Before we proceed...

It's been 2 long Months into 2023 already, and the more I think about it, the more I realize procrastinating or shying away from writing this would hurt me rather than help.

This, Earnest, is a look into the fascinating year of 2022, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright amazing 😑. I hope It helps you in the future

Some of my Major goals for 2022 were:

• Transition into a career in uiux design

• Save/Invest 1M or $1k in Stocks

• Move into my own Apartment

• Build a tech workstation

• Graduate as a geologist from Unizik

• Start a Workout Routine

• Up my Dress sense

• Earn in Dollar

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How it began:

2022 started off on a really crazy end, at this time our family was going through a crisis and it was threatening to tear our parents apart, I had been around for months before then keeping up with my internship at ageotech as a Geotechnical scientist and was shuttling my parent's house to work every day; I feel being around made it bit bearable for my mom and siblings but inside of me I was breaking down, I would periodically go glare and start imagining all sorts of scenarios of what could happen without my presence, it was tough times.

Luckily, as time went by things got a bit better, slowly.

Started off with getting help with really thinking about my future, my goals, my career, and all the ways I am affecting and influencing it by BA, and the tribe, that was my major growth trajectory for January.

Around planning my year, coping with family, and keeping up with my internship, I also took on a lot of design projects, primarily flyer and brand design projects with really good clients and friends. Some even had me doing other things outside of design and paying me for the time and availability.

One prominent gig was mmabon custom, a custom apparel design, print and manufacture brand based in Ajah, Lagos. I had to always shuttle ojo to lekki for Client meetings, I led the brand design and strategy so I oversaw photoshoots of the workplace and workers, also closed my first website design project for this year with her the same day, sadly this didn't work out. i shared a reel about my project with Mmabon here

I also was in between growing my creative career as I was mostly doing graphics design and wanted to grow unto a uiux designer

Since I can't remember everything for this review, I'll write the things I know looking back to would make you appreciative of life and goals.

February came with a reduction In client work and ushered in the new academic semester, sadly asuu embarked on an 8 months strike just a few weeks after resumption, lol.

luckily, this was to my own advantage as my goal of building a consistent life routine picked up here, in February I joined milatel gym, and I also registered for a co-working space so we could divide home time from work time. I spent a chunk of February trying to get consistent with my life routine.

GITHUB TUTOR

In February, I did my first ever tutoring experience in design, as I was reached by the community lead of GitHub on campus for a program that was on, this was a beautiful experience for me as I got to explore content creation, talking in public and networking.

March - First love and friendship breakup

Early into April, I started conversing a lot more about my goals with blessing abeng, and she recommended I start out with Zuri internship, a few weeks later I got into Zuri Internship;

to be fair, I thought it would be a major step into a newer direction for me as a techie and a Lover of “making life easier” as I believe that at the end of this internship, I should have been able to develop market-ready skills in product design as well as amassed a good number of valuable connects on the journey to being the world best in Software and product design. alongside taking the course seriously, I also started taking “building networks: seriously and made a new friend on Twitter, Johnnie Gomez.

I also started teaching Graphics design, crazy right, well I needed the money and the tutoring experience 😂 it was a learning curve nonetheless, tutored 2 very bright adults on creating designs and pushing a portfolio, and as life would have it, one is now chasing a Bsc in graphic design in the UK😭❤️, I dey teach abeg.

May - We full-time babyyyyy, even though the pay wasn't what I thought I would have settled for.

May ushered in new opportunities as a uiux designer and branding expert, one prominent one was a contract-based role with Havilah blockchain studios where my interest in web3 design was piqued, here I worked on a couple of prominent projects and was conversing with a lot of International clients for the first time, i loved the feeling; so I delved more into web3 esp in uiux. In April we also got offered a role at Maringo App, The Birmingham-based startup led by Louis Akaatenger, … This startup wan suck life comot for my body but so far, so good.

