Some of the most successful tech careers begin with the main character having a passion for computers from a young age. But for Covenant, his path to being a software engineer was unexpected. Even though he is a graduate of computer science, Covenant found himself drawn to the world of content creation, pursuing a career in ghostwriting. However, fate and a helpful friend, led him to an internship opportunity that kickstarted a career in Software Engineering.
This publication focuses on sharing experiences and narratives on how ‘Techies’ have gotten into tech, highlighting their challenges, motivations, and valuable insights on how they have navigated the tech landscape from different starting points. If you would like to share your tech journey please fill this form.
If you could have any superpower related to your work, what would it be and why?
Covenant: If there’s any superpower at all, I’ll say the power of engagement. It’s more like the ability to work with any team and any type of person. Teamwork is an essential skill to thrive in my line of career and I think I’m doing pretty well in it. I have had instances of working with seemingly difficult team members but it doesn’t stop us from achieving our set goal.
What’s your current role and what does it entail?
C: I currently work at Babban Gona Nigeria, an agritech company. I am an Associate Developer in the Mobile Team. The mobile team is also known as the “Dev Core” of the organisation. Our responsibility is building and maintenance of quality mobile applications (Android) that will be deployed to the various branches of the organisation all over the nation to facilitate agriculture.
Can you tell us a bit about your educational background? Did you always know you wanted to be a software engineer?
C: I have a B.Sc in computer science and it was quite an interesting journey obtaining the degree. I never planned to pursue a career in software engineering, as a matter of fact, I never had plans to use my degree. It was during my final year on campus that I started grooming myself in content/ghostwriting because I thought that was my path, and I pursued that for a while.
How long did you pursue content writing and ghostwriting? Why did you decide to make such a switch career wise?
C: I used to love writing since childhood, but just as a hobby or simply as a form of relaxation. I just loved writing down my thoughts based on the knowledge I had acquired at that time. So my thought during my final year was to groom that skill because it would benefit me one day, and it did.
I pursued ghostwriting all through my youth service. I was a freelancer on Upwork for close to a year, offering ghostwriting services to international clients. However, my plan was to finish up with my youth service and go deeper into ghostwriting using the upwork freelance platform, until I got an internship offer in tech and decided to accept it.
Interesting, how did that offer come about?
C: It was divinely orchestrated. A friend and brother of mine who was a graduate of mechanical engineering was applying for a six month internship in tech. I happened to walk into him as he was applying and then he told me about it and was of the opinion that I could apply too since I am a computer science graduate.
I was actually not interested because I was already earning as a writer. But so as not to disappoint him, I applied… Or rather he applied for me because he knew I wouldn’t do it if he left me to do it later 😂
Eventually, I was invited to take the first phase of assessment, I took it, and qualified for the next phase. In all, it was 5 hectic assessments but somehow I was able to sail through the coding test because of my previous knowledge in coding. To cut the long story short, I got the offer.
Wow, would you look at life! How were the first few weeks? Did you struggle since you were a bit out of touch because of the writing?
C: Of course I did. I struggled a lot. Asides the writing, I was in a different niche entirely from what I would have ever envisaged.
Somehow, I was placed in the mobile team based on my performance during the assessment. I never could have imagined I would be building mobile applications even if I was to go into tech, but there I was in real life about to start a career in that niche of tech. 😂
So it was quite challenging.
However, I am thankful for the encouragement I received from my senior colleagues in the mobile team. They were always there to help me overcome every challenge. The company paid for several expensive courses to walk me through the challenging period. So with time, I was able to find my feet and at the end of 6 months, I had already attained some level of confidence in my abilities.
What did you find most surprising about the world of software engineering?
C: Well, I’ll share the experience of my first day at work to answer the question. So on my first day, I was dressed heavily in my suit and tie, looking so corporate. But on getting to work, people kept staring at me surprised, one of them would later say he thought I was one of the management 😂😂😂
I didn’t know that tech bros have their way of dressing and it’s only on rare occasions that they dress as serious as I dressed. I feel it’s something common in the world of tech. Hardly will you see a tech bro dress so corporate and that surprised me. Well of course I adjusted 😂
I am not even surprised because it is your style to wear a suit and tie to anything.
C: 😂 😂
If you could go back in time, knowing what you know now, would you have still chosen to do software engineering?
C: Well yeah.
First of all, software engineering keeps evolving, so there’s always something fascinating to learn.
Secondly, the joy of delivering a project after passing through the hurdles, beating deadlines, several bugs, etc is one I always love to experience, especially when you actually see users interacting with your product, there’s an excitement it gives 😌.
Another reason why I would choose it is the flexibility which it offers. I mean, I go to work physically just twice in a month. Though it has its own cons, but I still love it.
Can you share the apps have you developed so far?
C: So most of the applications we develop are not available for public download as they are exclusive for the use of the organisation and its farmers in their hundreds of thousands. So I have participated in the development of products for payment collections, fraud preventions, plant health, transportation, etc
Oh I get it. If you could invent one piece of technology to solve any problem in the world, what would it be and why?
T: I honestly haven’t navigated such thoughts since I joined the tech world, but I think I love what my company is doing. The major operations of the company is located at the epicentre of the crisis in Northern Nigeria. Babban Gona’s innovative technology platform and program makes farming much more profitable for smallholder farmers, turning at-risk youth into successful entrepreneurs. This, in turn, stimulates local economies, disrupting the cycle of poverty and violence.
Looking ahead, how do you see yourself scaling in software engineering? Are there any specific areas you’d like to explore further?
C: I intend to further develop my expertise in mobile development by expanding my skill set to include frontend and backend frameworks, thereby enhancing my proficiency and versatility as a developer.
Thank you Covenant!
