Star Developers Series: Ademola Oyewale (Sao)

Ademola is a software engineer at chatdesk inc, and a consulting engineer at enerfis energy, He graduated from the department of Computer Science and Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He is a go programming language Lord, software development king, and many more.

He shared his story with us on slack, Here is it — >

Hello ladies and gentlemen

Thanks for the opportunity to share my story!

I think I can get started already…

There’s a quote my mentor told me which I’ve lived by in the last couple of months “If you are good, respect yourself and do big things”

Starting out:

I wanted to study Mechanical engineering and become an aeronautical engineer down the line but I think I like how things eventually turned out. I started reading Python (didn’t practice) in year 1 of my 5-year Computer engineering program.

LESSON 1: Reading without practicing means nothing. Practice more more than you read.

At the end of the first year, I bought a form for a computer programming training (ACI) founded by Olaoluwa Balogun. Some of my friends bought forms too and stayed back during the program (like @djubreel , @mendez, Shoaga Victor). The program was during the holidays. Some people talk about a chain of opportunities, all you need in life might be taking just one, the dots will connect from there.

LESSON 2: When you have an opportunity, decide and act at that instant, delay is mostly unnecessary unless it’s choosing a life partner.

During the programme, I enrolled in Java and Python classes simultaneously but mehn, the Java thing was abstract (taught by Fatimehin Dare) and the Python was just lit for me (taught by Adegoke Obasa). The classes held in AUD-1 in OAU campus. What made it interesting was that Tunde, Wale and Jubril had no computers to practice then but they stayed back all the same and took notes, they got systems shortly afterwards. We shared my PC then and oh boy it was fun, we slept in AUD at times, ate from same pot, discussed solutions et al.

P.S. I still think Java was overdressed when the language was designed but I’ve found a way to love the lang!

I loved the enthusiasm of Victor Shoaga during the program and his energy always got us excited. I think I tapped into getting excited about stuff from him.

LESSON 3: No one owes you anything, let the sense of entitlement go. You have to fight for what you think is right at times.

Talent is overrated, passion and grit takes you further in life plus great attitude is extremely important!

As Adegoke Obasa taught us, it was beautiful and he noticed we were eager to learn things, he told us of an AITI programme (this changed everything for me). During the program, we met Richard Boyewa, Akapo Dami, Mbakwe Caleb, Shitu Rahman, Wale Oyediran who took us on J2ME and android programming. It was fun stuff for us, exciting, full of life.

We were all crashing in the Alumni lab with all these guys and nothing boosts confidence than when the people you look up to are just 10 steps away from you and approachable every minute.

We had a competition at the end of the program and my team placed third behind (Michael Okuboyejo’s team and Perfect’s team). There I met with Perfect and the love for software development went through the roof. I was excited at the thought of turning up Eclipse IDE. The partnership was simply beautiful.

LESSON 4: Acknowledge your limitations, when you see that one person who can teach you, open your heart, mind. @perfectmak was that person for me. ( we ended topping IEEEXtreme competitions a couple of times, worked on projects together and a whole lot still ahead). Be constantly open to collaboration.

Shortly afterwards, @tushgeek (Kelvin) walked up to me in ODLT and shortly afterwards (we + Perfect) formed a team with the intention of participating in Microsoft Imagine Cup ( we tried mehn but :disappointed: ). While the hustle for Android was going on, I also started trying out html, css to build my frontend skills (sadly, things are too complicated these days).

Co-creation Hub (CC-Hub) put up a CodeCamp programme (all expense paid), I got invited for the interview in Lagos alongside Perfect and Wale Onabola ( it was a day to our exam) but we went all the same, did the technical interview and came back to Ife that same day. We were accepted with 13 other people around the country. Two days after exam, we moved into the lodge in Yaba (if you know anyone offering such stuff these days, holla at me again abeg, the food, internet was lit).

This was in our year 2 by the way.

We were taught cross platform development with Apache Cordova, J2ME and native Android development. There was a competition with a prize of $500 at the end of the program. My team (Artifind) with Perfect and a LASU graduate won the competition (we haven’t been paid till date though :disappointed: ). Artifind is a platform that lets you search for Artisans: http://artifind.com.ng/ . We walked Lagos while gathering data and I’ve vowed to never do such things as walking the streets of Lagos to gather data in my life again.

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LESSON 5: Focus on your strengths and outsource your weaknesses. Some things take time, enjoy the process!

Still in year 2, I interviewed with iQube Labs then for SDP (this was more like a training). A day after Detan (the business lead then) told me to apply for software engineering intern position and I did.

I got into iQube Labs shortly afterwards in November (2013) and did really interesting things there plus won over a mentor (James Fowe). I met with the brightest minds here and my interview project is still the most challenging thing I’ve ever done because it was around Machine Learning and I simply didn’t know how and I wasn’t even told it was machine learning but now :pray:. A friend “Daniel Adeyemo” was key during this period as challenging stuff always got him excited and he wanted me to get into iQube for a reason I still haven’t figured out.

I started taking Machine Learning seriously afterwards and worked for some organizations down the line. Some of these organizations include Cloudshot, iQube Labs, Sangalo Limited, Chatdesk (which I currently work with).

Was involved in some student organisations such as IEEE, GDGOAU, iLabs-OAU ( the view was like it operated like a gang of friends which was wrong). We were just friends who were brought together by the same interests which @user0b100000000 (Timilehin Ogunyemi) opened the doors to. He broke into iLab and opened the door for us.

LESSON 6: Don’t be a lone wolf but be fuelled by individual curiosity!

My time with android yielded some good stuff and built some projects I’m proud of but I ditched Android development totally earlier this year to focus on Backend systems, Machine Learning and Infrastructure. When I get bored -> https://github.com/saopayne

The more I know, the more I discover I don’t know but what do we do all the same. I keep adding that 1% everyday.

And yes, I have the fears too. The fear of I don’t think I’m good enough at times

The fear of what if I don’t get to where I want to be.

But you know what, with consistency, all these things will fall into place. You will be fine, we will all be fine.

Whatever you have learnt or not learnt matters almost nothing. Therefore, if you are a great student, that doesn’t matter. I have seen excellent students failing professionally. On the other hand, if you did not perform well in University, doesn’t matter at all. Work hard, keep learning and you will fly high.

#”I keep adding that 1% everyday” #

I am an image of what people have taught me, the friends I have kept. Sao hasn’t been alone, I’m not much without the people I have mentioned up there and some other like Taiwo Azeez, Ogunyemi Timilehin, Ekundayo Blessing, Omotoso Omoniyi, Ilesanmi Excellence, Ologunowa Samuel, Ayodele Obasegun, Segun Famisa, Cloudshot family and everyone who has made the journey worth it so far)

And there’s a technique I use these days which is to disrupt myself, once I recognize my weakness in an area, I do a weekend hackathon to catch up. I know the things I know and I have an idea of the things I don’t know. I don’t try to know it all
thanks for reading.

You can reach out to Sao on twitter sao_ademola or send a message to him on slack.

Thank you Oyewale Ademola for your awesome story.

From Hamza Bashir, Tinuade Adeleke and Mayomi Ayandiran.

For Consonance Africa.