In May, I also got to spend quality time with my friends, nder in particular; we talked a lot about future plans and dreams of being hired by the top companies in tech and design.

June - Github campus lead field day

June was all work, few play, new hairstyles, crazy burnouts, and a new best friend🙂. June tested my limits as I was doing back-to-back work in June, luckily I earned my first $ in June. i was overjoyed whilst I walked to western union to withdraw the $ in cash, my dream to get a mac started looking possible at this time, I also started seeing myself in my apartment comfortable and relaxing…. little did I know that was still long way ahead.

July-August

I got a mac, and as i was tearing off the packaging I was just thanking God cause na me buy gagdet of 800k wey my heart no break, it felt good, like my sleepless night and underselling myself to startups and brands aint just to eat and survive but i could do something more.. i also started working on uiux projects at Havilah, our recently launched product I design is Indoex.

September, October - Egabmi.

I read a lot in September, seems like my interest in building my habits picked up here, I also started taking actual courses in web3 design and shooting for internship opportunities in web3. I also started this startup development program with the University of Massachusetts, MIT through the Civics Unplugged Program.

I picked a new path I might explore in the coming year as a designer which is building software focused on solving and addressing world SDGs, especially in Energy and Environment as my course of study was in line, i hope i get to grow that interest cause i may not do this design thing for long.

In October, i had my first sensible outing through Anambra tech community, we visited Enugu state for some days and explored some major landmarks and natural features, top tier experience, i hope to travel out of Nigeria in 2023 for something similar, Plans are up in Travel plans.

I also added an HP monitor, a Logitech mouse, and a phone stand to my workstation, gradual growth🚀

In October, I started dreaming of building a strong community of designers and engineers and discussed this idea with my mentors, which they approve and offered to attend as guests when I get the community up and going; (Its live now, its called Tech Neighbours and its been amazing since the beginning)

October had the most emotionally demanding days as sometimes I am really happy and other times I am as sad and down as possible.

November

I turned 20 bro, I feel so old, i can't write about turning 20 but it had been the best birthday cause I had my baby doctor, I spent the day thinking a lot about what the future holds for me and thanking God for how far we have come, me and him.

We also defended our internship in November as the ASUU strike has just been called off, wholesome experience ngl, the next few weeks were followed by lots of events, traveling to Lagos to see blessing abeng, the tribe, attending NAPE and Hackfest, Chill at landmark beach and waste time and money in ubers😩,

I also met busayo, my good friend from Zuri internship, and got introduced to a couple of prominent founders in the tech space by BA, the best feeling is her holding my hand like a partner and walking me up to people like head of branding at mainstack, Fatama saying this is my baby boy, You need him in your network and then all the small talk that follows felt so goooood😭❤️‍🔥

In between attending events, I hung out with Bunmi, the bio fixer, we saw a movie together and talked about everything and anything. spent the last few days in Lagos with my mom catching up about work and all, cuddling and hugging my kid brothers and being pissed at my baby sister, I miss my siblings so much. this adult thing is not for the weak.

December

Celebrations, jingles and lots to eat, that's all that happened in december.

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2022 Major happenings

• Zuri internship and starting uiux

• Won the Web3bridge design challenge with sofela

• Started my own app startup, entrypal (we are almost ready to launch)

• Got my first paid uiux gig in web3, made $1k on the spot, i was cheated lol😭

• I met blessing abeng and the tribe in real life, omo people are fine irl

• Attended NAPE at Eko hotel for a week

• Got my first thoughtful birthday gift from my baby doctor

• Met this amazing woman

• I got a MacBook pro, way earlier than i thought possible

• Paid for my own apartment and started furnishing, Basically, a friend offered to pay and sent me $400 in USDT

• Got my first ever signed Design Books from Johnnie, Custom no want make i recieve this book since

• Earned in $

• Didn't hit $1k in savings cause expenses choke, but i was consistent with savings

• Won the best creative award from Nigerian Mining and geosciences society

• Was going to the gym as though my life depended on it, that pot belly is going away yet though, God why😭😭😭

• Won the Ingressive for Good Design Challenge and got paid for participating

• Got interviewed by I4G Circle for success stories at hack fest.

