Growing up, Adora Nwodo was that child who was enthralled by computers and technology and spent most of her time trying to figure out how they worked. Her brothers were her first instructors in the basics of computer operation. Her interest grew as a child and she has begun to learn Microsoft programs and create rudimentary graphic designs.
It’s no surprise that she’s now a key player in the tech industry; she has always known she belonged there. In this week’s women in tech, Adora Nwodo shared her career journey with us.
Adora Nwodo’s journey
Adora Nwodo made it a point to pursue her interest in building things to the maximum. After receiving a first-class degree in computer science from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), she decided to start a career in software engineering in 2017.
While in her penultimate year in university, she worked as a software intern at an advertising company and continued even after her NYSC service. She rose to the position of an Associate Software Developer in 2 years.
In 2019, Adora, like every other enthusiastic person, felt she had garnered enough experience and was ready to upscale her career path. For her, the degree and experience she has acquired were sufficient for her to move forward in the industry.
She started working with Microsoft in August of that year, where she currently works with the Microsoft Mesh team. For Adora Nwodo, landing the job with Microsoft was not as difficult as it seems. She believes she was already equipped enough for the role.
Most of the CS fundamentals I know, I learnt while I was in school through books I read or classes or interactions with a bunch of my peers. The entire university experience added to my Software Engineering knowledge. However, you do not need a computer science degree to get knowledge in this field or work in big tech. I know people that have done it in the past and nowadays, I’m seeing more people do it.
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Becoming a digital content creator
One thing you need to know about Adora Nwodo is her great sense of creativity. In so many interviews, Adora often mentioned her love of the disc jockey (DJ) lifestyle and fashion entrepreneurship.
But that is not all. Over the years, she has taken to the social space to influence and inspire people with her knowledge of tech. You can practically call her a digital content creator.
She currently has a YouTube platform with over 6000 subscribers, a large Twitter audience of over 71,000 followers and a LinkedIn platform with more than 31,000 connections where she shares life tips, career knowledge and advice to people looking to or is already into the tech space.
She also has a blog, AdoraHack, a platform for newbies in the space to learn more about tech and software development using articles content she uploads.
How she manages to combine all this influencing life and a 9-5 job seems practically impossible and unreal even for Adora Nwodo. She acknowledges this as one of the “biggest miracles’ in her life.
“I can sit here and say things like prioritize, use your calendar, manage the time you spend on tasks and get enough rest so that you’re sharper and can do work faster. I do these things, but I think the biggest factor that contributes to my ability to manage all these things effectively is the fact that I’m used to doing multiple things.”
She told me that even as a child, she has been pretty used to multitasking and as she grew older, she has been able to master the act.
“The only difference is that now, I’m creating productive and impactful work for myself to do”, she adds.
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Challenges as a woman in tech
Adora Nwodo told shared some of the most common issues. These include harassment and being a victim of unconscious bias in the workplace. Although, she had not had to deal with many of these gender-related concerns.
As a Nigerian woman in tech? Nothing to be honest. My challenges aren’t gender related. I struggle with bugs, imposter syndrome, burnout and things that everyone struggles with. However, I know that many women have different struggles in tech around harassment, prejudice, being victims of unconscious bias, amongst other challenges and they all need to stop.
Advice for women
At 25, Adora has achieved quite a lot and that is inspiring a lot of other women in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. A few of the key attributes that have helped Adora navigate the space are being herself and her ability able to network.
If she is not creating content, she is using her time to meet other people in the space as well as add value to her personal brand through constant learning. She is presently enrolled at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
She shares her trick:
“Do you. The world will adjust. Also, make sure you’re networking, adding value, learning and advocating for yourself.”
Looking ahead
Adora Nwodo has been on the lookout for other creative means to pass on relevant knowledge in the space. She is one of the co-founders of Unstack Africa, an open-source conference to network and educate tech professionals about happenings in the space.
She is also a mentor at the Microsoft LEAP apprenticeship program.
In 2021, she published her first book, Cloud Engineering for Beginners, which has been an educative toolkit for aspiring cloud engineers. She is currently working on turning the book into a course to make it more interactive as well as enable them to obtain a certificate online.
Next, Adora Nwodo is discreetly working on a second book, Beginning Azure DevOps, which she is very much excited about. She is working with one of the biggest publishing companies in the USA, Wiley Publishing. It will be released very soon.
You should watch out for it.
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