I have always been interested in computers. 

Curious and fascinated by it since when I was in primary school, so much so that anytime I saw an adult opening a laptop or sitting by a desktop, I’d eagerly go and stand beside them. I would observe what they did, and soon, I began to recreate what I saw them do. 

One scenario I remember is creating a new email address anytime I saw someone create one. Soon enough, I had multiple email accounts and one that is memorable is adeotun65@hotmail.com. I was too young to be creating emails so I just always picked a random year. I could have gone with something a bit more realistic, but I didn’t. So apparently, I was 65 when I created this email in primary school. And by the end of primary school, I had close to ten email addresses to my name. 

I had no idea what to do with all these email accounts, I just loved to use the computer.

Everyone always talked about how I would be a good lawyer because on issues I was interested in, I would argue and put forth my points articulately. However, I knew I was always going to do something that related to computers and not law. I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do until I was preparing to apply to schools for university. 

Computer Engineering sounded cool to me, not until I had a conversation with my Computer Science teacher who asked me, “What exactly are you trying to do?”. The outcome of this conversation was me being advised to apply for Computer Science after hearing what I wanted to do. 

My interest in computers was centered around games. I would spend hours engrossed in games, mostly online at that time, from cooking games to girlie games to card games and others like pinball, Minesweeper, etc. I could write a whole foolscap sheet of websites where games could be played without having to download them. These games caught my interest, even though some were difficult when I started, I always got better after immersing myself in them. I wanted to know how these games were created, this was what drove me to make my choice. This was what I wanted to do, I wanted to build my own games.

I love school. 

You may not hear that often, but everyone that knows me knows I love school. 

I got into Covenant University to study Computer Science, and I loved everything that came with the schooling environment. The pressure that came with reading and learning felt satisfying to me. The joy of learning something new, getting tested on it, passing it, and then saying to yourself “Now I know something I didn’t know before”. It makes me feel good. I believe it’s difficult to become irrelevant if you keep learning because you keep growing and becoming more valuable. People come from different backgrounds and as such have different expectations from school. 

As for me, my expectations for university matched well with what I got. Even now, years after leaving, I am trying to go back to school.

After getting my computer science degree, I got home on the 20th of November that year and resumed my first job in December of the same year. The role was in Microsoft Sharepoint Administration and Enterprise solution, that is Microsoft power apps, building applications with that and just being a Sharepoint Administrator. I had previous experience from an internship while I was in school so I got a recommendation for the role from a former employer. It however did not last long. 

It was a bridge job before I got what I wanted to do. I enjoyed it nonetheless and the employers even knew I was looking for a more permanent position elsewhere. 

They supported me all through till I left in February of the following year when I began my youth service. 

One year after youth service, I moved to Germany. 

Choosing Germany may sound like a strange choice, but I have family here so it was a pretty easy decision. It was my first time visiting Europe. Things are different here. As simple as the size of the spoons was a problem for me. The spoons are so big, I could not fit them in my mouth. The tablespoons were TABLESPOONS. Also, Germans are punctual. They are straight to the point and direct in communication. 

Growing up in Nigeria was different. Out of respect, everything was coated, sugar-coated, and subtly delivered. But here, truth is said right to your face and it took a while trying to adjust. It was difficult accepting that nobody was out to get me, that it’s just how they are here. It has however gotten better over time. 

Really a culture shock!

I got a job in Nigeria before I moved here. It required me to relearn how to communicate, especially with my colleagues. An apt example is one time, I was late for a meeting. I get there and I am like “I am so sorry I’m late”. That was all I said because of how I was raised, when you start trying to give reasons like “the train was late”, it comes through as excuses. It was always better to admit you were late and sorry. But here, I was expected to tell them why. I didn’t get that on time because for me it was like “I don’t want to give you excuses”.

My spiritual life blossomed at the University because of how committed I was and the friends I had. I learned while growing up that the first thing you do when you get to a new environment is to find a faith-based community, a Christian family. I found one here and I still get the same experience as I did back home in Nigeria. I met with a lot of young professionals who soon became friends at the church. I would go on to explore my love for games with them.

Whenever we celebrated birthdays or threw surprise parties for each other, I would bring my games. 

I had started accumulating games over time and we always had games to play. When we started getting together more frequently, we realized game nights would be more sustainable for us as a group. We rotate who hosts the game. 

However, we needed someone to hold everyone accountable for it, and who more than the person that loves it the most?

So every week as a role, I remind the person meant to host us for the game night. 

One of the games I enjoy playing is Werewolves; Imagine a village setting, each person has an identity that only they know. However, not everyone in the village is a regular villager. There are werewolves in our midst, and they must fished out if not they will kill the rest of the villagers. During the day, the villagers try to figure out who the werewolf is and if they are wrong they might end up killing one of their own. At night, the werewolf kills everyone if it isn’t found. This sets us up for a lot of action and arguments as everyone tries to make their case that they aren’t the werewolf. 

These game nights have become the highlight of my social life.

My love for computers made it possible for me to be here in Germany, working as a DevOps Engineer, and my love for games, well, it makes every day an adventure.