#169 Amarachi Amaechi went from accounting to writing about her developer career

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Amarachi Amaechi 0:00
Yeah, I know we all struggle amongst at some point in time, but my was actually eating me up. And he sat me down. And he told me about his own story. And then I realized that everyone is actually struggling. So you just have to own it up and just show up every day and just realize that yes, tech is challenging, but at the end of the day, it actually pays just for you not to give up and just keep pushing.

Tim Bourguignon 0:31
Hello, and welcome to developer's journey, the podcast, bringing you the making of stories of successful software developers to help you on your upcoming journey. I'm your host team building you on this episode 169. I receive Ammachi amici. He is a self taught front end developer who is passionate about building tools for developers. She speaks at conferences worldwide, and also organizes the meetup, Vue js, Nigeria. And finally, she's also the author of the book, Getting Started in tech, a guide to building a tech career. I'm Archie, welcome to the afternoon. Thank you. But before we come to your story, I want to thank the terrific listeners who support the show every month, you are keeping the dev journey lights up. If you would like to join this fine crew and help me spend more time on finding phenomenal guests then editing audio tracks, please go to our website, Dev journey dot info and click on the Support me on Patreon button. Even the smallest contributions are giant steps toward a sustainable dev journey. journey. Thank you. And now back to today's guests. As you know, the show exists to help the listeners understand what's your story look like and imagine how to shape their own future. So as always, let's go back to your beaming, shall we? Where would you place the start of your day afternoon?

Amarachi Amaechi 2:07
Okay, thank you so much. I'm sorry, I'm gonna place the start of my death Korea, I'll say 2020 which is actually last year. Okay, because I, I started like writing like HTML audits while I was in final year in school. And I was like, swings, the nice thing, but basically in the whole year, I was just doing it on my free time because I had like finite projects to work on. And so many other stuffs doing three school like my degree exams. I know that so coding wasn't something I was really taking seriously. It's just so nasty in my spare time. Maybe one hour a week or so as a week. So yeah, I finished strength nights in November and then I had to like pick up peripherally. So ces 2020 was like the start of my Def Jam.

Tim Bourguignon 2:58
Did you have the idea of going into devilment did you have other ideas at that time? Was it always the first choice? Or was it in your in your head? Okay, so

Amarachi Amaechi 3:07
I studied accounting in school. So I already knew that, okay, development is what I wanted to wear after school. So when I came out of school, I didn't even bother looking for like jobs and accounting because I've done that in the past while I was in school, and they didn't work out for me. So I was like, Okay, once I'm out of school, I'll have to focus on this new career, but I'm actually taking Yeah, so that was

Tim Bourguignon 3:33
okay. So you finish this accounting school anyway, to finish your degree, but then changed direction right away?

Amarachi Amaechi 3:41
Yes, yes.

Tim Bourguignon 3:42
Okay. How did you decide on this particular direction? And then amongst the plethora of pathways that there is into software development, how did you choose that one?

Amarachi Amaechi 3:53
Okay. Actually, it was a friend of mine actually motivated me to go into coding, his name is Praveen and I was on holiday. And I remember like my school, they're gonna give you like three months to go out and do like internship every day. So I went out I was looking for like accounting internship. I couldn't get one. And so I remember having friends during that was like, whenever I go visit him, he's always like coding and all that. And I'm like, What's the stuff you're doing? And so on that fateful day, I was kind of like, frustrated. And I remember I had a laptop that had virus. So I felt like okay, I called him I was like, Okay, can I come to your show? Because I have a virus on my system. And then I went to shove I was telling my problems that okay, this is what I'm actually facing right now. This is like a month into the three months my school gave me for internship and I can't even figure out what I wanted to do. And then he was like, why don't I just learn another skill? That will actually benefits me? And I was like, I don't know what to ask you. Can I learn out here Like, okay, you can join me in doing what I am currently doing. He's a back end Dev. But I was like, What's exactly are you doing? I said, Okay, he, he does back eight hours. Sometimes he does front end. And then he was able to like, just show me one or two, one or two stuff on the web. And I that was I picked interest and registered for some classes online. And yeah, that was how you started. And I fell in love with front end and six, it's

Tim Bourguignon 5:27
okay. So did you get that correctly for the three month, then you did classes online instead? And really started learning whatever you could, with the help of that friend to guide you a little bit from right and left?

