Happy New Year, everyone!!

I know saying “Happy New Year” in the second quarter of 2025 sounds wild, but this is actually my first post of the year. I’ve never done a year-in-review before, so I decided to start with one as my first article. I’ll try to make this post as descriptive as possible as I share my lessons, mistakes, and everything in between.

JANUARY

In January, I began my one-year internship at Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. I studied nursing at university—just in case you didn’t know. After completing the five-year program, every nursing graduate in Nigeria is expected to do a one-year paid internship in a hospital recognized by the Nigerian Nurses and Midwifery Council. The aim is to merge classroom theory with real-life hospital practice.

Around this time, I also got a contract job from a good friend, so most of January was spent working on that. It was a period of trial and error for me because I wasn’t used to balancing a tech career with nursing—especially since both are demanding. Initially, I didn’t plan to apply for jobs, but after we weren’t paid for the first two months of internship, I gave myself some “sense” and started applying for frontend opportunities.

FEBRUARY

By February, I started feeling burned out. I couldn’t work on anything after returning from hospital shifts. To make things worse, my house was far from the hospital. I decided to register at the gym, and that decision helped tremendously. At first, I didn’t see much of a difference, but after two weeks, the constant fatigue disappeared. I was able to stay awake for longer hours, coding and learning new things.

Another big moment in February was when I started posting on LinkedIn. I’d had the app for a while but never really understood how to use it. I finally decided to start posting regularly.

MARCH

March, the month for women—was special. I got my first speaking engagement! I had wrapped up my contract gig with my friend and was fully focused on building projects and applying for jobs.

At the start of the year, I had prayed to speak at tech events, but I wasn’t sure where to begin. One day, while coming back from work, I stumbled on an open call for speakers for She Code Africa’s International Women’s Day event (Port Harcourt Chapter). I applied and left it to God.

On March 30th, I stood as one of the keynote speakers at the event, where I spoke on “The Myth and Reality of Tech”—a topic that’s very dear to me because many people enter tech based on hype and struggle when faced with reality.

One of the highlights of that day was seeing my friend come to support me. It reminded me how blessed I am to have amazing people in my life. (P.S. I’ll attach our picture!)

APRIL

April came with another big moment—I was accepted to speak at the Women Techmakers event as a panelist. I almost didn’t attend, though. I can’t quite remember why, but I know it had something to do with stress. After talking with friends, I found the courage to go, and I’m so glad I did.

Funny enough, I had to report to the hospital at 2 PM that day, so right after the panel session, I dashed out without even networking. Despite not hearing back from the frontend job applications, I kept building and applying.

MAY

May wasn’t very eventful, but I kept showing up. I applied for roles and continued building projects. This was the month I realized I needed help with LinkedIn. I didn’t fully understand how the algorithm worked, and my posts weren’t getting engagement. So, I decided to enroll in a LinkedIn training program with Haoma Worgwu for June.

JUNE

June taught me that knowledge is truly power. I had the LinkedIn app for years but never knew how to maximize it. The course opened my eyes to a whole new world. I began thinking long-term, learned how to use AI to optimize my posts, and transformed my profile from boring to optimized. It was one of the best investments I made in myself last year.

JULY

July was all about LinkedIn Live for me. It started as a challenge from Haoma’s course—we were asked to collaborate with fellow students and host a LinkedIn Live session. That small task turned into a series of live sessions, where I invited guests to share insights and inspire beginners in tech.

August and September

Nothing particularly spectacular happened during these months. I started getting feedback from the jobs I applied to, but none went beyond the interview stage. It was frustrating not knowing what I was doing wrong, but I didn’t let that stop me. I continued showing up and posting across my platforms.

October and November

In October, my breakthrough finally came—I got a job! I was so excited and felt genuinely proud because I knew I worked hard for it. The CTO was kind, and the role stretched everything in me, but I wasn’t complaining. The best part? I got to work on projects independently while the team helped with deployment.

In November, I spoke at one of Port Harcourt’s biggest tech conferences. That was a huge deal for me!

But November also came with deadlines and pressure. I had prayed for a job, and now the job was "praying for my life"—lol.

December

December was chill. I worked on some projects from my company, but they were manageable and I completed them on time. My company also had a dinner, but I had already traveled, so I couldn’t attend.

Lessons Learnt From The Year

Balancing multiple careers is hard—but not impossible.
Learning how to manage both my nursing internship and tech career taught me resilience and time management.
Health fuels productivity.
Joining the gym was a game-changer. You can’t pour from an empty cup.
Small steps lead to big wins.
Starting with small LinkedIn posts led to live sessions, visibility, and eventually speaking engagements.
Your network is your strength.
Having friends who support you—emotionally and practically—makes a world of difference.
Rejections are redirections.
Every job rejection pushed me to learn more, build more, and keep showing up.
Invest in yourself.
The LinkedIn course I took improved my personal brand and opened new doors for me.
Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.
Opportunities came when I least expected, but my consistency made me ready to take them on.

2024 Year In Review