Why I became a Software developer, Big lessons the process taught me.
Tags: career, devjournal
Published: 2022-08-23 09:32:00

As young lady in a west African country, Nigeria my dream is to impact the world. The desire became stronger when I join science and technology in my secondary school, then my only goal was to become a matron nurse because I don't feel good seeing people sick, not like other kids who dream were enforce on them to become a medical doctor, nurse and lawyer which was normal and the most decent profession then.
Not only I do feel empathy for people, I feel trouble when I hear people are challenged with incurable disease , I truly want to help or change the condition. While studying sciences at elementary level in senior school, I was open to learning new things. Then the Big day

## The birth of a big dream
One day, a mini meetup in JET Club held in my school where corp members under the Nigeria Youth Service corp, young youth serving Nigeria, visited my school they started the program exposing us to different engineering courses in university, he mentioned programming. I got curious I have always heard of design, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, I seems uninterested but as he started explaining programming and it career paths it sound fun, but believe me I never understand in details. He later asked if you want to be a programmer, stand up, I and a colleague  Ajakaye Tolulope stood up, that day I knew their exist something more than Nursing science, though the corp member left us blank, no plan to becoming a programmer.

Graduating from secondary school, I battle with myself between studying an engineering course and nursing science course since I already develop interest in the computational part of engineering. I applied to a Technology school to studying Engineering , then I got computer science. Luckily I met [Ajakaye Toluope](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayobami-ajakaye-901657a5/) in the same faulty studying same course, he was A year senior, I was so happy because I believed was the right place to becoming a programmer, then my vision was ignited then I rephrase my vision statement to becoming a developer for a health firm , and not until recently I discovered its Health Tech and that became my mantra.

You never ask me how my nursing dream went, I truly applied for nursing science at a public hospital, I passed the examination but I was not selected for nursing science so i decided on studying engineering.

Currently i'm software developer in startup developing web applications and website solution and I have more than two years of experience, Though I'm still at the early stage of my career the question *Why I want to become a software developer?* still gives me sleepless night, I ask myself repeatedly WHY. 
I have come to realize that having a strong why will keep me going through challenging Phases, I can only share some for now, since I'm in the journey of discovering and building.

## Big why
I concluded that I want to become a software developer because
I want to create a product that impact lives and makes living easy examples an application that help know hospitals around your location, or an application that educate you about healthy feeding habit, and feeding plans that suit your pocket (pay check).
I'm in process of building this application, One live impacting application I contributed to was [zacrac learning](https://www.zacraclearning.com/) an Elearning platform that educate people about data science and gives a guide to becoming a professional in the data space, other's product remain undisclosed.

## Lessons I learnt from this process of becoming

- Assumptions about the process.

I had alot of wrong assumption about the process like me becoming V.P engineering after graduating from university and living the luxury life, I never knew It long journey that will take quality time and effort to achieve, i was in hurry to become, so I pressure myself severally which was a negative kind of pressure and that resulted to anxiety, and got me weary along the line.

- Patience

I learnt to patiently think, develop and wait for result, because things might not go as expected, I was faced with challenges , you too will faced with hurdles so you got to patiently make that lemon a lemonade.

- Tenacity and resilience

Indeed, life tested my character, it will test yours too, what matters in the process is how you can stay with problem and see it through( overcome), that don't give up spirit will keep you going.

- People skill

I learnt you need people to become, people like mentors , team mates, friends etc. you got know how to create, maintain and manage relationships with them. Some are in your life you make better version of yourself, don't take feedback personal, love their correction, cherish that fun conversation.

## Conclusion

It's a journey and your process it very different from people around you and people on social media. Stick to your process, ignore the noises, master a skill and standout. The process of becoming should not hurried rather immerse yourself doing the needful and have fun because it's a journey.

Some how I ask myself, how do I give back? Like that corp member.
Though I have done somethings, I feel I have done not enough.
I plan on visiting some schools in my local environment, educating them about how create solution with technology. Incase you want to join my Team or sponsor , Kindly reach out. Location Ibadan Nigeria.

Together, we can do more!
Thank you for reading.
Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BolarinwaAjayi1) and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajayi-bolarinwa-7751a5168/)

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