Interswitch Engineering Spotlight Series
This is the debut publication of the Interswitch Engineering Spotlight Series #IESS, a recently launched novel initiative aimed at owning and shaping the narrative around the Interswitch Engineering team, showcasing our best talents and telling never before heard stories of passion, resilience, commitment to duty and success. The Spotlight would brilliantly highlight our people, motivations and achievements.
Today, we will be interviewing Ayowole Adenuga.
Ayowole is a Software Engineer currently working with the Payment Tokens team at Interswitch. He is passionate about frontend development and loves volunteering to teach newbies how to code.
How would you describe yourself?
That is going to be hard. Well, I consider myself an easy-going person who is passionate about his work and that’s because I love what I do. I have a steady source of motivation that drives me to do my best, challenge myself daily and learn new skills.
How did you get into tech?
Right after I got my university admission, my dad gave me his laptop as a gift and I totally fell in love with computers. The love started from there and since then, I have taken a keen interest in acquiring more knowledge on computers and IT generally, even though, at the time, my mind was set on a different career path. To cut the story short, months after my NYSC and working in a non-tech role, I decided to dive into tech fulltime (against all odds). Quit my job, enrolled at a developer training center and the journey has been an amazing one so far.
What are your responsibilities in the position you currently hold in Interswitch?
Well, I am a frontend software engineer with the Payment Tokens team here at Interswitch and I get to build, as well as give technical support to Verve International on all things involving web and mobile User Interfaces.
Aside from coding, what fun thing do you like doing?
I love playing the piano and watching movies.
Favourite Life Quote?
Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.
What has been your favorite project at Interswitch?
That would be the building of a demo android app for a certain project my team worked on with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). Prior to this, I had never worked with React Native, but this project propelled me to pick it up and it was fun.
How and why did you join Interswitch and how has Interswitch supported?
I joined Interswitch last year through the pilot cohort of the Interswitch Developer Academy, which I’d consider the best form of software engineering (theoretical and onsite) training any software developer can get in Nigeria. It wasn’t for beginners, it was quite in-depth, intense, thorough, challenging but most importantly, enlightening for me. Receiving such quality skill-upscaling training is the best form of support any employee can ever get and I remain grateful to have been a part of it. After the training, I went through an interview process and was offered a full-time role as a Software Engineer at Interswitch.
What are the happiest moments of your endeavors in the tech industry?
While I hope for many more happy moments, but my happiest moment so far would be during my last days at Stutern (SGA) after the presentation I made on the demo day. My presentation was so good that I literally got about 9 job offers on the spot. It was a surreal moment for me.
What are the efforts/discipline you put in place to help you master your art?
Oh wow, I didn’t see that coming. Well, this is something that is always under iteration and I wouldn’t even consider myself a ‘master’ of this art; I doubt if anyone would, but as far as efforts and discipline goes, I have learned to admit when I do not know a thing and I try to learn new things whenever I get the chance to.
If you didn’t become a software Engineer, what other profession would you go for and why?
‘A zoologist’ because of my love for animals and because I studied Zoology in the university or at the very least, a ‘Music Producer’ because of my love for music and my experience with it.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work.
Well, I’ve got many but the first on my list would be the fear of poverty lol.
Have you faced any challenges in your career as a person in the tech world? If yes, how did you overcome those challenges?
Well, there are many but I’d like to talk about one that has been rampant lately even though it isn’t exactly one I can overcome alone. So, Lately in the Nigerian Tech Space, it is becoming a known fact that software engineers face harassment issues/challenges almost every day with the Nigerian Police and this is largely due to the fact that we now have young and hardworking Nigerians working as software engineers both on-site here and remotely. They often mistake us for ‘Yahoo boys’ (Internet Fraudsters) the minute they see you with a laptop and an iPhone without due diligence. This is absolutely wrong. I have faced this personally but that is a story for another day. However, I really think the government should look into this.
In terms of programming, software developers face challenges every day. In fact, it is a very normal part of our daily routine and I’ve had several today already; I can’t even start to list them but one good fact is, with the right amount of time spent on the internet (especially with awesome community platforms as such as Stack Overflow, Medium, Quora et al), you’ll almost always find a way out. So, challenges are a pretty normal and a daily part of every software engineer’s life.
What word of encouragement would you give young people who are considering a career in tech?
If you’re sure tech is your passion, then keep your head down (be humble, please it’s important) and continue grinding; soon, it will pay off. Most importantly, don’t ever stop learning.
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