Of Web Applications and Web APIs: Journey of a Female Software Developer

The aim of this post is to share with you a bit of my journey as a software developer. I hope it inspires you and you learn a lesson or two.

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I got exposed to IT and ICT due to the course I studied in the university, Computer Engineering, but that’s a story for another day.

When I was in Part 4, I needed to go for 6-months internship but I really didn’t know where I was going to do it. Thankfully, I got to do it at Ansyl Technologies, a software development company where I Learned C#, SQL, HTML and other web/programming nuances.

At the end of 6 months, I was able to build a web application for registering participants at an organization’s event using .NET Web Forms. Building up on this, my final year project was to build a web-based registration application but this time using .NET MVC. This was an opportunity to learn .NET MVC in a practical way and I remember pitching this idea at a hackathon in FUTA and being selected as one of the winners (unfortunately I didn’t follow up).

Read: Opportunities Available To Millennials That You Should Know

Fast forward to 2015, I got my first job out of school because of the skills I had gained from my internship in 2013, i.e, software development in .NET. Many times, I had imposter syndrome and all, but one thing that kept me was an appetite for growth and knowledge.

One of the comments by my interviewers at my first job was that I looked like someone who was willing to learn. And learn I did.

It’s been an interesting journey/maze over the first few years of my career as a software developer.

In 2017, I was tasked with building a RESTful API for a project in my company, it was going to be my first time building one for an enterprise application though I had been practicing on my own. With the help of my colleagues, I was able to do this and many others after.

In 2018, I got a new job where I had to learn a new programming language, ESQL, one I wasn’t really excited about. It was a challenge to learn in a month or so, but then I sailed through and now you can almost call me a pro.

In between all of these, I learned how to build WordPress websites and I built my brands websites using WordPress (this blog and mividaafrica.com).

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Thinking about challenges, there were many.

One of the major one was going for NYSC (National Youth Service Corps). Somehow, NYSC posting had me serving in a swampy land in Delta with no power supply, little access to water and 2G internet. This in itself is a long story, but I documented some of the story on the blog.

I wasn’t able to keep practicing coding and I almost lost touch, thankfully I was still reading during my NYSC and I got a software development role some months after NYSC.

Another challenge was learning to appreciate and state my worth and also dealing with chauvinistic male colleagues. With time, I have learned to work on these issues and I am getting better.

Now, I can confidently say I am a web application developer. I also build web services (SOAP and RESTful) and WordPress websites. Not to mention other things like digital marketing, business analysis, documentation expert, and some bit of business intelligence.

I hope I have not bored you too much with my story. I guess not.

Here are a few lessons to learn:

• Life is in journey, despite not the days of little beginning
• Your uniqueness is what makes you you, BE YOU TO THE FULL ( that’s what makes you beautiful)
• Keep learning and be on the lookout for opportunities that make you grow
• Don’t be ashamed to tell your story, you never know who you will be inspiring.
• Being a lady doesn’t mean you can’t be a good software developer

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I hope to include a new segment on the blog that covers tech talks, some of my experiences at work, dealing with tech clients, etc.

You can also connect with me on social media: Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

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Love and Light,

Esthitude.