In January 2019 I quit my logistics and supply chain management position at a mid-tier Nigerian FMCG firm to pursue a career in web design/development.
For a bit of a background, I have a degree in the sciences. My career aspirations took several wild turns before finally landing on tech/software development in my final year at university. I’d resolved to learn to code after school and tried my hands at learning Java — youth service got in the way. In hindsight, I probably could have made better use of that time *best year of my life for reasons unrelated to career or personal development*.
I got offered my logistics position barely a month after returning from service, so I followed “ common sense” and took it, convincing myself I could combine working and learning to code. As I soon found out, there isn’t a lot of space or time to do stuff between a 9/5 and commute in Lagos.
The decision to resign was easy. I read an article here a while ago *will link if I can find it*, it talked about the qualities of a fulfilling job/career - while my former job wasn’t a total bust I definitely never looked forward to Mondays. I reckon I would have ended up in tech in some capacity regardless but doing work I didn’t really enjoy hastened things a bit.
JavaScript/front-end development seemed like the most obvious way to get started. I also really like design, I like the idea that things don’t have to be super complicated to be useful. When I’m done learning the tech I’m immersing myself in the world of design.
The web development community is pretty large, there are millions of web developers across continents, hundreds of thousands of tutors each with different methods and approaches to problem-solving. Finding a course and a tutor that worked for me took time, I had to sign up for a few courses on Udemy before finally finding “the one”. I was stuck in this planning phase for a considerable time *having a mentor easily sorts this*.
Programming languages are vast and tutorials teach just enough to get one up and running. To fill the “gaps”, I’m taking lessons on Javascript.info (a free online resource) and I signed up for a JavaScript algorithm and data structures course also on Udemy (not sure I’m ever going to start).
My day is broken up into chunks, day for learning all the various things and night for building *sleep is for the weak*. I’ve learned, unless you’re eidetic, the easiest way to improve is by getting your hands dirty. I know this from my short stint learning Italian (knew a ton of words but zero practice meant zero fluency now I’m back where I started).
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing though, there are days where all I want to do is get as far away from my computer as possible. I really do wonder if more established developers go through spells like this.
I’m a week into React after completing the front-end bootcamp, I reckon deciding to learn vanilla JS first has made it a little easier to grasp.
On a personal note, the last few months have been by far my most challenging yet, I’m introverted bordering on anti-social but I feel like I made real progress over the course of the last year interacting with people — spending the best part of three months hunched over my computer has probably undone all that good work.
Finally, I intend to be vocal about my experience learning to code, the Nigerian tech scene (as seen through my pair of eyes), living and working in Lagos and life generally.
I’m available on Twitter @Tochistry.
Till next time, andiamo!
