My experience at the Andela Women Tech Leadership Program: Week One
Thursday 7 June 2018 was my first day at the Andela Uganda. The Andela Women Tech leadership Program is a six-week program focusing on software delivery, leadership and entrepreneurship.
This for me meant the start of something new given I am from a medical background. My nerves were already acting up, as usual, they never disappoint. Nonetheless, I was very excited, open-minded and willing to learn as much as I can. What I found at Andela was amazing. Andelans are very cool, genuinely friendly people working in an excellent environment full of positive energy.
We had an installation session followed by the program launch by the president and co-founder of Andela, Christina Sass. How awesome is that! She walked us through the journey of how Andela was born. She also spoke openly about her experience working in a male-dominated world. It was a great talk, crowned by cake cutting.
The first week came with the first challenge/project of the program which, to be honest, was a blow. A blow because I had very little programming experience prior to application to this program. The challenge required us to build an app using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This is a product that would help users to make and monitor maintenance/repair requests to an operations/repairs department. In addition, we had to use Pivotal Tracker, a project planning tool and GitHub, a version control system. This was, of course, my first time using these applications.
I won’t lie, I almost gave up. But giving up has never solved anything. The least I could do was to try. We had also been assigned learning facilitators (LFs) at the beginning of the program. These were my saving grace. They helped clear up many things and provide helpful resources. I learnt to take one step at a time, to ask as many questions as I can and to aim more at learning than completing tasks. Four days into the week, I must say I was on the right track. I hope to successfully complete this challenge in week two.
You’ll be glad to note that this program is not all about programming. The other great thing about this program is the technical Thought leadership sessions and the leadership webinar by people with more than ten years of experience in software programming and tech leadership. They shared inspiring stories about their journeys, striking a balance between work with family, their challenges and dealing with gender bias.
All in all, this week has been an eye-opening one for me. I have noticed some strengths about me that I didn’t know I had. I continue to learn a lot and challenge myself every day. I encourage women out there who are interested in changing the world through technology to take the step regardless of your educational background or limited programming experience. Take advantage of such a golden chance and join great-minded people in making a difference.
I am eternally grateful to Andela for this great opportunity.