Hello,

My name is Paul, I'm a frontend developer | a UI designer | a graphics designer based in Lagos, Nigeria. I studied computer science but didn't get into programming until after I graduated. I sketched very well as a kid which led to my interest in graphic design when I got into school. It was really amazing for me to translate my thoughts into reality and you can see what I was thinking. This ability to bring thoughts and ideas to reality got me excited and I started to learn about designs. Soon, I got to learn the basics of UI/UX designs and eventually got into frontend programming. I thought to myself that it would be really nice to not only design these screens but also build them into full-fledged applications with interactions. This is how I got into the front-end space. Asides from programming, I like sketching, looking at designs on dribbble.com or behance.net, playing the piano or reading growth/productivity books. Oh and yea, I have a twin brother and his name is Peter.

My Core Values

I have several beliefs and values which I hold dear and these are 3 core values I hold dear - Giving, Discipline and Growth

Giving

Giving is very important to me and I’ve learnt to give time and substance. I believe that part of the reasons why we receive is to give to others and the community at large. I practice giving time and attention to people, giving gift items or money, giving back to the community by teaching about certain topics for free and so on. If you’re reading this, I really encourage you to start practicing to give and spread the love.

Discipline

I’d be very sincere, this is quite difficult but every time I fall short, I get back on track and keep practicing. There are so many areas of our lives and each of these requires discipline whether it is at work, with spending, with our religion, with our businesses etc. I practice discipline to best I can (even though it sometimes isn’t enough) in all areas of my life.

Growth

I am very concerned about my growth. I push to learn, try out new things and see how I can get better. Life requires unending series of learning and the things will learn coupled with the actions we take, add to our growth. I make out time and list out the things I have to learn and some actions I need to take to step up myself. I’m concerned about career growth, spiritual growth, relationship growth and financial growth.

What motivated me to apply to Outreachy

In 2018 I heard about Open source for the first time and I wasn’t sure what it was. By 2020 I had gone to a few seminars and open source events but this time, I volunteered as a designer at an awesome open source community in Nigeria called OSCA (Open Source Community Africa). They were going to have their first festival, so I wanted to contribute to the design project for the community and this was how I got started. I began to learn about it but as a designer. After the event, I didn’t contribute much to any other open source project but started hosting my projects on GitHub and contributing to it myself. This time I now spend most of my time writing frontend code and building interfaces. I was looking for a project to contribute to but I wasn’t so sure how to go about it. I had heard about Outreachy in an open-source conference by a fellow attendee, but I wasn’t completely sure what it was about. Then I stumbled upon Outreachy again and this time took time to learn about them and what they do. I was very much interested. The fact is that they welcome all kinds of people and have a guideline of how to get started contributing to open source. I knew this was what I needed, someone and a community I can ask questions about the projects on GitHub I am trying to communicate to. The stipend was (and still is) mind-blowing. I was looking at a bunch of benefits:

• I get to work with a team
• I have mentors and fellow community contributors that I can reach out to when stuck
• I get paid an impressive stipend!
• My skill and contribution can get shipped to production and be used by lots of users

I was interested already! I started preparing, registered (more than once though) and got accepted this time as an intern in the Dec-March 2021 Cohort with Publiclab. It has been an amazing journey and I’d share more about my journey as we keep going.

This is how I got here and I’d keep going, upping my frontend skills and contributing to open source projects that resonate with the things I enjoy doing. Thank you for your reading and I hope you too can get started contributing to open source projects!