₦airaland Forum

I want to share my immigration story here in the hopes that it may help someone else make a decision. Please note that you don’t have to believe this. Many may not. But if you think this will help you make a decision and you want to reach out to me, please feel free. I will show you all the proof you need. But I will also ask for proof for your own backstory, because I don’t want anyone wasting my time too much. Hahaha
I applied for express entry sometime in 2017 while I was working a very comfortable job. To be honest, I had no reason to apply. I was extremely comfortable working a seven-figure job. I was making nothing less than 3m a month with a lot of benefits, housing, gym membership, etc., all paid for by the company. My housing alone every two years was in the region of 4m. I mean, I was super comfortable. I lived in an 1.5m a year apartment and owned my own car. My job took me everywhere around the world from Nigeria. In a year, I visited not less than 5 countries in Europe, America and Asia. I had no reason to apply for express entry. But I did out of curiosity. And then the PR landed.
Omo, I was confused. What gives? What do I do? I thought about it a lot. Was I going to leave this cushy job and just wander into the unknown in a foreign country? I should include that, though I loved my job, I was already suffering the burnout associated with working too hard. This is one thing many people don’t realize. Sometimes, money won’t bring you the happiness you want if you start suffering burnout. You start to see the money as a given since it comes in every month, and you won’t understand what it means for salary to stop.
So, I started thinking about what to do, whether to accept this express entry thing. I wasn’t married. So I could actually make this decision and be fine. I’m not bringing a wife and kids into the uncertainty. Anyho, I opted for short landing first. That made more sense. I came into Calgary, spent some time (like 3 weeks), and then left. I soon forgot all about Canada, abeg. I’ve pushed it for two years. Let me focus on my job.
Two years went by so fast my head spun. I was back to square one in this decision. Do I quit my job? As I was contemplating this, they offered me a promotion at work. My salary went up a comfortable 20%. I just got more confused. Everything was happening so fast, especially having to go back to Canada and not lose my PR status.
At the beginning of the next year and exactly two years later, I turned in my resignation. I thought about it long and hard. It was a very difficult decision to make, but I turned in the resignation anyways and decided I was going to launch myself into this uncertainty.

First month of that year, I landed at Toronto pearson. Everything looked the way I left it. The crowd, the ambiance, everything. I was just wondering what my life would be like next. Though I had left my job, I should say that there was a window to return. I was a top performer at work and my boss had said I was welcome back if I wanted. But in my mind, I knew going back would mean admitting defeat that my Canada plans have not worked out.
But I had a plan. My sole plan was to simply go back to school. I had enrolled in a certificate program at the country’s leading higher institution of learning, the University of Toronto. But even I knew that this was just a certificate. I didn’t know a lot about the Canadian job market at that time, but I felt that a diploma may not really cut it. At the same time, I applied for a master’s degree at the same school and was waiting on feedback from the school. Anyho, I started with the certificate program, got a small apartment, and bought a small car for doordash/ubereats runs in the night. I knew I wasn’t going to do any hardcore, full-time survival jobs. That wasn’t part of my plan. I had a lot of money saved from years of working. A whole lot, I should say. As a result, I could afford to stay out of a job for a very long time. Let’s put that at three years.
Life became routine. I studied in the day time and did some ubereats runs in the night. I was quite okay. But of course, I didn’t have the life I had back in Nigeria. Covid struck soon after and all studies went online. It became even easier to study in the day time and do doordash runs in the night. My apartment in Toronto wasn’t that comfortable, but it was a solid $1000 per month. In my head, I kept converting back to naira and just marveled at how much I was paying for this shoebox apartment. Net, I think I was burning through about $800 or so per month. But I wasn’t complaining. I knew things would be a little tough.
Then I started looking for work too. My job back in Nigeria was at the periphery of Tech, so I had one leg in Tech sort of. Because of this, I could easily make my CV tech-focused. But disappointments rolled in as usual, haha. What a wake-up call! A few first-stage interviews, but nothing past that. While doing my research, I figured I simply had to get that master’s degree to have any clout in this job market.
Stroke of luck! University of Toronto offered me the master’s degree in one of their top departments, computer science. Omo, that was good news for me. I was elated and began strategizing on how to maximize my experience in graduate school. At the same time I kept looking for work, submitting CVs here and there. Honestly, I didn’t get one response again after those initial recruiter calls. Not one response. All the emails after sending a barrage of applications started with “We are sorry…”
I knew to expect this and it didn’t deter me from continuing with my plans. At the same time, I learnt soon that my role back in Nigeria had been filled by someone else. I didn’t even know if that option to return was still on the table, but I knew I couldn’t count on it. I simply couldn’t. I have to focus my efforts on what I’m facing here in Canada and give in my best. I must admit I was lucky in a way, in that I still had a lot of money saved and wasn’t desperate for work in this country.
We got to September and I resumed graduate school at UofT. As omo naija, I was thinking shebi na to pass na. We dey there. We full ground. Master’s in computer science. Don’t worry, nothing dey happen. Omo, one month in, e be lyk say them hammer me plank for head. Graduate school is tough in Canada! Jesus, graduate school no be joke for this country. Warn your folks!

