Dear amazing reader, I would love to brief you on the Open Source Festival that happened in Lagos from 20th - 22nd February, 2020
So I was privileged to attend the first open source festival in Africa #oscafest organized by the Open Source Community Africa @oscafrica. I say it was a privilege because I was gifted the event ticket by Adora Nwodo @adoranwodo, not just that, I also got accepted to be a volunteer at the event all thanks to Ada Nduka Oyom @kolokodess. So I had to travel to Lagos because I live in Awka, Anambra state where I school and that was towards the end of the semester (that would be my first time in Lagos). On Thursday 19th February, 2020, I left Awka for Lagos. That was my first time in lagos so I didn’t know anywhere. I got to Lagos and experienced the lagos traffic that night. The next day I had to find my way to Zone Tech park which is the venue for the fest. That morning I saw Ada and Samson the co-founders of OSCA. I had always wanted to meet them but that morning I saw them but I couldn’t say anything to them. We had amazing speakers lined up for the event. Though I couldn’t attend the workshops on Thursday because we the volunteers were busy all through the day but I had the chance of joining Gen Ashley’s session-I am Remarkable. After the session I was happy because I explored my strengths and I appreciated them more.
The first day of the conference on Friday I listened to some of the speakers when I had the little chance of doing so. I listened to the Keynote address by GEN ASHLEY she spoke at length on how ladies can get involved in tech and her efforts already in ensuring that the tech space is as inclusive as possible. I was specially motivated when Moyinoluwa Adeyemi told us how she became the first Android Google Developer Expert in Nigeria. It was a story which shows that consistency pays. That one should never despise humble beginnings it doesn’t matter how big the steps are, what matters is that they are in the right direction towards achieving your goal.
The zenith of Friday’s conference for me was the panel session with Amanda Casari which had Samson Goody, Peace Ojemeh, Glory Agaveture, Cecilia Mbugua, Favour Kelvin, Joseph Keweesi and Edidiong Asikpo. They talked about how they got involved in open source. I was excited because it was a panel of seven persons with five of them ladies. I haven’t seen that happen anywhere. I was so happy when I saw that, it shows that we are getting to that time where we have more women in tech than we do now. Friday was all shades of awesomness, I went home fully loaded and when I thought I had seen it all. I didn’t know that the best was reserved for the last ie Saturday.
Saturday morning started off with all enthusiasm. It was a bright morning and as usual everthing startd in earnest.We had lightining talks by amazing speakers. From how to be a stand-out contributor by Amaechi Amarachi to how designers can be open sourcerers by Abigail Makolo. We had Kelvin Gobo talk about how we can improve the way we write code by contributing to open source, Ignatius Ukwuoma came with telling us how we can increase our value within our team. From the ligntinng talk we went to the keynote speeches. To mention but a few.
Lessons learnt from the open source festival
My main aim of attending the oscafestival was to connect with people in the tech field, learn about open source and learn few things that will help me in running the Genesys campus Club we have in school. I am glad I did achieve all except that I didn’t connect much, but it is okay. During the event I noticed that everyone who is in the OSCA team are all young persons and the event was still a huge success. I used to see myself as very young. If I say this who would listen, if I do it who would appreciate it but after that event I told myself that it is not a matter of your age it is about the value you bring to the table. Just do it and do it well people will definitely appreciate it. Though I didn’t listen to all the talks but I got enough sauce from the open source talks that I listened to. Some of them are; It is not just enough to be a contributor but also being a stand-out contributor, people identify with the value, I can become more and achieve more while contributing to open source because open source is 100% beneficial both to the contributor and to the society. It gives you the platform to interact with developers culture that are not same with yours, no doubt you learn more while contributing when you keep an open mind. Not seeing the culture as unnecessary. It is a wonderful thing to have yourself work on improving peoples life and helping to make life easier for people not just in your circle but also in the world at large. When you contribute to open source you improve your way of writing codes. The number of women that participated in the event planning and those that attended the event was overwhelming. It was not your normal tech event where you go and 80% of the population is male. There I saw that it is actually possible for us to have a tech event that is inclusive without any group being underrepresented. That ladies actually have a place in the tech space. So I encourage more ladies to get involved your age doesn’t matter whether too young or too old let’s join hands and achieve more because the future is open. To the designers who don’t know that they can also contribute to open source, cheer up because you are also included. It will be an amazing thing to have more designers in the open source community. And if you are a designer who wants to contribute to open source you might want to check out Abigail Makolo’s slides and get started.
Finally, it is time for me to go out and increase my value within my team. It is time for me to be a CREATOR not just a User. It is time for me to do it and stop expecting somebody else to do it. It is time for me to form that open source habit. It is time for me to start contributing to open source. It is time for me to go out and PROSPER. To the team I am happy that I got to see and interact with you people. Thank you for your effort in making this event a success. And I am patiently waiting for the women of OSCA. Thanks to the speakers and the facilitators. I look forward to more sauce from the open source community.
#iamRemarkable
#oscafest
#TheFutureisOpen
#NextBillionCreators