#AFEXTechDiary 4: This is what happens when you stumble on your passion by mistake
…you venture into a career building slick websites, apps, and programs. This is Abdulgafar Shuaib’s story. He is a front-end developer at AFEX. His role enables him to work across a range of AFEX’s web applications like ComX, ECN, and the AFEX website. In this article, he talks about his passion for tech and how he got into the industry.
How did you become a Front-end developer?
I was studying electrical engineering at the University of Ilorin, but mistakenly they decided to teach us a programming course, and at that moment I lost interest in electrical engineering. That’s where my interest in web development began.
I had to wing electrical engineering till my final year. I spent most of my days in school learning programming rather than paying attention to my engineering classes. I started working on a variety of different projects for my friends and learning new techniques in tech. I did a lot of freelancing jobs on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. And after my service year, I got my first official tech job. Then I got the offer to work as a developer at AFEX.
The biggest challenge in tech and what inspires you?
The major challenge is the amount of learning one has to do. There is no resting time being an IT specialist. To be grounded as a tech guy, you have to read new articles, watch new videos, check new websites every day. Most times a lot of people in tech like to exit as fast as possible to save their brain because the work we do is quite tasking mentally, it is hard for the brain to keep up at times. I will like to exit as fast as I can too, depending on how fast I am able to make an impact and earn more.
How does your involvement with ComX impact lives? What are some of the activities you’re involved with?
Basically, ComX is a trading platform. Much like cryptocurrency trading, but this time you are trading commodities like maize, sorghum, paddy rice. When you invest on ComX, you buy lower, sell higher, and make profits. Because the changes are not as spontaneous as those in crypto, the risks are far less, and making gains is almost certain. Many people who do not have a high capacity for risk prefer to trade commodities instead and ComX is tailored to meet the needs of such persons. Also, people who do not earn so much and cannot afford to lose so much might not want to go into crypto-trading and are likely to just prefer commodity trading so they use ComX.
As a front-end developer, I worked with other innovative minds on the team to build ComX on the website and mobile app. From the sign-up on the web to signing in to funding your wallet, to putting up an order, to your trade getting matched, you can see a lot of our thinking and conceptualization in those processes.
What aspect of tech excites you?
Unlike other career paths, there are few barriers in tech. For example, you can be a student of engineering in a Federal school and find it hard to compete with your counterparts in foreign countries. However, in tech, you have easy access to the same resources as others. On EDX for example, some Harvard courses are for free, unlike engineering. The barriers are little, and there is more money in tech.
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