Community Spotlight with Olaitan aka Alvicci
My goal is to be a seasoned software engineer
The first thing that comes to mind with onsite jobs in Lagos is the long hours, compounded by traffic congestion. You would expect anyone who works a full-time job daily to come home to sleep, well that is not the case for this month’s member spotlight. His name is Olaitan and you will recognize him in the community as Alvicci. In this read, you will get to know Olaitan’s formula for transitioning to a software engineer. How does he manage a demanding job alongside intense learning while staying active in the community? What is Olaitan’s unwavering motivation to invest in the future he desires? We are about to find out.
Usually, I have predefined questions that serve as a conversation guide however, with Olaitan, I had no use for a list because the conversation pretty much took off from the moment we got past the introduction. For one thing, he is engaging and his experience is bottomless you just want to keep going.
Olaitan works in a technical support role in the financial space. He also works as an assistant product manager. During the day, you would find him neck-deep at work other times, he is trying to make sense of this tech thing either completing a coding task or watching tutorials.
He tells me his goal is to become a seasoned software engineer.
How did you arrive at your decision to become a software engineer?
The idea to become a Software Engineer came because I always look for an easier way to solve a task. I started with Microsoft Office suites, Corel Draw, and Photoshop; found out later that I am not good with designs. My willingness to always learn new things and assist people secured a position for me in the product and implementation team at work.
Even though I studied computer science in school, my journey didn’t start there. Languages like COBOL, and FORTRAN were taught and there is almost nothing anyone can achieve with those; at least with what I was taught.
How is your transition?
When I set out, I committed myself to learn in what I thought was the best possible way. Coming from a rather unique background, I thought every opportunity that came my way was for a purpose and I took them all up. I enrolled on multiple platforms to learn like one whose existence depends on it. However, it didn’t take long to realize the fault in this strategy. A needed a filter to sieve through the relevant ones and those that were not useful at the time. At the moment, I am enrolled in ALX, Udacity and AltSchool. They all have their uniqueness and I have a goal for each one. I augment what I learn from one with the other and primarily to position myself steps ahead. Udacity provides me Cloud DevOps knowledge, ALX is committed to my Software Engineering goal while AltSchool is for backend engineering. Combining the 3 has not been tasking as much as I thought, perhaps because of my working strategy.
Why did you sign up on multiple platforms?
Simply put, I had no access to a mentor as a beginner so it was easy to just sign up one after the other, before I knew it, I accumulated a bunch of them. While I won’t exactly recommend that strategy to anyone, it helped me make an informed decision when it was time to pick a niche. It is not uncommon to hear questions such as which tech field should I pick among newbies? Or how do I know the track that is best for me, what track is beginner friendly etc. This could be a daunting exercise, especially without a mentor in the face of overwhelming resources online. The period I was enrolled on several platforms immersed me unknowingly in a research experience that helped me pick a specialization.
What time do you sleep on average?
Hahaha. When I joined the workspace, my username was “Codeghost”. My friends will drop a late message hoping to catch a reply the next day, but there I was typing a reply at midnight. To put things into perspective, I don’t work all the time, I mean, it is physically impossible. When I am awake, you might find me watching a tutorial, practicing what I learned, on a code-along call or at times, watching a movie.
My routine spills into the night not by a deliberate plan but because I work late and the night when human beings are asleep is when I have for self-development. Light is also a contributory factor. On some days, when I get home and there is no power supply, I try to take a break. When the power is restored, I am reluctant to wake up but when I remember my bank account, I get off the bed and resume from where I left off…lol
How do you juggle 3 active platforms?
Having been on these platforms for a while, I have gotten a hang of them. My goal is to get the most out of the learning exercises and defend my good grades at the end of each program. ALX is intense yet self-paced, because of this, you will find people code copying to keep their studentship. Personally, I don’t encourage code copying if you can do without it. I would rather settle for an average score and work to improve on my lapses. To keep up with the grading system, I come in at intervals to complete my task. For AltSchool, the platform allows enough time to engage a course content so I know if I dedicate 2hrs in a day, I can finish a month’s content. I have a working time plan hence I do not necessarily touch all three platforms daily. The complexity of a topic on anyone of these platforms will determine how much time I need to commit in a week. I also digitized the process by employing an app on my PC, called Focus that uses the Pomodoro technique. I came up with a daily/weekly schedule to help me move through the day and get the most out of it. This journey is very important to me and I am more of a consistent mindset than the speedy one.
I do a minimum of 1 cycle for anyone of the task on my time plan for that day/week as the case maybe. Each cycle has 25mins with 5 mins break. When I complete my cycle, I have sufficient time to practice.
Let us talk about the 3 platforms you are engaged in.
