Would I go further?

I have always loved education and it's evident right from my childhood because in situations where little kids cry and even have to get dragged to school, I happily matched to school. I still remember when I was in kindergarten and my mom always dragged my younger sister to school while she was screaming and resisting violently 😅 meanwhile I was at the front holding her food box and mine as well. Right from time, I have always had a natural inclination for science, especially the biological aspect of it.

Even though I am quite good at math, biology was my favourite back in high school and I dominated that area. So, it was only natural that my dream was to become a medical doctor but trust Nigeria to squash that dream 😅 After trying to get into the university 3 times and failing to do so, I finally got admitted to study not medicine or anything related to it, but fisheries. It was a cruel joke but I accepted it after listening to the advice of some people. It's a cool course though, I just don't understand why its duration is 5 years.

I graduated last year and from what I saw, the course should have been just 3 years because a lot of things were redundant and repeated. I was already in my third year when I realized I made a mistake in studying that course or even trying to study medicine when I should have gone for something I'm already very good at; computer science. It never occurred to me at the time I was trying to get into the university, I only realized it after COVID-19, when I started coding. Even my mom told me the same thing but I guess it's already too late for that… or maybe not.

As I said earlier, I started learning how to code after the COVID-19 lockdown (specifically 2021) and that was when I realized I should have just studied computer science at the university but again, it was never too late because a computer science degree isn't a requirement to work in the tech industry. When we finished our final exams last year, my friends and I started discussing going for a Master’s degree and out of the 5 of us, I was the only one who said I wouldn't be furthering.

They want to go further in the field of Aquaculture and I don't see a need for that unless you're planning to be an educator (lecturer). I can't go through all that stress of getting a master's degree just to end up as a lecturer in Nigeria which I see as a terrible job for me. But, what if an opportunity presents itself for me to further my studies? Then yes, I would gladly accept it but it won't be in Nigeria. And by opportunity, I mean either a full scholarship or ending up with a million dollars 😅 I can't even consider furthering my education in Nigeria and one reason is because of how terrible it is here but the major reason is because of the program I would be furthering in.

The field I'm talking about is software engineering and do we even have that course in Nigeria? The only ones I know are computer science and computer engineering (this one is even focused on hardware). The teaching environment in Nigeria is very terrible and you might not realize how terrible it is until you have taken a class in a foreign university. In 2022, I happened to take an online computer science course at Harvard University and every week, we had Zoom classes. I was participating virtually but the experience was so much better than what we have in Nigeria. That's the type of place I would gladly love to further my education

Would it make a difference?

I don't think there's ever a case where furthering your education wouldn’t make a difference, even though it's a small difference. Sometimes it can be through making more money, getting more opportunities or getting to the peak of your career. I mentioned earlier that a degree is not needed to be employed in the tech industry but having one is going to take you to greater heights than if you don't. The funny thing with the tech industry is that you don't even need to go to a university to get a degree before you can be a certified professional, you can get a professional certification from companies like Amazon and Google.

It's not exactly the same thing as having a computer science degree but it offers similar opportunities (and even higher!). That's actually the path I'm going to take, becoming a certified Amazon cloud engineer is one of my big goals right now, starting with being a cloud practitioner and going higher from there. In the tech world, it's ok not to have a degree or some sort of professional certification but that can only take you to a certain level, having a degree or certification is recommended.

Thanks for reading

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