There's this saying "Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination", no statement can be more true than this relating to my journey into tech. Before that, you've got to know me.
Hi, I'm Egwunwoke Kenechukwu Micheal also called KCM. I hail from Imo State, but I was born and raised in Enugu State, Nigeria. I studied Geology & Mining at Enugu State University of Science and Technology(ESUT). I'm the first son and child of a family of five, I love music a lot and also making it. I like playing games and having intelligent conversations and arguments. I'm easy-going and pretty honest to a fault. My journey into the tech space could be like any other typical story out there and I don't mind but this is my story!. Maybe when you're done reading you could decide for yourself if it was an interesting one.
You see, growing as a Nigerian kid is quite different from the world, professions are already assigned to you at birth and being intentionally set into your mind at a young age of what to become. My dad wanted me to be a doctor but my mum was indifferent at the time. I actually liked the thought and even started practicing in junior high but then after a while, I got to know I really loved Geography and computer-related subjects in school and I aced them more than my other subjects(not that I found out that medicine would require a lot of reading and sacrifice.😅). When I applied for college I chose Geology, It was a tough decision because I had to choose between it and Computer science but my mum was more supportive of the Geology side because of the "oil money" it will bring later.
Fast forward to my service year after graduation in 2018, I had an ICT program that taught corp members about web development and its futures. I started learning about Html, CSS but didn't take it seriously because I was chasing the "oil money" while I was down in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. Had nothing at the end, I returned to Enugu and worked in a school as an ICT Manager and Director. I already knew I had a knack for tech but then it hit me that I was ignorant about this for a while now. I had to step up my skills and knowledge about it. I helped managed the school's site and created another using a subdomain and WordPress as the tool of choice. It was exciting to see the smile on my boss's face knowing I did well.
It's 2020, the CoronaVirus pandemic shook the world and forced every country into a lockdown, even though it was a horrible period I didn't need to be told that it was more of a wake-up call to learn better and build better. I took my time buying and studying a bunch of courses while interacting on tech twitter. To be honest, a key motivation to my consistency was from the tech twitter community, people like js_tut, Danny Thompson, Catalin and many more, I owe them. I built my portfolio with all I had learned at the time and I was pretty impressed with myself because I also had a couple of projects I did to show off. I got an internship for 6 months on Front-end development with an IT firm and then started working as a freelancer, collaborating in open source projects, gathering more skills in technologies like React, Node, MongoDB, and Next.js.
In April 2021, I got to know about the Software Developer internship(BEZAO- Between Zero and One) by Genesys which came at the perfect time because I was looking towards advancing my career and actually becoming more than a web developer but a problem solver and a critical thinker. Weeks later I got accepted after the rigorous interview process and my first three days on-site was already an experience I won't forget in a long time. The space, the people, the values, etiquette, standards have not been anything but amazing and I can't wait to see my improvement at the end of the internship and actually work at an industry level, think differently, creatively and begin to impact in real-world projects.
Well if you have read this and would want to start or you've already started your journey in tech, there are two things I have come to realize;
Consistency is Key.
The Imposter syndrome is normal.
Every great developer, programmer, or designer started from somewhere.
So have fun, accept little burnouts and keep practicing. The only thing holding you is YOU!. Say Hi here.👋 and read more of my blogs here.
May the FORCE be in your favor✌.
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