I like to believe I’m a smart person. I think I’m a smart person. I finished school in Nigeria with a first class degree and graduated best in my department. My CGPA was just a few decimals from the best graduating student in the whole school. I pick up things very easily and I’ve shown that to myself time and time again. So, I know that I’m competent. But graduate studies in computer science in this school started making me question if I was really that smart. I saw maths and coding, I bowed.
I would later learn that things are just that extra tough at UofT. Forget the pressure you may have gone through doing a course at Ryerson or getting a certificate at York. Multiply that by 5, then you are just getting started with the level of course material and pressure at this school. In fact, some of the smartest people in my class had to do an extra semester to catch up. I thank God I was able to cope by myself with just putting my head down and studying the course materials. But this was at the price of just wanting to pass and caring less about getting perfect scores, in spite of my love for perfect scores. But I have to say I learnt a lot. I think I became smarter studying at this school �
Some of the concepts were just so deep that I need extra time to digest them and some of the professors so exacting that they won’t spare you the rigor. This is where I learnt that proofs are a thing and should be part of standard material. Lemmas, theorems, extensions became my daily life and I became so immersed in mathematics that sometimes I looked back I wondered if I was really the one doing all this magic. I now understand that my background is not as strong as some of my classmates who attended the same school in their undergrad or who come from some of the best schools in China, Japan, etc. I was the only black student in my class, so I no even fit fall hand. Well, I had to double the hustle and managed to stay afloat. It also didn’t help that I didn’t study computer science in my undergrad. But in the end, I did it. The assignments, projects, seminars, and everything nearly sunk me, but I put in extra effort and stayed on top. Soon, I finished grad school with very excellent grades (distinction) and started preparing my resume for all the job opportunities.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me say here that I have no doubt this graduate degree improved my profile tremendously. Right after adding it and padding my resume as required, I sent it out to maybe 20 employers and 15 got back immediately! Omo, na so I start to interview back to back o. Serious interviews. Technical interviews. Coding interviews. But I started to face another challenge.
Because my background is not computer science, my coding skills is not very strong. I will pass all the interviews and just fail the coding round like a novice. I interviewed with every big tech: Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, etc, and will fail the coding round. You can’t imagine how demoralizing this was, going into an interview and knowing that you will fail. I knew what they were going to ask and was sure I wasn’t up for it at all. I simply didn’t have the capacity at that time. It broke my core.
The difference between this and school is that in school you kind of have more time to think things through. Some assignments are even take-home so you can spend as much time as you want. In contrast, the coding rounds put you on the spot and want you to do leetcode medium/hard in little time. Omo, the thing just weak me. So, what to do?

olioxx:
Let me invite in my fellow japanarians.


mousery please if you dont mind, can you tell us the job you were doing while in Nigeria. Then please post as much relevant information before the derailer gang flood this space.

0.hadampson

1.Niklausefred

2. Fidelismaria

3. Nicoswit

5. Jaycew ( POLAND)*

6. Subomi007

7. lamboladee

8. SaintHillary (UK)*

9. Vhuqnl

10. Joohan

11.Paccus

12. Richdee1

13. ichbinbrait

14. Canih28

15. olioxx

16. Savagethe21st

17. aziza45442

18. 2Lynx

19.NoFap123

20.Daintyprincess (new member)

21. Brawlscartel

22. seedorfy134

23.Tolzy11(welcome to the crew)

24.RedChiefPriest

25.GodsGabby (welcome cool)

26.Ayomide8990 (welcome mate)

27.Jizzyjordan

28. opeey
Once again thanks for creating this thread.