Amarachi Amaechi 5:40
Yes. So basically, my school is not going to record or penalize you for not doing internship, they just allow you to do it's for your own good now, because there's like a grid attached to it. So yeah, I was free to do anything I wanted to during the whole day. Yes.

Tim Bourguignon 5:57
That is cool. That is cool. I've never heard of that. The the internships I did, where were mandatory with some reports and very formal, there was no free time to explore it was well, you have to work.

Amarachi Amaechi 6:11
For accounting, we don't have like the main internship that like other people have, we only get internship during the normal holidays. So they just look at the holidays, than just spending doing nothing, just go ahead and learn or go protocolized accounts because in school we use like paper pencil, or paper and barrel to like balance accounts, but in real life, you have to use like a competent software's and all that. So we know common sense with all these. So they tell us like go out and learn it before coming back to school. So yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 6:48
Okay, so how did you figure out during the three months, that front end was your stuff? And not back end? Or mobile or something else? How did you come to this realization?

Amarachi Amaechi 6:59
Okay, because that was actually what my friend introduced me to. And when I still learning it, and yeah, I picked interest. And I had other opportunities to like, explore that field ball. When I tried exploring design at the time. I wasn't good with colors. I know that I had like, secret front end for a while. And yeah, I felt alone from the inside. So it's like, yeah, just hang around for the meantime.

Tim Bourguignon 7:26
Okay, how did you get introduced to front end? There are many ways to go into front end. Which, which which tools did you use? Which, which method? Which, which online platforms? Can you tell us more about that?

Amarachi Amaechi 7:37
Udemy I remember my friend pay for Udemy course for me. So I think that was like the first Yeah. Introduction Udemy them sometimes YouTube videos, because there are lots of videos on there. So yeah, either me or YouTube videos was actually what I used to, like, get started.

Tim Bourguignon 7:54
Okay, and just one when Udemy course was enough to get you passionate and rolling. And then the rest is history.

Amarachi Amaechi 8:01
Yes. Because the cars were kind of like particles. So I was seeing what I was seeing. So yeah, that was how I like just picked up from there. Yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 8:12
Wow. That is cool. Congratulations. When you reach the end of the three months was your degree over? Did you have to come back to four Well,

Amarachi Amaechi 8:23
that was that was the the three months was before I ate that final year. So when I got into my final year, which is like my fourth year in school, I had to like the three months was our whole day, before the final year. So after the holiday was over, I went back to school to like, start a new section, which was like my final year in school. Yeah, so I had to like, drop what I was doing, which was like the coding I picked up during the whole so I had to stop for a while because school was becoming so demanding. So I only do coding maybe my free time during weekends and all that so yeah, that was how it started.

Tim Bourguignon 9:02
How was it to have to balance this this coding on the side that that's that's

Tim Bourguignon 9:07
it was because I know that I sometimes when I see people doing it while in school, I really like get excited and happy for them because for my on my own path. It wasn't that easy. Most time I want to like code. I remember that I have a lot of things to cover in my my book and I'll be like, I'll ask myself this question I'll say if I actually don't read my accounting books, and then I write my exams and I feel I have to come back on Australia to write this for coding can always wait sports my degree can't wait. So does well. I had to like use engage in it. So most of the time I have to like do coding during weekends, if I have the time. So then it was just more like a hobby or those I just don't decide and it wasn't anything serious.

Tim Bourguignon 10:47
Do you think that having it like, like you said, not a serious thing made it more enjoyable for a while not having the pressure of succeeding just just discovering like this? Or was it a hindrance? Do you have both at the same time?

Amarachi Amaechi 11:00
I feel like maybe if I had figured out a way to balance it all? It is I've actually been better. Maybe I would have been like, how do I put this now? Maybe I would have learned so much from what I know now. If I balance the two of them, but it's still fair, because yeah, it allowed me to focus on like most products and at that time, so yeah,

Tim Bourguignon 11:21
okay. Fair enough. So when you came out of school, university, I'm not sure what that was, how did you start searching for first job or to start put a foot into this coding this professional coding world.

