where do I start in tech?

My experience leans heavily towards some of the aspects I will discuss, and is by no means exhaustive. Also, I am a doctor, which means I might be biased towards my junior and senior colleagues in healthcare.

We got that out of the way, let's jump in.

Welcome to the panic room

Here, we attempt to find out why you want to start learning tech in any form, and we also find out the type of techie you want to be. Things might change in the future, and I will most definitely update it.

Why do you want to learn technology?

For most people, the answer is usually curiosity. It is the most hyped career recently, and you most probably know people who are already in, and one of two things, money or knowledge, seems interesting to you. Some usually have ready answers. ''I have this idea I want to see if I can build it myself". "There is some research I am doing". "I want to try out a new career".

Well, before you leap, find out where you fit in my list that Sam Altman and I have worked on.

I am a builder.

Deep down, the thing I enjoy most about technology is the ability to build something that other people use and benefit from. I learnt this quite late, since I belong to the earlier category of curiosity (I had an extreme amount locked up).

I guess I don't know how I will explain past that, you just know, or you will find out. Maybe I will be able to explain later in life as I learn.

Still, you are most likely going to build (web developer, mobile developer, data, UI/UX Designer). The problem is thinking this list is exhaustive.

I also love solving problems.

Life makes sense when I find solutions to problems. The scale may not matter. And this might be something you resonate with.

Then you might be any of the developers, again, a combination, platform engineer, developer operations (I love this to death. You are responsible for moving parts in alignment, to make sure the tech team's delivery is in top shape, and works with the rest of whatever outfit). Again, the problem is...

I am slowly growing into research.

Initially, I wanted to either take a shortcut or avoid doing heavy research, and always left it to colleagues (thank you so much Dr Vincent Kipkorir).

Anyway, what decisions will you ever make without data? Hmm?

You fit here because you love exploring, researching. You want to point people in the right direction. You are dealing with a lot of money. Money mostly not yours. Or information.

So, data people (and researchers), this is your niche. Data analysts, Data Scientists, Machine Learning, (big data, artificial intelligence). I started sounding like PM Narendra Modi, didn't I?

I love communicating and connecting with people.

How many things can you say are true about yourself? You do not have a stand? Said no one ever.

Hear me out, I am writing this piece to you aren't I?

Anyway, you find a lot of technical writers here (I am going to be an excellent one), product managers (I am being mentored by the best, where I intern, thank you Silas), developer advocates (you are telling people how to work with the product you and your team came up with.). Or you love design (the language of the gods). Home is here.

I am a leader

This may also mean, for you, that crafting strategy is your niche. If you are fluent in strategy, reach out and hold my hand. I will be a good student I promise.

You are therefore a technical leader, a CTO (you need to be cracked by design), or a tech consultant.

In short, you guide teams, products, or organizations at scale. Well, if you are reading this and are a beginner, it may mean you need to go through the other pathways, probably more than one, to get here.

I love scaling or automating things.

Still an Achilles heel for me. If this is you, though then you (love solving problems - refer there, and ) will be a specialist in cloud architecture, a platform engineer, or an AI automation specialist (buzzwords, am I right?). I did not explain back there, but a platform engineer builds reusable systems and tools for others. Honestly, before you reach here, you need some juice elsewhere first as a builder or problem solver.

It's been real

Go do you. Reach out to discuss this more. I might actually find a way of building this out just for fun. If you have ideas on doing this, hit me up.

Preferably, past or present AMSUN Code Community member, informal as it is, Afya Innovation Lab, MKU/KU (Medtech/Medcode) communities. Not that this should limit anyone else.
I was very much thinking about healthcare professionals when I was writing this up anyway.

Cheers, and create an account today.