Recently, the tech scene in Nigeria has been going off with Meet-ups (especially in Lagos) and recognitions home and abroad. On the 15th of May, Developer and Speaker, Wes Bos asked:
Is it just me, or does Nigeria have a hot web development scene? Seeing lots of good devs from Nigeria
— Wes Bos onVacation() (@wesbos) May 15, 2017
Coincidentally, this came in at a time when the First Laravel Meet-up in Nigeria got recognition from the Global Laravel community, a story about the meet-up was featured in Laravel News.
As shown above, pictures are needed to preserve memories and tell stories. But who takes these interesting photographs? A photographer (Sigh, we have finally gotten to the essence of this piece). Several photographers work behind the scenes to document events. Today, I will be shining my torch on a photographer-cum-tech evangelist, Rotimi Okungbaye. Blending his dexterity in the use of a camera, his evolving interest in tech (SW development, to be precise) and growing media personality (photographer of one of the viral Twitter NG memes), it is a no-brainer that he got hired as a Media Intern for a high-profile startup involved in evangelising software development, Andela.
Let’s Meet Rotimi Okungbaye
Rotimi Okungbaye is a Biochemistry graduate of Covenant University, Nigeria, who took interest in photography while looking for a job pre-NYSC. And since then, he hasn’t stopped disturbing my timeline with photographs and hype about events (for which he usually tweets a Google Drive link to the pictures he took at the event). You might also want to check his hashtag, #rotimishotit on social media.
Interestingly, rather than just making money from hustling, he got hired by Andela as a Media Intern (another opportunity to do what he does best, HYPE and take good pictures). Also, he is the SF Ali, (the guy who broke Medium by recommending large volumes of articles) of Twitter. And if you are anywhere near conversant with the way the Social Media sphere works, likes and RTs are validations for users who create content. In Rotimi’s case, he helps with (free) publicity for events and RTs and likes an enormous amount of tweets (he has 30.9K likes, sigh).
Guys! We are trending, really amazing!
The community is growing and getting better! #LaravelNigeria #LetsDoMore https://t.co/tUNAtcemhg— Rotimi Okungbaye (@rotimiokungbaye) April 22, 2017
To learn more about Rotimi and his work, read his interview with TheFisayo.
On a final note, I will like to make this a weekly series, so, if you find someone who has hitherto been working in the backgrounds to improve the lives of those around them. Please mention me on Twitter.
And yes he has a humorous side!
When Eyo festival is over and you have to go back home as a normal human being. #LagosAt50 pic.twitter.com/4Vqqgpi1u3
— Rotimi Okungbaye (@rotimiokungbaye) May 20, 2017
Brilliant! Rotimi is truly an inspiration to many.
I know right!
Awwww… Thank you very much MD.
Wao!!! That’s a great one. @rotimiokungbaye:disqus We are proud of you.