Amarachi Amaechi 11:37
So I came out of school November, and I wasn't school in Lagos as of that time. So I was going on fire from Lagos, but I finally stay in Lagos. So November when I was done with like, my exams, my project, defense and everything. So I moved back to Lagos. And I realized that okay, if I know, I want to, like take this coding stuff serious. I have to like, start putting all my learning together. Because all this way, I've just been learning some stuff. And most of the time, because I'm not consistent, I forget, loosen stuff. So period of November to like, January, I was just doing some kind of revisits in trying to, like, make sure that all the stuff I learned while in school, like still sick. And so by January, I knew that, okay, this is a new year does January 2020. I said, Okay, this is a new year, and I really don't want to go half of this year. And when started my career, like professionally, so I was like, Okay, what do I do to actually serve this? And then a thought came and said, Okay, why don't you put out a tweet out there telling people that you actually open for a row? So I was like, Okay, that makes sense. So I think second of January 2020, I made a tweet. I said, Okay, some of my goals are love to like, achieve this year, I did that just to keep myself accountable. And then one of them was actually to get a job in tech, not an accountant, this time around Bo to get a job in tech. And then and I listened some other stuff like speaking engagement and rights. And I know that which I was able to achieve that. So when I've made that read, I also like cross posted on LinkedIn. And then someone reached out to me on LinkedIn, I was like, Oh, hey, I saw your post on LinkedIn. And yeah, a company. Our companies are currently hiring a front end themselves like, Oh, cool. And then he linked to the HR or something my see me. They called me for interview and yeah, obviously, they said, I don't have experience, because yeah, I haven't worked in tech. And then I've just learned to like human. So I had to like stuff a master sheet level to learn. I know that Yeah. So that was just how the whole thing started.

Tim Bourguignon 13:43
That is so cool. That is so cool. It started with a tweet on LinkedIn folks. Awesome. How did you feel putting yourself out there knowing that you're at the very beginning, but you have to put yourself out there, you have to make a first step. How did it feel internally,

Amarachi Amaechi 13:59
but I just felt like if I put it out there, I'll be able to like keep myself accountable. So I just did it. I did it. Really, I didn't even know that someone was actually going to reach out to me and help me. I just did it just to keep myself accountable. But then at the same time, it's bollocks. Me. So yeah, I feel that after you do.

Tim Bourguignon 14:20
Awesome, so he's always a nice side effect. Yeah. Very cool. So you got this. How did this all start there? You've been learning on your own for a few months. And suddenly you're part of an organization you're developing with others, probably with people guiding you. How did this all feel? How did this discovery go?

Amarachi Amaechi 14:44
It was really, really like awesome, because when I got into like the same as like the youngest, like when I meet you guys, like the junior dev day and I was like, they give me my first thoughts. And then he wants the Should I just say our Lee I was trying to like test out my ability in front end. So he gave me my first pass. And then the next night I was rushing to go use Bootstrap. To do the CSS. I was like, Why? Why Bootstrap? I was like, because I can't be without Bootstrap. I got started to use infrastructure. And he was like, no, no, no, that helps to like, learn how to like use plain CSS and all that before moving into a framework. So I had to like, start from the very beginning of learning. I still learning what can we put plain CSS, and then I got introduced into tailwind and all that. And so that was how I started, lens, my JavaScript, and view and notes and all that. So yeah, just really an awesome journey.

Tim Bourguignon 15:41
That is really, really thoughtful of him to I assume it was a him. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't sure I picked that. Right. So it was very thoughtful of him saying, hey, no, leave bootstrap bag. Let's come back to the basics and, and understand how CSS really is working first, and then we'll take some shortcuts and use use tailwind or use Bootstrap or use whatever. Did it help you to come back to this basics and then step up to tailwind or something else?

Amarachi Amaechi 16:09
Yes, yes, it's held Because currently, I really don't struggle with this as much, though now I'm actually addicted to it, because just makes life easy. But at the same time, it actually helps. I really don't struggle that much. Like I used to struggle with CSS. So I just CSS like I know some stuff right now on like before, so it actually did help.

