig at Ergo, I was barely able to pay the rent.

So I worked as a Research Assistant at the University and also picked up some gigs online (eLance - now http://Upwork.com  and http://Freelancer.com ).

Alongside, I was taking (free) courses on Coursera (mostly Cyber Security) because I needed to get more gigs on online that'll pay me enough to live on and save.

Then I crashed and burned.

I was doing too much at the same time and it became obvious I could not write the New York Bar exams in 2012.

When the reality hit me, I was lost. I did not know what next to do and I was in a state of panic.

I lost appetite, stopped eating and was just constantly stressed. I was no longer thinking straight and I became a hermit.

I was on the verge of abandoning it all - both the bar exams and my Tech transition. Even life in general.

Thankfully, I met up with a couple of people on Meetup and just listened to them talk about how they were transitioning their careers.

I don't know why I didn't tell them about my confused state. I just told them what I wanted to do and they encouraged me.

Feeling a bit revived, I decided to go back to the drawing board. I could postpone New York bar exams until 2015 and focus on being an independent IT contractor.

But consult on what?

I literally googled "how to be an independent IT contractor in London" and read scores of articles.

There was a huge demand for "experts" in data and cloud migration. Guess who spent hours learning this

When I felt confident enough, I applied for data migration/ data security gigs at FTSE 100 companies

I used my gigs online as the basis for my experience ( i.e. when they asked for 5 years experience, I just repurposed one of my gigs as the basis of my 5 years experience)

After a while, companies had to migrate from XP to Windows 7; or migrate their CRM to Salesforce.

Guess who learned how to do that online?

I put myself out there a lot. Attending endless technology events, writing Microsoft and Google cloud exams

With repetition, I became very confident in my ability to pick up/ understand new technology quickly

I didn't go the Software engineering/ development route. There are other roles in Tech that don't involve "coding"

I decided to be a Scrum Master. Did that for a while. Then became a Product Owner/ Product Manager. Then a Programme Manager

It wasn't a linear progression.

With time, I knew I could do anything within the sphere of influence I had carved and I was confident enough to ask questions if I did not understand a thing.

Doesn't mean I was not afraid. My competence built my confidence.

I still have not written the New York bar exams. I may never write them...but who knows?

I didn't talk about the stress of immigration and the ever changing rules. That's a discussion for another day.

I sometimes think if I knew what exactly how stressful it would be, I'd have given up.

In the words of Robert Burns - "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry..."

Glad mine went awry in a lot of ways but I still pivoted nicely.

The end.