Everyone tells you to learn a technical skill, but no one tells you what it entails. Getting into technology can be challenging, but the ParallelScore team is here to help you along the way. Whether you’re new to technology or trying to move from one technical department to another, this piece from one of our talented developers, Macmanuel Odumeru, will definitely help. Macmanuel takes us through his journey into tech, including the resources that helped him and some tips for young developers.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Macmanuel Olawale Odumeru. I am a frontend/Mobile developer at Parallel Score. I have four years of experience with two years of backend experience.
I’ve really had the privilege of working in diverse environments making use of cutting edge technologies for both front and back end developments.
My technology stack includes JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks like ReactJS, which I use mainly for frontend development and NodeJS for back end development; I occasionally dabble into Java, PHP, and C# for some of my developments and I make use of SQL, MongoDB, and DynamoDB for databases.
I have also worked in Agile driven and cloud-based environments with a focus on TDD.
What inspired you to get into tech?
I’ve always been someone who loves to play with computers right from when I was a child in primary school. With our old PC at home in 2005, I played with a paint bucket and drew a village scene. Later I was hacking phones and creating custom themes for Nokia phones. In 2012, I had created my own youtube channel and was making tutorial videos on designs with Corel draw, I made a few video games with Android studio, Unity3d, Game maker studio 8, construct and the blender game engine at the time.
However, I stopped and went to study Medicine and surgery, but I dropped out of medicine to pursue my career in tech simply because of my passion for computers, I basically couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
What do you love about your job?
I love the fact that I get to build stuff and collaborate with other individuals while creating solutions that in turn make the world a better place putting smiles on people’s faces.
What was the first programming language you learnt?
The first programming language I dabbled into was Java in 2012 when I built a game called “Been there, done that” following a tutorial using Eclipse IDE. Since then, I have learnt C#, Python, GML, GDScript, Dart and JavaScript/TypeScript
What resources helped you on your journey into tech?
My go-to for learning stuff that is entirely new to me has always been either Udemy courses or Skillshare courses. Then later, with more experience would be Youtube and documentation.
What do you wish someone had told you when you started your journey into tech?
I wish I was told or should I say “given” a “proper” roadmap to go from zero to hero. So time isn’t wasted learning useless technologies or skipping important stuff
Drop a piece of advice for the newbies.
My advice is to go on youtube, search for a proper roadmap for the part of tech you want to base, study and follow through on it. If you don’t know what you want to do, just browse about every field and see the one that is interesting to you, then search for its roadmap.
BUY A COURSE ON UDEMY, and don’t use youtube as your primary source so you don’t have to worry about any basics you may have skipped
To make success easier, you should ensure you really do enjoy what you do or you are motivated enough for your goal because that is what will make you persevere through the hard times as they sure will come.