How an Electrical Engineer switches to HRM and then to Tech needs to be studied! Interesting fact
though, I don’t code. Never have, probably never will. And no, I’m no product designer either.
What you should know (probably your first lesson in tech) is that; tech is vast. A lot falls under the
umbrella of tech so you’ll be largely mistaken to take ‘tech’ as software development alone.
Anyways, if you’re reading this and you’ve struggled with picking a career path or you’re just unsure of
what working in tech/ startup is like, I hope this piece provides you some succor. And should you have
started the journey already, here’s a fun guide to what/what not to expect. For those of you who are
‘agba’ tech bro/sis, I hope you’ll share a bit more from your wealth of experience in the comment.
Preamble
It all started from the usual undergraduate IT experience when I got back to school and told myself I was
never going to work for anyone. My mind was made up on leaving school and building a profitable brand
for myself. Did I do that? Yes. Was it way to go? Maybe not.
Few months after my NYSC in 2019, I put together my knowledge in HR and started out a consulting
agency focused on career advisory services and employability trainings. I kept putting in the work and
growing while trying to build a personal brand too. As one who had a strong thing against the ‘noise
about tech’, I never imagined I would have to work in that industry.
When I say noise about tech, I mean the consistent beckoning on people to pick up tech skills,
particularly coding, simply because “there’s money in tech”. While this sounded like good advice, it was
no different from parents who cajoled kids to study courses like medicine, law, engineering etc. simply
because of the prestige that came with it, and possibly the higher chances of employment.
While all of these are good, it made a lot of people take up career paths they lacked both interest and
capacity for. I believed that it was important to be futuristic about the prospect of your chosen career
path, but not at the expense of an actual flare for it. There should always be a balance of interest and
capability, so you don’t get in half way and find out you could have thrived better elsewhere. So is the
case with many undergraduates.
I guess this mindset kept me from making any hasty decisions despite the number of people around me
coding at the time. By late 2020, after the ravaging effect of the pandemic, I got the opportunity and to
be honest, I had no idea what I was walking into. From my little research at the time, I got the hang of
what being at a tech firm would entail but the role didn’t seem to require much, so why not?
The journey
Starting out in an administrative capacity and having to handle human and capital resourced didn’t seem
like a big deal. Aced that and in a couple of months major planning to scale had begun. In no time I was
tasked with recruiting developers, designers and co.
So, here’s this guy with little or no knowledge having to ask questions from people with the actual knowledge. Of course, I wasn’t going to walk in blindly I had to do some study. You know what they say about putting your best foot forward?
One of the things that helped me especially was bringing in my non-tech skill to the fore in spotting and managing talents. (Fun fact; this didn’t turn out so great sha.. if you ever want to recruit tech talents, have a technical person on the interview panel) *Runs away!*
Soon enough I was found capable enough to manage people and projects. I still remember my first
engineering team meeting like it was yesterday, a very funny experience. I wouldn’t say I contributed
the least but I’m certain I was lost in thought for the most of it!
I heard words that made me think those guys were speaking in tongues. I mean, I knew the cliché front
end, back end, and a few programming languages. But what on earth was- Django, Heroku, Repo,
Github, Hosting server, React, Python, Java script???
These guys kept throwing these words around and in my head I’m like; does anyone here not speak Microsoft Word, Excel, PPT and the likes?! I was completely lost and I think I found myself only at the end of the meeting when I was asked for comments and with a smile I quipped “Well-done guys!”
Whew!
How I fared
Now here’s the interesting thing about working with a startup. It’s mostly going to be a training field for
you and one of the greatest good you’ll do yourself is to grow fast. If you’re a start-up founder, hire
talents who can be valuable beyond their role and give inputs across board.
As a non-tech in tech, you can either choose to pick a non-developer skill and focus on it or glean as
much knowledge as you can across various sections. For me I did the later. From administrative
activities to operations, accounting, growth, social media, projects… you name it!
There’s literally no core area of an organization’s existence that I haven’t put my hands in. I’ve learnt
that there’s an unimaginable wealth of experience locked up in first being an employee. The only other
thing I haven’t done is to write a single line of code. The only time I wrote a code was to pass an
undergraduate exam, and your guess is as good as mine- the code never ran, but that’s story for another
day.
What helped me
I naturally don’t give myself lots of credit for the things I do, but I’m learning to moderate that. Now I
can say boldly that I’m good at what I do; But all I do, I do by the Grace of God!
This mindset in addition to learning fast and dedicating my very best to every task has set me apart. I’m
also grateful for colleagues and superiors who always provide an opportunity to grow.
I should also mention here that one of the perks of working in a fast-paced environment, is that
tendency for a lot of demand to be placed on your skill especially when you’re good. Then you find yourself juggling lots of tasks and trying to not fail at any. Next thing the fear of not being your best or
delivering perfection on any of the tasks sets in, and boom – Imposter Syndrome!
You may know a lot on how to handle imposter syndrome, but let me share how you can subconsciously
help someone who may be going through this.
1. Give honest compliments,
2. Criticize the work and not the individual.
This is actually profound! I’ll never forget finishing a tedious task and a one-word appreciation had me
feeling ecstatic. Or was it when I simply hailed a colleague for a job well-done and could literally feel the
brightness of their countenance.
You don’t have to “whine” people, genuine and honest compliments go a long way as you never know
what they may be going through. And should you need to reprimand or criticize, express your
displeasure in the activity and not the individual. Make clear what you found wrong and could be better,
then reiterate your belief in their ability to do better. You can be sure of improving the productivity of
your team in the long run with such gestures.
Sorry I digressed, back to why you’re here…
What it took
The sacrifice I’ve had to pay is immense. Of the many things I could mention, sleep time has to be top
two and it’s not number 2. As with everything you want to make a success out off, you’ll have to devote
time to see it grow. This actually points me back to the importance of doing what you’re interested in
and loving it.
I’ll never have paused my personal brand and turned down certain opportunities to focus on work, if I didn’t love what I do. Well, there’s also the part of God having you in a certain place for a reason and season.
Fun fact: I’m sure if you asked my mum what I do, she’ll reply with- All I know is they’re stressing you too
much!
The future
I think the future lies somewhere between Community manager and Operations Lead. To be honest, I’m
not certain. Founder, Co-founder, VC and Angel Investor sounds tempting too.** But yeah, it’s never in the title. The current goal is to keep creating value and making impact.
I have a couple of ideas I’ll love to ship but boy! Bootstrapping is no small deal. I think I’ll rather be in
collaboration than competition. This is basically why I tell my friends to let me in on their ideas. I love
that space where most of what I do, is contributing to your success.
There’s also a lot I need to learn too. Just like those engineering terminologies were alien to me, I have
little or no idea of things related to legal and finances- Seed funds, raises, equity, stock, shares, portfolio
companies and the likes.
Tech money
Hehehe… When you read stories from Zikoko and hear that tech is the new oil. You’ll be tempted to
think dollars roll in from the very first day. I hear it does over time sha, yet to find out.
I also remember updating my WhatsApp status some time ago with a funny caption that summaries my
financial goal; “Tech bro, consulting for Oil and Gas”. LOL. I mean, for someone who wants to retire at 35, everything finance needs to be locked yeah?
Regardless, the goal is to multiply my current results and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to the success of young techies at @RxLabsHQ where human capacity is developed and solutions to some of Africa’s biggest challenges are built.
Well, that’s it from here, I drop my pen and I hope that with these few points of mine, I’ve been able to
convince and not confuse you that…… (drop it In the comments)!