In August 2020, Chiamaka Uzuegbu heard about Fellowship at The Bulb from a friend and grabbed on to the learning experience of a lifetime. Like many fellows and past alums of the program, Chiamaka had no background in technology. Still, with the program, she has become a professional .Net developer in just 6 months!
“Before I joined The Bulb fellowship, I was running a Master’s program in one of the universities in Nigeria. I was actually almost doing another job, which was in the Oil and Gas before I got the opportunity to be part of The Bulb fellowship.” IT had always been the dream field for her, but the opportunity wasn’t very accessible – until the Fellowship. “Honestly, IT was something I had always dreamed about doing. So, when the opportunity came, I didn’t sleep on it. Making a detour from oil and gas to software engineering was quite easy because I really wanted it, so that’s why I was able to switch.”
Nevertheless, switching from core engineering in the oil and gas sector came with its fair share of challenges. On speaking about some challenges, she faced, she said, “I didn’t have any experience before coming to the Fellowship. That was one part of the challenge because I had to double up and work harder to make sure I had a grasp on the frameworks and how everything went generally.” While it wasn’t a particularly easy ride, she successfully completed the program. Chiamaka is proof that with access to the right resources and learning opportunities, young Africans can become anything they want, as long as they had the grit and put in the hard work!
After graduating from the program and launching her career in the real world, she was able to apply the knowledge gained during the Fellowship while doing quality work. “After the Fellowship, I got a job at The Bulb Africa and was immediately put into a team to develop a training app right from the beginning. As a .Net developer, I was able to deploy lots of tools, of course, which I learnt during the fellowship program.” Beyond working for organizations, Chiamaka has explored personal projects, which she attributes to the knowledge gained from the Fellowship. “I have gone on to do some personal projects, learned new things, and it’s been awesome. The Fellowship has impacted me quite positively. Coming from a totally different background, the Fellowship gave me a platform to learn software engineering, which gave me an opening to what I do now. It was a great experience.”
As a closing remark, she recommends Fellowship at The Bulb as the place to be for young Africans aspiring to build their careers in technology. “I absolutely recommend The Bulb’s Fellowship program to young, aspiring software developers like I was. This is a great platform to kickstart and launch your dreams of being a software developer. Thank you, The Bulb Africa, for the wonderful opportunity!”
Embodying the spirit and drive of the African woman, Ezinne Chiwueze has always forged her own path. She envisioned a future filled with unending opportunities, and like many Africans in her age bracket the best way to achieve this is always thought to be through a bachelor’s degree.
Ezinne studied Economics at the Imo State University. She graduated in 2015 but, with only a few spots in the industry relentlessly competed for by millions of graduates churned out by orthodox institutions each academic year, she found her dreams of a prosperous future gradually fading away. With a B.Sc. in Economics, she settled for an Office Management role at a pharmaceutical company in Lagos. While undertaking the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, she got her first introduction to the tech space but didn’t place any priority on this golden chance. It was only until 2020 that she decided to start a bit of self-learning with the aid of Udemy. Ezinne described how she “was learning Javascript all by myself as at 2020, just as the pandemic hit. I had no classmates nor personal tutor to answer my questions. It was pretty difficult finding what areas I had to improve on, and best methods for correcting my errors. It was tough”. Ezinne remembers 2021 with a fond smile, “I was trying so hard to get into a coding Bootcamp where I could connect with peers in real-time, I heard about The Bulb Africa from a network, checked online, and discovered they were rolling out an aptitude test form anyone interested in joining the next cohort. I took the test, passed and here I am today”.
In a male-dominated environment, Ezinne comes across as a dauntless character, exuding no fear at all. “I came in for the JavaScript track, and funny enough I was the only female in the class. I had to tell myself I could do this and that gender would never stop me from achieving the life I choose. This was a familiar scenario to me, one I wasn’t new to as I have always had to prove my worth” That statement really did prove to be accurate as she graduated from the Fellowship program, secured an internship position with one of Nigeria’s transport solutions (Shuttlers), and got awarded as the 4th Overall Best Graduating Student, all within 6 months.
Currently, Ezinne shares how she is, as a matter of fact, one of only 4 females in the engineering department! With a wealthy future now gradually unfolding for her, she talks about her dreams of creating an enabling environment for younger females seeking where & how to kick-start their tech journey.
In 2021, Ayomide Oketola had her roadmap outlined. Applications for a permanent residency in Canada were already underway. During this process, she was also required to write an entrance examination for a degree in Software Engineering but found self-learning for the exam to be quite laborious with tons of videos and information constantly dividing her attention. “My undergraduate degree was in English Language. I graduated back in 2019 from the Obafemi Awolowo University. In school, I really didn’t have a deep inclination for tech until I started preparing to migrate to Canada. Sorting through lots of videos, and other tech related resources was how I first came across The Bulb Africa” Left heartbroken as she couldn’t complete her dreams of migration, her believe in a brighter future was not deterred. Ayomide applied for the fellowship program and got selected to study Product Design. “Honestly, all of this seemed like a lot of chaos for me. I had to learn how to balance my emotions. Sometimes, I would send samples of my designs to people I looked up to in the industry but never really got any encouragement. Was I facing all of this just because I was a woman?”.
In spite of the hurdles, Ayomide’s impact story reminds everyone of the power of consistency. “I am thankful, The Bulb could allow me learn all for free without paying a dime upfront. My colleagues were fun to learn alongside and seeing other female techies like myself working as staff members represented a beacon of hope for me. I just knew I had to show consistency, show up everyday and believe the lessons I took would bring about cumulative impact” In 6 months, Ayomide has literally transformed her career. One decision proving to be the gamechanger - joining The Bulb Africa. In Novemeber 2022, Ayo was awarded the Tech Jewel of the Year Award.
