The Journey of Tolu Komolafe, Andela's SuperWoman, to Programming

Tolulope “Tolu” Komolafe and Innocent Amadi are two developers who were invited to share their story at the Andela Media Parley held on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at their office in Ikorodu, Lagos – dubbed EPIC tower.

In April 2017, we curated a list of four Andela Developers and Fellows that had hit the global spotlight and these two Developers, Tolu and Innocent were among alongside others like Prosper Otemuyiwa and Chibuzor Obiora.

So, today being International Women’s Day, we will be celebrating one of Andela’s female Developers, dubbed SuperWoman for her continued drive and aspiration to be at the fore of Software Development against all odds.

Her name is Tolulope Komolafe, the first Developer to reach Level 4 in Andela’s Technical Leadership Program.

It is quite inspiring that for a male-dominated (although, they claim a greater ratio of women to men [~20%] than the global average) field, she is has broken the stereotype and is surely on her way to becoming like Ada Lovelace, one of the most reputed females in the history of the Computer. Lovelace was an English mathematician known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.

Andela’s Technical Leadership Programme focuses on honing the Software Development skills of the fellow. Alongside other soft-skills like listening, giving and receiving feedback, teamwork, and leadership qualities.

Given Andela’s rigorous recruiting and training programme, one does not just become a Level 4 Technical Leader by the length of years they have spent in the program (although that plays a significant role) other metrics such as mentorship of other fellows and client feedback on the developer is considered.

Tolu speaking to the Media reps at EPIC Tower

Tolu’s Global Recognition till date

In 2015, the New Yorker published an article about an Orientation for Offshore Colleagues where Tolu and a fellow Andelan, Jesmine Omonori were the center of the piece in their work with an overseas firm, Everplans. Since then, Tolu (and her story) has been featured on countless other sites such as Reuters, VOA , Ventures Africa.

Likewise, in December 2016, her story was featured in Ozy’s The Daily Dose in a chat with Christina Sass, Andela’s Co-founder and COO. One particular stand out event was when she joined Andela’s CEO, Jeremy Johnson in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Also, in 2017, she had a sit-down moderated by Jody Bailey, CTO, Pluralsight, a privately-held online ed. company that offers a variety of video training courses for technical talent, alongside Adam Lupu, VP Learning, Andela.

However, we believe a lot has still been unsaid about her and her journey. So we reached out to her for further correspondence to put the next section together in hopes that it will inspire other aspiring men and women in the world.

Tolu – the gamer, academic and athlete

Tolu is a 28-year old lady who grew up in the most populous city of Oyo State, Ibadan – the state capital.

According to her, she was (because she has not played video games in recent years) an ardent gamer who loved racing games and that was what sparked her desire to study Computer Science which she did at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Oyo State, Nigeria which lasted 5 years and graduated in 2012. Before then, she attended a military secondary school, Command Day in Ibadan where she held the post of Laboratory Prefect.

Although Tolu is petite in stature, she has not let that hinder her athletic attributes.

She won 1st position at an Alumni inter-secondary school science competition organised by a neighbouring institution, University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State.

At Andela, she joined her other |(male) colleagues to play inter-company football matches organised by Truppr, a physical/social fitness initiative, for which they won.

During Tolu’s first four years studying Computer Science, she was not interested in coding, until she met a lady who she claims did her job as a Software Tester gracefully. Since then, the zeal for programming was engrafted in her.

Tolu <> NYSC

Shortly after her University education, she underwent her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Program where she got posted to a school as a Computer Science Teacher. She recalls telling herself:

“I wouldn’t gain much if I go teach, I wanna code and I would not learn that in a school”

In Nigeria, many Corpers (people on their Youth Service program) adjudge that one year of service as a waste of one’s time because most times they are being deployed to a failed or failing system [a full post can come out of this].

So, like many other Corpers, Tolu wanted to make the most of her service year by developing a skill she had a passion for – programming.

How did she go about learning to code? – A story on Resilience and negotiation

She found an IT (Information Technology) center, JAROY IT Academy, that equips students with basic IT skills and made a request to learn C# (C-Sharp), a programming language but was taken aback by the cost of the program, NGN150,000 (which is worth about NGN300,000 in 2018 when you adjust for inflation). She laments:

I just walked in that day, and said, I wanna learn C# and then those guys looked at me and told me, “oh it’s gonna cost a 150,000 naira”…I’m a Corper, fresh graduate, State Government is not paying me a dime, the Federal Government is just paying me 19,8(00) per month, I’m in a totally new place (so) I had to get my own place, how can I afford 150K…

So, she asked for their course list and offered to teach some of the students for free, with the caveat that she will be able to learn C#. It worked, and she learned C#. She concluded that section of her talk with:

“…So, I didn’t waste my one-year of service”

Tolu sharing her story at the Media Parley_2

Post-NYSC – a story of Determination and Passion

After service, I was thinking about what I wanted to do, I really wanted to go into Software Development, but you know, pressure from home right, you can’t sit at home, so I was applying for jobs, I got like two job offers but I didn’t tell my mum…and I didn’t accept any because I really wanted to go into Software Development.

Then, I heard about Andela, and at that moment in my life, it was just like, okay this is what I want to do and I applied, got in, which is awesome…

After sharing that bit, she mentions that she’ll be ~~leaving~~ graduating this year. And makes reference to some of the amazing people she has had a chance to work with.

Since she started Andela in 2014, as a member of the 2nd cohort (among the first 6 people recruited into the fellowship that now has over 400 fellows and on Cycle 32) she has grown not just technically as a Software Developer at Andela but is now a Product Manager at Andela. In March 2015, she started working as a Software Developer for one of their partner companies, Everplans, a startup that securely stores information about users that can be handed over to loved ones at emergency founded in 2012, and has now become a fully integrated member of the team.

After Andela, she hopes to join a startup where she will work for the next 2- 3 years after which she will be ready for the next thing she wants to do.

She is the President of LadiesInTech (formerly SheLovesCode) that aims to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry by providing mentorship to other young women as well as host events in communities.

Also, she volunteers with TeenCodeAfrica, an initiative that partners with (high)schools in Africa to introduce a coding curriculum maintained by experts.

Tolu volunteers with TeenCode Africa

Tolu – as a Woman in Tech and Engineering

Tolu’s technical expertise in Software Development adds her to the list of women breaking boundaries in the corporate world of Engineering regardless of society’s confinement.

It is pertinent to note that not every woman will have an interest in Engineering/Software Development (or anything traditionally associated with the male gender) and that is fine.

Tolu as a Woman in Tech

However, we should ask: How come not many women see it as a career choice? One reason is the persistent cultural myth that “women can’t code” or “a woman’s place is in the ‘kitchen'”. This has stemmed from a deep-rooted history of patriarchy and sexism where men are placed above women in all areas of human endeavour. For instance, “Female Programmers Make Nearly 30% Less Than Their Male Counterparts” according to an essay by Fortune.

Africa can be a leading light for women in technology due to her relatively young tech industry compared to the likes of Latin America where Software Development is the fastest growing career.

However, they will need role models and mentors in the workplace that are like them. One of which is Tolu Komolafe.

All the pictures in this post are courtesy of Andela except otherwise stated