My Tech Journey
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Thinking back, I'm stunned at how far I've gone ahead this trip. It hasn't been easy, it hasn't been smooth yet with determination and persistence, I've made it thus far. A muslim lady in Tech?...Now how cool is that!
Growing up I've generally been fascinated by Tech gadgets. From the electrical toys I had, to the old Samsung TV set, to my cousins' desktop computer and my first Nokia telephone. It took my breath away how people could program such products and get them to work precisely impeccably. I never comprehended why and it never struck me to explore how and why. Perhaps somewhat in light of the fact that at the time, the tech wave was not pervasive as it is currently. Be that as it may, while in school I adored everything Mathematics and Statistics from BODMAS to regressions to calculus to graphs. These were my forte. I was always among the best if not the first.
Fast forward, to my last year at university. Not uncommon, I was contemplating my life after school and of what good I could make out of it, particularly the few months before the beginning of my national service. One day, while scrolling through the numerous chats from a WhatsApp group page, I ran into a post to apply for an all females web development boot camp. I was enthralled by the write-up preceding the link; I needed to get this, I was bound for this. There was no way this was going to pass me by. Immediately, I clicked the link and began my application. Answering a number of questions as with any competitive program, I attached all documents and finally completed my application. It was a great opportunity to try out something new I thought.
Exams were coming up and I totally forgot about the application till a few weeks down the line I received an email for being shortlisted for an interview. Mmmmm, this was getting interesting I thought. I vividly recall the day of my interview. Despite the fact that it was a phone interview, I was pretty nervous. It was a mixed feeling; anxiety with a bit of euphoria. My nerves wouldn't calm down regardless of how hard I tried. I skipped class, patiently waiting for the call at mid-day.
I remember speaking to Ivy (co-founder of Developers In Vogue) for the first time. I remember it like it happened yesterday. The interview ensued...
Ivy began by introducing herself and Maxwell (her co-founder) after which she said, 'Hi Jamila, Congrats for being shortlisted to partake in the coding boot camp.' 'Thank you..,' I said with a shaky voice. Ivy said, "Can you tell us about yourself?"
From nowhere, with passion and zeal, I described myself in a few words. The conversation flowed and finally, came to an end. I would get notified in a few days’ time. Anxiety built up. I couldn't wait to hear the outcome of the interview. Lo and behold, news arrived, I had been selected as part of the first cohort of twenty ladies! I can't find words to describe the feeling that engulfed me. It was wonderfully astonishing.
The bootcamp was one of the best experiences of my life. Rushing from work every thursday and friday afternoon to learn something new was amazing. And ohh, definitely not forgeting the full days' session on Saturdays. Everything added up. My first website, which was undertaken as a community service project, was the cake on the icing. I felt so accomplished especially in knowing that from the skills acquired, I was able to solve a problem. What more could I ask for?
To this day, I have never regretted making that move of being part of an amazing community of developers, above all, a sisterhood. I've learned so much, I've been exposed to people, places, and opportunities, and to top everything up I have found my passion, my career trajectory, my love! A data scientist, I aspire to be. A convergence of math, stats and computer science. How stunning!