2020, What a Year! My Year in Review
By: Joseph Olugbohunmi
Tags: Android, Year In Review 2020, Cycling, Year In Review, Android App Development

If you are reading this and you are one of those that send me money, please disregard this whole piece. Don’t stop sending me that money, please. God bless you!

The year two thousand and twenty was undoubtedly a remarkable year. At the beginning, it was all bright, all rosy and promising. Well, it turned out to be a very eventful year filled with both interesting and uninteresting happenings. For me in particular, it was a year with many profound experiences; I made some notable feats as well as had some unpleasant situations. I will be giving an honest review of how my 2020 went; I will also be putting links to some stuff that I think might be helpful. So, let’s roll…

I started the year on a high note. In 2019, I had won the $150 scholarship to write the Associate Android Certification Examination (AACE). I was one of the final 1000 participants selected in Google Africa Developer Scholarship (GADS) 2019, a program put together by ALC, Google and Pluralsight. So I was seriously preparing for the examination (no one wants to fail, you know) and for me it was a very big deal, I gave it my all, studying, practicing and making sure I was fully prepared for the examination.

NYSC Service

Also in 2019, I was posted to Kwara State for my National Youth Service. I had to request for redeployment to Lagos State but lo and behold, I was redeployed to Ogun State. That was the beginning of a very notable journey in my life. While I was registering for the program and even when I was processing my papers after redeployment, I had made up my mind that I didn’t want to be posted to a school or any other place where I won’t be able to develop myself especially my software development skills. The service year to me was a year I had to use to develop my skills thoroughly; I couldn’t afford to be in a place of primary assignment where I would be tied down doing things that won’t help me develop. Finally, I was posted to a place where I had the opportunity and time to achieve what I wanted. On arrival to Ogun state, I was frustrated because the electricity was so bad and always wasn’t available. I had to set out to search for developers’ communities, tech hubs and co-working spaces around. I came across some co-working spaces but my pocket was not buoyant enough to patronize them. At one of the developers’ meetups I attended, I met Mr Emmanuel Odumusi, the CEO of DabrandCity Media and on later discussion with him, he permitted me to make use of a spot at the office (just like a co-working space) but at a very subsidized rate. That was a great enabler for me because I had access to power and internet.

My Android App

While preparing for the AACE, I decided to develop a mobile app, using that to practice what I’ve been learning and to publish it on Google Play Store. I thought of the App I could develop and the problem I was trying to solve with the App. I know developers love to use Stackoverflow, so I decided to create a Stackoverflow client App where developers can look up problems and solutions posted on Stackoverflow, a user can also search for any issue they come across while coding and get solutions. While developing the App, I learnt many things that I wouldn’t have known by watching tutorials alone. The app was published on Google Play Store in June and was applauded. I will be rolling out an update with OCR feature very soon. A user will be able to scan any text from their screen while coding and use that to search Stackoverflow. Cool right? Try and get the App here to be able to enjoy this feature and others already in the App.

Associate Android Developer

There was a little delay in receiving the voucher to take the AACE, so I took the time to keep preparing and studying, even when the voucher arrived, I still had the opportunity to extend the time I would write the examination. Worthy of note is the fact that I decided to take a different path in preparing for the AACE; even though I had access to courses on Pluralsight as a participant in GADS 2019, I didn’t study those courses, rather, I concentrated on Google Android Codelabs and the AAC Study Guide. In March, I started learning Kotlin and I decided that every App I developed from that time will be in Kotlin (I was still building my App in Java though). And then the almighty lock down started last week in March, to me it was a big opportunity to focus on my personal development, no moving around, no time wasting anymore and I utilized the opportunity judiciously. I decided to take the exam on the 25th of May. The day came and I had to go use DabrandCity, the exam lasted 8 hours, it was kind of tough but it covered things that I had studied in the study guide, so I could pull through but when it was time to submit my exam, my network got so bad, I was very nervous (Someone said it was my village people at work but they were put to shame) I tried submitting but the stuff kept rolling and rolling, I moved from being nervous to been very worried and was thinking if all my effort and preparation would just go down the drain due to bad internet connectivity, I couldn’t cry. I kept trying until the following day with different internet networks but still, it didn’t go through. I also took my exit interview that following day. I later contacted support and explained my predicament, I got a response that they already received my submission. I was so glad, I must say. The following week (that was in June) I got a mail of congratulations. I passed the exam! I was even more joyous. Later that month, I was certified by Google, I got my AAD certificate and badge, I was so happy that I couldn’t keep it to myself, I shared the news far and wide on different platforms.

