Whilst in the university, I had to answer this question: who am I to the different people in my life? To my classmates I was a school drop out who was busy programming, reading c#(pronounced see-sharp), not doing school work and not sleeping at night. To some of my friends I was a busy, unavailable fella whom when he is around is a clown. To the people I consulted for/worked with I was a geek. To the people in church I was a growing christian. Now that is just to name a few circles of people I found myself around. The opinions people had of me affected the way I interacted with them and placed me where I am today. Some persons saw and still see me as a "too busy" person and hence they just leave me alone. :) Some other persons see me as a "go-to-guy" for small scale projects and for IT consultations.
The importance of understanding what people think about you goes a long way in positioning you for what life would throw at you. Let me share a little story of how I got to where I am today.
My ICT career started in 2008. I was super thrilled by the CSC 102 course we did where I got to do my basic programming assignments myself and really saw the codes working. I continued along that path after that semester and went online to look for programmers to share my new knowledge. I met an indian programmer with whom I confided in about venturing into game programming and how I could use FORTRAN to achieve that. :) My friend laughed me to scorn. He then adviced me to look into C++ programming which he said was best suited for building games. I couldn't go home after that semester because I really wanted to build a game. I started frequenting the university library during that holiday to read up c++ and the computer resource center to use a code editor which I secretly downloaded and installed there to practice. When school resumed 3 weeks later I had already understood the concept of object oriented programming with c++. The computer resource center stopped working and since I didn't have a laptop or a computer I needed a way out. This was where having a good relationship with people came in.
I started spending time my friends who had laptops more often. I played video games with them and got to use their laptops whilst they slept. I couldn't keep up with lectures because I had to stay up all night most times to try out my programs, write programs on paper and read programming books during the day. I continued this way till my brother joined me in school through direct entry and eventually got a laptop. This became a booster for me and I was able to forge ahead more comfortably. I got my first paid project in 2011 and the money came in handy.There was no going back. I eventually got my first laptop in 2011.
In 2012, I was approached by a couple of friends for a job with the state government. I couldn't believe the pay. For 8 days a month (Thursday and Fridays every week) I was getting well paid and doing what I loved doing best. I was still a student. My friends thought I was good enough to be recommended for the job.
Today I've met persons I only saw on TV or newspapers. Shook hands with governors, been interviewed a few times on TV and the sky has been the starting point since then.
What made the difference? The opinion people had of who I am did. In the end, what might matter to you might be different from what made sense to me, you would always need people to get anywhere in life. Work on yourself and value your friends.
photo credit: flickr.com
True that bro, nice writeup
ReplyDeletethanks man.
ReplyDeletecool
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