DEV Community: Damilola Owolabi

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

Damilola Owolabi — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 07:43:49 +0000

It’s been over 4months since I promised I was going to write about how I overcame Impostor syndrome. I’m so sorry it came late.

But right within me i knew I was nervous and fighting impostor syndrome. "Impostor syndrome sucks"... Thanks to Segun Onilude(A friend), who adviced me and his advice did helped. I would definitely write about how I overcame impostor syndrome in my next article. (Excerpt from My first month experience as a Frontend Developer Intern at Mira Technologies)

Nevertheless, here are some of the ways that can help you overcome impostor syndrome.

What is imposter syndrome?

Imposter syndrome describes feelings of severe inadequacy and self-doubt that can leave people fearing that they will be exposed as a “fraud”, usually in their work lives.

It’s fairly typical for people with imposter syndrome to encounter thoughts such as “I feel like a fake”, “I don’t trust my own talents and skills”, “Anyone could've done that” and “I don’t deserve my success”. This has really affected a lot of people regardless of their success or academic accomplishments.

“Next time you’re in a situation that feels completely outside your comfort zone, don’t focus on your failures, Consider it your opportunity to learn from your missteps and to bring forth a new perspective that others may not have.” - Andy Molinksy

For several years, I’ve nursed within me that I was not good enough even when opportunities came by, I had to walk away cause I felt I was not good enough – there was a part of me telling me I wasn’t the right fit. Seeing this pattern emerge, I realize I’d been experiencing imposter syndrome.

How to Get Through It

Here are few tips I’ve made to help me whenever I’m struggling with imposter syndrome.

• Know your Identity:

There is a need to understand who you are, how you see yourself really matters -it has a way of shaping your life either positively or negatively. Stop dwelling on your self-doubt. “When I feel overwhelmed because I just can’t do it all, I say to myself that I’m remarkable and I tell myself to get it done”. You aren’t here to live the life of another person. You are just you.

Losing is just part of the game. Don’t glorify failure, but don’t let it make you feel like you’re not a real contender either. Instead, think and say positive thoughts and reinforce them by looking at your accomplishments. Stand firm in who God says you are when you feel like a fraud and you can start to see how you're impacting lives. It works!

God intentionally created us for a purpose: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph. 2:10). Without question, the Imposter Syndrome will hold us back, preventing us from enjoying and sharing all God has for us but always remember that you’re gifted, wonderful, blessed, loved and you are not in this world by a mistake. I encourage you to Saturate your mind with the truth of God’s Word. It is filled with reminders of His unconditional love for you!

• Celebrate Yourself Always:

After a success, have you dismissed it as just good luck or timing? - Sometimes we forget that we are worth it. To help show yourself that you're actually doing well, keep track of your wins in a private document, this will act as a success remider. But alongside working on your impostor syndrome directly, it can also be beneficial to work on your confidence and self esteem.

Make it an habit to document your wins, testimonials, photos, awards and then visit them when you feel like an imposter. Stop comparing yourself with others. Learn to value your own strengths and once you start respecting your own potential, you will soon realize that you have a lot to offer.

• Say “YES” to opportunities:

While it might be intimidating to take on a role you're not sure you can succeed in, know that you were asked to do it for a reason, and there's nothing wrong with learning new things and asking questions along the way.This helps you to learn, grow, and advance in your career.

Irrespective of how you feel, It takes a lot of courage to pursue challenges even when you're doubtful. Trust me, You can do it. The world needs you to make a difference.

I hope this tips of mine helps, cheers to pushing past your fears and sharing your gifts with the world!

My first month experience as a Frontend Developer Intern at Mira Technologies

Damilola Owolabi — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 07:01:37 +0000

Coding started as a hobby. I enjoy doing it most of the time, as well as writing, sewing clothes and singing.

In August, I began my internship as a Frontend Developer at Mira Technologies. I was so happy I got the job 'cause I saw it as an opportunity to gain professional experience.

However, something happened a day before the day I was supposed to resume. Literally, I was meant to resume on Monday, 17th of August 2020. I remembered calling the Secretary at Mira Technologies on Sunday, 16th of August 2020, telling her I was no longer interested in the offer due to some personal reasons.

But right within me i knew I was nervous and fighting impostor syndrome.
"Impostor syndrome sucks"... Thanks to Segun Onilude(A friend), who adviced me and his advice did helped. I would definitely write about how I overcame impostor syndrome in my next article.

