Happy International Women's Day!✨💖👯
My name is Rachael, but my friends call me Raycee.
Where do you work?
Ona Limited
What do you do?
I am a Software Engineer.
Who or what inspired you to pursue the career you have today?
A guy named Arthur Kennedy is the who introduced me to coding and opened up my mind about technology. His patience and brilliance made me want to be more like him. I am really grateful to him for that and the amazing ladies from Rails Girls Mombasa and Nairobi who we not only gave each other hope in our coding journey but took up the challenge to teach and inspire others.
What is your favourite music genre?
Currently, I listen to a lot of amapiano and worship music.
what is your secret talent that no one knows about?
I make soap and sell them using my instagram page Nile Soaps n scents. instagram.com/nilesoapsnscents
My advice for allies to support underrepresented folks who code is...
Don't be afraid, allow yourself to make mistakes that is how you learn, ask the dumb questions and be very patient with yourself.
How do you keep yourself up to date in your field?
I try to read tech blogs, follow tech blogs on twitter, I recently started picking coding challenges on exercism and hackerrank.
How would you describe your job to a bunch of 5 year olds
See the apps you use on the internet? I build those😎.
What cool thing are you working on right now?
I recently worked on implementing a feature that allows you to link your your forms from ona to Tableau for visualization.
What was your first job?
Does an intern count? I am currently at my first job.
What are the toughest challenges you've had at work?
When I started out as an intern, I had to learn a new language within the three months. It was also my first time working on code that goes to production. It was the toughest yet the best experience ever.
What upcoming technological innovation will dramatically impact the industry in the next five years?
I believe machine learning and robotics is something people will embrace even more. 2020 has made us realize we don't really need to be at the same place to get things done therefore dependence on machines will increase as we move forward.
What skill do you think everyone should learn?
critical thinking. You might be a good developer but if you can't think how to implement your code, you will stay at the same place. As my mentor says, coding is easy as long as you know what you are coding.
Have you taken a huge leap of faith at work? Did it pay off?
I think pick up features or new technologies at work is always a leap of faith for me. Sometimes I might take longer to even deliver but my end goal is not to just complete but to come out better and with knowledge.