₦airaland Forum

airsaylongcome:
Is IT as broad as medicine?

tensazangetsu20:
They tried this in the USA though they had an engineering exam for software engineers but cancelled it after only like 100 people wrote it. With IT it's gonna be difficult to regulate cause of the amount of depth and breadth there is. Theres just too many fields and technologies.

airsaylongcome:
No, it's not ruling out non-Computing grads. Those, can undergo a rigorous FORMAL training like in Accounting. You have a lot of non-Accounting majors, especially Engineers in Accounting. They all had to formally train and sit for a Chartered Accountant exam whether that is ACCA or ICAN or ICAEW.

You can also become an accountant without a university degree by undergoing FORMAL vocational training through the ATS to ICAN route.

So maybe my previous comment wasn't quite clear on this. But this would be my preferred option. University degree, or FORMAL, REGULATED vocational training.


PS: If you asked me personally though, I would say Computing for Computing grads but I'm sure my head will be hanging on that "Welcome to Abuja" stand if I dare say that

airsaylongcome:
I think IT should become a very structured profession like medicine. In the past, maybe 200-250years ago, you didn't need to go to medical school to become a surgeon. That's because surgery is like a craft, it's a skill much like a butcher or a mechanic today. (And this is by no means attempting to degrade surgery or mechanics or butchers). Surgeons in the past was seen as a profession for the lesser class. Until surgeons were made to attend Universities and first train to be physicians first before specializing in Surgery. Immediately quackery went down because they had to go and learn Human Anatomy which is the core foundation of Human Surgery. Computing needs to adopt this line of study as well where practitioners attend proper University training to learn and understand the fundamental and underlying concepts before going off to specialize in whatever Computing sub-specialty they prefer. It needs to be a regulated profession.

airsaylongcome:
I really have strong opinions about it. I dropped out from school too. For like 3 years before my mom bundled me back to school. Going back to school was the singular best decision I made. The suffer and discrimination non-graduates face especially in this country is brutal

airsaylongcome:
I always laugh hard when people mention successful school dropouts like Gates and Zuckerberg. These ones dropped out from some of the most challenging universities to get admitted into. And they were high fliers before they dropped out. You wey no get straight A for WAEC and dey struggle with JAMB na hin wan follow drop out. For every Gates or Zuckerberg there a thousands of failed dropouts.

Tech hubs and boot camps are not rehabilitation centres for dundees

Skyview01:
Senate should urgently pass a law criminalizing getting married on a N30,000 Salary.

Jail time straight!

tensazangetsu20:
You fast and drink garri and salt once a day. Also move into a face me I slap you house to at least afford rent.

tensazangetsu20:
It still is now. Most Nigerian parents will never allow their offspring to study computer science. It is either medicine, engineering or law. I remember advising my cousin to study computer science. His parents said I don't wish their son well .

TheManOfTheYear:
I'd talk about the Nigerian start-up later.
But this European startup is where I really want to be honest. The job perks included
- training the junior developer
- assigning a mentor throughout your time with the company
- a chance to grow into a mid-level developer and even senior. Depending on how long you stay
- a laptop upgrade

What more can I ask for?

But the recruitment process was a two step one. First, they gave me a take-home test (which I'm still on now). The test was given alongside the UI design for it.
Omo. It tests every nook and cranny of your react skills.
From redux to Apollo to fetch data from their endpoint.
I am not allowed to use any library or any framework.
Just pure CSS, and React.

Even hooks because they stated it's must be Class Components

Meaning I had to put myself through a brief learning curve, to learn about class components and even classes in JS.

They said the test has NO deadline, but deep down I gave myself one month to finish it.
All these oyinbo people, they go say no deadline but be careful. It doesn't mean you shouldn't time yourself

TheManOfTheYear:
I built a cryptocurrency app using the Coinranking API, I built a Skype clone app using the 100ms SDK, I built a travel app using the trip advisor API etc

Real estate apps, and e-commerce stores are great projects too

Inimoney:
You can network with me via WhatsApp and I will show you a way you could

qtguru:
I recorded a video for the slack group but decided to also share here, because I believe it will be useful to some of you guys here
https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/video/6812165?key=3005bd83d938a8abe21ddbd0f2466c87

Modified: Sorry it was showing only for me, here it is now

qtguru:
I always copy bits and pieces from Dribbble, I am not a design person, I can only replicate what I see, just mix and match and borrow inspirations from other ideas, and remember when designing, a wireframe helps first to show the grid and placement and gradually you can create the shapes or download ui kits.

