I really don't know how to start this, but I have to tell the story nevertheless, this year has been really crazy for not just me but the whole world. This year has been a mixture of high and low, ups and down, with some pangs of low self-esteem and depression most of which came occassionally, a year of faliures and some success each in their own proportion.
Introduction..
This is not actually to motivate anyone or show what I have achieved though or show how unfortunate I was this year to attract sympathy of some kind. This is meant for my future self, my kids, my family and friends who would love to know how this year was for me Franklin Okolie, to my future self to show how strong I was despite all the challenges, I want my future self to look back at this article when he feels down and know he conqeured in this time so he can do it again. Dear Future Franklin, You can do it again and again. But if by in anyway this inspires a struggling soul out there or you reading this , then it is my uttermost pleasure.
January - March
I would call this the 3 most worst month for me in this year. Well here we go. I started the year with very high expectations, wrote a long list of things I wished to achieve in this year, like a very long list. This list have plan for every aspect of my life.
But little to my knowledge this would be the months of anxiety.
- I applied for Devcareers with very high hope to pass, but yes I failed and I had a pound of depression which I quickly got out off by God's grace , there was more ahead of me.
- Got tired of my Job as a primary school teacher, was extremely fustrated.
- Did some seed sowing in the church to water the year for me.
- Wrote a bunch of things iI would love to achieve in the year 2020.
- This same period when I was close to getting my salary for the Month of March, the Pandemic stroke, forcing the whole world to go into hiding. It was really bad for me, since I needed the money to start my savings to get a new pc to continue my journey in tech.
Got to know more tech stars and more tech stuffs and these guys inspired me and placed a burning fire in me, which I still feel till date.
Yes, this 3 months were really the worst months for me this year series of bad luck kept striking me like I offended some demon in my past life. But this months taught me :
How to accept faliure which is a crucial decision towards standing up and continuing your journey towards greatness.
It taught me how to embrace the possibilities that things don't always go as planned and it is okay.
Accept my lots and move, failing at devcareer continue to be one thing that haunted me throughout the whole month, because I refused to accept the possibilities, which in turn robbed me of my mental health.
There is more ahead that your eyes and heart can't see or feel, faliure is not the end of the road.
APRIL - JULY
I call these months, the months I knew what it means to strive for success, what it means to sacrifice for your progress and success. This month was filled with lots of sacrifice and me waiting so patiently for those sacrifices to yield results of which I wasn't sure of since the last 3 months has taught me never to expect things my way always. This month was filled with me working my ass off, yes in the pandemic, I :
Started home tutoring for parents who could afford since schools were closed.
Worked for almost free since I really needed money to get my savings complete to get a new PC, my old one was WHACK!!.
I went offline for almost 2 months for the first time in my life as i didn't want to spend money on data to maximize my savings. It was hard
I recieved insults of my life from different kind of parents who saw me as a hungry teacher. I once taught two kids whose mother refuse to pay for the second person for 3 months , on the 4th month I told her I can't teach again for free and she flared up and said so many things but some are 'You are after money, Don't know the little free you do will make me remember you in future and send help your way' , 'Even my children will grow up and help you in the future because you are teaching them for free'. So what she means is am meant to be where I am and wait for her kids to grow up and come to my aid. WOW!!!.
I taught computer lessons for N1000 and still recieved insult.
Got some funds to support my savings from the Tech communties, 4 developers and designers came to my aid, their names I will with-hold.
Recieved snubs and backlashes from different people since I was practically begging for money all over the internet.
Yes, this months has been the months of immense sacrifice and paitently waiting for the results. But it didn't go by without me learning :
Sacrifices are essesntial to attain success.
Success comes to those who work hard for them.
The poor man is the most insulted in the world.
Value yourself no matter who you are, the respect you give yourself is what others would also give to you.
I can't be poor for the rest of my life.
Good savings habit are gold mine everyone should have.
You would always reap what you sow. What would be would be, so work towards it and enjoy the process you would get there.
AUGUST - OCTOBER
I would like or should I say permit me to call this months the months of pressure and rush of the winds. Yes because that what it is , this months where filled with pressure to be better and level up all I have lost in the beginning of the year. This months was also the months of confusion and Impatience as I tried to be a senior developer in 3 months and get a Job.
