The Techies Who Helped Me Get Here: A Grarticle
A former okada spare parts trader who somehow found himself building digital tech products to help everyday trading communities do things better
Hey, the time is gratitude o'clock with The Traders Techie. The one who has seen, and is seeing and will see good! Welcome! The next 9 minutes will be interesting.
This is not a story of the trials and tribulations witnessed on my way to this point, but that of gratitude and appreciation for actually being here at this time and to those who made it possible. I call it a grarticle: article of gratitude.
The Why
You know, the ups and downs that come with putting in serious work and staying super focused on achieving big dreams —sometimes— cause us to forget to be truly grateful for the smaller goals and milestones we reach now and then. But alas, we brought nothing to this world -so- you'll agree with me that whatever we get out of life is first by nature's kindness before it is about how hard, smart and woke we work. Hence, we owe gratitude for the very little things too.
Furthermore, time and chance happen to us all and I think this is that moment when I moved from being a lone spectator to becoming a participant in the larger tech community. In line with that, I want to start by publicly appreciating the people who have contributed privately, directly or indirectly, to whatever progress I've made so far in my quest to build digital technology products, to help everyday trading communities do things better.
The Who
To set the tone for the rest of this article, let's do a small outline of some of the questions you may already have in your mind at this point:
Who Am I In Tech?
Simply put, I'm
The Traders Techie. A former okada spare parts trader who saw technological gaps in the ways everyday trading communities operate and took the bold step to learn and create digital technology products to help fellow traders do things better. Hence, a tech industry nickname: #tradersTechie.What Have I Achieved In Tech?
The simple answer here at this moment is "Not So Much", except for Tradepally.com - a multipurpose interactive bookkeping_platform for different_types_of_traders. This is exactly what brought me into tech and I'm glad that it's currently being used by real humans and happily so.
What Has Tradepally Done For Me?
Unlike the second question above, I should say "Quite A Lot" here. For someone who started in tech as —and is still, relatively— a loner, building Tradepally.com to what it is today allowed me to learn about starting, completing and running a sizeable real-world project; from the very first line of code to the first production commit, and from routine maintenance to feature updates, to management of failures in production etc; counting two years plus now. As a result, I now have absolute confidence that indeed, I can achieve whatever my mind can conceive.
What Do I Do At The Moment?
I currently run an Agency Banking, Thrift Collection and Daily Lending business. I have built scalable systems around these operations, targeted at everyday trading communities, as ways to stay in touch while building out the bigger picture. In this bigger picture, I am the techie who wants to give the everyday trading communities their most suited digital business and community tools top-down. I can do this because I am part and parcel of these communities and my understanding of their fantasies and pain points is first-hand. These and more are the ideas behind Tradepally.com
Now and without further ado, in the order of our encounter, let's have some chat about the techies who helped me, directly or indirectly, to get to this point. So, grab some popcorn —maybe, and a bottle of soft drink, then seat back and relax... it's story time proper with The Traders Techie.
Big Man Fisayo
The year was 2019 and I had finally decided to seriously start learning how to code, something that first crossed my mind in 2011. I had barely started the Udemy Course By Andrei Dumitrecsu, To Learn Python Programming when one spare parts importer in my trader's union told me that he wanted a website for his business and products. I wouldn't take the job for myself when I didn't know jack about creating a website. But on the other hand, it presented a good opportunity for me to connect with someone who already had some of the knowledge I was seeking, so I made some searches and contacts:
Of about five people I contacted with a similar message, only Mr FisFat_ replied to me and we subsequently met in person to discuss the gig which, to my shame, didn't work out. But the simple fact that he, alone, replied to my inquiry made me appreciate him quite much while wondering why the rest never told me as much as yes or no. I was really like, is this how these people do? Like, you people no dey answer inquiries? Anyway, Fisayo remains the first and only seasoned dev I've met in person to date.
His simplicity, relatability and openness made sure that my inferiority complex —as a regular spare parts trader trying to go into "almighty tech"— did not worsen. Our conversation gave me some good feelings that helped me carry on at that very early stage of my learning.
So, here's a big shout-out to you, Mr FisFat_, I'm grateful!
FISAYO ON TWITTER:
Chief Raph
When I launched into tech officially with that Udemy course, it was "solely" to build Tradepally.com and related stuff. With that mindset, I didn't do any play projects for practice, instead, I went straight on to building my "exciting idea" after learning the very basics of python. Many thanks to Corey M Schafer who made that jump possible from afar with his Flask Tutorials on YouTube, where he laid out a practical start-to-finish guide on how-to-build-a-web-app.
