#SCAIWD2021: How I switched careers into software development in my late 30s — by Bukola Kehinde
Bukola Kehinde is a software developer, web designer, fashion designer, speaker and writer. She shares how she switched her career path in her late 30s.
Bukola studied Microbiology at the University. Her first job after university was as a front customer service personnel in a transport organization. Her job was a shift job, so she was able to learn fashion design in her free time. During that period, she noticed that her brother who works in tech was thriving. He always had nice gigs and a good job. This challenged her to begin her research. She began to look for resources to start her learning journey.
She started to research coding and non-coding paths. She also attended an event organized by the google business group which showed her that the tech ecosystem had both coding and non-coding aspect. This intrigued her and made her decide to focus on software development. After that, she started to research books and resources on Lynda and Pluralsight. She also discovered that she needed a clear outline and curriculum to follow if she was to make progress.
THE BEGINNING
She started her development career with C sharp which proved difficult for her, so she switched to JavaScript which she preferred. She also learnt HTML and CSS. Bukola’s initial coding tools were Brackets and Codepen before she felt comfortable enough to use VScode. Learning to use Github, for Bukola was very confusing. She watched many tutorials which didn’t help much because most times, the instructors were using a different operating system from what she was using. She started with Windows OS while the instructors were either using Linux or Mac. She eventually understood how to use Github after the struggle.
BOOTCAMPS
At a point, Bukola felt that she needed to participate in Bootcamps because she felt that they would help her get started with her tech career. She was introduced to a Udacity nanodegree. She was quite lucky that the nanodegree offered a free seven days period which she started with. She saw its advantages and continued with it. Soon she started to look for ways to learn interactively, It was during this time that she came across Scrimba. Scrimba lets you pause the video and work on the same file that is being used to teach you. You can make changes and see the result in real-time. She also watched Udemy courses and practiced a lot.
INTERNSHIPS
Bukola continued her learning journey through internships. She started with the She Code Africa internship program which helped her immensely and showed her a new perspective on things. It was during the program that she learnt about some paid internships. She started to search for more internships that would help her grow as well as pay her. She participated in Zuri and Outreachy which helped a lot in her growth and boosted her confidence level.
As a front end developer, she was curious about where data went. When a form was submitted, where did the data go? This prompted her to start looking into back end development which she found interesting. It helped her understand more about how the development process and flow worked.
PERSONAL BRANDING
In order to position herself as a software developer, she had to create a resume that suited her new career path. She had to use various templates and resources before she found the perfect resume. Getting her LinkedIn profile to look presentable was also a struggle. She had to watch YouTube videos and look at LinkedIn profiles of other software developers to get inspiration on how to revamp hers. She also had to make sure her Github profile looked active in order to attract her prospective employers. She also created her portfolio website during this time in order to start applying to jobs.
WORDS OF ADVICE
Bukola advises all women aiming to get into the tech field not to give up because there are opportunities in the field. She encourages everyone to contribute to open source. According to her, with open-source, you would learn a lot, understand workplace rules and integrate yourself into a real working environment. It also helps you prepare for when you have to work with other people and teams.
You can find Bukola on Twitter with this handle @bukola14_bukola
