2024: What a Year!
Phewwww! Where will I even start? 2024 was the year where I took the greatest risks and achieved my greatest accomplishments yet.
Before I continue…
I know I disappeared into thin air with my articles and I apologize for that. I just had a lot to handle and my writing juice wasn’t in a good place so I couldn’t write. But I’m back!
I hope I’m forgiven.🫠
Alright, back to this article. To give you a heads-up. Let me list my achievements before we get into the details.
- I moved to Lagos (after my induction) to hustle
- I got into the Digital Explorers program
- I got multiple job offers
- Became a full-time Data Engineer
- I got into the Google Season of Docs Program on my first try where I worked as a Data Technical Writer for Catalyst Cooperative
- I spoke at a physical event for the first time as a data engineer
- I had my one-year relationship anniversary
- I grew my finances more than I could ever imagine
- Got my first interview for a foreign role. (I didn’t make it past the first stage but it’s still an achievement for me. Lol)
- Volunteered as a teaching assistant in a data engineering boot camp.
- I worked with some experienced data professionals I didn’t imagine working with.
- I became a mature product of people and hard work.
- I got into a Masters of Science in Financial Engineering Program
- I got the Microsoft Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate Certification.
- I participated in two intercontinental hackathons and one international hackathon, achieving top 5 placement in one of the intercontinental events and top 10 in the international competition.
- I was honoured with the Fast Rising Star Award by the Young Data Professionals community.
I could go on and on but I would like to save your time so how about I write a story about most of these achievements while you read?
Pivoting into Data Engineering
While I was a student in 2023, I branded myself as a data analyst even though the gigs I was getting were mostly gigs geared towards data engineering (DE) and machine learning. This made me love technical things and I decided to pivot to DE.
Funny enough, I can’t pinpoint any course I studied. I just started working on DE projects and learnt the tools during the course of these projects. I also knew the importance of communities so I joined the Data Engineering Community by Mr. Najeeb Sulaiman and connected with people in the community.
I met amazing people like Mr. Mayowa Akinyele and Mr. Ahmed Oladapo who were always there to answer my questions. I read DE books and articles like my life depended on them and watched YouTube videos on DE concepts like they were my food.
While doing this, I was applying for jobs. But whenever the recruiter called me, the most common question would be, ‘Do you stay in Lagos?’
So I decided to move to Lagos.
Moving to Lagos
Moving to Lagos was one of the toughest decisions I have made in my entire life. For someone who had lived under the umbrella of her parents all through her life except when she was at the university, I saw the idea as stupid. I was scared. I won’t lie. That’s why I didn’t take the time to think about it too much because I knew I was most likely to change my mind if I did.
I still remember when I told Babe that I was moving to Lagos. Next, I scanned my contacts for someone I could squat with. That was when I realized that I didn’t have female friends. Yes, I had surrounded myself with just men I didn’t have a single female friend to rely on. I had to beg one of them and told him that if I didn’t see a job in one month, I’d go back to the east. It took time for him to agree but he eventually did and I’m forever grateful for that act of kindness he showed me.
Next, I told my parents I was moving and they shouldn’t worry about giving me transport fare. My mom already knew that when I decided to do something, no one could change it. But my dad wasn’t comfortable with it, so he called all my siblings to tell me to stay in the East. My siblings tried but to no avail, so yeah, I eventually travelled to Lagos.
I knew that I needed to build my network if I wanted to make my job hunt easy so I started attending data events. Fortunately, many people already recognized me in these events because of my branding so it was easy to tell them that I was looking for a job.
One month turned into months as I still had no job to show for my tough decision. At some point, I wondered if I made a mistake by going to Lagos. I was getting interviews though and advancing to the next stage for most of them. But the recruitment process seemed slow to me and I just kept praying to God that at least one would click.
I went to Lagos in February and in May, I got two offer letters. That same week, I finally rented a house and the next week, I got another offer as a data technical writer in the Google Season of Docs (GSoD) Program. That same month, my participation in the Digital Explorers Program was finally confirmed. Yes, May was my winning month in 2024.
Open-Source Blessed My Life
Or should I say, ‘God used Open-Source to bless my life’? I first heard of Open-Source when I was learning data engineering and everyone was talking about open-source DE tools. I didn’t understand at first so I started researching. While researching, I started looking for projects to contribute to. My first was Dune Analytics but my commits weren’t merged. I didn’t even know it wasn’t merged until I looked at the email notification very closely. That was how clueless I was.
Then I heard of the GSoD program and did a lot of research on how to get in. I got a list of data projects that I was interested in and Catalyst Cooperative was one of them. I found out about the program late so I couldn’t contribute to other projects in the list so I just focused on this one. I ensured I was all over their faces, contributing and asking questions. The interview was a soft landing and by God’s grace, I scaled through.
When I received my first payment, I could hardly believe it. By the time I received my second and final payment this December, reality had set in: discovering open-source in 2024 has significantly boosted my finances beyond what I ever imagined.
Yes, I never imagined getting that kind of money this year. All I needed was a job and I got much more.
Planning for 2024
No, that’s not a mistake. It’s 2024. Not 2025.
I remember vividly when my mom asked me in December 2023, “Nancy, what are your plans for 2024?” I didn’t know and honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was so sad that month and year because my job hunt had started as soon as I did my defence in September 2023 but it seemed like no job was forthcoming.
I was clueless and didn’t know what to do. So in my mind, I just wanted to live. That was my plan in 2024. To live. But God had something different for me. And to think the year started in the middle of the year for me.
It’s not like I’m where I wanted to be. But I’m at a point beyond where I imagined it to be.
So this is me telling you one of my popular sayings and I don’t even know where it originated from, “Life choices can be hard. But you have to choose your hard.”
One of my life choices was choosing Pharmacy or Tech. I chose Tech. When I think of it, I didn’t take the time to choose Tech because I didn’t want to end up doing something I didn’t love. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t sacrifice some things. Sometimes, I’m not happy about those sacrifices but when I see the outcome, I don't desire to go back.
Picturing 2025
We’ll see how 2025 pans out. I have plans to understand the technologies in data engineering down to the root, improve my branding, grow my network beyond the shores of Nigeria, write more, make my family members prouder, speak at more events, and get my relationship anniversary to two years (Yes, I’m not leaving my personal life behind).
Tell me, what plans do you have for 2025? Don’t be like me who started her year in the middle of 2024 because I had nothing to look forward to at the beginning of the year.
Together, we accomplish great things. May we meet again (Lol. stole that phrase from the ‘The 100’ movie).