In August 2020, Chiamaka Uzuegbu heard about Fellowship at The Bulb from a friend and grabbed on to the learning experience of a lifetime. Like many fellows and past alums of the program, Chiamaka had no background in technology. Still, with the program, she has become a professional .Net developer in just 6 months!
“Before I joined The Bulb fellowship, I was running a Master’s program in one of the universities in Nigeria. I was actually almost doing another job, which was in the Oil and Gas before I got the opportunity to be part of The Bulb fellowship.” IT had always been the dream field for her, but the opportunity wasn’t very accessible – until the Fellowship. “Honestly, IT was something I had always dreamed about doing. So, when the opportunity came, I didn’t sleep on it. Making a detour from oil and gas to software engineering was quite easy because I really wanted it, so that’s why I was able to switch.”
Nevertheless, switching from core engineering in the oil and gas sector came with its fair share of challenges. On speaking about some challenges, she faced, she said, “I didn’t have any experience before coming to the Fellowship. That was one part of the challenge because I had to double up and work harder to make sure I had a grasp on the frameworks and how everything went generally.” While it wasn’t a particularly easy ride, she successfully completed the program. Chiamaka is proof that with access to the right resources and learning opportunities, young Africans can become anything they want, as long as they had the grit and put in the hard work!
After graduating from the program and launching her career in the real world, she was able to apply the knowledge gained during the Fellowship while doing quality work. “After the Fellowship, I got a job at The Bulb Africa and was immediately put into a team to develop a training app right from the beginning. As a .Net developer, I was able to deploy lots of tools, of course, which I learnt during the fellowship program.” Beyond working for organizations, Chiamaka has explored personal projects, which she attributes to the knowledge gained from the Fellowship. “I have gone on to do some personal projects, learned new things, and it’s been awesome. The Fellowship has impacted me quite positively. Coming from a totally different background, the Fellowship gave me a platform to learn software engineering, which gave me an opening to what I do now. It was a great experience.”
As a closing remark, she recommends Fellowship at The Bulb as the place to be for young Africans aspiring to build their careers in technology. “I absolutely recommend The Bulb’s Fellowship program to young, aspiring software developers like I was. This is a great platform to kickstart and launch your dreams of being a software developer. Thank you, The Bulb Africa, for the wonderful opportunity!”
Embodying the spirit and drive of the African woman, Ezinne Chiwueze has always forged her own path. She envisioned a future filled with unending opportunities, and like many Africans in her age bracket the best way to achieve this is always thought to be through a bachelor’s degree.
Ezinne studied Economics at the Imo State University. She graduated in 2015 but, with only a few spots in the industry relentlessly competed for by millions of graduates churned out by orthodox institutions each academic year, she found her dreams of a prosperous future gradually fading away. With a B.Sc. in Economics, she settled for an Office Management role at a pharmaceutical company in Lagos. While undertaking the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, she got her first introduction to the tech space but didn’t place any priority on this golden chance. It was only until 2020 that she decided to start a bit of self-learning with the aid of Udemy. Ezinne described how she “was learning Javascript all by myself as at 2020, just as the pandemic hit. I had no classmates nor personal tutor to answer my questions. It was pretty difficult finding what areas I had to improve on, and best methods for correcting my errors. It was tough”. Ezinne remembers 2021 with a fond smile, “I was trying so hard to get into a coding Bootcamp where I could connect with peers in real-time, I heard about The Bulb Africa from a network, checked online, and discovered they were rolling out an aptitude test form anyone interested in joining the next cohort. I took the test, passed and here I am today”.
In a male-dominated environment, Ezinne comes across as a dauntless character, exuding no fear at all. “I came in for the JavaScript track, and funny enough I was the only female in the class. I had to tell myself I could do this and that gender would never stop me from achieving the life I choose. This was a familiar scenario to me, one I wasn’t new to as I have always had to prove my worth” That statement really did prove to be accurate as she graduated from the Fellowship program, secured an internship position with one of Nigeria’s transport solutions (Shuttlers), and got awarded as the 4th Overall Best Graduating Student, all within 6 months.
Currently, Ezinne shares how she is, as a matter of fact, one of only 4 females in the engineering department! With a wealthy future now gradually unfolding for her, she talks about her dreams of creating an enabling environment for younger females seeking where & how to kick-start their tech journey.
In 2021, Ayomide Oketola had her roadmap outlined. Applications for a permanent residency in Canada were already underway. During this process, she was also required to write an entrance examination for a degree in Software Engineering but found self-learning for the exam to be quite laborious with tons of videos and information constantly dividing her attention. “My undergraduate degree was in English Language. I graduated back in 2019 from the Obafemi Awolowo University. In school, I really didn’t have a deep inclination for tech until I started preparing to migrate to Canada. Sorting through lots of videos, and other tech related resources was how I first came across The Bulb Africa” Left heartbroken as she couldn’t complete her dreams of migration, her believe in a brighter future was not deterred. Ayomide applied for the fellowship program and got selected to study Product Design. “Honestly, all of this seemed like a lot of chaos for me. I had to learn how to balance my emotions. Sometimes, I would send samples of my designs to people I looked up to in the industry but never really got any encouragement. Was I facing all of this just because I was a woman?”.
In spite of the hurdles, Ayomide’s impact story reminds everyone of the power of consistency. “I am thankful, The Bulb could allow me learn all for free without paying a dime upfront. My colleagues were fun to learn alongside and seeing other female techies like myself working as staff members represented a beacon of hope for me. I just knew I had to show consistency, show up everyday and believe the lessons I took would bring about cumulative impact” In 6 months, Ayomide has literally transformed her career. One decision proving to be the gamechanger - joining The Bulb Africa. In Novemeber 2022, Ayo was awarded the Tech Jewel of the Year Award.
