Meet Adebayo Ayodele, 2021 Africode Community Champion!
The title of Community Champion is bestowed on one Africode member who has made exemplary contributions to the community. This person has a long track-record of creating value in the Africode community by sharing resources, connecting with members and leveraging the network in their pursuit of technical excellence.
Ayodele is currently pursuing a diploma in Computer Science at the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Nigeria. His strong interest in exploring new technologies led him to start writing about technologies he encountered. He is the author of a top-50 most read technical blogs on Hashnode.
About Adebayo:
I am a native of Oke-Opin in Kwara state, Nigeria. Growing up, I was the second child and only boy of my parents’ four children. I graduated from TIIDELab in 2020 as the Best Graduating Student while still pursuing my National Diploma in Computer Science at the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Nigeria. When I'm not coding, I enjoy historical research and writing, playing volleyball and dancing.
How did you get started in Tech?
I have always wanted to become a Computer Scientist ever since my teacher said, “computers can communicate without human help” back in primary school, which made me decline non-computer science admission offers from universities, and I am always happy I did.
I started blogging as a way to keep myself in check with my newly acquired skills while pursuing my degree and searching for a full time job. I actually enjoyed writing stories before I started developing interest in writing about the technologies that I used, which led to having my personal technical blog on Hashnode at unclebigbay.com. My blog content has brought it to be ranked among the top 50 must read tech blogs, my blog has been between #19 and #21 ever since. This has really opened more opportunities for networking connections and freelance gigs, and I finally realized I want to continue doing this.
How did you find out about Africode and why did you choose to become part of the program this year?
After my 6 months training at Tiidelab, a software development training program, I was left with so many decisions to make regarding school and job offers. At that point I knew that I needed someone to guide me, and luckily for me Onyedikachi, another Tiidelab participant and Africode's 2020 Mentee of the year, introduced Africode to me, and I am so happy today that I took it up.
What did you enjoy about the Africode program this year / What helps you stay active and engaged with the africode community?
Every moment with my mentor was always an exciting one due to his open-mindedness and the quality of feedback he gave me. My mentor made room for me to feel more comfortable asking him questions as an introvert, getting answers and advice and trying out new things.
What is something you have learned from the program that you can take back to your academic/professional life?
Mentorship is a two way street; you learn as you teach and guide. I also realized that everyone needs people to help them grow at some point. This realization is why I came up with “UncleBigBay and Friends”, a community of developers where we help one another grow, give tasks and challenges to be completed by members. We meet every Saturday for project presentations and tech talks, and it has gone great so far!
What are your academic or professional ambitions?
My priority for now is to maintain my distinction till graduation, and to make an impact in the open source community sometime in the near future. I'm also working towards becoming a successful freelance developer, while also teaching and helping people grow through my blog and the “UncleBigBay and Friends” community.
What is something in the African (or broader) Tech space that currently interests you?
There are great technologies out there that really interest me but Artificial Intelligent (AI) as a service is number one on my list. AI as a service is like any other out-of-the-box offering; it is Artificial Intelligence software being offered by a third-party provider to a client as a service, including a wide range of different AI-powered capabilities. These capabilities are hosted by the third party in the cloud and are available to the end-users over the internet, making AI more accessible.
How has COVID affected your work in the tech space?
I was always an indoor person before the COVID outbreak. Prior to the COVID restrictions, I already enjoyed working from home, so there was really no big difference for me, rather it showed me more opportunity to improve my remote work productivity.
If you’d like to connect with Adebayo, you can find him on LinkedIn or follow his tech blog at unclebigbay.com.
Africode congratulates Adebayo and all of the 2020/21 Mentorship program participants on their achievements over the course of the year!