The Power of Creating: Fabrice Nkaka's Developer Journey

Fabrice Nkaka was 10 years old when he first fell in love with computers. His earliest fascination? Microsoft Paint - Fabrice thought it was,in his own words, "...some kind of magic." His mother had a borrowed computer on which she worked on writing memoirs at the time, and it was on that computer that Fabrice developed an affinity to build things. Well, he logged in a good amount of Solitaire play time too. Today, he is a software engineer at Andela and isamong the pioneering set of software engineers hired at Andela Kigali, our first pan African hub.I had a conversation with him to talk about his journey to building a career in software.

How did you learn to code?

I learned to code during my time in high school. I did a concentration in computer science and I proceeded further to study Information Technology at university. Because I already started to learn in high school, it was quite easy to get better at it while in university. It might be relevant to mention that the academic program isn't really designed to teach you how to code, as many of my classmates can't exactly code - even though they may have a working knowledge of Computer Science. I reached out to and learned from mentors and seniors around me (Calving Mugabo, Issa Kaduri, and Placide Mukwende), and ensured that I got some real-time market experience in between semesters. (I worked for two local companies at the time - as an IT Support Engineer for one and as a Graphic & Static Website Designer for the other.)

What is your favourite thing about being a software developer?

It has to be the feeling you get from being able to create or to be part of a team that can create something that can change, transform, and improve the lives of many people for the better.

What is your tech stack?

React Js, Express Js & Node Js and Vue Js.

What are the products you've built or are collaborating on that you're most proud of?

I worked on a mobile application that tracks the nearest forex bureau with the fairest exchange rates.********************************Fabrice is on Twitter as @fabnkakaIV, and is open to mentoring newbie software engineers.