2020 — Tossing The Coin. When I chose the theme “tossing the…
By: Akinjobi Sodiq
Tags: Year In Review, 2020

If I walked away

Then you would say I’m just emotional

You make me mad

Then you say I’m not approachable

I pray for peace

You got me reading them devotionals

But nothing’s changing

Nothing’s changed at all — Simi

I’m obsessed with Undeserving by Simi. The songs connect with me on an emotional level. Damn! This year, I walked away from a long-term relationship and I thought it was going to be the end of me because of how much I love her. And it happened at a time I was lost, looking for my identity and I had to learn that the best part of love is letting go.

In 2019, I wrote in my year in review

It’s really been a great year. I would be reflecting on the successes and failures and then we toss the coin next year.

When I chose the theme “tossing the coin”, I didn’t honestly expect the level of change that happened across all spheres of my life. So what happened this year?

My Favorite Picture of The Year

Engineering Career Expo

Engineering Career Expo is a platform established to create an environment of interaction between students and industry-based personnel so as to empower them with relevant skills in the engineering field.

For this session, I am privileged to serve as the Chair. This comes with its own troubles and wahala. I had already selected a team in the past year and we were ready to set out for work in the new year. Just like in ECX 1.0, we were going to have weekly classes in the second edition, soft skills workshop, and a hackathon.

When ECX 2.0 started on February 5, I remember how everything was all over the place hehe. We were still looking for extensions 30mins to the start of class and everyone was sacrificing everything they had to make sure that the classes were a success. And over the next couple of weeks, my super amazing team — Angel Umeh. Ifihan Olusheye. Arafah Ogunfemi. Damola Agboola. Daniel Ejalonibu. Kodinnanma Ezike. Daniel Oni. Michelle Yakubu. Munira Adamu-Ibrahim. Christopher Nwabuoke. Olawale Goodluck. Raji Mustapha. Paul Tungbulu. Abubakar Yusuf. University of Lagos Engineering Society Executives and all the volunteers that made all these happen.

When COVID + ASUU happened and everyone had to go home, we hosted 30DaysOfCode, The Next Conference, hackX and we have a grand finale in the works.

30DaysOfCode

Omo tbh, when lockdown started, my teams (DSC Unilag x ECX) were looking for a way to engage students and keep them productive and we decided to starts 30DaysOfCode. On day 1, tasks were sent out in form of a PDF on WhatsApp, and people submitted it in a Google form. Then it occurred to me. Why not create a simple website where people could view tasks, submit tasks, and get feedback from mentors?

A few months later and more than 1,210 commits down the line, I am glad we decided to come together and build that platform. I’ve heard stories and stories.

I am grateful for the mentors who set the tasks, marked tasks, and provided feedback day in, day out on those tasks — Akinboluwarin, Babatunde, Fortune, Oluwajoba, Ose, Philip, Mastersam, Sodiq, Abdullahi, Zubair, Bami, Faruq, Kazeem, and so many other mentors.

Harith for the designs, Abubakar and Ifihan for coordinating the whole process, LordGhostX for the Cert generator, Adebayo, Chukwurah for building the backend of the website, and Issy for the super amazing FE we have.

And while the project is on hold at the moment. I am grateful for the work Major E, Olamide, Abdullahi, and the rest of the gang are putting in to relaunch it in 2021 and see how we can impact more people.

Speaking Engagements

This year, I spoke at quite a lot of places. Social Media Week Lagos, DroidCon EMEA, Become a DSC Lead Webinar, Linux Lagos, WordSesh EMEA, Dor Workshop, Community Summit, and various DSC events.