Tim Bourguignon 16:34
Did you do that with JavaScript as well?

Amarachi Amaechi 16:36
Yes, exactly. JavaScript was I've been in my ass so yeah, I he actually would mature JavaScript. I know that. So yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 16:48
That is very helpful. It must have been painful. I agree. But they're thoughtful again. And so now. Now you moved up to, to, to view or react to something

Amarachi Amaechi 16:58
is view I noticed in the company. So yeah, I had to learn view. I think I tried to learn react one time during the old depot. It was kind of like difficult, like sticking but when I started an interview, it's just skim, and then everything just entered freely. So yeah, we use really got down it was really awesome. So when I say use interview any company, and Darren, I was looking for like a community interview. So I can like because I was like this, this, this so is actually very awesome. The framework is awesome. So what when the community that actually like running this whole stuff, and then yeah, they're international bodies during this book. I didn't find any community locally. So I was like, Oh, this is such a great framework for dentistry community around so I had to, like reach out to Syria, sir, I do, which is whether the view quotes him and I was like, Hi, Sarah, that there is actually new view, quotes him and I would love to like create one view, Nigeria. And I would love to create one if it's possible. And then she linked me with Ben, who is like the committee, community lead or something for view. So yeah, that was how have you just Nigera came about?

Tim Bourguignon 18:10
So you created Vue js, Nigeria, with just barely one year of experience under your belt?

Amarachi Amaechi 18:17
It's I was, it's less than like, yes. So most of the writing view doesn't agree that we just Nigeria, because when I checked the requirement of person, they said, You don't need to be an XPath. That was what they said. And so that was just allows after I just said, Okay, I don't need to be an expert. I'm still learning. So let's just create a community where we can all learn together. Yeah, that was I created it.

Tim Bourguignon 18:41
That is awesome. That is really cool. What attracted you towards communities? Have you had you been part of tech communities before?

Amarachi Amaechi 18:48
Yeah, sure. So before this, my last engagement was with Women Who Code Nigeria Lagos, actually. So I'll smell like an evangelist for them on social media. Talk about bigger talk about talk about how they fix it talk about all our events happening, though we had like one fiscal events in January before like January last year Before COVID came in and pushed everybody to like virtual so yeah, I was a network evangelist and are part of community I also really common bubble. I participate conferences, I Valencia and some other stuff. Yeah. So I've always been very committed.

Tim Bourguignon 19:24
That is cool. And I know the communities in Lagos have a very, very active. It's a booming place. It's very impressive. I've had a few guests from Legos already. So I've had a hint in that. But what could you expand a little bit on what you did as an organizer to so that people can can understand what an organizer does and why it's totally okay for a junior developer to be organizer for tech conference, or tech community. So

Amarachi Amaechi 19:49
when I started just Nigeria, I really didn't know what I wanted to do, Adam because I felt I couldn't do this whole stuff alone. And yeah, I've already reached out to Ben. Ben has given me the go ahead and things I need to like do to be the organizer, we just Nigeria and yeah, I first thing I had to do was like to create a meetup group. It's without accounts and some other stuff where we can actually post up. But then I realized that only me can't lead like money to whole community and all that. So because we need a graphics person that will be helping us put out like graphics contents we need, like, I needed people around to just help me so my friend was like, why don't you make it sweet? Definitely, like people are always there to help. The company is always here to help. So I made it sweet. And I was like, Okay, I just did every just Nigeria and I really can't do it alone. So if you want to join me pushing this stuff forward, so yeah, a lot like a lot like my gems was like, so full, I had to just pick one or two. So I ended up with like su Astra Vue js team member, and then one graphics person. So we ended up being like four quarts a month recently, someone else added joined us. So we are like five and the courts seem so together. We've been like Journey heads together. And CO organizer. We just Nigeria. Yes. So

Tim Bourguignon 21:17
that is cool. And it started with a tweet again. Yes, yes. I see a trend. Yeah. Very cool. That was just before COVID. Right. No,

Amarachi Amaechi 21:32
we just Nigeria started just November last year.

