Participant Story: Chisom
Chisom is one of the participants of our six-month software engineering program! She sat down with Techtonica volunteer Mel Burke to share her story. You can support her journey at techtonica.org/donate.
Tell us a little about where you’re from and where you grew up.
I was born in Nigeria in Benin City. I came to America when I was four with my family, and have lived in the Bayview district of San Francisco ever since. I’ve seen San Francisco change a lot, especially five or six years ago — right next to where I live they built these really tall new apartment buildings and up until then I’d never seen that before.
What made you decide to apply for Techtonica?
A friend sent me a text because she knew I was looking for new opportunities. I’d been looking at bootcamp prices and they were just way too expensive. I didn’t want to go back to school for another four years to learn coding so I was trying to explore my options.
But my friend sent me a text about Techtonica and I was like “Oh my god, this is so perfect — perfect fit, perfect everything.” It was two days before the application so I was typing away at night trying to get everything in.
What are you most excited to learn while in the program?
Something I’ve never done before, like having my own project or building something entirely from scratch is what I’m most excited for. I’ve never done anything like that. It’s going to be interesting to see what I can do.
Also my cohort is awesome. Everyone’s funny and getting along while we share our stories. I think it’s going to be really easy to connect with people.
Is there anything you want to change about the tech industry specifically?
This may just be me thinking about the future, and I’m very used to being the only black girl in something, but the thing I always hated about being the only one who’s different is people want to test you more. There’s more pressure on you to represent a whole population of people. Something I want the tech world to understand is that I know exactly as much as you do. If I don’t, I’ll ask, but don’t assume I know less. So, I’d love to change the way people perceive people of color in tech, and promote understanding that people of any race, ethnicity, or gender can do anything they want to do.
What’s your dream project?
I’m torn. I have very different interests. Accessibility engineering speaks to me the most because I have a brother who needs special help to be able to do stuff. I like the idea of being able to help him and people like him. But I also like UX design and I’d love to combine those two interests.
You can see Chisom tell her story at our launch celebration here.
If you or your company might be interested in supporting program participants like Chisom, please donate at techtonica.org/donate or take a look at techtonica.org/sponsor.