ReactJs:
lol omo my G designing is not my forte. Thats my primary weakness so i have Ui designers do what they know how to do best. if i were in your shoes, what i'd most likely do is get someone spin up a good design for me since its my portfolio or copy from different sources and try to tweak it the best i can. check other peoples portfolio and take different sections from different people. You can take a hero section from A, footer from B etc and try to redesign with CSS and just change the looks till it matches your taste.

tensazangetsu20:
Go on envato, search portfolio sites.Take the one you love most and remake it yourself.

tensazangetsu20:
This is great. But I wont recommend you have this on your portfolio. You know HTML, CSS, JavaScript. I recommend that you build a huge website before you go into react. Watch your designs please. Instead of coding from the head, go on dribbble or check out clean websites and try to remake them. That's the standard now. People are wowed by looks before even functionality.

You know this three. Take a huge website now and make then go on to learn React. Once done with React, do the same but with React. A different thing. For a big project, I recommend an E commerce project. You can use firebase to receive orders and then use paystack inline Js for payments.

Mikester:
I’m almost halfway through being 21, an age I’m legally an adult and a man. Having emerged from the tangled forest of adolescence I’ve learned many lessons. I learned a lot of them through watching other people. Some I just figured out through wisdom and insight and some were learned through trial and errors.

Not saying I'm an expert though but I want to pass this wisdom down to fellow young guys like me hopefully they have a bit more of a roadmap to help guide them than I did.


1. Some people should be kept at arm’s length.

It’s a good thing to show love and compassion to people. It's good to be friendly but it’s also important to understand who should be in your inner circle and who you should keep at a distance or even avoid. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Destructive people are out there. The sooner you spot who they are and where they should fit in your life the better.

2. Forgive.

People are going to do you wrong and hurt you. No matter what you do, you will be hurt by someone at some point and that’s often out of your control but what you do in the aftermath is entirely in your hands. Holding grudges never does anyone any good. It’s self destructive and can even seep over into relationships that have nothing to do with the person who hurt you. That said, that doesn’t mean that you should necessarily let them back into your life right after. Forgiveness is about letting go of the hurt and grudge, not about completely forgetting and pretending it didn’t happen.

3. First impressions are more important than you can imagine.

You only have a chance to make a good impression, so putting your mind toward it is always your best option. From dressing decently and speaking articulately to standing tall and making eye contact. The way you present yourself is the way people will see you and the way people see you will determine how they treat you and the opportunities they give you. Make sure you make a powerful impression.

4. It’s good to take risks and be bold.

Most of the best things in life usually comes with a risk. Know how and when to take risks. Be wise and strong enough to invest where necessary and be bold enough to take on challenges you encounter.

5. Being real is more important than being posh.

“You’re such a genuine guy,” is my favorite compliment. This to me is so much better than being told I’m posh. Real people see, recognize and are drawn to authenticity. Believe it or not, most people, especially girls, can tell exactly when you’re faking or trying too hard. If you want to draw the right people to you, then just be real with yourself and them, instead of putting up a facade in order to look cool or to be accepted. Being cool is for a moment, but authenticity lasts for a lifetime.

Simply put, don't chase people - man or woman, rather be yourself and invest more in yourself and the right people will come around you. Chasing people leads you to the wrong people and puts you at a huge loss.This also applies to relationships

6. Don't do drugs

Drugs make your mind perverted and your sense of judgement corrupted not to talk of the terrible health effects of drug intake. It's not for men with ambition to take drugs, give drugs to men who have decided to wallow in mediocrity and scornful living.

Moreover smoking causes impotence in men. Hope you quit smoking after reading this.

7. Other people can’t heal or fix you.

Your friends, family and romantic relationships can help you. They can speed up the healing process, support you when things are bad and guide you towards where you should go. They can reveal truths to you that maybe you couldn’t see. But in the end, when dealing with deep internal wounds and life establishment, no one can actually fix you. That part is on you and your God.