With that huge step into building a real-world project —expectedly— came serious uneasiness. When I couldn't handle it any longer, I reached out to Mr FullstackMafia for some advice and guidance from his wealth of experience in the "softech" field as I called it then.
He was good to me. Answering any questions I had then in a series of DMs and later, phone call(s) and WhatsApp messages. The conversations with him helped me get through those very difficult days.
Let me say here that one major problem I have is keeping up with conversations for a long time especially when I feel that I am not of any benefit to the other party in it. So, Mr Ralph and indeed every other person mentioned in this article, what are the things I can help you guys do? No matter how small or big. I want to be of help too! I also want to keep our conversations going.
All that said, I want to say thanks to the chief: Mr FullstackMafia. This is to let you know that I'm grateful!
RAPH ON TWITTER:
Bosses; Chizi And Onuoha
Fast forward to August 2020 when the time came to deploy the first version of Tradepally.com. The confusion that visited me —concerning selecting the right resources— was so monumental that online research alone didn't sort it out for me. The more I searched, the more confused I got. So naturally, it was time to reach out once more to someone to guide me through. And I couldn't go to Mr FisFat for help this time because I still felt bad for not being able to secure that gig for him, instead, I reached out to Mr Chizi Aruhoma with whom I'd had a small chat around the time he became quite popular on Nigeria Tech Twitter for his impressive works with Flutter.
As referred by Chizi, I quickly reached out to Mr Onuoha Official
Like the other techies, Onuoha was very helpful. Looking back to my chat with him now, I see that sometimes, all you need from a senior fellow to move forward —after you've done your due diligence— is a simple affirmation of your idea, like in this case with Onuoha:
His simple response that my proposed choices for deployment "sounds just perfect" boosted my morale a whole lot and gave me the feeling that even though I was wallowing in confusion, nonetheless, my research and sleepless nights weren't in vain after all. And that helped me to look even further to find a much better match for my project/technical knowledge level for that particular deployment.
Once more, I want to say big thanks to the bosses; Chizi Aruhoma and Onuoha Official, I appreciate your help and I hope to someday be of help to you guys!
CHIZI ON TWITTER:
ONUOHA ON TWITTER:
Distant Motivators
Mmhh, there's no need! But I'll still say it sha, that you can't possibly talk about new-era Tech in Nigeria and many parts of Africa today without mentioning Mr Unicodeveloper. Man can be likened to his football Idolo: Leo Messi, as far as Naija tech is concerned! My brother you gather dey, no cap! God bless you for directly and indirectly helping and motivating thousands of young people seeking refuge and/or fulfilment in tech, myself inclusive. But I still get one unreplied mail for your box o! I throw a salute and pray bigger grace for you Mr Unicodeveloper. Grow blessed!
The attendance minister of Naija Tech, I salute you, sir, Mr hackSultan! Even though I've not as much seen your real face (not even in disguise like Emmanuella), I have however been impacted positively by your daily reminder to all and sundry that their tech dreams and aspirations are valid and attainable. God bless you man for all you do. We won't forget the tools and gadgets you strive to make available for techies. I believe history will be kind to you. Grow blessed Mr hackSultan.
Talk about the instant effect on someone's decision from a total stranger. That's exactly what happened when I read the article Mr Davey Hert shared in that tweet which is his 2 Years in Tech Review. It finally pushed me to create a Hashnode account and write this piece. Here's a very big shout-out to you David, for helping me out of my lonely un-comfort zone. Grow blessed, man!
Finally
As una see me so, I send everybody. I want to see good. I want to do good. I want to leave good behind. That's all my life cares about.
As promised at the beginning, this has not been a story of the trials and tribulations witnessed on my way to this point —maybe someday, I'll have the time to talk about that— but for now, it's been that of gratitude and appreciation for actually being here at this time and to those who made it possible.
In that spirit, I generally say thank you to all the people who have in one way or another affected —and those who will still affect— my life positively in and outside of tech. I appreciate all the help. As you understand, I cannot possibly mention every single human I've come across on/off-line who has been of help to my course in this tech trade. But rest assured, I appreciate all the help.
Thank you too, yes you, soo much, for reading this grarticle.
I know very clearly that I'm just starting in tech (most especially in the open) and will still need soo much help to get to my dreams. So, you're very much welcome to be my luck booster as I journey this tech and start-up route.
I hope to write more and more here about different things relating to my journeys, tech in general and other things I may deem fit.
Yours in Tech,
Chime Obioha,
The Traders Techie