I created this thread to encourage someone going through the pain of transitioning to tech at the moment and to remind them that they are making a decision their future self will thank you for. Sometimes in June last year, I resigned from my job at a Nigerian bank to take up a 30K internship as a software developer. To be honest, that's easily the best decision I've made in my entire life. This month I got offers worth more than 5 times what I was earning at the bank after applying for jobs for just about 2 weeks. and I have not even spent up to a year in the industry. I'm going to outline some of the steps I took below:

1. If possible, get an internship: I know this can be difficult, but trust me, the experience accelerated my learning. One thing that helped with the two internships I got within the period I started was networking. Tell everybody you know about your plans, you don't know who might be willing to help.

2. Intense focus: I stayed off social media for over 6 months during the period I was learning. Trust me, this is not the time for distractions and frivolous activities.

3. Practice and build projects: I can’t emphasize this enough. Build projects and put them on your GitHub because some recruiters check your git. In one job I got, the interviewer was very excited about one web scraping project I did in my very early days. Sincerely, I had no idea that the project could help me in any way. So please, build and push to GitHub every time.

4. Redo your resume and LinkedIn: You want your resume to reflect that you've been working in tech. Nobody cares about the customer service job you did in 2015. Also, LinkedIn is the best place to get jobs, and I feel so many people underutilize it.

5. Get a mentor: to be honest, I couldn't have gotten anywhere without the solid mentorship around me. You need to have someone you look up to in this industry because they have more experience than you and the guide will take you far. Just show interest, be teachable, be hardworking and let your mentor see that you are motivated. You'll be surprised at how kind people are.

6. Network! Network! Network!: see I can't overemphasize this. you need people to grow. I surrounded myself with tech people, and I can't count the number of times random things I picked from conversations came up in my interviews.

7. Stay curious and stay motivated. The sky is the starting point.

Had to add in number 8. A lot of people talk about looking for jobs on LinkedIn and only sprinkle 1 or 2 applications here and there and get discouraged. Note that I applied to over 200 jobs in 2 weeks and got less than five call backs and 2 offers. Just calculate the success margin. In the end, it's a game of numbers. Keep grinding and grind hard.

Lastly, I’m not going to lie, transitioning to tech will test your sanity and I mean that with all seriousness. This is a link to a thread I created in December; https://www.nairaland.com/6887200/learning-code-hard,  but trust me, it’s worth it. Rooting for you all!

Great!

I am glad you finally put it up for the naysayers. It's not even up to 6 months and you already have a job. When I say the same thing people will say it's not possible. Others will say the industry is oversaturated and that there's billions of Indian coders.

Thanks for those pointers, it's much appreciated

tensazangetsu20:
I am glad you finally put it up for the naysayers. It's not even up to 6 months and you already have a job. When I say the same thing people will say it's not possible. Others will say the industry is oversaturated and that there's billions of Indian coders.

I think the funniest one is advising people to avoid frontend development . It's funny cause with my little experience, the demand is insane. Nigerian companies are especially starved of developers because all the experienced developers are doing remote jobs and the have to make do of the 1+ years of experience people in the country.

Ayinke93:

I think the funniest one is advising people to avoid frontend development . It's funny cause with my little experience, the demand is insane. Nigerian companies are especially starved of developers because all the experienced developers are doing remote jobs and the have to make do of the 1+ years of experience people in the country.

There's one here that says that frontend development can be done by drag and drop tools. When I read such things I just laugh. I don't even bother responding to such ignorance.

tensazangetsu20:


There's one here that says that frontend development can be done by drag and drop tools. When I read such things I just laugh. I don't even bother responding to such ignorance.

I really pray nobody is listening to him

Ayinke93:

Sometimes in June last year, I resigned from my job at a Nigerian bank to take up a 30K internship as a software developer.

This means you've been coding while at your job?

kennethfranc:

This means you've been coding while at your job?

Yes I was. Was passively learning python for data science and knew the basics

I remember your thread from last year. It was one of those that gave me the push to begin. Glad your efforts finally paid off. Congratulations.

emmyN:
I remember your thread from last year. It was one of those that gave me the push to begin. Glad your efforts finally paid off. Congratulations.

Thanks a lot. Keep pushing, there’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Immensely rooting for you.

tensazangetsu20:
I am glad you finally put it up for the naysayers. It's not even up to 6 months and you already have a job. When I say the same thing people will say it's not possible. Others will say the industry is oversaturated and that there's billions of Indian coders.