What I Am Grateful For

I am grateful for DSC SSA Family. Auwal, Aniedi, Ada, Allela, My Darling Tabby, and the rest of the fam, I love you all. I wrote about my DSC experience here — Now, my watch has ended. I am grateful for my teams — DSC, ECX, 30DoC. You guys should keep lighting the torch and even when we have not figured out what we want with our lives, we should be content in the fact that we have shone the light on the path of other people through what we have done I am grateful for Certlify. Funny how what started as a quick fix for giving DSC students certificates at the end of my tenure is now a product. Thank you Lateefah — my orange girl, you know I am proud of you(release that stuff more often before I swear for you sha). Akinboluwarin. Olasunkanmi. Ibrahim. Musa. Zubair. Divine. Thank you for building something so beautiful and useful. doaction Nigeria 2020 — Precious, Harith, Kunle Ajayi, Chukwurah Emmanuel,and I coordinated the WordPress Nigeria community and hosted doaction Nigeria 2020 to build websites for 9 NGOs for free. The Next Conference — super proud of how we were able to pull that off in May — replay here Open Hack Week 2020 — I was afraid we wouldn't be able to host OHW 2020 with little to no support due to COVID but mehn, DSC Unilag came through and it was a resounding success. Seychelles — even though we didn't launch that project. Thank you for letting me work with my ogas — Arafah. Emmanuel. Josteve. Moyosola. Christopher. Olamide. And our mentors — Olalekan and Rtd.superhero. Covenant Community Groups — thank you Soromfe, Kelechi, and everyone for the opportunity to serve. Muslim Software Developers — thank you for allowing me to serve in my little capacity and yup, we hosted a conference here KwaraBuild — every year, we keep raising the bar and this year’s virtual edition turned out great. It was also the longest trip I took outside Lagos for the year. Flutter Study Group — I have so much pride in seeing how young people coming together to learn a skill can change the direction of their lives. Peths Digital — I’m proud of the amazing young minds at Peths. Every day, y’all show up to work and use the world as your canvas. Thank you for delivering excellence when it matters. Projects — built some very nice client projects this year used by a lot of people. Started Flutter and made 7digits from it too. Raji — I know you might be wondering why you have a column. Omo, I am super proud of your growth and particularly about how you deal with me in good faith. Thank you for all the help. Thank you for delivering when it matters. I love you. Opemipojojolodoluwa — guyyyyyyyyyyyyy! My baby in whom I am well pleased. You know how I tell you that the world is not ready for you? No be play sha. Thank you for bailing me out when I have no hope and thank you for shining your light in everything you do. Got invited to Google IO, Covid-19 screwed up. Paid out 7 figures in salaries and contractor fees. Omo! Finally got that MacBook! And yeah, my biggest investment of the year has to be that Keep Work Inverter. It saved my ass. Love — You showed me what it means to be vulnerable, to love, and to care. I look at the way you wake up every day looking peng and show up to work every day. The way you try to be better than yesterday. Not everything about your year went as it should, but you are the best thing that happened to me this year and I’m proud to call you mine. I love you. All of Q Devs, DSC Unilag, ECX, Friends of Geek, Cachette Criminelle❤️, The Palladium Miners, Finals Plug, FSG and every of my people.

If you feel like you didn’t do enough, keep pushing, there’s always next year.

What I am Not Proud Of

I Just Thought About This: Early in the year, I had an idea for a podcast with this title. I got the domain name, set up the website, and all but I never got around to recording the first episode. I know I need to figure out my content creation conundrum if I am to be a thought leader in my field. I failed a Microsoft Certification Exam: I didn’t prepare enough and yeah, life goes on. I did some work I wasn’t paid for. 🤧 We didn’t win the Solution Challenge. I had to resign. Maybe I will write more about this next year🤧

Lessons?

Everyday na one thing or the other. On most days, I don’t have everything figured and there is a new problem to face. But still, I show up to work. Besides, it’s an excuse to use Simi’s lyrics again LMFAOO. Done is better than perfect. With most projects that I’ve done this year. A pattern I’ve noticed is that we just start and over the course of working on it or using it, we iterate and make it better. Learn to Let Go. I’ve learned to let go a lot of friendship because both parties couldn’t compromise. Comparison is the thief of joy. I see a lot of my friends or even younger people doing amazing thing. While you might be tempted to compare and wonder why you aren’t where they are, understand that you are on a journey and fortune favors the hardworking. Keep putting all the hard work in and it will only get better from here. Fine Yourself. One of the strategies I used to save this year was that for each time I ate chicken, I paid a 10k fine. And I stuck by it. I know it’s weird but would you like to take a wild guess at how much I saved? Know Where You Come From. Omo this year, I saw pepper o. My friends kept buying the latest gadgets and stuff but I always try to remember where I came from. A small boy out of Mushin trying to find his way in life and I face my own business. This life, run your own race. Help People — it pays. Tell your own story — don’t let anyone tell it for you. Take charge of your life and speak of it’s abundance. Give yourself a chance. Progress will always be progress. God will never let you be stranded!

I wanna be by you day or night

For you I’ll stand in line

Be the rider for your ride

Anytime you looking for a sign

Anything you need yes I’m your guy

I only wanna keep you satisfied — Simi

I’m going to end this review with another of Simi’s lyrics and tie it to my goal for next year. I believe that the more money you have, the more your impact on the world. And next year, my goal is to be kinder, make money, and help more people. So help me God.

I regularly tweet stuff. @geektutor.