The Day Andela Took Calabar by surprise…#AndelaTakesCal #TIA

Nsikakabasi Awak
Jul 22, 2017 · 4 min read
We Love Andela just like Andela Loves Us…#TIA

Just before I start boring you guys with my long story …well, I promise to be brief today

…let me quickly write down some important points/topics I got from today’s event…hopefully, I’ll get to discuss about them briefly as I proceed.

Ice Breaker, Passion, Collaboration, YOYO, TIA, EPIC.

Yes! I think they’re up to five by now…oh yea, my day wasn’t wasted. My day in one word was definitely - “epic”. So let me start off first by breaking the ice on this page…let me tell you which day I am going to talk about today.

It’s another one of those days of a missing king of an animal kingdom (lmao)…the 22nd of July 2017, and in the city of Calabar (capital city of Cross River State of Nigeria)…and Andela (the young boy that the destiny of the kingdom now rests on his shoulders) decided to pay a visit to this same city.

The Mission: encourage the citizens of this promising city to continue harnessing technology while trying to make a positive difference in the local community and also make good use of the life/career-saving opportunity Andela now has for Tech-loving Africans who are passionate about making a positive change.

Hoping that I’ve broken the ice, let’s dive into talking about the outstanding topics I pointed out above. Ah, first up…it’s yet another Ice Breaker. Wawu!

The Meetup Session began 1PM on the dot (no African time) and the host of the day Katia Igori welcomed all the 21 early-birds in attendance. After she introduced her “kind” self, she quickly introduced all to 3 quick ice-breaking exercises which really helped everyone get into the right mood needed for the meetup.

Next up was “fantastic” Femi Senjobi who happily talked about Career Shift (oh yeah, that’s a topic I should have mentioned above)…the moment where people make a move from a non-technology background into a full-time tech career. He mentioned that it is very possible and also encouraged everyone to bring their uniqueness into tech. I can’t forget when he reminded all that the ‘entry requirement’ into Tech is Passion…passion to keep learning and working. He also mentioned how there’s space for everyone on the Tech band-wagon. Awesome session.

Other awesome speakers for the day included Temitope Fowotade (who shared her experience on how she never gave up on the Andela dream even after the same system itself kinda turned her down a couple of times)…and the Guest Speaker - Hanson Johnson (birthday Boss of the day…yea, he spent a greater part of his birthday to inspire everyone on how to use Tech to create jobs, values and also how Collaboration is the key to succeeding in Tech).

Ananabelle Amotsuka and Katia Igori also took turns to talk about on how to become the next Andelan using the YOYO (You Own Your Learning) paradigm. They also discussed about the Andela Culture known as TIA (This is Andela) along with Andela’s core values - EPIC (Excellence, Passion, Integrity and Collaboration).

The Meetup finally got rounded up with a Q&A Session where almost everyone had nice questions and inputs to share and also learn from each other too.

Woohoo…In an attempt to be brief today, I forgot to mention about the wonderful networking opportunity I had today from being part of the event. Yes, today was really EPIC. It’s another one of those days I don’t mind saying THANK YOU ANDELA every time I breathe in and out…what a time to be alive!

Ah, there’s this one guy I cannot fail to mention…the guy that took the picture above. Rotimi Shot It(under the rain with his Cannon in one hand and umbrella in the other)…he killed it, yea? Coz I’m wondering how someone who can Frame you perfectly well and then Shoots you well too is not actually a cold-blooded killer. Lolzzz

Alright…CUT!

It’s time for me to go and fill my feedback for the Meetup…join me do same here https://bit.ly/andelatakescal if you were one of the lucky souls to be part of such an Epic Event. By the way, how Andela values feedback reminds me to value it too…please do drop your own feedback as a comment on this post…I really want to read them by the time I’m back here. Thank You!


#YoursCodedly

Nsikakabasi Awak

Nsikakabasi Awak

Written by

I’m #YoursCodedly. I’m busy making a difference in the world, 1 side-project at a time. #TechMensch #OpenSourceDev #GoogleDeveloper #AspiringDesigner

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