So, like I mentioned earlier, the platforms are intertwined because of a particular programming language I am taking. ALX immerses you in a 9-month foundational class in software engineering but the last 3 months of the program will see you pick a specialization. I am training to be a backend engineer and that is going to be my pick when the time comes. At the moment, I am learning Python. With Altschool, I am done with HTML and CSS though I have a foundation knowledge of them and right now, I am learning JavaScript.
These 3 platforms are combined with classes organized in DevCareer. I also engage in peer-session with some friends. There was a day I was solving a JavaScript task and I kept mixing it with Python. I consulted my note and a quick syntax research saved the day. It takes deliberate effort to do these things. Now, I know C, Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL, and SASS with a little touch from REACT.
How do you unwind on days you don’t feel like opening your laptop?
Sigh. I hardly get to that point. Largely because I am an introvert. Timeout comes when I am getting food or a long call. I remember last year when I was supposed to go for a Wizkid and Brymo concert, I ended up bailing to stay at home even though I bought the tickets.
The danger of “Tutorial hell” and how to escape it
Beginner phase comes with several challenges and one of them is tutorial hell. Tutorial hell happens when you visually consume resources online believing that you have grasped the content without practice. One month down the line you are called to work on a task based on what you assumed you learned then you start struggling to remember. How to get past this point is by implementing as you go. When I signed up for the DevCareerxProgate scholarship, I attained a new feat comprising reading and problem-solving. The best way to overcome a tutorial hell is to put to work anything you read and practice as much as you can.
You might even have an in-depth theoretical knowledge of these programming languages and can hold a debate any day, however, you still need to work it out on a computer for it to stick. Naturally, it will be tasking, you probably won’t get it on the first 2 attempts but it certainly gets better.
Although using Progate for the first time was tough but now, I can look back and appreciate the amount of work I put in. After weeks of using Progate, I started replicating the tasks on an independent code editor installed on my PC. This was not easy because I had to go in multiple times to recheck what I did wrong. You can say Progate stressed me (lol) it is worth it because I was able to learn and do.
When Progate, a 3-month scholarship open to DevCareer members ended, I knew I had to look for another platform to substitute Progate. That was when Altschool came into the picture. The curriculum was fitted with tasks/projects that encourages a learn/do culture. I also did projects on FreeCode Camp at a point. The 3 places allowed me to practice while I learn. Instead of being stuck in the tutorial hell, I started building some mini-projects. You learn you practice, you teach.
How did you enter DevCareer
A friend of mine shared the opportunity while we were discussing Laptop4Developers. I was excited when I got the onboarding mail. In the world today, you will probably find a person affiliated with more than one community but there will be a primary one and that for me is DevCareer.
What stood out in the community for you, why do you keep coming back?
There are several of them. Scholarship, freebies, engagement, membership recognition and appreciation etc. For the first 5–10 days after I got my first scholarship, I saw the amount of activity coming from other people. There were questions and answers were provided almost immediately by fellow members. It was an encouraging thing to witness. There was a visible readiness to work with one another and some even volunteered to jump on a call. The ginger was infectious. Everyone exhibits a team spirit even though we all are from different backgrounds.
I recall an incident that led me to reach out to Favour, the community manager, she didn’t hesitate to hop on a call with me shared resources afterward. You are allowed to contribute, help, learn, and put yourself out there. The community provided me with what I need to succeed and I can’t wait to make it proud.
The community is the first ever to allow me to serve and is intentional about my tech growth. I call DevCareer “one-stop shop” for everything tech-related.
I get to engage with some great minds and work on some mini-projects. I currently lead weekly coding sessions and provide support where needed to members. I do feel this unexplainable energy and feelings when I provide support or aid to people.
What does a typical day look like?
I check my email and catch up on the previous working day requests that needs my attention. Joint meetings with the team on deliverables and a general discussion. Thereafter, work with external stakeholders on implementation.
Then, I visit the technology team, have discussions, share ideas on current projects, and new ones, and talk about the dynamics, user journey and deliverables on projects or solutions.
During this period, I make sure that the system is up and running with transactions going seamlessly and provide continuous support to different stakeholders.
What are you reading or watching at the moment
I am reading the “The Alchemist” and still watching a K-drama titled “The Alchemy of Souls”
Final note
I am still on this tech journey and still learning. Sometimes, it is challenging and one think about giving it all up! However, there is this quote I stumbled upon which got me.
“If you quit now, you’ll end up right back where you FIRST began.
And when you first began, you were desperate to be where you are RIGHT NOW.”
KEEP GOING!
DevCareer is a non-profit organization that provides relevant support to aspiring tech talents through the following programs:
- #Laptops4Developers: A yearly 3-month long program to support aspiring developers and designers on their journey to become word-class with laptops, courses, and mentorships.
- A DevCareer community on Slack. Use this link to join over 13000 tech enthusiasts where bonds are formed, knowledge exchanged and stories shared.
- A DevCareerXProgate scholarship that gives 5000 community members access to pro-plan on Progate to learn any course of choice, exclusive to community members. Application is open all through the year use this link to apply.
