Passion Turns Everything Around - Joan Orjiakoh | Ashpot Student Story

Bio

She goes by many names soma, Joan, Nmeso, Nmesoma, meme, but she is Officially Joan Nmesoma Orjiako one of the dynamic teenagers to pass through our regular students program. She is energetic, simple and easy going. She is purpose driven and always eager to learn. She recently concluded her Secondary School Education at Lizzy Secondary School, Aba where she obtained her Senior School Certificate. She is from Imo State, and goes by the handler @nmesoma_joan on Facebook and Twitter. She just gained admission to study Statistics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (She got this good news recently as she was rounding up her program with us).

Motivation

"I want to be the best at what I do and I want to impact my world with whatever I do".
Nmesoma came into our company looking for guidance and mentorship. She was definitely full of passion and ideas that needed to be guided and nutured.

"My biggest motivation comes from my eldest sister. Looking at her, gives me the courage to move on. She studied accounting in school, but is working at one of the tech hubs in Lagos. It is all due to her determination. That's where most of my motivation comes from."

How did you learn about Ashpot?

I first learnt of Ashpot from my elder sister whom I mentioned earlier. She informed me about the Ashpot Traincamp program by July and asked me to go and register for the Web Development program. I ended up doing the Web Development program plus the Software Development program at Traincamp 2019. After which I enrolled for a regular web backend programming course where I learnt full Object Oriented PHP and server side scripting.

Before now I have been to several hubs, but at Ashpot I saw something else. Besides the level of mastery and expertise exhibited by the instructors, they are a family and comprise of people from diverse background. I met people from tech background and non-tech background. I met teenagers and adults; married people and singles; students and working class people. It was so easy to fit in. And the love they showed me has helped me grow!

What did you hope to achieve when you joined Ashpot?

"I hoped to learn and improve my coding skill and tech knowledge and I have definitely done that here at Ashpot".
Nmesoma was the only student to have the full camp experience at Traincamp 2019 as she took two courses. This meant she participated in two of the Speed Demo Days held in July and August. For the web development class, she worked solo on a fashion auction website and at the Software Development class; she collaborated with other students through git to build a kiosk management software
"I can say I have truly exceeded my expectation. I have gained deeper insight into what tech and coding is all about. And while I was here, I joined the Python community that meets at the hub every Friday. I am looking forward to attending my first PyCon - PyCon Nigeria 2019 at Abuja. All these have been part of my learning and experience at Ashpot".

Relationship with staff and students

Like I said the love here is overwhelming. I am practically the youngest so everyone treated me like the baby. It helped me adjust. Everyone is so kind and respectful. The students are great. I met a lot of wonderful people with whom I became good friends. We played together during fun days and bonded. There is something about staying with a group of people for over two months, you start to get used to them.
The staffs are good, and the CEO Psalms Kalu is like a father to everyone. He is a great mentor and a good coach. He can look at you and know that something is bothering you straight on. That's the kind of place Ashpot is.

So what is the future like?

The future is definitely bright. Right now, I am leaving to start my university education. I will be studying Statistics and I am looking to go into Data Science and Machine Learning. I want to advice and encourage young people and adults living within Aba and nearby places looking to improve their tech skill or career to consider Ashpot. I will definitely continue to be a part of this place as I realize there is a lot of learning to do, and Ashpot is the place for me!

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