Hello Readers! Compliment of the season.
OMG! It's 2022 already? This was my expression when I knew we are in December 2021 already. Wow! Let me give y'all a gist of how my 2021 was.
Oh! How great 2021 was, teaching me a lot from fixing my long time burnout, imposter syndrome to pushing me to do more and brushing up skills, to giving me opportunities in communities to serve and learn, to making me realize there will always be rejections and another person is going to accept what was rejected, to making me meet amazing people, to attending physical tech conferences and gatherings and most importantly for bringing to this point after far drowning in burnout and depression for 8 months.
Let's get to the juicy part of the gist. Sometime around November 2020, I grew tired of everything. From a bad laptop to some personal crises. Meanwhile, I just started my Journey in June, like how can I be tired in November but then I was. I stopped coding, learning, even to the point of going off social media and not talking to anybody in the space. It was so bad I just don't want to do anything related to tech. If you ask me the cause I'm sure I won't have an answer for you, I just know it keeps going deeper as each day passes by.
How did I make it out of it?
During all these, I always have a realization that I'm supposed to get myself out of it but it was looking so hard and it was as though I was becoming comfortable in a "no identity" state. Oh no! this is bad I always say to myself. By April 2021 I was invited to a workshop by Google Developers Circle Ogbomosho in partnership with Women Techmakers in celebration of International Women's day 2021 and yes I gave the workshop giving basics of React and firebase. One would have thought Yes! that's a breakthrough! Yes, I thought so too until I started feeling like I didn't know anything. Imposter syndrome or we can just say I do not know anything so I went straight back into my shells after the workshop.
Getting out was looking harder than I thought but I knew no magic could take me out of it. It's something I have to do myself. In late May I remember reaching out to Ruth. Ruth is a friend I got from Shecodeafrica Mentorship Program SheCodeAfrica. I told her about my situation and she was helpful but the real deal is still left to me to pull out myself. I then remembered an article I wrote on Being Your Own Cheerleader Here it dawned on me that the help I need is ME! I reminded myself of the purpose I went into tech in the first place.
I started by downloading tutorials again and I started a 50days of code challenge. I made sure I was doing something each day. I reached out to people I stopped talking to, I reached out to the open-source community I belong to, and made known that I was back. I started engaging and contributing.
My Wins
When things look like they are going south, I still put myself all out, I applied for a lot of volunteering roles which I got experiences from and I was able to learn as well. I got to find out I'm amazing at helping and managing people. I also applied to a lot of job positions, got rejections, and still getting rejections. PS: I'm still jobless, I'm looking for a job.
I volunteered as Bootcamp manager at FemaleTechpreneur, as a person of Contact at the SheCodeAfrica high school mentorship program, currently as Frontend Lead for SheCodeAfrica, and Community manager at Layer5. I've been able to work with diverse people. Attended Developer's conferences onsite and online. Met amazing people. I've organized webinars getting folks into the tech space, had calls putting people through getting started with Open Source, I participated in Hacktoberfest 2021.
Here are some pictorial representations of my 2021 wins and grove.
- Got badged in the Open Source I contribute to
- Amazing feedback from my Boss
- I got an Open Source Mentor badge from Hashnode
- Became the Frontend Team Lead of SheCodeAfrica
All these happened in the space of 6 months then I asked myself where would I have been if burnout had not happened? Silicon Valley maybe. LOL(Joking) but what won't happen if burnout had not happened? The experience I have now, the reliance I have now, the perseverance I have now, the passion I have now, and the amazing people I've met from all of these, I'm so grateful.
I've realized that no matter the level of your burnout or depression you alone can take yourself out of that state others can only try, the decision is still yours to make. So, as we move to 2022 I want y'all to know that burnout will happen in your journey, imposter syndrome will happen, a lot of rejections will happen, you can take charge of your emotions, take a break(it's okay) focus on other things, set a roadmap for yourself, set your goals, apply for that job, submit that proposal, kickstart that dream, get those books, go on that break or vacation, work with your pace, make it a set at a time, just make sure you never stop, keep going. (In Nigeria's language, problem no dey finish)
See you all in 2022, let's make things happen!
Merry Christmas and Happy new in advance with love from Oluwabamikemi. 🎄🎄🎄
Cheers to the new year!🥂🥂