Baba, don't bother about naysayers, keep preaching the gospel, keep keeping it real!

Wow congratulations!

tensazangetsu20:
I am glad you finally put it up for the naysayers. It's not even up to 6 months and you already have a job. When I say the same thing people will say it's not possible. Others will say the industry is oversaturated and that there's billions of Indian coders.

LOLZ.

The Indian myth.

tensazangetsu20:


There's one here that says that frontend development can be done by drag and drop tools. When I read such things I just laugh. I don't even bother responding to such ignorance.

Had to add in number 8. A lot of people talk about looking for jobs on LinkedIn and only sprinkle 1 or 2 applications here and there and get discouraged. Note that I applied to over 200 jobs in 2 weeks and got less than five call backs and 2 offers. Just calculate the success margin. In the end, it's a game of numbers.

Had to add in the LinkedIn application part

Ayinke93:


Had to add in number 8. A lot of people talk about looking for jobs on LinkedIn and only sprinkle 1 or 2 applications here and there and get discouraged. Note that I applied to over 200 jobs in 2 weeks and got less than five call backs and 2 offers. Just calculate the success margin. In the end, it's a game of numbers.

Had to add in the LinkedIn application part

U re also connected with the right people.

Congrats dear.

Ayinke93:
I created this thread to encourage someone going through the pain of transitioning to tech at the moment and to remind them that they are making a decision their future self will thank you for. Sometimes in June last year, I resigned from my job at a Nigerian bank to take up a 30K internship as a software developer. To be honest, that's easily the best decision I've made in my entire life. This month I got offers worth more than 5 times what I was earning at the bank after applying for jobs for just about 2 weeks. and I have not even spent up to a year in the industry. I'm going to outline some of the steps I took below:

1. If possible, get an internship: I know this can be difficult, but trust me, the experience accelerated my learning. One thing that helped with the two internships I got within the period I started was networking. Tell everybody you know about your plans, you don't know who might be willing to help.

2. Intense focus: I stayed off social media for over 6 months during the period I was learning. Trust me, this is not the time for distractions and frivolous activities.

3. Practice and build projects: I can’t emphasize this enough. Build projects and put them on your GitHub because some recruiters check your git. In one job I got, the interviewer was very excited about one web scraping project I did in my very early days. Sincerely, I had no idea that the project could help me in any way. So please, build and push to GitHub every time.

4. Redo your resume and LinkedIn: You want your resume to reflect that you've been working in tech. Nobody cares about the customer service job you did in 2015. Also, LinkedIn is the best place to get jobs, and I feel so many people underutilize it.

5. Get a mentor: to be honest, I couldn't have gotten anywhere without the solid mentorship around me. You need to have someone you look up to in this industry because they have more experience than you and the guide will take you far. Just show interest, be teachable, be hardworking and let your mentor see that you are motivated. You'll be surprised at how kind people are.

6. Network! Network! Network!: see I can't overemphasize this. you need people to grow. I surrounded myself with tech people, and I can't count the number of times random things I picked from conversations came up in my interviews.

7. Stay curious and stay motivated. The sky is the starting point.

Had to add in number 8. A lot of people talk about looking for jobs on LinkedIn and only sprinkle 1 or 2 applications here and there and get discouraged. Note that I applied to over 200 jobs in 2 weeks and got less than five call backs and 2 offers. Just calculate the success margin. In the end, it's a game of numbers. Keep grinding and grind hard.

Lastly, I’m not going to lie, transitioning to tech will test your sanity and I mean that with all seriousness. This is a link to a thread I created in December; https://www.nairaland.com/6887200/learning-code-hard,  but trust me, it’s worth it. Rooting for you all!

great write up there. Thanks

tensazangetsu20:


There's one here that says that frontend development can be done by drag and drop tools. When I read such things I just laugh. I don't even bother responding to such ignorance.

Bro please I quoted you on an old post of your .. please your response would be appreciated. Don't wanna derail

Ayinke93:


Had to add in the LinkedIn application part

Congratulations, you'll get result quicker when you apply consistency and discipline while learning to code.

Please, I'm interested in getting an internship, can you be of help?

Thanks.

Congratulations

Congratulations!

And on a lighter note, are there developers in this part of the world who actually thought about having a product or two out there that fetches some money (IAPs and Adverts) while job hunting? I haven’t seen any one here so far or maybe I haven’t searched well enough

Thank you for this and congratulations on your new job.

Like you, I didn't resume this year; I resigned.

