by: Rosina Mothibi
My path to technology was not discovered during my school years. I used to be a cashier. I used to fix printers, tills and card machines because I would get irritated waiting for an IT technician to arrive. While the customer was waiting, I was also waiting, so I ended-up fiddling around, opening the printer and card machine to try and identify the problem myself. Once I started fixing the problems, I found a passion and love of technology. This is when I decided to find an IT course at UNISA. It was definitely not easy, it took me 5 years to complete the course. But after a lot of hard work, I achieved my goal.
In the first 3 years, I developed a passion for web development using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and I would get so excited when my application worked. The last 2 years one of my courses was on Java-Android. We used Eclipse to create Android applications. I used PHP & MySQL to implement my system and fell in love! I’ve realized that there is no ‘end of the road’ for me when it comes to learning new technologies. I love everything new I learn.
I entered the Girlcode Hackathon in 2017 because I saw the event as an opportunity to learn more, as well as share my knowledge and skills with the other girls participating in the Hackathon. The Hackathon helps in a way that you meet different specialist, learners, programmers, and analysts that are passionate, creative, and hungry to code. Thanks to this network, over the course of the weekend I learned the basic of C#, which was a great advancement for me.
The other ‘best bit’ about the Hackathon weekend was my team, as some of us had met at the previous Hackathon. It was fun coding; learning the skills and behaviors of others, adapting to them, and understanding them. Furthermore, by attending workshops and hackathons, I meet other women in technology and that motivates and inspires me and makes my world complete: Knowing that other women did not take a back seat in technology, despite how few of us there are.”
My career goal is to specialize in systems development but I also want to continually learn new technologies to upgrade my skills. I see myself helping other women in technology to achieve their goals too. It will not be easy but the passion and commitment I have will lead me to my destination – to work in an IT department, and help other women in technology.
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