Tim Bourguignon 21:36
Okay, so that was during COVID.

Amarachi Amaechi 21:40
fiscally, we had to, like seek to veto events, which we'll have to like consider doing for now to maybe towards the end of the year, if other community starts in a holding fiscal meetup. And we see that okay, it's actually safe to go out there, then we'll move to fiscal location.

Tim Bourguignon 21:58
Did it help you to find to find guests from from from other countries to to participate in the meetup and do some exchange?

Amarachi Amaechi 22:05
Yes. So you guessed from other countries? Yeah, I think we've have quite a few speakers from another country. So what we did was we just put out like a speaker directory for people who I, we don't discriminate. So even if you're a first time speakers, second time, or you anyhow, so just fill in the form. And then every month, we'll reach out to you. So most of the people that fill the form, just like Nigeria, and so sometimes if we want to have international speakers, we have to like reach out to them. And okay, we are dividuals, Nigeria committee, and we would love to have you on board to speak and all that. So if they are free to speak for that month, then we go ahead if they're not free reschedule for another month. So yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 22:48
That is That is very cool. That's very cool. Are you still part of other communities while you're focusing on on this one?

Amarachi Amaechi 22:54
So visits? I'm focusing on this one right now, because it's not easy, like running in one or two communities. I just have to like, focus on this for now.

Tim Bourguignon 23:04
You mentioned you, you are giving talks as well. When did you start? What was the the trigger to start giving out your knowledge like this? Yes,

Amarachi Amaechi 23:12
the trigger was from a friend of Bina. So he was my he wasn't my school. He's also a developer. He was in high school. And then he reached out to me that okay, there's this community called for the pinnacle. And they are looking for his female speaker to give a talk and I was like, Amina, I don't have anything to say, I have never spoken in my whole life because I remember growing up, and then if they call me to say my name, I can even start crying in front of the crowd because I was so shy, and you know, organizer telling me to come and speak in front of people. I was like, open, I don't want anything. I can't even say anything, please. It was like, Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just give it a try. Give it a try. And then I was like, okay, as I remember, my first thought was building let me see I'm coming. Let me check my portfolio. My first step was yes, breaking into the tech ecosystem, which is also like what i Something similar to my book. So that was actually my first joke how people can like break into like tech and all that so and yeah, I believe I did. Awesome. Because yeah, a lot of people give it about that. Oh, for a first timer. You did great. And I was like, whoo. And from day after my speaking engagement as those a guy they're called, could be scored based, I don't know, reached out to us and told us that Oh, Sarah Dresner loved you guys. Speak speech. Like we're about three that spoke for the first time and she will love you guys to come speak at concatenate conference. And I was like, whew, because concatenate conference was like the biggest conference in Nigeria. And it was going to be so big. And I was like, oh, so that was actually like the beginning of my whole speaking journey. And then yeah, gave the go kart Summit Conference. And yeah,

Tim Bourguignon 25:02
Good job. You mentioned your book. Did did the idea of the book start with the stock? No. How do you do?

Amarachi Amaechi 25:11
So the idea of the book started when I got the job, and then I made it sweet. I Yeah. So it is, it is just where I find my recipe. I really see that I actually just got the job. Like from an accounting student working as a front end developer, like it was really awesome for me, and I had to make it sweet. And then the tweets blew, I got a lot of impressions. And then my exam was a mess. Everyone accent Oh, I'm from the finance field. So how did you do it? How did you do it? How did you do it? If I'm not mistaken? I received about 100 DMS, if not more than how did you do it? And I was like, Okay, I tried my best to like reply everyone bought, then I noticed that they might keep replying, the more, I could get some more gym. So I quickly. I've never written an article my whole life. So I have I logged into medium because I knew as of the end, I was like, wherever we go, right. I logged into medium and and just wrote some quick stuff about how I transitioned. Yeah, it was I was under pressure. So I will. Right now I'm not reimbursed. So thyroid depo. Yeah, I just had to do some quick stuff, so that anyone asks him any question. I don't need to like, type to explain for them. I just sent him the link there. Okay, I just wrote some stuff that you can actually read. But I felt like that wasn't enough. Because people kept asking me, how did you do it? How do you did it? How did you do it? And then that was like, last year, so the thought actually came after the twins born, I removed it. But then I realized that in a week I can get like two DMS of how did you do it? Oh, I'm trying to study take Korea and I don't know where to start? Can you recommend resources for me? I know that I kept on answering this question until last year, November. Right now I started I thought about that. I was like, Okay, this question is actually becoming too much. Is there a way I can sit my eyes down and actually, like, work out something for anyone who wants to get into take on just comparisons and everything. And then that was how the whole idea came about. But you know, procrastination will make me starts I procrastinated from November to December. It was January, which was this year. I was like, Okay, this is a new year, we have to stop procrastinating and have to do the work. And so that was I stopped writing by January. Yes.

