“With Stutern I got the Industry-based help and direction I needed; from the right platform to qualified tutors and the right resources to help me learn”- Omotolani Okunowo.
I developed an interest in interning at an IT company to practice what I was being taught in school as a 300L Computer Science student. After telling a friend about my interest, she introduced me to Stutern. She explained that they had a platform where you could register with them and then apply for internships in companies. She also explained that after registration, when there are job openings, they would send you notifications via email, and then you can decide which one to apply for.
After I had registered with Stutern, I started receiving weekly emails, these emails contained links to apply for different internship openings. Sometime after I had already applied for an opening, I got the chance to intern in a company.
I rounded off my university education and started my Youth Service in a startup company that was into developing Android applications. I already had a bit of knowledge in coding so my role was to build their web pages. My boss at the time thought it was a good idea for me to learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to enhance my capacity as a web developer but I wasn’t interested in web development; my passion was directed at Software Engineering.
Even after I got the internship opportunity, I never canceled my subscription to receive emails from Stutern. One day, I got an email from them stating that they had a platform where you can learn certain IT-related courses. So, I looked through the list of courses they had to offer and discovered that Software Engineering was one of them. I said to myself that day: “I’m definitely giving this a go”.
Whilst concluding my NYSC, I applied for the Stutern Program, got in, and began my journey to becoming a Software Engineer. At the beginning of the training, it was quite easy for me because I already had a bit of experience considering the fact that I had gone through some training in the startup I worked with during my Youth Service.
As time passed, it was no longer as easy as it was at the beginning. However, as challenging as it became for me, it was interesting trying to figure out how things work and how to solve problems. I also got a lot of help from my fellow trainees at the time. We would usually work together to figure things out because of how passionate we were. With Stutern, I got the industry-based help and direction I needed; from the right platform to qualified tutors and the right resources to help me learn.
During the course of the program, I was exposed to a lot of things I had no idea about. My goal was to become a very good Software Engineer, and, after I concluded my training, I was convinced that I had made good use of my six months at Stutern.
At the end of the program, I started applying for job openings to get an idea of what the labour market was like for Software Engineers. This part of the journey was amazing because I got a good amount of interviews from sending out my CV to different companies. It was so encouraging that I had a lot of options to go with.
My career after the program started with an internship, and sometime after, I applied for a major role in another company. It’s amazing how I got the role because I remember it was something I didn’t believe I could do. With the right amount of encouragement from people, I decided to give it a shot. I’m currently a Software Engineer at C2G Consulting.
To everyone who has the opportunity to apply for this program- go for it! It’s a very great opportunity. As long as you are passionate about it, Stutern has everything you need to get started.
