Garang Maker
Current city: Nairobi, Kenya
Year arrived in Canada: 2013
School: University of Guelph
Academic program: BSc. - Mathematical Sciences
Current occupation: Software Developer
Github URL: gthiong.github.io
Email: gmthiong@gmail.com
1. What inspired you to pursue your studies in Computer Science of all the academic programs that were available to you?
I started out in Mechanical Engineering. Like everyone else, I had initially wanted to pursue a path to medical school and took biological science courses in first year. In my second year, I was evaluating my courses and realized my Mechanical Engineering degree would take 6 years to complete since I had taken many unnecessary courses in first year. I therefore pivoted to Mathematical Sciences to accommodate all my credits. Everything changed when I took a second-year computer science course as an elective. It was on UI/UX design, and it made me fall in love with computer science.
2. What are your main success factors in your academic and professional journey? Inherent intellectual aptitude goes without saying.
In as much as there was a strong element of hard work, I think having a lot of resources around me was helpful, especially mentors. It is important to have classmates doing the same thing so that you can bounce ideas off each other. I had a lot of support and guidance from many people. From TAs, professors, and work supervisors, especially at my first gigs on campus. I would ask a lot of questions and received helpful insights, from assignments to general topics related to computer science, including asking where to find extra learning resources.
The availability of online courses was also very important in helping me pivot to computer science successfully. The courses offered at school are normally not very hands-on. The added pressure to complete assignments on time and pass the course also gets in the way of genuine learning. With online courses on platforms like Udemy and Coursera, there are no hard datelines, so you take your time to internalize the material. You can review a given topic over and over until you fully understand it. The goal is to know the material, not just to finish the course quickly and get good grades.
3. Can you tell me a bit about your career path and what led you to your current role?
I got my current job through a random online application. My interviewer didn’t start out in computer science, so we connected over our shared journey trying to learn software development. I had worked for multiple companies before then, so it was easier to articulate my skills and experience. It is important to point out that my career in computer science started when my UX/UI prof referred me to another professor to work on a project. I used that experience to spring from one project to another. Those early opportunities at the University of Guelph really help me hone my coding skills and made it easier to succeed in the corporate world.
4. What are the challenges you faced trying to get to where you are today, if any?
Trying to choose what course or career to pursue can be challenging. This is even more apparent for most of us who come with a dream of going to medical school and having to pivot to something completely new. I was lucky to settle into a program without wasting too much time.
5. What does your average workday look like?
If I don’t have a meeting first thing in the morning, I will start my day by reviewing my emails for any new urgent items that may have come in. The next thing is to review my slack group messages for new asks that need to be addressed. After that, I will go to our systems monitoring dashboard for any software breakages or errors. Next is to check my tasks dashboard. It lists everything I am supposed to work on up to 2 months ahead. I will work on tasks listed on there all day. I also supervise our ticketing system, so occasionally I review any open tickets that need to be addressed. We get tickets from people using our app or website. I handle these tickets or assign them. The best thing about all this is that I rarely repeat anything. There is always a new challenge each day.
6. What coding languages do you use on daily basis to do your work?
I use React and NodeJS daily. As part of my software development arsenal, I also use Python, PHP2 and SQL.
7. What’s something about your line of work that would surprise the average Joe?
Here’s one thing that most people don’t realize, anybody with internet access can edit any website on the internet because browsers have developer tools. What fascinates me about this is that you can use browser tools on Safari, Firefox or chrome to change the CSS of any webpage. You can see your changes being reflected on the webpage real time.
The other thing is that most people are not aware about all the risks online and neglect security measures. It is easy to trace someone’s paper trail online and be scammed.
8. What’s your favorite thing about your job or industry? In other words, what fuels your enthusiasm and helps you get out of bed on a winter Monday morning?
I find working with our non-tech teams very interesting, say marketing, HR etc. They do come up with tasks that they have formulated in their minds. They will explain how it should look and work. They see it as a simple request that can be turned into code and implemented that same day. I will then take notes and diagrams of the request and take a stab at it. Some of these requests are impossible to bring to life using code. So, I will go back to them and explain why it is hard to build it the way they want it and then work with them to modify it. It takes a lot of explaining in the layman’s language why certain features won’t work.
We mostly settle in the middle on most cases. Some ideas don’t come to life because there is no framework that can combine all the asks requested. I find this process very interesting.
9. Do you have a mentor? If so, how have they helped you in your academic or professional career?
Yes, absolutely. Mentors have shaped my journey and experience throughout. I try to have a mentor wherever I go and to keep those relationships alive. My direct supervisors at my previous workplaces are still my friends to this day. Mentors don’t necessarily need to be older more senior people. Some may be younger than you but are ahead of you career-wise and have a thing or two to teach you. It is important to cultivate supportive mentors that you can be vulnerable with, who will give you constructive feedback with an open mind.
10. Is your racial profile helping or hindering your professional growth? That is, if race has been a factor at all.
Race has not been a factor at all. If it has, I may not have noticed it. The only place I have seen race come to the surface is my current workplace, because they are trying to train and educate everyone on things like subconscious racial biases and what not. This is in light of recent events in the US, BLM etc.
11. What do you know now that you wished you had known before you enrolled in first year of university?
I would say starting out early is important. Settle quickly on what it is that you want to do with your life and acquire relevant experience in it. It does not matter what papers or degrees you have if you have the necessary practical skills and experience in your industry of choice. You gain these skills by working on or building your own projects. Starting early opens you up to new experiences and enables you to take on much complex projects as you grow. It makes it extremely easy to demonstrate your skillset when interviewing for jobs after graduation. I wish I knew this a lot earlier. I only started on my first projects in 3rd and 4th year, which was late.
12. What would you do differently if you were to start over in Canada?
I would go to a very small college or university in a very small town. This will give me a chance to build strong ties and relationships with my professors and classmates. The environment tends to be a lot less cutthroat. Professors have few students to attend to and therefore have time for you. This is important for success as a new immigrant in Canada trying to figure out life. Big universities in big cities don’t give you a safe space to make mistakes, learn and grow. Everything is fast and competitive; it is easy to fall behind and get washed out. In as much as we like to think we are academic ‘janys’, the kids in our classes have been prepared and groomed to study that course since they were in 5th grade. We are not the same. They have been exposed to the material for years and have a much deeper understanding. We prepare on our own for the most part. Many discover their programs through school brochures or while stumbling along in first year. Our successes come from our own hard-work and initiative. Very few of our parents (for those who have them) understand the intricacies of Western learning processes and can’t support you even if they wanted to.
13. From your experience transitioning to Canadian life and culture, do you have any advice for new students?
Your circumstances and interests should dictate what program you pursue. School career advisers will tell you to pursue anything you want, but this doesn’t put our unique circumstances into consideration. The amount of time, job prospects, resources and effort required to study a given program can be inhibiting for most of us sponsored students.
Find someone you trust and ask for mentorship. Don’t struggle on your own. Having someone you can be vulnerable with and ask deep personal questions is key to your personal growth. Don’t let pride or a sense of shame get in the way of your success. You need guidance, whether you realize it or not.