I'll also be applying as an intern and hopefully land a full time role in few months.

So glad you shared your testimony and your encouragements came at the right time.

WGMI

How i wish I have a laptop ..can I learn with my phone?

Edipet:
How i wish I have a laptop ..can I learn with my phone?

Yes you can, if you are using an android mobile phone, then i will suggest you go to play store and download an app called Sololearn. You get to practice and learn for free at the same time with cheap data.

marsman:

Yes you can, if you are using an android mobile phone, then i will suggest you go to play store and download an app called Sololearn. You get to practice and learn for free at the same time with cheap data.

thanks. Would it be the same thing as laptop?

Edipet:
thanks. Would it be the same thing as laptop?

Well to an extent not fully, but you will need mobile data to run the codes you write. While on a system all you need is just a python interface.

Edipet:
thanks. Would it be the same thing as laptop?

It won't, but when you get a laptop it won't be like your starting from scratch; you'll already know and can talk about some topics.

It's a good way to start even if you got a laptop because it helps to get your hands dirty and make writing codes a hobby.

JoyousFurnitire:
Thank you for this and congratulations on your new job.

Like you, I didn't resume this year; I resigned.

I'll also be applying as an intern and hopefully land a full time role in few months.

So glad you shared your testimony and your encouragements came at the right time.

WGMI

Who all definitely gonna make it, and congratulations on the bold steps. It's definitely worth it

TheTraveler:


Congratulations, you'll get result quicker when you apply consistency and discipline while learning to code.

Please, I'm interested in getting an internship, can you be of help?

Thanks.

Check out https://deimos.io/careers/internship. Also, search LinkedIn for available internships and apply to as many as possible. Make sure you have a nice LinkedIn profile. All the best

HardMirror:
great write up there. Thanks

Thanks boss

Ayinke93:


Who all definitely gonna make it, and congratulations on the bold steps. It's definitely worth it

Thank you so much.

Ayinke93:
I created this thread to encourage someone going through the pain of transitioning to tech at the moment and to remind them that they are making a decision their future self will thank you for. Sometimes in June last year, I resigned from my job at a Nigerian bank to take up a 30K internship as a software developer. To be honest, that's easily the best decision I've made in my entire life. This month I got offers worth more than 5 times what I was earning at the bank after applying for jobs for just about 2 weeks. and I have not even spent up to a year in the industry. I'm going to outline some of the steps I took below:

1. If possible, get an internship: I know this can be difficult, but trust me, the experience accelerated my learning. One thing that helped with the two internships I got within the period I started was networking. Tell everybody you know about your plans, you don't know who might be willing to help.

2. Intense focus: I stayed off social media for over 6 months during the period I was learning. Trust me, this is not the time for distractions and frivolous activities.

3. Practice and build projects: I can’t emphasize this enough. Build projects and put them on your GitHub because some recruiters check your git. In one job I got, the interviewer was very excited about one web scraping project I did in my very early days. Sincerely, I had no idea that the project could help me in any way. So please, build and push to GitHub every time.

4. Redo your resume and LinkedIn: You want your resume to reflect that you've been working in tech. Nobody cares about the customer service job you did in 2015. Also, LinkedIn is the best place to get jobs, and I feel so many people underutilize it.

5. Get a mentor: to be honest, I couldn't have gotten anywhere without the solid mentorship around me. You need to have someone you look up to in this industry because they have more experience than you and the guide will take you far. Just show interest, be teachable, be hardworking and let your mentor see that you are motivated. You'll be surprised at how kind people are.

6. Network! Network! Network!: see I can't overemphasize this. you need people to grow. I surrounded myself with tech people, and I can't count the number of times random things I picked from conversations came up in my interviews.

7. Stay curious and stay motivated. The sky is the starting point.

Had to add in number 8. A lot of people talk about looking for jobs on LinkedIn and only sprinkle 1 or 2 applications here and there and get discouraged. Note that I applied to over 200 jobs in 2 weeks and got less than five call backs and 2 offers. Just calculate the success margin. In the end, it's a game of numbers. Keep grinding and grind hard.

Lastly, I’m not going to lie, transitioning to tech will test your sanity and I mean that with all seriousness. This is a link to a thread I created in December; https://www.nairaland.com/6887200/learning-code-hard,  but trust me, it’s worth it. Rooting for you all!

@ your number 4, what do people mean when they say one should have a good LinkedIn profile? What makes up an eye-catching LinkedIn profile?