Yes let laugh a little , things were crazy and speedy as I try to breeze through many tutorials at a time and learn all the tech tools in the tech space in 3 months. I was also months of fulfilment as my hard work and savings plus begging paid off for me. I :
Got my most desired PC, a Dell Corei5 processor with a 4GB Ram memory and a 320GB space. Is it small? Well that the least of my concern since it ran all the code I wrote and did all I wanted. I am typing this article from her. And I named her Monalissa. She is dear to my heart. I got her on August 18th 2020.
I started getting enaged in the tech community both on Twitter and on Facebook.
I started an Online Bootcamp to brush up what I have learnt in the last year since I haven't touched code in like 6 months.
I started posting my projects to the tech communties, 90% of which got bad reviews since I was still learning.
This months I crushed most of my career goals I listed in January.
This month was filled with low self-esteem as I saw projects and progress of other developers whom I stared before. This shot arrows into my heart always as I see their projects and sometimes cry and curse myself for being a dumb,un-creative idiot(and am not all these things).
And how can I forget, the months of sleepless night as I was trying to level up and get some kind of approval and validation from inner self and the tech communities.
The months that reminded me of my Devcareer faliure as I saw photos of the victors get their new brand PC.
The months the lockdown was lifted and I had to get back to my boring teaching Job, which tech was my only way out. My night life affected me at work as I would mostly sleep all day and this gives me guilty conscience as I was not doing my Job well.
The months where the youths of Nigeria stood up against the government bad governance and filled the streets, locked down the country and sent chilling down the spine of our government, as they knew they messed with the wrong generation. Yes am talking of the #EndSars protest that shook Nigeria.
The same months, the Federal Goverment opened fire on unarmed and peaceful protesters and murdered them at Lekki Toll Gate. A moment of slience for the lost souls
- The same months CSS gave me the roughest time in my career. Lol...
But this months did not without me learning:
Patience is a virtue we must all have in our career and life.
Software engineering and life in general is a marathon not a sprint, if you are reading this and feel like you are late or you aren't doing enough. Hey! relax it is a marathon not sprint and yes you are right on time, so chill.
Confusion and depression in career starts when you don't know your WHY and trying to be like everyone else.
Be yourself and stop imitating people, even the gurus started somewhere in their life.
Take your time and learn something, it is best to go depth to something than go wide. Keep that in mind.
I learnt to use others sucess as a fuel and motivation and not a means to depression.
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER.
The months of mastery, fufilment, purpose and exploration, this month was more of stepping stone for me into 2021, omo... this months was amazing. I met a lot of people, joined communities, participated in open-source, all this now changed who I was in the past months. This month was filled with:
Meeting amazing people who impacted me.
I launched a little company which failed due to some reasons.
I got really exposed to lot of things and knowledge that changed and refined me and my way of thinking.
I joined an open-source communities and got involved and by next year, i hope to be more active on them.
My CSS skills grew but i didnt make this up, the community told me , to show what I mean I built Netflix home page clone and also BuyFood homepage clone and many more which I can't write to avoid this article to become a bible.
Got exposed to enterpreneurship and it pains and benefits
Got a contract to work with a company leading me to build and maintain 2 websites for them. which are NewAsta and Atpayis. This Job led me to be exposed to vital management and communication skills as I worked on real life projects.
I became more focused and less confused about my career and life. I became calm and understood sucess is not overnight, unlike the previous month
More people in my immediate community knew me as a computer guy and web developer.
All my Pull request to open-source were merged.(Thing of Joy).
Got my first pay building websites for a company.
Was saved from a near death exeperince from kidnappers.
I am alive.
Started technical writing more seriously. Written some amazing articles. see here.
The End..
80% of my goals were crushed this year, but not without effort that I had to put in it, despite all my limitations. And one biggest lesson I learnt is : DO IT ANYWAY!!. Yes just do it, try and put effort and it would work out. Thanks for reading.
2021, THE YEAR WE GO PRO!!!!!!!!!!