DEV Community: Nkwenui Nadine

Today is Africa Day. 🌍

Nkwenui Nadine — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:34:42 +0000

Beyond the celebrations, flags, fabrics, music, and beautiful cultures and calls for African Justice, I’ve been thinking about what this day truly means for people like me.
As an African woman in tech, Africa Day feels personal.
It reminds me that Africa has never lacked intelligence, creativity, or resilience. We come from generations of people who built communities with very little, solved problems through collective thinking, and kept moving forward even through systems that were never designed for us.

But Africa Day is also a reminder that freedom is not only political.

There is still work to do:
Economic freedom.
Digital inclusion.
Access to education.
Access to clean water.
Representation in decision-making.
Building systems that reflect African realities instead of imported assumptions.

This year’s African Union theme focuses on sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems. And honestly, I think it reflects something bigger about where Africa is right now.
We are entering a period where infrastructure, technology, sustainability, and people-centered development can no longer be separated.
And that conversation matters deeply.
Because when I look around, I think about African women every day:
Women carrying businesses, homes, farms, ideas, communities, and entire economies quietly on their backs.
Women entering rooms that were never designed with them in mind and still finding ways to build, lead, and create.

I also think about my own journey.
I recently decided, as a woman in tech, to contribute to Wikipedia because I believe access to knowledge and representation in research matter. At the same time, through the TME Education Workshop I recently joined, where I’m currently exploring electronics, IoT, and data systems, I keep realizing something:
Africa’s future will not only be built through policy.
It will also be built by Africans who understand our realities enough to design for them.

By people willing to solve problems close to the ground.
By people willing to learn, build, document, share knowledge, and create systems that actually fit the way our communities live.
That matters deeply to me.

Happy Africa Day to the builders.
To the thinkers.
To the dreamers.
To the women pushing boundaries quietly.
To the young Africans trying to create something meaningful from where they are.

The work continues. And so does the hope.

AfricaDay2026 #TheAfricaWeWant #Agenda2063 #WomenInTechAfrica #AfricaRising #AfricanInnovation #AfricanWomen #TechForAfrica #AfricaDay #TMEeducation #TME #Wikipedia Rebase Code Camp African Union

The most frustrating bug I hit this week (React Native + Expo)

Nkwenui Nadine — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:22:08 +0000

I’m currently stuck on a React Native issue that’s honestly driving me a bit crazy.

The situation:

My app won’t render at all on my phone. Just a blank screen + multiple errors.

The main error:

“Incompatible React versions”

react: 19.2.5
react-native-renderer: 19.1.0

What I’m seeing:

Invalid hook call
“Cannot read property of undefined.”
Components failing before rendering

What’s frustrating is that it looks like a small version mismatch… but it completely breaks everything.

I’m still digging into it, but if anyone has run into this in an Expo + monorepo setup, I’d really appreciate any pointers.

Will update once I figure it out 🙌

reactnative #expo #debugging #buildinpublic

Fixing Google OAuth Domain Verification

Nkwenui Nadine — Mon, 04 May 2026 15:43:22 +0000

Fixing Google OAuth Domain Verification (A Mistake That Cost Me Hours)

I recently ran into an issue while verifying my app for Google OAuth.

Problem:
I added the google-site-verification meta tag, deployed my app, but Google Search Console kept failing the verification.

What I discovered:
My app wasn’t using the HTML file I edited. The production HTML was being rendered from a different source (server-side template).

Fix:
I added the verification meta tag to the correct template file (in my case, a Blade file), redeployed, and it worked instantly.

Lesson learned:
Always confirm that your changes actually appear in the live page source—not just in your code.

This saved me from overthinking DNS, analytics, and other unrelated fixes.

Hope this helps someone avoid the same mistake

webdev #laravel #oauth #debugging #buildinpublic

The deployment bug that stressed me for 3 weeks

Nkwenui Nadine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:39:09 +0000

For the last three weeks, I had been battling a deployment issue in my application.

Every time I solved one error, another one appeared immediately after. It felt like an endless cycle of debugging.

I tried different solutions.
I asked AI for help.
I reviewed my code repeatedly.

At some point, I almost gave up on the deployment completely.

But today I decided to slow down and investigate everything from the beginning.

After tracing the issue carefully, I discovered the real problem:

My backend environment variables were incorrectly configured.

Once I corrected them and redeployed the application, everything started working perfectly.

What I learned

Sometimes the issue is not in the code itself.
Sometimes it's in the configuration behind the code.

Lesson:

Before overthinking the problem, always double-check:

Environment variables
Deployment settings
Build configuration
API endpoints

A small misconfiguration can create a very big headache.

Has anyone else spent days debugging something that turned out to be a simple config issue?

webdev #programming #debugging #deployment

Quiz Game challenge

Nkwenui Nadine — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:59:25 +0000

I built a quiz game focused on users' fast reasoning.
Most quizzes are slow or don’t adapt to users, so I made this one:
• Fast-paced (timed questions)
• Easy / Medium / Hard modes
• Clear progress & results
• Mobile-first, clean UI
Feel free as you play
Link: https://quiz-game-bay-three.vercel.app

From Bugs to Breakthroughs: My Journey Building Timelix

Nkwenui Nadine — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:03:52 +0000

Over the past two months, my teammates (Mbiydzenyuy Eileen Leila, Ciara Arlette Ologuie) and I have been building an appointment booking application we named Timelix. It’s been an intense but rewarding experience working with Laravel (PHP) and Vue.js.

It hasn’t been easy. We’ve faced bugs that seemed impossible at first, moments of confusion, and times where progress felt slow. But through all of that, I’ve learned so much not just about how Laravel and Vue.js work, but about persistence, problem-solving, and teamwork.

One of the biggest highlights has been presenting our project and receiving feedback. Each round of corrections pushed us to improve, think deeper, and refine what we’re building. It reminded me that growth often comes from being challenged.

Today, I want to appreciate my teammates for their effort, resilience, and collaboration. Building something meaningful together is never a solo journey.

I’m also taking a moment to appreciate myself for showing up, staying consistent, and pushing through even when things got tough.

Timelix is more than just a project to me. It represents growth, learning, and the courage to keep going.