Surprisingly, my 4weeks experience at Mira Technologies has been so amazing and i didn't expect it to turn out this way. At first, I was confused as I didn’t receive enough explanation about the project so I asked and stressed my project manager a lot and struggled to connect the dots.

Honestly, it was really a tough one for me as I hadn’t worked with React before 'cause I'm used to Vue. But that forced me to figure out a lot of issues and relearn JavaScript. After the first couple of days, I got the hang of it with the help of kind and helpful colleagues.

The work itself is quite good, had experience with bug fixing and adding new features to a web app. Like most companies, we have our daily checkpoint talking about the progress of our work for each day.

There were plenty of days when I felt like an imposter. My project manager would be explaining a task to me, and I would sit there thinking that there was no way I could really do that! But I was able to overcome it by understanding "who I am" that I'm wonderful, remarkable and I'm capable of doing it!

After those quick meetings, I would jump on my computer and think about how I was going to solve the problem. I broke it down step-by-step into small, manageable pieces and went from there.

Other than work, the company sometimes create events which every member of the company participates in. The event may be a tech talk or an event where we discuss about how to bring about growth to the company. When gathered for such events, we get to meet wonderful,kind and resourceful people, and of course there's always an item 7(food and drinks!).
I have learnt a lot in the past 4weeks which mostly has to do with technology and technics but there’s also the experience of working with people in a startup. It is a privilege to learn in a startup such as Mira Technologies. I’m really thankful to God for the opportunity to intern here and I can't wait to see them at the top!

My little advice for everyone out there is to remain focus, be nice to everyone and be good at what you do 'cause consistency is key ✌. Opportunities will surely come and Don't get to bust to grab the opportunity cos opportunity lost might not be gained no more, Don't give up yet and remain focused!

https://miratechnologiesng.com

How to publish webpages with github

Damilola Owolabi — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 22:07:32 +0000

There are several ways through which you can deploy your website, Github is one of the easiest and fastest way to deploy your website developed with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Apart from the fact that Github stores and allows you to share your code with multiple people, it also offers web hosting for your static HTML website.

It is a great tool which helps to showcase your project live to the whole world, isn’t that amazing! You tend to create awareness about your skills and services by sharing the link on various social media channels, It also open up opportunities that you can ever imagine. So, let’s get started I believe you already have an HTML page on ground.

STEP 1: Create an account on Github
Signup for a free account on Github: https://github.com/ Or if you’ve already have an account, login here https://github.com/login

STEP 2: Create a new repository
After you’ve successfully login on github, it automatically redirects you to the dashboard. There you will see a green button named “New”. Click on it to create a new repository, Thereafter;
• Input a repository name, the repository name can be anything. Just take note that the URL of your webpage will depend on what you name the repository, for example;
let’s assume your username is dammyton and your repository name is dammyton.github.io then automatically your URL will be dammyton.github.io
• Input the project description (tho it is optional)
• Lastly click on “Create repository”

STEP 3: Upload your files
You can decide to upload it manually on github by clicking on the upload files or you can as well upload your files via the terminal. Open the terminal program on your computer and navigate to the folder where your files are (the files you intend to upload). Then follow this subsequent steps;

    • git init
    • git add .
    • git commit -m “first commit”
    • git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/repository name.git
    • git push -u origin master

If you go back to the repository you created earlier you should see your files there.

STEP 4: Publish the webpages
Click the settings tab in your repository. Scroll down the settings page, you’ll find a section for github pages. Where source is set to none, change it to master branch then save. It will automatically display the URL. Yes, your webpage is now live. Congratulations!

3 Easy Steps: Becoming an independent lady with technology

Damilola Owolabi — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 11:07:03 +0000

To be an independent Lady with technology means to be competent, exclusive, not subject to bias or influence with technology. Do you know that the first programmer was not a man, It was a woman.

Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician was called "the first computer programmer" for writing an algorithm for a computing machine in the mid-1800s. Another female tech genius is Grace Hopper. She was one of the most influential computer scientists of all time. She developed the first human-computer code compiler and helped popularize the term "bug".

One other person I so much admire is Ada Nduka Oyom, the founder of She Code Africa, it’s a platform committed to improving the Girl tech-education and celebration of code queens in Africa. Tho, we still have more ladies in technology who changed the world. If they can, you too can do better.

