Solving Hard Things: Femi Senjobi's Developer Journey

Before joining Andela, Femi Senjobi worked as a freelance developer, digital marketer, and content creator. "I worked mostly with WordPress. However, I build a number of applications from ground up using PHP/MySQL and frameworks like code igniter. I did a little bit of graphic designing, at least enough to pass my message.""First, it was one field I thought was exciting enough to task my creativity and problem-solving ability. I studied computer engineering and I thought hardware was a bit too clumsy for me. Software was the next best thing. Fewer people did software and I wanted to see what scared people away."

How did you learn to code?

My first shot at HTML was in 2008. I belonged to the media team of the Redeemed Christian Fellowship, Ago Iwoye, and we were responsible for the fellowship's website. We had training sessions by the Band Leader. Fast forward in 2010, I had a final year student (Segun Abisagbo) who sought me ought and gifted me with more videos and e-books than I will ever need in my life. Not sure I went through 20% of all the materials but that definitely gave me a head-start. I designed my first website after reading PHP, Javascript and MySQL for Dummies in 2010 during the prolonged ASUU strike. I then started to take on mini projects that earned me some stipends. Another huge leap for me was a tutorial organized by another senior colleague, Deji Bello, who taught us VB.net. I remember making some money helping other students figure out some basic problems.

What is your favourite thing about being a software developer?

It is the fact that you can be relevant in any field of endeavor. Everyone needs a developer. These skills are applicable to any field and profession. Software development is like a master key that can help transform any and every other profession.

Femi Senjobi's Tech Stack?

Femi Senjobi's tech stack is Ruby on rails and React.js, and he's built or collaborated on the following projects:- An event management application- A flight booking application- A customer referral system- An Automated farm project with Raspberry PI and Adruino kit- A multi-level marketing application- A salary calculator that uses state and country averages for your occupation to compute likely salary. It also features a visual map of your current state using D3.jshttps://youtu.be/WZ3pdqbTwAsFemi is open to mentoring newbie developers, and he can be reached on Twitter:@femisenjobi