8. The world doesn’t owe you anything.

You’re not owed stuff and things simply by virtue of existence. Life tends to give back what you put into it. The people who always get the most seem to be in my experience, those who give the most freely. So, instead of walking around with an entitled mindset, try to figure out what you can contribute.

9. Just because it “feels right” doesn’t mean it is.

A lot of people will abandon their previously set moral boundaries because something “feels right.” Sometimes things feel right in the moment and are simply destructive in the long run. Feelings are important but acting out entirely on them is a path to destruction.

10. The future is a reality.

You’ll hear a lot about “live in the present,” and you definitely should, but living in the present also comes with the responsibility of making choices right now that will affect your tomorrow. Living in the present is not permission to live like tomorrow doesn’t exist because when it comes around, it can be a rude awakening.

11. Control your sexual urges

Sex isn't everything. It has no profit nor reward. Early and uncontrolled sex makes you inactive towards aspects of your life that needs your energy and attention and an inactive man is an unhappy man - a loser. It also makes you more liable to have an unhealthy marriage later in life.

God forbid we be counting sex partners while our mates are counting money.

Don't rush into sex or make it a priority else you will find it very difficult to attain greater heights in your life which will lead you into depression and regrets especially when you see your mates ahead of you. There is a lot of time for sex after marriage.

12. Your value is everything

I don't know much about ladies but for a guy, you're only followed, respected and regarded by your value - what you can offer. A man with less or no value is looked down by society. A man creates himself not finds himself. Daily exercise in self-control, knowledge and wealth acquisition gradually creates improvements in your worth. Don't underestimate that. You're meant to be a leader in your home so invest in yourself in order for you to lead well.

The lifestyle of a man largely depends on IQ and a higher level of intelligence leads to a better lifestyle for him. Your intelligence and energy is everything. Work on that.

13. You aren't the first to face your difficulties

Most men today think that they have it harder than previous generations did but it is not true. If you could make it to where you are now, you can still do better. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

Be strong and keep hustling. Lessen your gratification and double your hustle. Remember energy and persistence conquers all things.

14. Be careful with women

Do not give your strength to women. Don't love women you can't trust. Study any woman you want to settle down with and don't ignore the red flags you find. You do this for the future you so that you won't find yourself in troubles you could have avoided.

Do not make your woman your superior rather see her as your daughter. Love her and correct her when she errs. Any woman who doesn't respect you shouldn't be in your life. You're the one marrying her and paying the bride price. Don't settle for less.

15. Give attention to your wife and children

Children turn out better when they have the attention of their parents - when they parents spend quality time with them. As children need mother's love and attention, they also need father's care and attention. Have time for them and converse with them. Sometimes children wish their parents had more open conversations with them. Same applies to your wife. Pay attention to her.

Don't know if I'm communicating

10000% correct

tensazangetsu20:
Tech is honestly the best industry to get into right now. The opportunities are numerous. Almost every job vacancy out there is tech this tech that, developer this and developer that. I stayed in school for 4 years studying for a useless engineering degree and I have never in my life seen a vacancy for the rubbish I studied but there are tech roles every day. But in spite of so many jobs in tech, a lot of new developers struggle to get opportunities. I started being active in the tech community recently and I am meeting developers who have been coding for 5 to 7 years but have never had an opportunity. Talking with them has led me to discover that it's actually not the tech industry but a few of the reasons I am listing below.

1. You follow the trends: A lot of us developers love to focus on the sexy trendy stuff. Newsflash, what is sexy and trendy isn't used and even when used is used by very few companies. So millions of people who have struggled to learn the sexy stuff are all going to fight for those few roles out there. Take for example the latest coolest CSS framework tailwind. It's really cool and hyped up and it's like the go-to framework right now but the thing is in the industry people are still using bootstrap. People are learning tailwind but they don't know the number one CSS framework out there. Just because something is cool and sexy doesn't mean that everyone is going to switch to it overnight.

If you give junior developers a chance between Angular, React, and Vue. A lot of people are going to pick Vue. They will say it's sexy and cool and has a ton of GitHub stars. There are jobs using Vue but they are so few compared to React and Angular that you would be pigeonholing yourself by learning that. Theres a whole of difference between coding for fun and coding to get a job.