The following are ways on how to become a competent lady with technology;

1. Determination
First and fore most decide on the technical skills you want to dive into and be determined that you are not going to give up until you achieve your goal.
Think about what your unique tech skills can bring to the world, and make a plan to utilize them for your best and highest purpose.
Don't let the fear of failure stop you. Don't let limiting beliefs stop you from moving forward. Mind you the determined ain't lazy
"To achieve something you've never achieved before, you need to become someone you've never been before"- says Led Brown

2. Consistency
Be consistent at the technical skills you choose. It is said that the Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean. You can dedicate 30mins of time each day to learn about your desired technical skills everyday. Learning every 30mins each day is better than learning 12hours at an interval of 2weeks. Practice on a daily basis!
A little bit every day goes a long way.
Welcome challenges too, cos there’s possibility of facing challenges. But don’t worry you’ll overcome. Just get on with it. The more you do it, the more you know it. Success doesn't come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently. Like it or not, to be an independent Lady with technology you need to be consistent.

3. Join a community
One of the ways to remain in the tech industry and become competent as a female is through mentorship, peer networks, and social connections specifically for women.
When you're join a community of like minded individuals, you tend to share ideas, tips and resources together.
It enables growth too. I have come to understand that when you learn alone, of course you'll grow but it won't be at a faster pace, unlike learning with like-minded individuals.
Examples of tech communities that encourage ladies are; shecodeafrica, women techmakers, project 18, technovation, markether, girlswhocode e.t.c

I believe with the listed points above we can proudly represent women in technology and thereby have a better world to live. Be focused and keep doing amazing things. Thanks.

Media Query Crash Course

Damilola Owolabi — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 07:59:21 +0000

Media query is an amazing tool in CSS3 that improves the responsiveness of a website. You may be wondering, do I really need it, when there are a lot of CSS frameworks out there that make a website responsive very faster? Yes, but the functionalities are totally different.

CSS Frameworks such as Bootstrap, Bulma and so on are style framework that leverages media queries while Media query allows us to create rules of CSS properties based on various device type.

For instance, there are times the font-size for an element is 45pixels at the desktop view. Obviously, the text will be too large at the phone view. So, it’s advisable you reduce the size. How do you reduce the size? Thankfully, media query helps to achieve that.

Media query Syntax:

@media media-type and (media-expression) {

    /* CSS rules go here */
}

Example 1:

How to change the font-size of an element when the browser’s width is 600px wide or less.

@media screen and (max-width:600px){
    h2 {
        font-size: 14px;
    }
}

Example 2:

How to change the font-size and color of an element when the browser’s width is more than 600px.

@media screen and (min-width:600px) {
    p {
        font-size: 40px;
        color: #333333;
    }
}

Example 3:

How to change the body text color to blue if the screen is exactly 400pixels.

@media screen and (width:400px) {
    body{
        color: blue;
    }

}

If you noticed, I made use of only 1 media type (screen) and 3 different media-expression(max-width, min-width, & width). Those are the most commonly used, the complete list is here, you can read up on it. Thanks.

A Beginners Guide To Git & Github: 3 Easy Steps To Store Your Projects On Github

Damilola Owolabi — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 20:58:20 +0000

This article explains how to get started with git as a beginner. It’s likely that you might have the word “Git” & “Github” before. Don’t get it twisted they ain’t the same thing.

Git is a version control system for tracking changes in source code during software development. It is designed to coordinate work among programmers, but it is used to track changes in any set of files. While Github is literally a platform where developers store their projects and network with like-minded people.

The 3 easy steps to store your projects on Github
Having described what “Git” & “Github” means. let’s follow this practical steps to get a better understanding better of how git and github works.

STEP 1: Install Git & Create a Github account

If you don’t have git installed on your computer follow the instructions here to install git. Once you are done with that Signup for a free Github account.

STEP 2: Create a new repository

To get started with this, login to your github account. After a successful login, it automatically redirects you to the dashboard. There you will see a green button named “New”. Click on it to create a new repository, Thereafter;

Input a repository name
Input the project description (tho it is optional)
Lastly click on “Create repository”

STEP 3: Add your files

Open the terminal program on your computer and navigate to the folder where your files are (the files you intend to upload). Then follow this subsequent steps;

git init
git add .
git commit -m “first commit”
git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/repository-name.git
git push -u origin master And if you go back to the repository you created earlier you should see your files there.

Yeah, that’s all. You have just created your first github repository. I’m glad you now understand how git and github works.