I am Aisha Rabiu and transitioning into tech is one of the big steps I've decided to take into upscaling my career and skills. At first I thought, do I really fit being a techie? Is this what I really want to do? Am I sure I'm not doing the wrong thing? Then all of a sudden I got to know about Product Design. I'm a really creative person in fact I design random things with my free time just for fun. So when I learnt I could actually be in tech and do what I love, I was really happy because coding is not for me at all. I'm not the type to sit in a place typing for hours so I was very excited to learn about product design.

Fortunately, with the ADAPROJECT I will be able to start harnessing my dreams of becoming a Product Designer. We had a session recently with Yewande Odumosu and I got to learn a lot. She advised us and gave us steps and measures needed in designing a tech career path.

To begin with, finding ones interest is a major factor when transitioning into tech. It's best to do what one will feel excited doing so it wouldn't cause problems in the future. After finding ones interest, the next step is to take a course. It's true that nowadays with the help of Google and YouTube one can learn by themselves but in tech, an intro course or a crash course should be taken at least to be fully aware of what you're going into. This will give one a basic knowledge which can now be used as a foundation when learning on YouTube or other platforms.

After taking these courses, we were told to try out a side project or volunteer for one. This is a great opportunity asides from building ones portfolio, it also adds to experience and helps to improve ones skills. Also, as a techie, you need to know what's going on in the tech world and updates as well so it's best to join a tech community as no matter how hard you try, you'll still need to move along with people, learn and seek for advice so it shouldn't just be a one man business. This will be of great advantage as one will be surrounded with friends and mentors who have same or similar knowledge.

IKIGAI = REASON OF BEIGN Japanese concept. It is the process of using what you love and what you are good at to give to the world what it needs and also get paid for it.

I also learnt to work on my personal development, to attend events and connect with people. Most of all I've learnt to always grasp opportunities. Because I want to be a Product Designer doesn't mean if I was giving an opportunity to intern as a web developer, I shouldn't take the offer. In tech, no knowledge is put to waste so I've learnt to grab every opportunity I come across. I am going to make my tech career roadmap both digitally and on a cardboard and then paste it on my wall so I can look at it everyday and tick each of the milestones.

I am so glad I attended the session as I am new and I have more knowledge when it comes to my tech goals. All thanks to Yewande Odumosu and the ADAPROJECT.