We chatted with the 24-year-old Developer from Cape Town about his journey from CodeSpace graduate to working in tech.

Working as a developer since 2019, and now finding himself in the role of a Junior QA Tester, Rasool reflects on what inspired him to start his coding journey:

‘When I left high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I tried a bunch of things and then a friend of mine suggested that we learn to code together. We did a course through Life Choices in collaboration with CodeSpace. Through the course, I discovered I enjoyed tech and it was the industry for me.’

Once he successfully graduated from CodeSpace, Rasool took part in an internship at Digi, where he was able to start to use what he learnt and apply his skills to real-world problems. This was his experience:

‘Working in tech wasn’t like anything I expected. Almost everything surprised me when I started. In my first week or so, I felt like I had no idea what was going on, but my team lead was super helpful and gave me the support I needed. There is so much more work that goes on behind the scenes in tech than I expected. For example, a simple website involves coding, cyber security, DevOps, etc.

The main skill that I found relevant at Digi is knowing how to code. It was also super helpful to understand the tech terminology that I learned and how to apply what it means to my internship role at Digi. It was the most I learned since the beginning of my coding journey. I was exposed to so many things so quickly, but I received loads of support along the way from my team members. My team lead made me aware of all the people who could help me if I ever needed support.

Honestly, my time at Digi was full of huge growth and learning from the people around me!’

Rasool’s biggest lesson along the way, is something most people in the changing world of tech face daily: 

The biggest takeaway is learning how to learn, the tech landscape is constantly evolving, so it is important to stay on top of the new developments. It is also vital to keep learning and adding new skills and languages to my existing knowledge to grow as a developer. Don’t limit yourself to the things you’re currently learning; one course or even a 3-year degree can’t prepare you for everything. So, research and learn things outside of your course curriculum. Keep learning about the tech industry. Keep developing new skills.’ 

As someone who took the challenging journey of studying and then entering the workforce this is the advice Rasool would give for others starting out:

‘I have two pieces of advice. Firstly, if you’re experiencing decision paralysis, just start learning something. Begin anywhere and build something. Secondly, if you have an idea for something cool you want to create through code, learn the programming languages you need to build it. For example, learn Flutter if you want to create a mobile app. It is so much easier to stay motivated when you’re working towards something you’re passionate about.’

Start your journey into the Tech world now take a look at Digi’s latest vacancies or upskill yourself with Codespace.