The Women Techsters Fellowship Gave Me The Clarity I Needed

Elian Imasunu is a graduate of the University of Benin with a degree in French and she is a resident of Edo state, Nigeria. She is a creative, ambitious and self-motivated lady with a passion to become a world-class Software Developer.

Elian decided to transition into the technology industry in 2022 because of the continuous desire to learn new things, the constantly evolving nature of technology and the financial gain.

Elian found out about the Women Techsters Fellowship program from a friend and mentor who was a beneficiary of the first cohort of the WT Fellowship program. “She motivated me to apply for the program, that if I needed a jumpstart into the world of tech, that the Fellowship program was sure to do that for me.”

Speaking about her learning experience on the Women Techsters Fellowship program, she said, “The journey has not been all rosy, but I have made considerable progress. I’ve had my ups and downs and I’m glad I didn’t quit when it was very tough. Looking back at when I started and now, the things I’m able to do and create with the skills I learnt from this program are my proudest moments and I look forward to a more exciting future.”

Elian spoke about how she had experimented with self-learning before WT Fellowship, she confessed that it wasn’t easy and her learning wasn’t properly structured. Getting on the Fellowship program gave Elian the clarity she needed at the time.

When asked if Tech4Dev has helped contribute to her career growth, she said, “Tech4Dev has helped me by their structured learning pattern. All I did before now was consume and watch different videos and materials not knowing there were steps to follow.”

Elian mentioned that her highlights of the training would be the orientation week, getting to network with women from all walks of life, learning programming languages, the weekly soft skills training amongst others.

She spoke about how the WT Fellowship program positioned her to learn about the effective use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React Basics, API amongst others.

When recounting the challenges she faced on the Fellowship program, she identified the lack of power supply to charge her devices, getting data subscription and mastery of JavaScript’s concept as some of them.

Despite the rigor of the training, Elian is thankful for her facilitator’s guidance through out the program. “I will forever have good memories of my facilitator, Mr. Innocent Edosa Ilegbinijie. My appreciation goes out to him for making a positive impact in my learning experience and progress, for opening our eyes to how far we can go with the skills we learn and his constant motivation to dream and achieve what we want.”

Moving forward, Elian hopes to maximize the knowledge gained from the training by sharing the knowledge and opportunities like this program with other ladies looking to venture into tech. She also mentioned that she would give herself to continuous learning and also focus on landing a job with a reputable organization.

When asked what her advice for women looking to transition into tech is, she said, “My advice to other women looking at transitioning into tech is Don’t just jump into learning on your own. Do your research as it is crucial, so you would know the path to take because tech is very broad. Get advice from someone already into tech who can act as a clarity coach for you, look for tech communities, and join. Ask questions, and make use of available resources online. Make YouTube your friend, and lastly, learn to read books relating to your learning track.”