Tim Bourguignon 27:35
Let me guess You put a tweet out there to have some accountability. And then you had to do it.

Amarachi Amaechi 27:39
Well, no. Need a do I have. Okay, wait. Yes, you're right. Oh, my God. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, that is true. By December, I wanted to know if people were actually going to be interested in my book. And I was like, before I start writing, it's more like, you know, you call it user research. And oh, that boy, yeah. So I was trying to do research to see if people are going to be interested. And then I wanted the situation whereby this who are going to be interested, I can actually help them transition while writing so and see where they're having difficulties and use their like, problem to find the solution. Why just like writing down everything. So yeah, you're right, I put out a tweet in December and I was like, Oh, you could sneeze. I was like I just remember I actually forgot to tweet. I was like, if you want to start the current editor and so on, this is like December I you know, a lot of people want to start a new thing in the new year. So I was like, if you want to start a career in 2021 and a tech career in specific instances one I might have something for you. So I was just hoping for like maybe 10 people to just reach out to me and say oh, we're interested in this though. So all I wanted was just 10 people then I would just write map out their name have weekly calls with them and all that and see where they're actually struggling that was actually my plan and see where they are struggling and prefer solution to them why also like writing down all their struggles answering their questions in my book. So that was the plan and then boom. The tweet blew like I couldn't handle it like the to do so much. My DM was a mess. Like my Christmas my new year I spent it answering Twitter DMS which was crazy. And then that was I realized that Okay, actually, people are actually interested in this book. And then I was now regretting why I probably didn't put out my pre order stuff that year because the way you treat the event said okay, even though you're trying to like start a career in tech, I have a book coming up you can put your dates against them, but because I didn't put that to mind all I was just a dress and it was to know if I should do One starts this bookstore for two and then yeah, I love it. We shouldn't dress Oh, we can't wait. We can't wait to can't wait to come wait. So I started applying some people i i picked the first time that I reached out to me and told the rest. Okay, I can't take more. Boy Yeah. So I asked them some few questions and asked them to just like don't miss where they are struggling or any question you feel like they want to add someone but you don't have anyone to ask. And that was how like some asked some probably didn't reply my DMs again. I know that. So yeah, that was how it all started. And yes, they're writing. Yes.

Tim Bourguignon 30:35
Big smile on my face. It's a nice story. Having some kind of some kind of page and building up a newsletter or being a big

Amarachi Amaechi 30:46
mistake I made. I didn't build a newsletter. And that's where I just like to like struggle to get those people that actually like, how would I fix this though, actually interacted with that tweet, because if I had a newsletter, then I would have said, Okay, I have something coming up. And you can sign up and I'll let you know when it's out. I didn't because I didn't think about how useful it's going to be. So till now, most of the people that reply that tweet, I can't even reach out to them. Because min DM is like down, down, down, down down. It's gonna take a long process to reach out to everyone individually. So yeah, that's another thing I missed out. So if you're trying to like write a book or something, just try and have a newsletter, where people can actually subscribe if why you're riding.

