Software Engineer Omotayo Madein Created a Path for Herself where None Existed

Now her circuitous, five-year journey is eventually starting to pay off. It was tinkering with apps and websites on her family’s desktop computer as a child that first spurred Omotayo Madein’s fascination for software. At secondary school, computer science was one of the subjects she preferred. But it was only when she began applying to university that the Lagos-based computer engineer considered channelling her love for all things computer into a career. In the last five years, Madein has worked for six different companies, moves she credits to her drive for self-improvement. But Nigeria is a country where tradition trumps unorthodoxy; she worried about coming off as unserious to potential employers, in spite of the fact that Nigeria’s nascent tech sector offered limited career options and graduate trainee opportunities for software engineers starting out. Madein was forced to carve out her own space, first by developing websites and games for friends. In addition, she began managing the social-media accounts of two small businesses. This was at a time when it was uncommon for firms to communicate directly with customers online. Today, she’s a technical designer at Microsoft so it’s not as if she’s on a drastically different career path.

SOURCE: TRUE AFRICA