My TIIDELab Experience 1.0 (The Prologue)

Hey.

I saw the online application form.

I applied, again, for the third time in a row.

I chose the Frontend Developer track.

The selection process received over a thousand applications.

Then an online test came.

Thereafter a mini-project and a video pitch were demanded.

An online interview process followed.

Then I received an email that I had been selected, along with 61 other fellows across Lagos and Abuja, to be part of the TIIDELab Fellowship Cohort 4.

"Wow! Finally."

Those were the first happy words I muttered after trying to get into the TIIDELab Fellowship twice, both in 2020 and 2021.

But reality brought me back to the fact that I would have to blend my current job, along with the TIIDELab Fellowship, which is to run for six months.

I was ready for the task.

It's one month into the TIIDELab Fellowship Cohort 4 and I can say that I have learned a lot technically, and in terms of soft skills as well.

TIIDELab is an innovation lab for aspiring techies to build and hone their skills in software engineering, innovation, and creativity in readiness for the future of work in Africa.

I have worked as a Tech Trainer, Graphic Designer, Content Strategist/Writer, and Product Support guy. Presently, I am right on track in using these experiences to create front-end solutions that provide user value and business returns.

I was glad to know that TIIDELab offers a six-month immersive fellowship that combines blended learning and design thinking in building Fullstack software developers. The name itself TIIDELab is an acronym that stands for Think, Ideate, Innovate, Develop, Execute Lab.

I am going to be highlighting my key experiences in the first month of the fellowship as follows:

1. Resume Writing, Linkedin Optimization, and DSA

Apart from learning how to create a Developer Resume and updating my Linkedin account, the first week at TIIDELab was a deep dive and I was introduced to Data Structures and Algorithm, a key concept that holds all programming languages together.

The first DSA class was taught by Saheed Adepoju, a Senior Software Engineer at NVIDIA, California, (USA) and I discovered that as a developer, you do not just write programs to solve immediate problems; a developer should write programs that can scale and cater for large data sets in the future.

I was introduced to the various concepts of arrays, recursion, Big O Notation, Hash Tables, linked list, stack, queues, graphs, sorting, and dynamic programming. “The Big O Notation” teaches you how to take into account time and space complexity as well as scalability while writing codes.

2. Git, GitHub, and Netlify

Git, GitHub, and Netlify are version control systems that help to manage codebases, collaborate on developer projects and host web pages. I refreshed my knowledge about git and GitHub since I was quite familiar with them, and learned how to deploy my portfolio on Netlify. Uncle BigBay, a mentor at TIIDELab, took us through the process of uploading our project files on GitHub and deploying a website on Netlify.

3. Advanced HTML and CSS

Ah! The basics of web development were also not new to me so I was comfortable in the advanced class which was project-based at every learning point. I learned about semantics and non-semantics HTML tags, flexbox, grid systems, CSS animation, and media queries among others. I built my portfolio page and you can find it here.

4. Soft Skills, Diary Sessions, CCATs, Team collaboration, and Learning Sessions

Soft Skills are 60% of what makes you a great developer. Soft skills like communication, presentation, team spirit, and self-learning skills are what TIIDELab fellows are expected to develop throughout the course of the program. I have also learned to work with other fellows either as a team member or a coding partner in peer learning and coding partner sessions respectively.

I also got a taste of the monthly diary session with Big Brother. A diary session is one-on-one with Big Brother where we share our experiences and concerns in the fellowship. My diary session was kinda relaxing.

Also, to improve the critical thinking skills we take CCAT tests every morning in which are to solve 30 questions within the space of 15mins. The goal is to keep us mentally sharp and this has really helped me think on my feet.

5. Fridays Physical Meetups for Professional Development Training

TIIDELab is a hybrid fellowship in which fellows get to meet twice a month on Fridays. The meetup is specifically for The Professional Development class which is handled by Mr. Shams. It is also an opportunity to physically meet other fellows in the fellowship so we can discuss, play team-based games, talk more on personal and professional matters, and more.

On one of those meetup occasions for June, we were opportune to meet with HackSultan and Samson Goddy, two tech celebrities and open-source advocates. They shared their intriguing experiences in the tech industry as well as the business side of things, while meticulously throwing more light on how to succeed professionally as developers.

Conclusion

My gratitude and thanks goes to the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Nigeria, and the Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Kadir Salami for this opportunity to learn under world-class and friendly mentors at TIIDELab, Mr. Aderoju Shamsudeen(Big brother) and Mr. Ayodele Samuel Adebayo (Unclebigbay) for the effort they are investing towards the growth of every fellow of this fellowship.

Thanks for reading through the first edition of my interesting experience at TIIDELab, watch out for my second edition coming next month.

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My portofolio: udonte.netlify.app