In 2015, she was a fresh graduate with an Insurance degree and had just completed her national service program with the thought that jobs would come rushing me.
“I sent out loads of applications, but the outcome weren’t always impressive and this often left me confused and depressed, because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.
I must say reality dawned on me”.
But the story changed when she discovered tech and became a software developer.
Her transition from Insurance to tech wasn’t a miracle, it was a deliberate action and one made possible with the right guidance and coaching.
“If you ever ask me one life’s decision I’m so proud of, switching to tech would always top the list for me”. She enthused
Transitioning from a confused graduate who employers didn’t want in their organizations to one who now works and partners with international brands and run a TechEd learning community Tech Skills Hack required hard work.
Thanks to tech for transforming her life.
She knows for many people getting into tech may be such a difficult decision, this is why she is happy that Eyitayo and the amazing humans of Utiva have put up a 3 days event to help people get into tech
Meet Iniobong Udoh, Female Developer Impacting Nigerian Youths With Free Online Digital Skills
The first time I read or heard the name Iniobong Udoh was on on UXplanet back in February 2019. Udoh is an UX/UI expert, Technical writer, Google certified Android developer, self taught web developer, content curator and a seeker of undiluted knowledge. This brilliant Nigerian is the brain behind Tech Skills Hack (TSH), an open Facebook group where people get free training on diverse digital skills ranging from graphic design to data analysis to content creation. Tech Skills Hack is a platform dedicated to equipping Nigerians with the in-demand and futuristic digital skills to curb unemployment and help businesses scale free of charge.
Udoh thinks it’s a myth to say that people in the tech space are a bunch of code-writing geeks. She believes the tech ecosystem is a large community that includes all digital skills, ranging from graphic design, data analysis, content creation, that has nothing to do with writing code. And from the very onset, she set her mind on bridging the gap that exists between employers of labour and applicants without basic skills. And she has been doing this by compiling curated digital skills resources and sharing on the various training platforms used.
She has been using Facebook to train undergraduates on foundational skills like Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, Canva, Google Sheets, as well as social media usage. Not only is she training these youths, she is also assisting her students to acquire the basic equipment to practise – a laptop. According to her, she aims to assist young people to acquire relevant digital skill sets via their smartphones at no fee at all. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an encouraging first outing for her.
The TSH’s team also has the likes of Nzaki Ekere who doubles as the CTO and in-house developer. Ekere teaches the students web development while Anthony Eyo, a digital marketer teaches digital marketing.
It will interest you to know that since TSH kick-started in February 2019, it has over 1000 users on both Facebook and Slack. TSH has also assisted more than 30 Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) to design logos and business cards for free. TSH has also been able to carry out offline training in Lagos and Uyo.
According to her, “As days pass by, people would learn. Research is expected to be made in order to discover new findings and unfortunately only a small percentage of budget is placed for the purpose of education in Nigeria. Unlike many developed countries in the world who invest mostly in the educational sector, it is quite unfortunate that Nigeria doesn’t finance the educational sector properly, if you look at what the federal government of Nigeria allocates to the educational sector, you will know that it’s not enough to even sponsor the tutors and research that is expected to be carried out”.
Now that Iniobong Udoh and her team are offering offline training and are still continuing to offer online classes, the founder admits that TSH is greatly in need of funds. According to her, she said “We would appreciate financial and hub support. We need founders to allow us to use their hubs and gadgets for our trainings. We’ll also love free publicity so that more people can hear about what we are doing and get to join.”.
I salute this brave lady and her team for this noble path they have decided to take and I hope more Nigerians will rise and support them. Please note that this article was written base on the report Techpoint Africa put out about Tech Skills Hack.
