Ada Nduka Oyom

What experiences led you to technology and how did you develop the skills to compete in the industry?

It all started with watching the movie “The Intern“, which sort of mirrored life at Google, i got fascinated by it and decided to take my love for gadgets a step further, I became an active member of the Google student club while in my 2nd year, attending designs and code classes / events.

Interacting with developers who were levels ahead of me and keeping up with latest technologies only pushed me to want to know more. It’s been that way since then as i’m still learning and growing, everyday.

In my 3rd year, I became the lead for the Google developer group chapter in my school (GDG UNN) and was exposed to amazing technologies and concepts and some of the brightest minds in tech across Nigeria. I picked an interest in web technologies and after school, attended a 3months bootcamp while also doing some self-learning with Freecodecamp.org.

How has your background helped/differentiated you in the tech industry?

With my course of study: Microbiology, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy step becoming a developer, but that fact alone has helped re-write my story in several ways I would never have imagined. It’s shown me that I can achieve/attain whatever it is I set my mind to and that mantra has done a great deal in most of what i do today.

I’m known as the go-getter, the one who’s always trying out new things, the one who pushes a little harder, I never let anything/situation derail me, if I can work hard and come this far in Software development without a B.Sc degree in Computer science, then I or anyone else can achieve whatever it is they set their mind to.

What advice would you give to women considering a career in technology? What do you wish you had known?

Set goals, work hard towards them, Achieve them.

Being a woman in tech doesn’t just stop at bearing the title, the rest of the world is expectant to see what you can do, how far you can go, how resilient you can be, how smart your brains are and at every given opportunity, do not derail in letting them know your worth!

You’re Smart, You’re Beautiful, You’re Intelligent! You’re a definition of Beauty and Brains.

Any other thoughts on women in technology?

The women in tech community in Nigeria and Africa still has a very long way to go, there’s so many potentials in girls, ladies and women here, once we acknowledge that we have to start from the grass-root up, it gets a lot easier having them embrace the ideology of W.I.T. I personally believe with the right support, initiatives and personnel, larger input can be gotten from the ladies.