Even on the journey of life, we figure things out as we grow. Experiences, words from people, the stern glare from our mothers, and more have shaped us to become who we are today.

Enough tension, a little introduction

Like almost every other teenager I knew, I started the year with resolutions. On the top of my list was acing my Engineering examinations that were just before my eyes, and reading wide about robotics. Every other list item was just general.

Unfortunately, roughly immediately after the year started, I faced the biggest shock of my life; every teaching staff in my school had decided to go on strike. A strike?! My resolutions crashed before my very eyes by the second month of the year and I was left with two options; to sit, sulk, and remain under the orderings of my parents till the strike was over, or to find something visibly promising to do.

The first option was vividly out. I didn’t know how long I'll be out of school, and I didn’t want to spend the time making three meals daily, scrubbing floors, babysitting and all that. I wanted to do something, as I said earlier, visibly promising. My brain could only come up with two things; teaching(mostly because my dad wanted this) and tech.

Tech; the unknown

To be honest, it was a miracle tech came as an option because I was so ignorant of anything that had to do with it. I probably even would get a negative value if my knowledge of tech was weighted, but then, it seemed tech was the only choice I had. By March, with a laptop handed down to me by a virtue of this decision, I decided to tread the path. "A path into the unknown", I call it.

Fortunately for me, at that time, an open-source community lead, Macbobby Chibuzor, organized a group for accountability, speed, and mentoring of people learning python. Even though the only "python" I knew then was a snake, I unhesitatingly joined, since it was free. We were to learn all about this unknown word in 30 days.

Second after second, day after day, I got to know a lot about python and tech as a whole. My quest for knowledge led me to deepen my research and I was able to reach every deadline. Me being the judge, my progress was commendable. I could now explain a few terms to people, and earn the title, "tech sis".

Finally choosing my stack

After two months of learning python, I was advised to start learning the flask framework. As vast as my knowledge seemed to me then, I still didn’t know what it was about. Don't judge me, but I followed blindly again. I spent two months learning what usually took about two weeks. It was until then that I realized I've been learning Software development; the backend track.

A series of research, quality conversations with knowledgeable people, the intimate relationship I had with google, and more led me to the decision to opt for frontend development instead. My frustration with abstract things and the fact that I am a very visual person were mostly the basis of my decision. I wasn't wrong.

This time, I made up my mind to not get lost in the pit of my lack of knowledge. I took my time and gathered every knowledge I had to draw a map for this step I was taking. I started learning HTML by the end of July, and by August, I already had a project I did with HTML and CSS. Presently, it is a comedy to me.

Love? Or what was this feeling?

By the end of August, I was already facing first-hand challenges - I was dealing with major health issues, I felt extremely inadequate socially, the battery of my laptop crashed and I could only work when there was power supply, a portion of my laptop's screen was already affected by the LCD and I had to swerve my way around responsiveness, I was hit by utmost imposter syndrome, to mention but a few - and the option to "give up" boldened itself before me. My parents were concerned too and wanted me to lay everything down.

Nevertheless, amidst all of this, there was this feeling that raised my spirit and made me so oblivious to all my problems whenever I was in front of my laptop. It gave me indescribable joy and that was enough to keep me moving. There was a time I unknowingly skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner, not to mention the habitual overnight coding. Was this love, obsession, or even something else? Well, I'll leave it to you to decide.

A Striking Ray Of Light

I woke up to a call from my lecturer one particular day. She was so concerned about me, that I could discern it through her voice. I hugged my phone very close to my ears as reasons I should thread another path hammered my eardrums. She even gave me paths that she felt would fit me.

My goodness! Apparently, tech isn't as visually promising as I thought.

Now that I think of it, after the experience, I don't know why I continued tech, but I did. Even now, I don't regret this decision. Days after, I got an invitation to apply for a scholarship for tech classes from a friend. "Women Techstars Fellowship", in partnership with Microsoft, was a program offering $2,500 as a scholarship in form of 4-hour classes every weekday, projects, events, resources and many more. It seemed huge, and I decided to apply. And unbelievably, I got in after a series of stages!! I was part of the top 10%.

For someone that still had challenges, I was overly excited. It was a win. My imposter syndrome was leaving gradually. I started a six months journey of deep training. I've never enjoyed attending classes so much. We started in September, and asides from the classes, I was learning more via W3Schools, Udemy, Coursera, Side Hustle, Aptlearn and LinkedIn Learning platform, even with my phone.

The perfectionist in me was so hungry for knowledge. I had a couple of projects I had laid my hands on, till another opportunity showed itself...

Fuel for the existing love

Cardtonic and Edustipend were two competitions as opportunities to get a new laptop, which I clearly needed. With determination and expectation, I decided to apply for both, after which I got rejected by Edustipend. This rejection made me very unexpectant from the other, so I'll not get disappointed again.

I was taken off my feet by the mail I received next. I actually passed the first stage, Wow! Even though I had three stages to go, this gave me the hope I needed. In summary, I won a laptop; in the blink of an eye, 50% of my problems were solved.

A NEW PHASE

By November, immediately I was awarded the laptop, the strike was over and I resumed back to school. It's been a rough journey balancing school and tech, but I've scaled through this year successfully. I've had too many sleepless nights and emotional breakdowns though, but amidst all, I've had real fun this year.

Engineering, tech, football, religious activities, and personal life is no small thing, but I'll definitely scale through next year. Opportunities, friends, challenges, enemies and more have shaped me into the strong person I am today.

Thank you for reading this far! As you'll expect, I have my resolutions for next year again, lol. Wish me luck this time!