Black Narratives: The Why and How of Perseverance With Fey Ijaware
3 Tips On Perseverance From CodeandStuff Founder Fey Ijaware
What is Perseverance?
Perseverance is defined by a continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. Given the year we’ve all had, difficulties are left, right and centre. 2021 may very well present fertile ground for these challenges to take root. Fey Ijaware, Senior Software Developer and Founder of CodePossible and CodeandStuff gave me an honest look into her motivations and perseverance strategies. The same ones she used to build a successful career and platforms for aspiring coders.
Why Do We Persevere?
There are lots of reasons. But before jetting off through difficulties, having a strong sense of direction is always helpful.
By definition, it’s impossible to put continued effort into something without there being something to put continuous effort into.
Fey broke down her motivations into two forces:
Personal Fulfilment:
This is when your own gain drives you. Maybe you want to build a better quality of life for yourself and your family. Maybe you want to buy a house in Manchester. Maybe you want to start your own business.
For Fey, it was finding a meaningful career that allowed her to enjoy the day-to-day work.
She studied at Edge Hill University and even continued on to do a post-graduate and planned to become a teacher, but on completion realised it wasn’t what she wanted to do.
“Overlooking the emotional cost for a false sense of security would strip me of personal fulfilment.”
Finding an alternative pushed Fey to change jobs several times until she was content, picking up transferrable skills along the way until she discovered Web Development at The Co-operative, now known as the Co-Op group.
Social and Moral Responsibility:
This is when you’re motivated to do something for yourself and others — for example, building an online community for Black Tech Sales Professionals or starting a Tech Expo to reduce unemployment in your local area. The force comes from what other people gain from your actions.
Fey’s experiences fueled CodePossible and CodeandStuff as a black woman in tech.
“I remember tech meet-ups where I was the only black woman, and attendees would look at me as if I didn’t belong in “their” space, questioning my reasons for coming. My second job was the same, and I struggled to voice my opinions as a minority.”
Code Possible is an online learning platform to help young developers access the tools and information they need to build their career.
CodeandStuff provides a nurturing community for women and non-binary people to explore their passion for web development.
3 Tips on How To Persevere:
This is by no means an exhaustive list nor the top 3 things you must do.
These are the ideas that resonated with me most from Fey’s journey. Seeing how pivotal they were in her transition towards understanding herself and her environment means they’re a must share.
Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments. The more, the merrier!
Immerse Yourself:
This isn’t just about information.
Get stuck in and find different types of resources to help you understand how little you know about what you’re trying to achieve. The faster you understand what you don’t know, the quicker you can start learning.
Be sure to get into programs and communities, online and in-person, that will give you the chance to build relationships with people who have taken the plunge.
Fey landed a Google scholarship for Android Development and also joined various local coding meetups, including slack communities. Both were key moves in exposing her to current and future competition levels and what areas of coding she 100% had to master.
Develop a Bias for Action:
In reality, progress is non-linear. To make things run smoothly, you have to be rough around the edges. I know, I know.
You’ll need to lean into challenges before you think you’re ready or have it all figured out.
Fey worked as a Digital Administrator at The Co-Op Group during their company-wide rebranding. Following a managerial change, she was asked to take on a web development project with no training.
Going with the flow and building ad-hoc solutions to get the job done meant that she opened the doors for her career without knowing.
Though she didn’t have the technical qualifications, her hunger to find a career that provided personal fulfilment pushed her curiosity.
Be Honest:
Demonstrating perseverance is like running a marathon. Throughout the race, your body will face multiple demands on limited resources.
In the same way, your time, finances and energy face similar demands. Except in this race, you run for months at a time, and energy bars do very little to boost your output.
Being realistic about what you have and how you’ll use it will help set expectations and understand self-sacrifice.
Though becoming a Web Developer was Fey’s number one priority, she’d also been saving to buy a house in Manchester. After reflecting, she realised that investing in her career was a better choice than following her initial plan.
“Conflicted, I knew that investing in my vision would give me the skills I needed to buy a home in years to come”.
Be transparent with yourself and let go of things that hold you back.
Even if they’re the things that used to push you forwards.
Fun Fact — 30 months after investing her savings Fey bought her home in Manchester!
Goals.
Takeaways:
Perseverance is the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.
- Get clarity on your motivations for running the marathon before you start the race.
- Once you’ve started, be realistic about what you can achieve but be ambitious.
- Accept that you’re not always going to be ready to take the step. But your “Why” will push you.
- Immerse yourself in resources so you can take what you need to reach your goal and be honest about what you’ll have to sacrifice or invest along the way.
