My Community Building Journey So Far…
Fast forward to 2015…
I had an apprehensive personality, therefore getting along with strangers takes me a while, I can be with you for months and still regard you a total stranger. I have led groups but the success of our mission depends on how well and how long I’ve come to know the members of the group, some people might say that’s a good thing but being a community leader, I had to do more, be more. I fell in love with Tech through the concept of Artificial Intelligence when I watched CBS Smallville back in 2008 and Chloe Sullivan won my heart when she set up “Watchtower” and then the passion grew when I encountered CBS Person of Interest The Machine(A surveillance system built purely on Machine Learning) and at that moment I knew Tech was the way for me. August 2015, I went on four months Industrial Training in fulfilment of earning a certification in Computer Science at the ICT/MIS unit of the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi where I met a team of amazing individuals doing what they love and helping to push people who showed interest and promise in the Tech community. Abubakar Siddiq Ango and Fidelis Okafor showed me the way by enlightening me on the numerous opportunities in the Tech Ecosystem and in this context I mean the Community and for that, I am eternally grateful…
Where it all began…
I was appointed Google Developers Group Bauchi chapter Women Techmakers Lead (WTM is a program in partnership with Google to increase visibility, community and access to technical resources for women in tech) and it was a trigger that unravelled a part of me I never knew existed, remember when I earlier said I had an apprehensive personality, I knew at this point that this couldn’t work… It’s either I reject the role or find a way to deal with my self because I can’t be shy, too shy and lead a community of women(if it were a community of men it could’ve been easier but ladies need some kind of push to even interact with other ladies, then it’s women from Northern Nigeria, these ladies noninteractivity level is through the roof) so I had to work on my People skills, extra work to relate more to women. We held our first meetup hosting 56 ladies from STEM backgrounds and a few men who were pushed to the edge of the room and for a first meetup, this was a win and the team celebrated it. I had just started working with Uplift Nigeria and the need to grow both personally and professionally to achieve more wins was essential.
At this point I realised there was so much to be done, these ladies had expectations, the zeal to learn so I had to start networking with other ladies who already possessed coding and development skills in almost all Tech paths as I am not a “Know it All” thereby the subsequent meetups became better and technical sessions such as Codelabs and Demos were included and we’ve seen an increase in engagement both in WTM meetups(2018 International Women day celebration with attendance of 81 women) and GDG events where the percentage of female attendance has increased, the last DevFest (2018) organized in Bauchi had the highest percentage of female attendance (37%), another win which was also celebrated by the GDG Bauchi team.
On the path to getting better, I also had to attend more meetups and Hackathons which helped my personal development and community building skills such as Digital Ocean, Pyladies, Developer Circle from facebook meetups e.t.c. and I must say for every meetup I attended which was not organized by me, I picked up a new lesson or challenge and used it to get better. Interestingly, being a leader means you support members of the community you’re leading but it’s nothing compared to the support you get from other leads, often times I reach out to other community leaders especially the Women Techmakers community and the Love and support is deep and has, in turn, helped me be a better community leader. Late August 2017, I had the privilege of being invited to Google Developers Group and Women Techmakers Sub-Saharan Africa Summit at Lagos by two GDG SSA community fire benders Aneidi Obong and Olaiwola Bolaji where I met with 150+ other community lovers and builders from across SSA but most importantly, I met Solomon Awosupin and we got into a mind-blowing conversations about the Tech ecosystem in NorthEast Nigeria and how the Andela Learning Community was working to bridge the gap between the under-represented part of Nigeria like the North to places like the South and West and he recommended that I assisted with the program in the region and I was thrilled. On to the next challenge…
Andela Learning Community(ALC)
This is a Community Empowering the Next Generation of Technology Leaders across Africa and boy am I glad to be a part of. I joined ALC November 2017 as a Program Assistant for Northeast Nigeria to work with a team which was amazingly led then by Chimdindu Aneke, personally, working with him was life-changing and I am forever grateful for the experience and the gifts got from this great leader. The team comprised of the brilliant minds of Auwal MS, Chioma James, Ajah David, Sam Esidem, Chizoba Ogbonna, Nsikak Thompson, Kanyinsola Oyindamola F., all from Nigeria and Mercy Cheruto, Imani Alpha, Anthony Limo, Barclay Koin from Kenya, the team has evolved since then especially when two inspiring ladies Rahma Halane also from Kenya and Lorna Maria A. from Uganda joined the team, William Chuloo came on board and works with Mercy as project managers and so far the team has supported over 23,000 learners across Africa, with physical support with the help of Supermen and Wonderwomen called Learning Community Ambassadors first in Nigeria, then Kenya and Uganda and now in Rwanda and Tanzania and the goal is to reach every part of Africa as the stream of talents gushing from the continent is undeniably vast. Andela Learning Community ran several versions of the program in partnership with Google, Udacity, Microsoft, Pluralsight, Openclassrooms and now forLoop and the joy that comes from being part of this community is the success stories recorded from learners, we have program assistants who were and are learners with Nanodegree certifications in their respective specialities, learners coming from non-tech background and becoming job ready at Tech Career Fairs. The best part is, ALC is for ALL, no discrimination whatsoever to age, religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, country or career background, all we believe in is “You Own Your Learning” and if a learner is determined then with the help of the community, they are on their way to being World-Class Software Developers.
What I’ve learned?
- A community is a family, the sooner I got to accept everyone, the faster we grew.
- Mistakes will be made, you’ll step on someone toes intentionally or unintentionally, it’s how you behave afterwards that matters.
- Until you’ve gotten everyone in the community working together, it won’t work out(refer to number 1.), which means collaborating online and offline.
- I had to be willing to share my network and experience, hence speaking at events I was invited to far and near. I did my best not to miss a meetup or workshop where someone could learn something from me(there were days I had to disappoint but it was always unintentional).
- Understanding that I had a long way to go and every day in a community had a new lesson to be learned and I had to be able to ask for help.
- It is not a competition of how many people came but delivering an experience that adds value to everyone who attended that being said I learned to know when to collaborate with other communities besides we’re all on the same journey just different brands and technologies.
- Finally, My growth was also important.
There are self-paced courses out there, we all engage with them but being part of a community is like being part of a movement and moving together is moving farther. Personally, I feel there’s no place for me to find better fulfilment in tech than in the Community, that feeling of supporting people start a career and find their place in the world, it’s invigorating, don’t get me wrong we all have paths that give us fulfilment but using that skill to support people(directly or indirectly) get better is another way to leave the world better than we met it. The beginning of my community building career started at Google I/O extended 2016 and so far I have never had regrets… This year, I intend to help communities I am leading grow more in value than it did in 2018, join new communities and help engage more bright minds and also grow personally.
These are my thoughts, although if you have ideas on better ways to build communities, please reach out, no woman is an Island and I am a life-long learner. If you want to join a tech community and need help with that, refer to Mustohpher’s article on the right communities to join based on your chosen path or reach out to me on twitter @onojarachael and let's get you to join the movement.
(This is my first article ever published, Thanks to Ane Itodo and Samuel Stephen for the push, I hope to publish more, so please clap… God knows I need the encouragement). Finally to my partner, Yahaya Zubayr who is an online ghost yet helps me be better at everything, Thank you!
Thank you for reading!