2. You have unrealistic expectations: This is something I usually see on Reddit cscareerquestions but it seems to becoming a norm amongst everybody. People believe that if your salary isnt starting at 100k USD a year or you dont work for a tech company, you arent a developer. Its so elitist and unfortunately a lot of developers in Nigeria are beginning to have this mindset. They learn HTML, CSS, JS. They have built absolutely no projects but because someone said you need the knowledge of DSA to get a job they immediately start grinding leetcode day and night with the hope of getting into Google. You learnt to code from a Udemy course and you really want to compete at DSAs with people who went to MIT. People who have been doing competitive programming since 5 years old. People who get gold medals at the international olympaids of informatics like its nothing. . Funny enough, I also had this mindset when I was learning to code but corrected myself later on. The truth is that not every tech job out there tests with DSA or needs knowledge of DSA and not everybody must work for a big tech company. This reasoning is so flawed. It is like saying every lawyer must work for law firms like wale olanipekun and co or every engineer must work for exxonmobil. There are a ton of jobs that will pay you well as a junior developer like really well and you need not struggle to get them. They wont test you with DSA. They would only look at the complexities of your projects and go through them with you. By well paid I am talking of 500k and above. Ask yourself how many people asking you to do DSA in Nigeria have not yet worked at Google. There are even whatsapp groups dedicated to DSA and if you cant solve one you are kicked out. The person giving you DSA is not working at Google or Facebook hmm give yourself a brain o.


3. You do not know how to cut off the bullshit from social media: There's so much information out there today but if you don't know how to cut off the bullshit from what you need, you would waste your time. A lot of influencers and creators are putting information out there for themselves. They follow the algorithms and put out what is going to give them the most value in terms of money for their time. If I put out WordPress content, nobody will watch it but if I go out there and make MERN stack tutorials I would be getting millions of views but to be truthful you do not need the MERN stack as a junior. No one is using MongoDB in prod. Very few websites use Nodejs. You are just limiting yourself with that. If you want to be a full stack developer look at things like C# and Java springboot. Those pay really really well and there are even certifications you can acquire in those frameworks that can help get you opportunities at enterprise companies that use them especially if you don't have a computer science degree.

4 Your projects are not worth paying for: People put out calculators, todo lists, tictactoe games and a lot of bullshit on their portfolio and wonder why they aren't getting interviews. You have applied for 100 jobs and haven't been called back and you absolutely do not know the reason why. Nobody is going to hire you with a to-do list and a calculator on your portfolio. Even if you get an interview, is a calculator something you are going to show your interviewer. What happened to making a social media application, a chat application, a blog, an analytic tool, a dashboard. Something that people actually use in the real world every day. I remember one of the first interviews I have, one of my projects was a payment application I used paystacks API for. Everything was done with HTML, CSS and Javascript and once my interviewer saw the project and the button I used to connect the API, he made an offer to me immediately. Your projects matter especially as a beginner. One solid project is better than 100 garbage projects.

5 You don't research: Honestly, in this tech thing, I take what everyone is saying as bullshit. The senior developer I work with an Australian guy was telling me to learn web assembly if I really want to get a job with visa sponsorship which I so desperately need. I am tired of remote especially doing it from this shithole zoo of a country. I went to Linkedin Jobs and various countries indeed websites and I couldn't even see up to 500 jobs total in web assembly. Why would I waste time learning something that has no jobs because it might be relevant in ten years. Nodejs came out in 2009 and it is still not relevant in 2021. What is the probability that web assembly will be relevant in 2031. Research. When people tell you to learn a technology. Go to linkedinjobs and indeed and check how many jobs exist for that technology worldwide. People always advise you from their own point of view but the point of view of a senior developer in America, Europe or Australia is not the same for you a junior developer in the world's poverty capital.

Tech pays provided you do it right men.

Femolacaster:
They've approved my means of identity I submitted, NIN slip. I want to do the video verification today.

I'll advise you use your real picture as DP before you submit the slip.

Femolacaster:
No problems, I've submitted the NIN slip, still waiting for their confirmation.

Femolacaster:
Thanks a lot for your response. I'll definitely try that out and see if it'll work.