The year was 2019, and I would leave the banking industry. I needed a fresh challenge after underutilizing my potential for about two years. Coming from an engineering background, I knew I could do much more than booking investments, balancing ledgers, and giving financial advice to customers about the bank’s products. I wanted to engage my brain more. At that point, banking was becoming monotonous (probably because I wasn’t a part of the bank’s technology team). This is not to undermine banking. It is a noble profession. The issue was that I was motivated to be at the forefront of creating solutions.
Several months before my departure, I had applied to Lambda and passed several qualifying exams. I knew I was close when I got a mail to begin the pre-course work. At that point, I decided to be fully focused. I did the pre-course work although I struggled (it wasn’t unexpected as I had never written a line of code in my entire life).
In July, I received another mail confirming my acceptance as one of the first set of Africans to be admitted into Lambda. We were 53 from countries like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria. I spoke to a friend about this and we both agreed it was a game-changer.
The journey started in August. I remember having so much doubt in me if I had the qualities to thrive as a software engineer. Gabriel Cabrejas, one of the best teachers in the industry, was in charge and the topic was SEMANTIC HTML. I wrote my first line of code and it felt magical. I remember feeling excited after creating my first pull request. Finally, I would be liberated and I could do stuff by myself.
It wasn’t easy at the beginning. I struggled with CSS (I still do). There were times I considered throwing in the towel because of the struggle. Web development isn’t easy, and that is the truth. There are so many skills to pick up and many technologies to master. However, I kept going and the words of encouragement from mentors spurred me on. I became a software engineer less than a year ago, but I’d say I am happy with my steady growth. In that time, I have written code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, and Express. Also, I have become conversant with Postgres, SQLite, and other DBMS. In other words, I can do both Backend and Frontend.
At the start, I struggled with imposter syndrome. Most of the guys in my cohort were into web development before me and I felt I would never reach their level or match their skills. However, my mentors will say, “Web development is a journey and we will all arrive at our destination differently”. I took this and put in the work. Thankfully, there is a tremendous difference between where I was when I started and where I am now.
As I look forward to my first anniversary as a software engineer, I can’t but imagine if I had started earlier. That said, there are still grounds to cover and room for growth.
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