Working And Schooling
The day was bright and bubbly, but I had no shoe to wear, and none of my cousin’s clothes were my size because he was way fatter than I. Moreover the one which could fit me offended my sense of style (after all, I am very stylish if I do say so myself).
Sadly, I began to ask myself why I decided to stop by my cousin’s the previous night, but then I worked up enough courage to put on my sandals, a black shirt and yellow trousers. I set out for my first interview with a 0.42 probability that I wouldn’t land the job because of the way I was dressed, but I was still positive because that meant I still had a 0.58 probability of getting the job (don’t ask how I came up with these numbers please and thanks).
The interview location was difficult to find, and all my life moving around Lagos, people had always directed me. My metric was simple: If I asked two to four people, and had the descriptions match, it had to be correct. If the situation was still dicey, I would ask two more people to be certain. Going forward, I had to call Akin, who I found out later was the Business/Project Manager and one of my interviewers, he came to pick me up at the junction. I know he must have instantly formed an impression of me based on the way I was dressed, but I didn’t mind.
I got to office and waited at the reception for about twenty-two minutes. My interview with Chuka (Lead Strategist) and Akin went well. Without going in detail about what happened during the interview, I GOT THE JOB.
I got a job as a developer at a start-up, while still a 400 level student studying computer science at the University of Lagos.
To be honest school did not help me get the job, this was my late night learning finally paying off. I was the happiest person in the world because amongst my friends, I was the first to get a job. I was asked to resume work the next day because as I found out later, Chuka was always pumped and ready to go. I eventually agreed to report at work 3 times a week, and it seemed good at first but I later found out it would be my most difficult challenge yet.
Anybody who tells you working and schooling is all rainbows and sunshine is flat wrong.
There are two things involved, it is either said person has given up on school and has dedicated their entire time to work or the work is relatively flexible and there is still the time for school. What I am trying to say is that it is not easy and especially difficult in Nigeria. Schooling in Nigeria Universities is a struggle especially at Federal Schools. The educational system in Nigeria is very poor. Most students cannot wait to get into school but once they get in they cannot wait to be done with the struggle. I was an average student before I started working; so this meant I had to take my grades even more seriously because my parents were concerned.
My life as a student and employee started the next day. It felt good for the next couple of days, telling my friends that I was going to work. I became unserious with school in the initial stages because I was still basking in the euphoria of the new job. Working and schooling is very difficult especially when you belong to a department where lecturers can just decide out of the blues, to conduct a test and make it your continuous assessment or decide to use 65% of attendance as a pass to write exams.
I was new to the work environment and learning new technologies like wordpress. I started out working with a single co-developer, which eventually taught me patience and persistence. But at first, he made my initial work experience a bit challenging. He expected me to do research and I didn’t catch on fast enough for him. In the meantime I quickly learned to reach out to my very good developer friends (Feyi Sonubo and Olumide Akinyemi especially) before directing queries to him. This helped our relationship a bit and it got better from there.
Eventually, I became a perpetual latecomer to class, but was lucky enough to have no lecturer particularly concerned about the time I got to class. Most of the time, I had to take bike right from my office down to school. I spent a lot in those days but it was actually worth it. 24 hours a day became so inadequate and it was like the time was moving so fast.
Time to buckle up!
The first two months taught me time management as I was caught battling with project timelines. Everyday presented a new puzzle. I was effectively working every day of the week even though I went to the office only thrice. I could not complete projects within the set timelines and this was very worrisome and began to hinder the growth of the company. I had to work during lectures. I would sit at the back of my class struggling and working, without listening in class. My lecturers were very good at giving assignments and there was no way of knowing which would be recorded. My friends helped me with some (bless their hearts) and those they couldn’t do had to be outsourced and paid for. I could not make substantial use of the salary I was earning as I was spending a lot on transport, assignment and perhaps more on data to stay online.
I picked up after four months when I realized everything boiled down to the balance factor.
The balance factor means giving yourself a timeline to guide your work ethic. You have to be very strict with time and set achievable milestones with deadlines. You have to finish any job within your own timeline. You must do your assignments within your timeline. Believe me, achieving balance can never be perfect, as there will always be setbacks, but the overarching system should make your work life balance easier if done right. I could not wait to finish that semester because the next semester my 6 months SIWES internship would start. Eventually I was out of school for six months and I made sure to make good use of these six months and became a better professional developer.
Currently, I have become the lead developer at Astract 9 Designs, and believe me it has not been easy. I am slowly growing and learning how to become a leader. Some major restructuring is going on now and I am proud to be a part of the process.
At the moment, I cannot not say I have successfully cracked balancing school and work but I’m at a better place than I was last year. This is my first attempt at sharing my experience and the thought of getting feedback excites me. Thank you for making it this far! Do you also have experience working and schooling? What challenges did you face? How did you surmount them? I would love to know in the comments.