Tim Bourguignon 31:33
As you said, you were expecting 10 people. So imagine that it would blow up like this. That is a very nice idea to get 10 people and kind of mentor them through their their transition. Experience down

Amarachi Amaechi 31:49
stolen. Yeah, I should have been like, should I say mentored them because I started writing like January yet my book took me three months to write. So I started in January. And let's January was when I was scheduled to like have these calls with these people. And then COVID game, I had to wait for a period of time. So I had to like, stop. I couldn't like interact anyone I could override for some period of time. So most of them I lost touch with most of them. It was just the few I was still in touch with I reach out once in a while and ask them if there's anything you want me to help them with, like questions. I know that there wasn't like a one on one phone call mentorship, the way I had it planned wasn't the way it actually turned out. Yeah, so a lot of things came and scattered the whole plan, Bo, I just tried to reach out to them once in a while to see if there's anything they need, like resources. If there's any question they want to answer. I know that boy, I didn't think I had the time to like, do a one on one call with anyone. Which is something that I'm really sorry about boy, yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 32:54
Did you get to do to get some feedback after the book came out? And do you have enough material for book too now?

Amarachi Amaechi 33:00
Oh, I got I got a lot of feedback from different people I got, I'm still getting feedback from people. And these days. The good thing about this book, The tinny, soft for me personally, is the fact that once you just come into my team, oh, I want to start a project management course or product management course or I want to go into UX design, please can you recommend or I want to go into front end carrier commercial system, you're like, Okay, go pick up my book. If then you say okay, I don't have money to like get the book or something. So there's this notion page where I put all my resources I divided them into like different carriers like front end hazards and resources, back end, hazard resources, UX design, and all that program management, product management and all that. So if you feel like okay, you can't get my book, maybe because of financial, whatever. So I just give you the direct link to just the AVC xe for front end, because I just go they pick up the front end course then share the link with you. So you can only assess the front end and see the resources that can actually help you skill tree. So yeah, that's right,

Tim Bourguignon 34:10
first of all, awesome. Those are good tools you're doing so so so people from every background can can at least have some help in the in this regard. This was very, very helpful. Do you feel it? Now? Something like it's six months when you're down the line? You would write some parts differently, you would revisit some parts of the book.

Amarachi Amaechi 34:30
Yeah, so sincere, I would say because of how long it actually took me to write. Alright, and I don't think I have the capacity to sit there right. For that long and more for maybe Volume Two, or I don't know I have no idea for now. I have no idea because right now this one is solving what I wanted to solve for now. I don't think I have any idea well, because there was a time I had the thought of like starting a community for like people who are trying to get into take boat. It's going to take a lot of my time. I know that so I'd say to just let it go. So for now, I don't think I'm writing any book for now. No volume. Yeah. Read that again, then I can just speak up and stats. Yeah. Oh, for now, I don't think so.

Tim Bourguignon 35:22
Fair enough. As a person who has tried to write a couple books already, I know the time investment. That's, that's, that's an endeavor in itself. But you mentioned building community.

Amarachi Amaechi 35:35
Yes, around your book? Yes. Because I see a lot of like, junior devs struggling, like, there are no community Jack communities out there. But I want that to a situation whereby everyone would just be in one place, then I want that to also have the idea of like, sourcing for jobs for junior devs. Like just the IT community, we're gonna have like our website. And also Yeah, a lot of people are doing it, but I wanted to take it upon myself to actually like to Dad's source for jobs strictly for junior devs ever, like tech arasan. Like that requires you to be like soy sauce for jobs be crazy, like resources from the social media and every other place, maybe courses that can actually new courses that can help them skill talks that can help them like, like all this other stuff. But then, after thinking it twice, I realized that this can actually be a full time job on its own. So I was like, not sure I will be able to cook. It's, it's yeah, oh,

Tim Bourguignon 36:43
you have to make it your full time job.

Tim Bourguignon 36:50
No, not interested? No. I'm sure there's going to be a tweet at some point. And then it's gonna blow up.

Tim Bourguignon 37:03
Okay, so if you're not trying to build this community, where are you trying to go, you know, in the near to meet future?

Amarachi Amaechi 37:10
To start my own like company or be a co founder? Yes.

Tim Bourguignon 37:16
Do you have an idea in which where you want to go with what you want to do with this company?

Amarachi Amaechi 37:21
Oh, yeah. wants to do I want to be coding, obviously, I don't want to like code or do like programming the long run. So I want to go back into the business world.