Job Offer

Before my service, I determined that I wanted to get a job as a developer before the end of my NYSC even if it was an entry-level role. So I pimped my LinkedIn account, making sure it’s always to update, I wrote my resume and made sure it was always up to date too. I made sure my GitHub account was very active. I registered on several job platforms such as Djinni.co, Angel.co, RemoteOk, Indeed.co, Ziprecruiters, etc. I subscribed to several job alerts; I sent out applications almost every day. From some of these platforms, I had many interviews from both local and foreign organizations (not less than 10 interviews), I had so many take-home tasks, I kept developing Apps on the run, and many of them would need me to complete an App within 3 days. There were several turn downs, several rejections but I was never discouraged, I knew it was just normal; many said I was not experienced enough for the role I was applying for. I was even surprised that on two occasions, I was told that I was over experienced for the open role, funny right? And in my mind, I’d be feeling like a senior developer but in another part of my mind, I’d be like why not give me the job first and let’s see if I’m over experienced or not. Well, the hunt continued until I saw an opening by referral announced on one of the developers’ community I belong to (that was in August). I immediately reached out to SirGoingFar who made this announcement, sent out my resume, link to my published app and link to my GitHub profile. A few days later, I got a call from HR at the company and was given yet another task to work on, to be submitted 3 days later. This time around, it was a concept I had never heard of in my entire journey as an Android developer, it was a chat App though. I began researching on that immediately and then development started. On the second day, I got another message from the lady telling me that I would be having an interview on the same day of submission (which was the next day of course). I felt like WOW! I was not yet done with developing the App and I also needed to prepare for the interview, I couldn’t sleep that week. Day 3 came and I was still testing my App and discovering some unwanted behaviors, I just had to rush things up, I couldn’t even prepare for the interview. At the interview I had 7 interviewers, it was so hot I must say, they tested the App and applauded it. A few days later, I got a call again and was offered a job at SeamFix Ltd; it was a very good offer. I was so happy, so glad that my hard work eventually paid off, I got a job before completion of NYSC and it has been a very interesting and educative journey, the work-life and staff at SeamFix Ltd is superb. One thing to note is that this job was not announced anywhere, I got it through referral and most importantly, getting involved with developers’ community.

Money Matter

I entered 2020 with very little money in my account, the major money that gave me a leap was the last batch of payment I got early in the year from the MTN Foundation Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme. I saved half of that money and from the other half, I made sure I invested in getting a generating set; I knew that with the problem of power solved, it would help my career a lot. I invested so much in my programming career; paying subscription fee at the co-working space, fueling the generator whenever I was not at the space, internet subscription every month was always between N7000 and N8000, well there were other bills too such as reaching out to my family, etc. I took savings very serious but I took investments more serious, I believe investment is better than savings. I made it a point of duty to save 1/3 of my NYSC monthly allowance and 1/2 of my monthly salary when I starting earning a salary, and I also invested these monies in a few things. I was glad that the money was growing and I made my first million in 2020. My income was way more than my expenditures in 2020 which means profit right? Yeah, I made profit financially in 2020

FightPandemics

During my job search, one of my applications was to FightPandemics. Well, I didn’t understand what they stood for until I got a positive response from HR, I was then told that it was a volunteer role. I would be volunteering as an Android Engineer, I was willing to accept the offer; I was looking for opportunities to gain experience which I could also add to my resume/LinkedIn. I resumed at FightPandemics in July, I joined the Android team where I met a lot of engineers from around the world. I was so glad to collaborate with various people with vast experience from different countries on the same project. We’re building the Android App for the FightPandemics platform which will be launched soon. I’ve learnt so much from the team and made a few new friends. I understood the real meaning of open source which also led me to participate in HacktoberFest 2020; well, I contributed to some projects then and opened more than the required number of pull requested. I won the HactoberFest T-shirt for the first time in 2020 and I hope to get it soon (it’s currently being shipped).

Food Matter

I have a very poor eating habit, I also find it hard to cook, I don’t like thinking or asking myself “what can I eat today?” I always believe the time I would spend in the kitchen can be used for some other productive things such as coding of course. Well, I also know good food is very good for the body; you are what you eat, so they say right? So at some point, I thought of outsourcing that (to hire a chef), I put out an advert on WhatsApp and some people applied. I hired one of them to handle my cooking. That was a huge relief for me. Instead of asking “what can I eat today”, the question changed to “what are you offering me today”. Well, I had to lay her off at some point. Right now I think I need a nutritionist, not just a chef. If you are one or you know one, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

RideHub 360 Limited

In 2020, I, Olanrewaju and Oreoluwa (all co-founders) had to modify the vision and mission of RideHub 360 Ltd, thanks to Ore who came up with an idea tied to COVID-19. Before then we had applied for Tony Elumelu Funds which was suspended due to COVID-19. We did a lot of rebranding; we registered our company as a legal entity, built a formidable team, built an online presence (including website and social media platforms), built a prototype of our product, got a physical location within Obafemi Awolowo University Campus with the support of the School management, came up with better ideas to improve our products, applied for different sources of funding, redesigned our business plan/proposal but we were unable to achieve so much in terms of setting up the office and going into full production due to lack of funds. We reached out to some organizations for a partnership which we are very sure will yield tangible results this year. We are going in with full force!

Cycling

My favorite sport/hobby is cycling, whenever I’m not coding, working, working out at home or at the gym, I’m most likely cycling. I cycle almost every evening and spend even more time cycling on Saturdays. In 2020, I took it upon myself to tour all the major and minor routes in Abeokuta. During the lock down, riding was sweeter because the roads were always free, no commuters. I also took the time to maintain my bike regularly, the only time I had to repair my bike in 2020 was when I had a puncture while riding at night. Since I fixed that, it has been fine. You should also take up cycling, you’ll be glad you did.

Conclusion

I’m grateful for life, I’m thankful for everything I experienced in 2020, the good and the bad. So, that was how my 2020 went; I hope I have been able to inspire someone with my review. If you think it’s a good read, don’t hesitate to hit the clap button several times. Also, feel free to contact me in case you have any questions or you think we can partner on one thing or the other. You can reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

As we go into the New Year, I hope it turns out to be an awesome one for us all. Cheers!