How my friends and I became 500 dollars richer
I am Elizabeth Ogah, a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Studies. I have been a field researcher for about five years, working on projects that are geared towards bringing about development to women and children. I reside in Kano state, Nigeria.
My greatest motivation is to serve humanity, and I always aspire to make an impact anywhere I find myself. I transitioned into tech about a year ago. Two things inspired my decision to go into Tech. One of them was my flare for cryptocurrency. When I learned about cryptocurrency, it fascinated me, and I wondered what it would take to be prolific. Thankfully, I don’t have to wonder anymore.
My greatest motivation is to serve humanity
The other thing that inspired my going into Tech is the knowledge that Blockchain Technology could solve many societal problems. I also learned that Blockchain Technology could bring about social impact through its trackable, transparent, stable, efficient, and secure system. It made it more fascinating.
One day, while scrolling on social media, I saw the Women Techsters Fellowship flier. The blockchain technology I saw in the list of courses attracted me when I checked the flier. I have been looking for this opportunity everywhere, and what even blew my mind was that it was free. Fully funded.
I excitedly applied for the training without knowing how tedious the process would be. I got into the training with little knowledge of the fundamentals, and my first real shock was seeing that I had to learn how to code.
In the past, whenever I heard coding, it always scared me. I never knew I could write codes, but look at me now, making waves. I am so proud of how far I have come. One of my proudest moments was getting the opportunity to help my team in a competition write all our ERC- 20 tokens and winning the competition as a team lead (My team and I won 500 dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency in the competition.)
I will not lie and say my learning experience has been smooth because challenges are inevitable, especially while learning new things daily. There was a time when learning became overwhelming, and I began to doubt myself.
Challenges are inevitable
In fact, it was as if all my codes had decided not to compile on a particular week. It was frustrating, but I had to encourage myself that good things don’t come easily. I am thankful to my facilitator for being so helpful that week and every other week.
My classmates in the Women Techsters fellowship program are my greatest inspiration. We encourage one another and ensure we all understand all we were taught during class. My facilitator, Michael Fawole, is another inspiration. He was so helpful and patient even with novices like me. Honestly, if instructor-led training is your thing, I’d recommend Tech4Dev any time, anyday, they have the best facilitators.
Tech4Dev has changed my life entirely. I am now preaching the Gospel of Blockchain Technology as coding with an understanding of each line of Code. My highlight of the training would be the classes we have daily and our soft skill class every Friday.
I have gained so much from this training. I have been able to familiarize myself with Blockchain fundamentals, Smart contracts, Solidity, deploying on a polygon, Ethereum, and Bsc TestNet, understanding each line of Code and not just writing codes amongst others.
After the Women Techster Fellowship, I want to impact others with the knowledge I gained, and inspire them with my story. I want others to look at me and say that if Elizabeth can do it, they will strive to be better too. I currently work on a social impact project and am pushing for an internship to learn more. I share insights weekly on my blockchain technology journey on Linkedin.
My advice to others looking to get into tech is “Desire it and never think of giving up at any time because nothing good comes easy.”
