My journey so far as a Software Developer
Tags: alc, cindyachieng, googlescholar, udacity
Published: 2018-07-11 20:57:34

---
title: My journey so far as a Software Developer
published: true
description: journey as a developer
tags: ALC, Cindy Achieng, googlescholar, Udacity
---


This is a story about resilience, determination and passion.

It started way back  in August 2011 when I got admitted to study Applied Computer Science.To be totally honest,I didn’t know what it was all about.I always saw myself as  a mathematician because numbers make sense but missed the chance to study statistics.

At the time I had a mini laptop which I had bought with my HELB money(Higher Education Loans Board).I still remember vividly when my favorite  lecturer Oops! not sure if he will appreciate me mentioning his name, but yes  <a href="https://ke.linkedin.com/in/kengerekibwage" target="_blank">kengere kibwage</a> saying, "Give that toy to your baby sister”, and continued talking about common java compilers.(Sir, you shaped my skills) 

“what is a compiler?”, I could ask myself but  kept silent to mask my ignorance.The class seemed just fine.I felt stupid and my mind told me to quit.you are not creative enough,you don’t get it like the rest.I wish I asked though.

Long story short,I managed to graduate and the impostor syndrome still stuck with me. In my mind, programming was for a certain kind of people, way out of this world.
 
It was not until I joined [Andela bootcamp](https://andela.com/) that my dimensions changed.It was the all female bootcamp edition,in that room was 40 intelligent women including 'myself'.I was inspired.The  practicality and relating software to solving real life problems motivated me to go on.I saw a future in solving  problems through writing codes,It was not easy but I knew that I wanted to be programmer more than ever that I did quit my job as an IT technician and embarked on this awesome journey  to becoming a  world class developer as Andeleans like to say it.

I didn't make it to the end of the bootcamp, but something changed.I came out fierce and I was willing to put in the time and effort and nothing could stop me.I was reborn and left behind the misconceptions. <a href="https://achiengcindy.com/"  target="_blank">Acheng cindy blog</a> was born  to document my journey  and inspire anyone who wanted to code and didn't know where to start.

I applied for the google Africa Challenge Scholarship in partnership with   <a href="Udacity https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank">Udacity</a> and <a href="https://andela.com/alcwithgoogle/" target="_blank">ALC 3.0</a> and was lucky to be  enrolled on Intermediate  mobile-web track. The first phase of the scholarship  is a 3 month challenge course and only 500 scholars get selected  for a nanodegree based on many factors such as  participation, completing tasks on time, helping peers among others.

Andela Learning community brought together all learners across Africa ,interacting with each offer, offering emotional support and collaborating (it's what good programmers do).

It has been an intriguing journey learning from some of the best developers including <a href="https://twitter.com/jaffathecake" target="_blank">jakearchibald</a>.Knowledge gained during the 3 month challenge course is immeasurable. Have you ever imagined having offline first web apps? Saying goodbye to this:

![](https://i.imgur.com/JGRhuL0.jpg)


If you enjoy the game like I do , on the plus side you will still get to play it when you want to  .Thanks to the  web Technologies <a href="https://achiengcindy.com/2018/05/11/understanding-the-service-worker-lifecycle/" target="_blank">Service Worker </a>, Catch API ,Indexed db and  fetch API.

The climax was 7DaysofCodeChallenge to create a <a href="https://achiengcindy.github.io/currency_converter/main.html"  target="_blank">currency converter app</a> that can work both online and offline.

Today (11th july 2018) , I am lucky again to be  among the few 500 scholars to  be offered a nanodegree on Udacity and I cant keep quiet.Thank you to everyone who supported me. <a href="https://ke.linkedin.com/in/mckabue"  target="_blank">mckabue</a> and all my peers from the scholarship, andela, udacity and googleafrica

Asanteni sana!
#### More About ALC
1. <a href="https://medium.com/@chimdi2000/andela-and-googles-android-learning-community-alc-the-case-for-investing-in-communities-of-35cda2b276b5">ALC</a>