Tim Bourguignon 37:30
Okay? You mean accounting for that? Or you mean?

Amarachi Amaechi 37:33
Like, just managing businesses and all that stuff? Yes. But we know that knowledge of accounting is actually needed there. So yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 37:42
Did you research a bit in this in this bridge between between coding and accounting? Could you could you make could you enhance your developer profile with your knowledge of accounting and find the sweet spot in between?

Amarachi Amaechi 37:57
Are you asking if there's like a relationship between our similarities between them? Is that Well, yeah,

Tim Bourguignon 38:03
not not, not not really, you have a whole bunch of knowledge in accounting. And so if you're not using this as a developer, then it's a whole bunch of skills that you are leaving on the sidelines and not using and so if you could find a place where you could be coding but using the skills that would make your profile even more interesting,

Amarachi Amaechi 38:25
I feel like that should we I can actually use my accountant knowledge because as I said, my content knowledge is just what I read there was actually no practicals so like the real world experience I didn't get it so yeah, so basically it's just read read read read read stuff I read online books and all that so something that was still in my head to like whenever I'm ready to use it's here

Tim Bourguignon 38:52
yeah, if you create your company that will definitely help you Okay, so let's go back to this transition if you were to create this, this or not this company this this community for for juniors strictly for juniors I haven't I have the title already strictly for juniors what would be the one advice that you would like to give all the juniors if there was one advice that you wanted to give them

Amarachi Amaechi 39:16
the one advice I'm going to give it yes getting into take as people may say it is that oh, committed to come to deck started that car? It's actually really challenging. Yes, it is. Not everyone will tell you that this challenging because I remember there was a point in my life like last year, I wanted to like stop I wanted to like give up I wanted to just go back to accounting I remember crying sometimes I'll wake up crying and I have to like stuck with him for a while. I couldn't I couldn't go cool. And then I had to reach out to like someone who's more senior and like, explain myself to him. I was like, This is what I'm actually doing. I'm actually struggling. Yeah, I know. We all struggle amongst at some point in time for my was actually eating me up and he sat me down and He told me about his own story. And then I realized that everyone is actually struggling. So you just have to own it up and just show up every day and just realize that yes, tech is challenging, but at the end of the day, it actually pays. So it's just for you not to give up and just keep pushing. That's just

Tim Bourguignon 40:19
it indeed. Thank you very much. That's nice advice. So where can people find you online? If they wanted to start a discussion in your DMS and 1000s that drown in your DM?

Amarachi Amaechi 40:32
Actually, I'm very much activity and yeah, Twitter.

Tim Bourguignon 40:38
And when will either link to channels or anything else you can want to plug you want to plug before we call today?

Amarachi Amaechi 40:44
My boom? Take, it's actually very helpful with tons and tons of resources to actually help you and a lot more job boards and so many other stuff that can actually help you get started. Yeah, right. I think I did about 20 cars, or 19 cars and take coding or non coding, design, technical writing, tech, sales, technical recruiting, and so many other stuff. So it's not just coding that we have in tech, we have a lot more like ours in tech. So yeah, it's going to be helpful to anyone who is actually starting the carrier or who wants to, but doesn't have an idea of where to start. So yeah.

Tim Bourguignon 41:26
Very nice idea. And we'll add a link to the show notes as well, so then people can find it directly. Awesome. I love it. Thank you very much for sharing your story with us. Thank you for having me. Oh, it was my pleasure. And this has been another episode of the oppressed journey, and we see each other next week. Bye bye. Thanks a lot for tuning in. I hope you have enjoyed this week's episode. If you like the show, please share rate and review. It helps more listeners discover those stories. You can find the links to all the platforms to show appears on on our website, Dev journey dot info slash subscribe. Creating the show every week takes a lot of time, energy, and of course money. Will you please help me continue bringing out those inspiring stories every week by pledging a small monthly donation, you will find our patreon link at Dev journey dot info slash donate. And finally don't hesitate to reach out and tell me how this week story is shaping your future. You can find me on Twitter at @timothep ti m o th e p or per email info at Dev journey dot info. Talk to you soon.