Marathon leetcoding. I started with that. Began practicing leetcode every single day for hours and going through all the exercises. Let me give you a free learning tip: if you want to become a master at something, do it continuously for a long time (maybe a week), then leave it for a while (maybe 5 days), but keep thinking about it in the back of your head as you go about your daily activity. Then come back to the same activity again, and you will find that you know more than you did before. I don’t know how to explain it. But go and look on cousera and find this material called “Learning how to learn”. It will tell you some of these things I just said.
All this while I wasn’t still working, but was living off my savings and doing doordash/ubereats part-time. But I was fine. I was paying rent, had just finished school, and was indoor mostly leetcoding away. Or practicing for interviews and talking to myself. At this point a friend I had made in grad school wanted to introduce me to a Nigerian babe who used to be his friend, but I said “nah, I’m good”. No distractions, please. After I felt like I was prepared enough, I started applying for jobs again. This was like 5 months after graduation and in between feeling like a failure every passing day. But I think my resume stood out because I got responses immediately. Interview offers were no longer the problem. The problem was mainly passing the coding rounds.
But this time I was prepared. Had 5 interview offers which I went through. Two turned into an offer and I wasn’t successful in three. And for one of the successful ones, I went through 4 stages of interviews, including two coding rounds. Some of the questions were even things I had practiced on leetcode. Na so, I land offer o. A comfortable six-figures with stock options. And it’s a sweet victory. After taxes and rent, I arrive at x2 what I was earning net in Nigeria with current exchange rate (don’t mind me, I still like to convert to naira in my head. I’m still a JJC ). But the stock options make it a really impressive offer that greatly supersedes what I was earning before.

mousery:
(To be continued)

mousery:
(To be continued)

tensazangetsu20:
Leetcode is the way I am at the same place at op and the leetcode is the differentiator. It doesn't matter if you had first class or pass or you did computer science or you did Yoruba or chemical engineering. Leetcode is what separates boys from men.

plat0:
From his write up, I can deduce that the masters degree was instrumental in getting the attention of recruiters.

tensazangetsu20:
Yeah probably but it doesn't matter. I have interviewed with some large companies without even an impressive background but I couldn't pass the coding screens. There are a ton of Nigerians without impressive backgrounds who could pass faang interviews and are working there. In the field of computer science no one send o everyone will do leetcode whether you went to umudike university or Harvard but off course getting an interview will be easy with a Harvard degree than the one from umudike school.

olioxx:
Nozino and kelvindj89 abeg mona nor use ona negative energy boil our ripe beans.
The OP doesnt need to talk about ILETS or the likes, if you need further info just ask the OP. The OP mentioned that you are free to contact him. Again you are not forced to believe his story, believe whatever you want to believe, but I personally know that there are Nigerians with cushy jobs abroad. eg DanielHouston (Germany thread guy) is a lead economist at his job, even there is this other Nairalander that is a senior software and infrastructure engineer at his job, even ednut1 nah agba for him own lane.
Please mona nor help us derail this thread.
#we_move

Nozino:
Lies. No one is gullible enough to believe this story. Express Entry isn’t straight forward. No IELTS, no credentials evaluation, nothing.

emmyN:
'Learning how to learn' with Barbara Oakley. That was the first course material I digested when I began this my tech journey. It's been a wonderful ride so far. I'm almost set to start working with leetcode.

tensazangetsu20:
Yeah probably but it doesn't matter. I have interviewed with some large companies without even an impressive background but I couldn't pass the coding screens. There are a ton of Nigerians without impressive backgrounds who could pass faang interviews and are working there. In the field of computer science no one send o everyone will do leetcode whether you went to umudike university or Harvard but off course getting an interview will be easy with a Harvard degree than the one from umudike school.

ednut1:
bad belle no go kill you. From what he described about soft landing and maintaining his status. A lair can make that up. Make bad belle no kill u sha

Laryfrosh:
Please can you share the course with me?