MY TIIDELAB EXPERIENCE: FINAL MOMENTS.
Here I am, putting my ink to paper, a feeling of nostalgia pumping through my heart as I try to paint a picture of my past 6 months at TIIDELab, a told story, full of priceless experiences, experiences of breaking and of making and of one that has moulded me into a fine tech bro even outside of the tech terrain.
Kicking starting from where I left off since my last shared experiences of month one, two, three and four, these final moments at TIIDELab consisted of the busiest and most fascinating of all as the fellowship dwindled into a close.
The wrap up of all external mentorship sessions, of growth on career paths and of professional development, took a gradual turn. My external mentor held a session on Ask me any question of concern on any field, which was a rare opportunity, an opportunity which my colleagues and I took, demonstrating it’s value like gold. Talks were about schooling abroad, personal professional growth, and career advancement.
November entertained mock interviews, of fellows and, of company CEOs named Mr. Anos Mhazo and Mr. Cletus Kingdom, both testing and teaching us the do’s and dont’s in interviews, how to answer interview questions like “tell me about yourself” and gaining more confidence in an interview ground, amongst others. Of cringing and of intense pressure that kept us fellows startled for a moment, were their technical questions, which we later blended into.
The early days of December featured the end of our professional development classes of topics “Emotional Intelligence”, “Volunteering and SDGs in Tech” and “Community Development “. The breakdown of these topics together with the close of physical meetups ushered an atmosphere filled with whirlwinds of emotions, of emotions of awwnn and arrrrr arrrr, recollections of long lasting gratitude of camaraderie (especially to our tutor, Aderoju Shamsudeen Adedapo), one that forced out a million tears.
My teammates and I (forming a team of 12), continued the development of INsure, of full conversion into Reactjs and of creating a Server Side with Nodejs, Expressjs, mySQL database and sequelize for ORM and functionalities. The periods were challenging, of stretching one, fiercely fighting bugs and of staying late into the nights. But with the energy of a united team, we saw INSure grow from the restructuring of its UIs and wireframes to a point where we were proud, raising our shoulders high like the mountains. I am happy to have served as the dev lead to see INSure through. We formed bond from coding together, bonds that thickened into family … we became family.
Then talk about our CDS (Community Service Development) titled #WeCare, of giving back to community and of solving SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). The whole fellows, backed by a committee of fund raisers, brainstomers and publicity personnel were required to meet a certain monetary target, to execute our plans within a space of two weeks. We were able solve problems in four regions of Nigeria; Abuja, Lagos, Kwara and South East — visiting and delivering food items to orphanage homes and taking care of inadequacies in a primary school; an activity that brought fulfilment of fellows and of TIIDELab stakeholders; a demonstration of good will that will forever be etched in the sands of time.
Taking a glance at the past 6 months, my experience has been nothing short of amazing, of abrupt start and adjustment, of been shaped into self-reliance, of tossing my dreams into realities — even the silent ones, of seeing my growth curve as a person take a sharp edge and catapulting me into a young professional strong enough to face the labour market. I made memories; beautiful ones, I made friends; ones that I’ll forever hold dear, I made a family.
Graduation day carried an atmosphere, of distorted feelings and of turbulent ones; a feeling of happiness, nostalgia and of fulfilment; a feeling of not-letting go and letting go. Of noteworthy importance was the dignitaries that graced our events to witness the pitch of our products, a grace that that paved way for the promises of certain opportunities. I was awarded the most outstanding team member of my team, Euvola and on final evaluation sheet of TIIDELab, I appeared in the top 10 lists of fellows.
In gratitude, and of deep loyalty, I want to call out the entire team of TIIDELab, from its founder, Kadir Salami, through our Programs Coordinator, Aderoju Shamsudeen Adedapo and our Programs Director Celeste O, to all our tutors, mentors and tech support team. The actions of these people have contributed immensely to my growth in the past 6 months and have led an indelible mark of loyalty in tablets of my mind and I’ll always duff my hat for them.
As I look forward to the next horizon in my career, I see myself building on my knowledge from TIIDELab, expanding my experience and gaining versatility in the world of web development and technology at large.
Thank you TIIDELab for turning my shreds of dreams into a whole fabric of reality.
Please, don’t forget to leave a clap.
Incase you’ve forgotten, let me re-introduce myself:
I am Nicholas Okeke; Software Engineer; Writer and a deep appreciator of Art.
Lets connect!