“The joy of looking at codes and understand their meaning and also being able to interpret and think of doing things of that magnitude, I think it’s rewarding…” - Jamiu Ayinde .
Below is the excerpt from an Interview we had with one of our ex-trainee at Moat Academy during their last week at boot camp:
Moat Academy (MA): Can we meet you?
Jamiu: My name is Ayinde Jamiu Kunle, I am a graduate of philosophy, Lagos state University and I’m also running a masters degree in the same course. I hail from Ogun state and I have interest in web application development
MA: You studied Philosophy and you are moving into software development; or are you trying to combine software Development and philosophy? if so, why are you merging the two together?
Jamiu: As one of my mentors told me recently that the future of the world or the language of the world is Coding. I felt, having a background in philosophy, the only thing I can do to live in the future is to learn coding, so that ‘s one of the reason I deemed it fit to see how I can upgrade my philosophy knowledge and move ahead of my peers so that with the knowledge of the coding, I will be able to speak to the future right from now.
MA: What exactly do you want to achieve with the software development skills?
Jamiu: Learning software development, the first thing I want to achieve is; I want to make money with it, so that when people contact me, I will be able to develop applications for them.
I also want to be able to tell the world that it is not only those who study computer science that can become software developer, every field should be able to have their own share from it, because when we talk about automation, all other disciplines have areas where processes can be automated. I also want to be able to develop some unique software products that will scale through the world so that I will have my name written somehow on the sand of time.
MA: Prior to coming to Moat Academy, what are the things you have done in the software development field?
Jamiu: Because of my desire to know about software development, I had tried to do one or two things learning it, sometime ago, about two years ago, I was able to launch an app on google playstore by just using a “drag and drop ” application. Majorly I was used to using Contents Management Systems (CMS) which is more or less like copying and paste; not having my own unique way of achieving or doing things. I was also able to use wordpress generally but at the end of the day I was not always satisfied because the situation was like me following a path that someone else has channeled for me to follow, it was like being boxed in some ways that someone had created, but I felt like I could create my own ideas and implement in different ways. Coming to Moat Academy has made me a freeman in the software development world
MA: how can you describe your experience at Moat Academy?
Jamiu: My experience in Moat Academy… If there has ever been any period in my life at a stretch that I have learnt new things on a daily basis, I think it’s my stay at Moat Academy. I learnt new things in an amazing ways; things that I felt would take me a life-time to achieve, I learnt within just two months. In fact, the way the lectures were being dished out and the way my brain actually grabbed those things is just like magnets connecting things together. Actually in Moat Academy, I have learnt programming languages that people used years to learn within two month. I learnt about HTML, CSS which are the basics, I also learnt core programming like JavaScript and PHP. I learnt all those things effectively and efficiently.
MA: What part of Moat Academy do you like most?
Jamiu: The part I actually enjoyed most is the part of PHP, I enjoyed the part when we got to “Function” – It is memorable to me because before then, anytime I saw codes in Function, I would immediately reject it, my brain rejected taking it, for months when I was previously learning programming, anytime I got to that topic, I would just go back… I had already told myself that “You cannot understand this part” but as soon as the topic was introduced at Moat Academy, it was just as if somebody had just introduced the most basic thing in programming to me, since then I love /enjoy writing codes using function – that part I think is one thing I cannot forget. Another thing I also want to say which makes me love Moat Academy is the fact that while we were training, I always reconnect to my first degree – we would always have something to do with logic and I always remember how I could connect my philosophical thoughts to what we were being taught.
MA: So far, what have you been able to achieve with the skills that you have acquired at Moat Academy?
Okay, part of the things I have achieved is first, I have developed an app which is one of my favorite app I call it “Zakat App” which I think can be used all over the world, the second thing I have also been able to achieve is an app that we developed in class, that is the latecomer app which can be used by any organization to capture the attendance of their staff.
My personal project is also worthy of mention – I developed a trainers hub… but away from all these projects, I think one thing that is core is the fact that I now have the capability and know that I can develop any kind of web products in the world. After awhile in Moat Academy, whenever I meet with some of my friends outside there and they show me some of the challenges they are having with their codes, I am able to understand and solve the problem. Just recently, I was only looking at a facebook bot, studying the new messenger bot introduced, and I was like “we can also come up with our own and design something in this respect”, before now, such thing couldn’t cross your mind, the joy of looking at codes and understand their meaning and also being able to interpret and think of doing things of that magnitude, I think it’s rewarding.
MA: you were part of the wining team of the United Nations (UN) hackathon, can you tell us how you heard about it and your experience at the hackathon
Jamiu: Smart Transit is the winning team in Lagos for the connect to effect UN hackathon 2017, getting to the event was through no other means than Moat Academy. I just saw an email from one of the directors of Moat Academy to us that we should register and apply for the event. If not for the training I have received, I wouldn’t have been confident enough to even apply to that kind of event.
But with the training and the encouragement I received from Moat Academy, I took that with me and attended the programme. To my amazement I participated with my other team mates and we presented the prototype we developed, an application whereby people will have access to smart information of transportation within their environment. We are currently building the final product peradventure we may have the opportunity to travel to the UN headquarters and present during one of their meetings this year.
I give all glory to God and I thank Moat Academy for teaching me some of the things I applied at the event and urging me to go ahead to apply it.
MA: What is the future outlook for you now with the skills you have armed yourself with in the Software Industry?
Jamiu: The future is very wide and we hope for greater and better things but one of the things I will like to do in the very near future is to launch some applications, within the next couple of weeks or months, I would like to have launched applications that will be use in different part of the world. I want to be able to work in software Development Company where we will be developing apps and solving people problems. The other thing I also want to do is to learn more about coding, first thing I learnt at Moat Academy is , there is need to unlearn, learn and relearn, so I have actually learnt new things moving forward I want to keep updating myself with newer technologies, programming skills and so on. I also want to be known as one of the best programmers in the world.
