Hello, again people of Earth, like the saying "the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra" and after the last year after officially joining the company I currently work for, I can say it's been a hell of an extra. The last time I wrote was about my career was here and o my, it has been a while since then. This piece is intended to give light on what has happened, what's happening and what's about to happen. So stick around, grab a coffee, it's gonna be quite a read.

So on Feb 2, 2022, I joined a crypto-exchange startup called Xend Finance located in Nigeria as a Backend Engineer II. Elated, joyful, finally I have landed in the industry level I have always wanted. Most of all, I can now take care of my family and other things with the little bump in my income. God is good. Before my being signed, I had already known they were fast-paced and I knew I would need to pick up fast but was surprised it got even faster and with more responsibilities. Not only did I write codes, and sent PRs for reviews, but also managed third-party clients integrating our products, wrote technical documentation and created easy setup flows for any third party trying to integrate any of the available products. I was even given the title "Lead Integrations Engineer" and yes it was nice but more demanding than the role was going to be.

From the daily standups, and endless meetings, to the countless PRs and reviews, to very persistent clients messaging on WhatsApp and weekend call-ins. There was little or no personal time for me. I had to adapt to this new life as I understood everyone working remotely had the same and seemed fine. Very slowly this lifestyle encroached on my social life, spiritual, romantic and other aspects of me began to change into a much more busy, secluded and distracted human. The funny thing wasn't that I became this way but because I considered it growth and how wrong was I. Mind you I'm not saying all these in itself is wrong or something, no! I'm only trying to explain that to anything there's a sacrifice and hell it has its best days and its worst. Not to be harsh on the company but they did their best in taking care of its employees by organizing end-of-the-month parties and it's always a blast and something to look forward to.

As a growing startup, some standards were not met and it's understandable but what I had against it was the work/life imbalance it came with. For anyone reading this and you're a new engineer in a company or startup in Nigeria or Africa, just know the early days are the worst till you somehow achieve stability. Notice that I used "somehow" as there's never a "stable" period. There were moments I both dreaded and loved but I can't add all here as this is just to highlight the important periods of what had happened and what to expect especially for anyone new to tech reading this. As time went by I tried to get by vaguely by mostly doing work at night and then sleeping more in the day unless there are emergencies that need my attention and that was the kicker, so imagine how many hours of sleep I had all year.

But all in all, I'm lucky to have been with the absolute best team one could ask for, we somehow grew on each other even without meeting physically (oh! except when I met my senior colleague earlier this year in Enugu). I had to understand that it wasn't the work that mattered, it was the people, the cooperation, the communication, the jeers and all. These are skills no boot camps, tutorials, or videos would teach you except you experience them yourself. Mind all my praises for what I have done or achieved already, I too had my fair share of anxiety, imposter syndrome and the rest even to this day. Burnouts were also timed for me so I'd improvise to still cover for time lost. I just had to do it the best way I could and seek help when I could.

Finding balance became my ultimate goal all through the year, as I decided to move to a new place and find a fresh start and get a better hold of everything relating to my career, mental health and spiritual connection with God. I appreciate my family and friends for being kind, patient and gentle with me as I'm going through this journey. Before I got the job I was a freelance developer and designer, and I had in mind to learn and work the right amount of time and then go off on my terms and create a better schedule not just for me but for my brand too, which by God's grace it's still in play.

I can confidently say I have learned a lot over time, implemented a ton of features, fixed a lotta bugs and handled responsibilities the best way I could, and I was awarded at the end of the year for good work done. Trust me it's good to be recognized, try and get some, you'll tell me the feeling better. As much I'm a lot more confident and exhausted than when I started, I can still say I've got a long way to go in improving my code quality, writing tests, understanding tasks and executions and faster debugging process. Hopeful to get more certifications this year in different fields, restore my social media accounts, continue my technical writeups and improve my resume while working and developing private projects that'd change the world's point of view while also contributing to open source projects. I don't know how it'd all happen but I'm ready for it all, for what's mine.

Our job yes, pays well but so does it take well a lot from one. That's why my respect for every engineer from junior to senior to consultants keeps increasing day by day. Reach out to your developer friend today, ask them how they are doing, listen and let them blow off some steam. You won't understand how much that makes our day. I want to sign off by saying that by this time next year, I should have advanced in my career, either in a better company like Spotify or on my own, doing better, feeling better, having a greater connection with God and moving on to the next phase of life, all this I pray. To you reading this, take it easy and know it'll get to you when it'll get to you. Just keep moving, it'd all make sense in the end. Till next time.

KCM ✌️