THE BEGINNING!

This is way overdue! I'm happy to be finally getting into it.

January 5, 2021, I got a link to a tweet that SheCodeAfrica was partnering with Deimos Cloud and would be having a 1-day program followed immediately by an intensive 3-month Bootcamp on cloud engineering. I had just started my tech journey during the lockdown and was learning all I could because I am "not wanting to be idle." I had a small online confectionery business Nicole's Confectioneries.

So, I applied for the internship with the knowledge that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I chose to seize it. The first hard thing for me was to put my business on hold and like that, I had assessments that needed to be done! And that was the first time I met Mr Docker. May we not run mad! In one part of my mind, I'm like "Nicole! I know you are smart but no do pass yourself," and the other was like, "Nicole try to read up on it, let someone explain it better to you and try."

It got difficult, and I felt I wouldn't be able to submit. I prayed and told God if I passed the assessment I would continue to try and give my best. I motivated myself and met other ladies like myself applying for the Bootcamp on Twitter like Debbie (my special padi) and Cornelia, and I was finally able to submit at the last minute. January 14, 2021.

THE INTERMISSION

Day 1, No response. Day2, Day 3, Day 4. I was getting nerve-wracked and doubts started creeping in because I was living inside my email and the message I wanted wasn't forthcoming. By day 6, I was already trying to cheer myself up with the fact that I tried. I got so anxious and lost sight of the email when it finally came in on Day 7; January 21. I was supposed to schedule a call to have my interview between January 22-26. I saw the mail on the 25th and without thinking twice I tried scheduling for the next day, didn't work.

I replied to the email with an apology and made my situation known. I was scheduled and the interviewer, Francisca, melted my worries. It felt like speaking to a sister and less of an interview. My anxieties levels came down drastically and I felt better.

THE CONTINUATION

The good news finally came in and I had cried my eyes out. I was so thankful, I got the onboarding call and then the intensive training began. A cloud learning path was created for the mentees. I especially loved it! comprehensive, detailed and concise. I was grouped with the loveliest ladies as co-mentees (Cornelia and Mariam), a very beautiful POC-person of contact (Hannah), and my mentor and boss at the very top, Temitope. Go #TeamPrimals!

The first month went well, I learnt about the fundamentals of DevOps, Vagrant, Servers, Linux System Administration, Bash Scripting, Virtualization and, of course, Docker! However, this time was a deep dive.

Then came the second month and it got tooooough. Had to resume back to being a final year student. This meant I had to juggle programming, pharmacology and being an online TV presenter which meant my days looked something like: meeting up with Bootcamp tasks and check-ins while ensuring my Evaluation Program form was completed and also writing technical articles; preparing speaking materials and carrying out extensive research for my presenting job; working on my project and preparing for my final exams. So, along with my confectionery business, I had to put presenting on hold at this point. It was hard. The decision making felt like picking between your favourite foods.

I was starting to lag behind, I felt sad and worried. I was struggling and it felt like I was not going to make it. I got scared. Amidst this, my laptop decided to pack up too. I honestly thought I was finished this time. I fixed it and all seemed to be fine again. Even though I was still lagging behind.

Ada's message of encouragement and motivation came through for me that week alongside SCA's surprise email. lol. I was motivated. My exams were ending. I was going to have time to catch up.

Jenkins showed me pepper! it is no surprise how I have come to love it after finally starting to understand it! I learnt about cloud service models, infrastructure provisioning, deploying to Heroku, and creating VPCs and instances on GCP.

And finally the third month. My projects and exams were done and all was left was my pharmacology project defence and my SCA cloud school project to commence.

I initially thought a separate project would be assigned to us, I was very wrong. So I started terribly late. No excuses. I had to think of what to do as my project. As usual, off to google I went. I should mention that I and Google are now in a relationship reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde's; toxic (because man's always keeping the answers away until I almost lose my mind) and rewarding (because laslast I get what I need anyway). In my distress, I found insight and in that, an epiphany. Open-source was what I would work on/with. I made efforts to ask and I got better information to flesh out my ideas.

FADE TO BLACK... BUT NOT REALLY

I worked with an open-sourced, three-tiered application called StackOverflow-clone, breaking it down into separate services because Microservices Evangelist in da building. I then provisioned an instance on GCP using Terraform where all deployments were done; mostly the containerization of the services (client, server and DB) and also the configuration of their network on a granular level to allow easy, controlled communication. Mr Docker came through big time!

I had my graduation on April 24, 2021. I was selected to demo my project. Before the demo, I practised as much as I could even though I had to frequently use the toilet because Lady Scarlet was visiting and madam had to be tended to. Leeeeemao.

Overall? This was a wonderful experience I am very lucky to have had. I'd keep on pussshhhhhhing, never give up and pass the torch on to other wonderful women venturing into the tech space! Grateful heart!

Thank you, SheCodeAfrica!!! Thank you, Deimos!!!