As a child I grew up in a “Third world country” with no access to computers or the Internet. My primary school had just one computer and it’s only accessible to my class once a week as the computer has to be shared with some other school.
I had a natural attraction towards computers, I was interested in robotics , science and technology. On getting to secondary school (High school), we had a computer lab and was guarded so heavily.
The computer science curriculum did not even involve programing as i didn’t even know there was something called programming till a year after finishing from secondary school.
I wasn’t academically brilliant or interested in school since it didn’t involve computers. I was in the arts and found literature extremely boring.
I got my mum to pay for my computer summer school program and I was taught some basic concepts in database , HTML, and visual basic 6. This supercharged my already existing interest in computers.
I was in the University studying Economics which I seriously found pointless. But one thing stood out I loved computers and wasn’t going to give up. I finally had my own laptop and tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible.
I picked up programming languages, learnt the basics of networks, prepared for certifications in security and eventually landed a couple of paid and free projects.
After my final exams at the university, I got an offer from a small firm, my results were not ready yet and I was given a job offer as a developer. My persistence, the long hours of self study finally was beginning to pay off. Some few months later, I got a new offer paying me twice what I was earning. For someone without formal training in a field things were looking good.
I live in a country with a high rate of unemployment and lots of frustrations. Its a bad time right now for the economy and things are bad generally. But still there’s need for people with skills and not just paper certificates.
So really now one has the responsibility of handing you any handouts or jobs. It all boils down to what value are you able to add. I’ve worked with people that don’t like me for one reason or the other, but one thing they can’t deny is my commitment to my work and my love for the trade.
I’ve lots of friends doing great things both at home and abroad in the tech sector. What recruiters are interested in is what value are you able to add.
This isn’t to deny the existence of racism or to show lack of empathy, its more of a clarion call to toughen up a bit and take charge of the situation. The world is far too big place and tech is far too big an opportunity to exclude a particular group.
