I never like to draw attention to myself, so I hardly speak about my career progression...

Last year, I got my dream job as a Software Engineer after 3 years of working as a Radiographer. #athread

I studied Medical Radiography for 5 years, and tbh it is an awesome profession. School wasn’t too hard, Jobs are easy to get; I literally got my first job before I left school... But something was missing.
I liked my job. I didn’t love it.

While I also loved meeting new patients everyday, the stress of pushing machines around while having to attend to angry & frustrated patients was getting to me.
The healthcare system in Nigeria will frustrate you. That’s something they don’t teach you in school.

So I found myself thinking again about my first love; Computer Science.

Why didn’t I study that in the first place? My very Nigerian mum wanted me to be a health professional and my younger self obliged her.

I won’t dwell on all the details & people I tried to talk to about “learning how to code”.

Lmao! Everytime I asked someone, they’d look at me like I was crazy.

I remember asking my brother @Sick_Sage to tell his friends to text me how to code. Dude probably thought I was high

Eventually, I had a mentor and his first question was “So do you want to learn front-end or back-end”.

I was super confused. How can I know what to do when I don’t know what either of them does? No matter how many times anyone tried to explain, I never got the difference.

So I just told him to teach me Java. I started some tutorials, and gave up as soon as I started, it was hard!

Or so I thought.

Long story short: I got into @GirlCodeAcademy and learnt HTML & CSS. How I learnt of that opportunity was another mad thing.

Afterwards, I got the @udacity scholarship and learnt Android App development - around this time I lost my dad so it took a lot of resolve to finish.

For the most part, I doubted myself. But I basically kept applying to every opportunity while practicing daily. BuyCoins, Udacity, Lambda School, name it.

Keep in mind that I was working in the hospital this entire time.

When I applied to join @VentureGardenNG , I legit applied as an intern. Because again, I thought I wasn’t good enough.

During my interview with the DCTO, I showed him some things I had done with Php. My laptop was always with me. Lol.
Mans said he was impressed.

I got the job and it was a Full Time Role. I was ecstatic. My wildest dreams were coming true.

It has been one heck of a ride, and I have really grown over the past year, but I really wouldn’t change anything.

I’m sharing my story to inspire someone. When I was struggling to learn how to code, this type of story was everything I needed to feel encouraged.

I realize now that I have taken my Journey so far for granted and I don’t ever want to be that person.

If you are like me and are looking for a place to start.

The @sca_yaba community is hosting women this Sunday - 30th by 2pm. Please join us!

https://forms.gle/DmCbs2pjFJrg96Me8

There are so many career paths in the tech world, and there’s a place for you even if you don’t want to ‘code’.