What made me become a software developer?
The Typical African Story
Growing Up
So there I was, a child in Africa, living in a small shack, made of sun-baked mud bricks, covered by a corrugated tin roof that leaks whenever it rains. The room is small, yes, the house was one room but we were lucky it was extended to two (for a typical African reason).
No kitchen, but we have a charcoal stove outside. I should hasten to mention the cacophony of dog barks in our neighborhood and Sierra Leone, a tropical country in West Africa, was able to host all these chaotic adventures.
Although growing up anywhere brings its share of problems, growing up in a place like West Africa is a struggle that is beyond imagination. Put yourself into the shoes of an African child; I should say feet because most children do not wear shoes, but might wear flip–flops as we call them.
Life in Africa is a struggle for anyone, but the life of a child is even harder. Imagine, growing up in a world where you lack the very basics in life: food, clean water, medicine, shelter, safety, and a bed of your own. Beyond that, there are no toys, no dolls, no footballs (mostly), no sweets and treats, and at best, a bed of reeds to sleep on.
My Journey
As lucky as we were for our one room to be extended to two, and in spite of the multiple challenges preventing us from reaching our full potential, we (I and my two siblings) were also lucky to be enrolled in school or “the path out of poverty” as my Mother would often call it. Talking about the future she said, “School would be wonderful to attend, and the future is going to be very bright (referring to technology)”, whilst glancing at his just acquired mobile phone.
She was able to acquire a phone after experiencing a boost in her business which consequently positioned us as a middle-income family. As you would have noticed, I haven’t and didn’t mention my Father. This is because he was Missing-in-Action (Lol). Okay, fine I won’t drag him here. Let’s get back to me.
One word to describe my childhood is creativity. Although drawing can be a learned skill, like Picasso, I was born with the talent to draw (evidently, I didn’t nurture it). So, let’s stick to the creative part of it.
In an effort to stimulate my knack for innovation and creativity, My Mother enrolled me in a Piano and Computer class. Although I was very obstinate to join the latter, my Mother was not going to “spare the rod”; so… you guessed right! I had to oblige to what would now become my area of interest and consequent career.
My Why!
Growing up, I noticed, that the future does not look bright for me as in the case of many youths I see. I am not insinuating that my Mother’s phrase was a lie; In fact, I can’t agree with her more; Africa is a home for hope. But the irony was that I hear people (including my Mom) talking about things getting better, but I have not seen it. Malaria still comes to visit us on a regular basis, there is dysentery, and cholera that one has to watch out for, and as I have grown older and developed as a young man, I realized there is more to the hidden problems in Sierra Leone that meet the eye. For instance, I noticed Sierra Leone’s unemployment is at a staggering rate and continues to leave many university graduates on its trail. Alongside this, I started to believe that the “traditional” model of education in Sierra Leone is fragmented and lacks: student-focused learning and interactivity, which does not emphasize critical thinking and larger concepts and structures.
Like many Sierra Leoneans, I concluded that the traditional schooling system is insufficient to get university graduates decent jobs. You might need a BSc if you want to be a doctor or nurse and some of these other skills. But when it comes to being a software developer, you don’t.
Yes, things are not getting better for me!
As youth unemployment in Sierra Leone continues, virtually unabated, leaving today’s young people facing enormous challenges in finding a decent job and earning an income, I realized through my presence on Twitter on LinkedIn that while the technology industry continues to grow at an accelerated pace, companies across a range of sectors are facing a shortage of professionals with the requisite coding skills to fill their workforce needs. There and then I had a mindset shift, and my aspirations to becoming a software developer started.
I have been on Twitter and LinkedIn for nearly three years. Although I have been inactive for the first two consecutive years before I finally figure out how to use them, I have been fortunate to be able to leverage Twitter and LinkedIn to build my software development career. I have eloquently used these platforms for my networking and self-promotion journey by way of connecting with industry professionals that are helping me to boost to my greatest height and documenting my learning journey respectively.
With this rational mind-blowing approach, I acknowledged that I need to find another way for people, whereby they will be able to make money and provide for their families and add value to the economy. Because I believe, that if a lot of people can have marketable skills, then I think we can solve a massive problem in the market.
Fast forward to today, I emerged in the software developer career path with a double mission — To learn how to code and solve problems so that I can train the coders of the future, and to create social impact by getting low-income youth and minorities into the world of tech by providing hands-on training, and later on help in finding a job.
In harmony with what my Mom said, I have come to realize that, the future is technology, and the internet, computers, and mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives. I love Software development. To me, it is an art, a creativity and intelligent skill to breath life into the code and build applications to solve the day to day affairs. It is a passion to work with 0s and 1s and give them a meaning which can be understood by the machines as well as humans. In simple terms, it is like being a architect but instead of buildings, we design and construct software. We don’t just write code, we design systems and software that are scalable, constructive and user friendly. Every career will depend on it and technology will be more advanced and technology is what we need to keep jobs and economies forward. Without it, the world will be different.
Conclusion
The reality is that you and I can make a difference in the lives of children in Sierra Leone and in Africa through technology. I choose to become a software developer because I want to be the catalyst of change in the lives of underrepresented youths.