CF Staff Writes Episode 4
Written by Sena Wuaku.
For many people, full-stack software developers are either too boring or too intense. Humans with no social life and always sitting in front of their laptops. But who is a full-stack developer? No, they are not mythical creatures endowed with expertise across the software development terrain. In layman’s terms, they are jacks of all trades and masters of one (or many, as opposed to none).
READ ALSO: Growing with Complete Farmer
Gone are the days when developers got by knowing only one programming language and also being stuck in front of their laptops all day. In this episode of our CF Staff Writes, we had an interesting conversation with our senior full-stack software developer, Chinedu Ekene Okpala about his career journey and his personal life and how it fuses with the Complete Farmer culture. These were some of his responses.
How long have you been working at Complete Farmer?
I’ve been working with Complete Farmer since Sept 3rd 2018, so I am currently onto my 4th year.
Name one fun fact about you?
I have a good sense of humour, I easily relate with anyone and I’m forever YOUNG.
If you were at a cocktail party and you were asked about your role at Complete Farmer, how would you describe what you do?
As a senior software developer, I help in the breakdown of Complete Farmer business logic into programmable logic. Helping build software solutions needed by Complete Farmer to solve the problems with the help of technology. And having been with the team for long, I contribute to business decisions that have to do with the tech solution we develop.
What led to this career path?
Not being able to join the military, I came to Ghana to study Information Technology, at Sikkim Manipal University. At that point, it wasn’t yet clear to me what career path I wanted to take but as a person who believes in doing the right thing at the right time, I learnt what I came to study in Ghana, focused and finished my project.
One particular semester, due to financial constraints, my HOD asked us to apply for an internship if interested. I applied for the internship since I will be missing a semester due to not being able to pay my tuition fee that semester. During my internship, my career path took off pretty well and here we are now, all thanks to Dr Sangeetha Krishnan and Mr Timothy Owusu, I will forever be grateful to them.
How has your Journey at Complete Farmer been so far?
In all, I would say the journey has been good but like every startup, it hasn’t been all rosy. Being one of the early employees at Complete Farmer and the only developer at that time, there were times when the work got so demanding with barely any off days but all of that experience helped me grow to a height I never thought possible, not just in my programming/problem-solving skills, but also in my understanding of how a tech startup runs.
Today, the team has grown tremendously in size and of course, in strength. I’m looking forward to more growth in future.
What’s your favourite part about working at Complete Farmer?
There is always room for learning, and learning different things. It is one of the benefits you can get from working at a startup.
Also, the fact that CF is an African company making a great impact in the area of food production endeared me to it.
How would you describe the Complete Farmer team?
An exciting set of humans.
When you are not working, what are you doing?
Learning, Watching a movie, or playing a video game.
Which of your teams’ achievements are you most proud of?
My team and I built the new Complete Farmer products or features, which was released recently during the launch. My team is very keen on personal development and it shows in all their day to day activities.
As a senior full-stack software developer, what programming languages are you comfortable working with?
All programming languages are cool and fun to work with. I don’t prefer one over the other, but I am keen on using the one I know much of and won’t have to brush up on before getting the work done. CF projects have been with javascript since inception and we are still going to stick with it, as it is easy to learn and is now being used in a lot of different places, such as web apps, server apps, mobile apps, IoT’s, Machine Learning etc.
Do you use these programming languages in your day to day coding at Complete Farmer?
Yes, I do. These programming languages are used to build the complete farmer applications, both the frontend and the backend.
What advice would you give someone looking to join the Complete Farmer team?
Well, the company is still young but growing at a good rate. Be ready to learn new skills fast, have good interpersonal relationships with people, be ready to do the job, and be accountable, because every department duties affect every other department.
READ ALSO: Evolving Along the Line of Feeding Tomorrow
So there you have it. Chinedu’s story is one of an initially uncertain career path, an inspiring journey of self-discovery and the interplay of a healthy work-play lifestyle. These all amalgamate to fuel the brilliant full stack developer and how he’s contributing his quota to the Complete Farmer brand to help feed tomorrow.
