Nakiyemba’s leap from day job to a tech programmer

She comes from a background of radio broadcasting, having worked as a producer at Radio One for six years. But in January, Olive Nakiyemba left radio and decided to take some rest.
She had reached a point where she needed to step out of her comfort zone and learn something new. At the time she left, Nakiyemba didn’t have anything planned.
“I pretty much scared everyone around me. Actually, someone asked me, ‘How stupid can you be to leave a job without a plan B?’ A number of my close friends are making things happen in the tech sphere, and to be honest, I never even quite understood what exactly they did, but they were accepting awards and honourable mentions left, right and centre for saving the world,” she observes.
That got her curious, because they work really hard, but they also live well. She was inspired by Evelyn Namara – chief executive officer and founder of Vouch Digital, a company championing the development of digital and mobile payments for cash-based programmes.
“Evelyn is one of those people that gets you thinking, ‘When I grow up, I want to be just like you.’ So, I closed my eyes and took a leap of faith in becoming ‘Evelyn’ as I embarked on a new path in tech. I remember I had to tweet her like the millennial I am, asking how difficult it would be to learn code at my big age. She told me it would be easy. She lied.”
As Nakiyemba further narrates, she struggled a lot to make sense of things, it was such a steep learning curve when she enrolled for a course in software development at Clarke International University.
Most of her fellow students had a background in software, and there she was with zero background. The beauty about the programme, she says, is the fact that even those without prior knowledge of software can apply.
She felt like she was dragging them back because she was taking too long to grasp the fundamentals. A couple of triumphs lay within the struggles, the most epic being her first line of code that printed ‘hello world’.
With it, she felt she had arrived in the industry. Eventually, things started making sense. She understood almost half of what she was doing, and the other part, she had support from her fellow students and the facilitators.
“I was able to build my webpage portfolio, applications that can actually work in real life, not some fictitious stuff,” she recalls.
Nakiyemba was in the first cohort of beneficiaries of the Refactory, and now an apprentice working with Xente, a Ugandan e-payment platform.
Refactory bridges the gap between what the students learn in university and what the tech industry actually needs. Laboremus, a company that delivers financial technology solutions and Fontes Foundation, a non-government organisation that skills youths with the backing of NORAD, a Norwegian agency, came together in partnership with Clarke International University to give birth to Refactory.
Nakiyemba explains that the programme isn’t about just code.
“We were taken through a leadership course, Emotional Intelligence (EI), principles of agile development, cyber security, voice of a customer, business models and community engagement.”
Successful students then proceed to the second stage – Bootcamp which grants one an opportunity to cement the skills captured in the catalyst as they work with an industry partner such as Laboremus, Xente, Akorion and Imuka Access for six months on a live project, solving real life problems.
The last phase is aptly called the ‘Last Mile’ during which apprentices are placed in a reputable tech company to gain experience and transition into mid-level developers for 12 months while Refactory pays for their salaries. Students in the Bootcamp receive a reasonable stipend as well.
“I made it to the Bootcamp and I am now a proud apprentice with Xente,” she adds.
With her team, under the guidance of the Xente developers, they are building Software Development Kits in languages such as NodeJS, JAVA, PHP and .NET to enable businesses integrate their payment systems with the Xente.
Nakiyemba says it is such a brain engaging project but excited that the project is giving her a chance to dive into the deep end of backend development, pick up more languages and get a feel of what’s it’s like to work in a fast-paced and fast evolving industry.
Crossing from one end of career and into the technological science world seems like an academic adventure that is paying off.
“It was difficult and frustrating, still is on both counts but I am thriving on. I’m now at a level where my colleagues can ask for my help or my thoughts regarding a project. I mean, who knew? Learning how to build and work with software isn’t for the faint-hearted, but it is doable. I have surprised myself. I’m actually really proud of myself.”