• Became acquainted with Rayammar, head of communication at state of flow.

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2022 in Events (Tech and general)

To be frank, the last few months of 2022 were the most eventful for me, for lots and lots of reasons but the one that crowns it all was meeting blessing abeng in person, lets's take me, (future me, lol) down the memory lane…..

mm… where do i start,

BA short for Blessing abeng has been a really huge part of my career in design and i always looked forward to meeting her and speaking to her in person, that's why i decided i was going to Travel all the way from Anambra to Lagos to attend an event the community was hosting, alongside a couple of other events i had in mind. the first of these events was the NAPE 2022 Event,

Thank you so much guys for your Time today, I really appreciate. For those of us Interested in Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency, you can join our sc

NAPE National Association of Petroleum Explorationists.

I attended the NAPE 40th Annual International Conference & Exhibition held at Eko hotel, Lagos, it was a week-long event of learning, networking, building relationships, and exploring geology, and science in the professional field. it was my first time seeing the expanse of my course of study as i was in the same room with experts from companies like total, Schlumberger, NNPC, etc and I was actively involved in a lot of breakout sessions, question and answer sessions, quiz series where i won amazing prices…. i wished I genuinely loved the course and wasn't a total bummer at reading and passing exams, then maybe I would have been on a pedestal to become a really prominent earth scientist.

HACKFEST

in between attending NAPE,i was also at a tech event organized by I4G Community called Hackfest.. to be frank, I didn't come to learn anything😩 i just came to see my favs up close and bask in their glory😂, At Hackfest I met and connected with the likes of Victor Fatani, Brand Lead at Mainstack HQ, Thishanefaah, Community lead at I4G, etc. I also got to experience how immersive VR tech can be as on the companies was a VR tech company and has brought their gadgets to the event. I also met my very good friend Busayo too, busayo is such a lovely friend, organized smart, and beautiful online and in person, i was practically her handbag throughout as we walked around together, took pictures, made connections and just had a good day. A Really peak moment was finding my name and story at the I4G Stars Notice board, a prelude to a discussion around winning the recent design challenge organized by the community; it definitely was a TOP BOY moment for me.

Towards the end of the event, I finally managed to get BA’s attention and it was really worth it, from questions about career feats to small talk

BA TRIBE

Another Event i was really happy i attended was the BA Tribe hangout at Landmark beach, you know that feeling of finally being part of the ‘in-circle’🙂, yup that's exactly how i felt as i engaged in really “grown-up” small talk at our roundtable with peculiar tribe members like Haneefah and BA, I can't remember everything we talked about but i remember dancing to a reel video that BA has been hoarding in her gallery and talking about getting help with my startup pitch deck from BA’s husband who was initially at a VC firm; IngressiveCAP.

GITHUB COMMUNITY LEAD EVENT

This happened earlier in the year, somewhere around march, i made a LinkedIn post about it.

2022 in Music

I listened to a lot of podcasts in 2022 because i wanted to hear people since I found it hard to read books consistently. some major ones where

• Menisms by Mike Sinariwo, available on Spotify, apple and youtube

• I said what i said Podcast

• the futur podcast

• The honest bunch

for music, i was so onto heartbreak songs😭

In general, 2022 was a total bummer majorly because you smashed goals and got the cherry on your toppings whilst at it, God was good to you and he promises a lot more in 2023 so… Cheers to the New Year Earnest, do so much more and document more in 2023.

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If you are meeting me for the first time..

My name is Chijioke Earnest, I am a Product Designer (Web & App), Niched Solely in Web3 Technologies, on this blog i write about Tips and Tricks in Design as a career and skill, My own experiences whilst growing my career, Resources and information on jobs, and opportunities as well as anything and everything about tech.

I also love communities and startups, you can connect with me on

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