A colorful slice of humanity find peace in improving the world, with their skills and resources; they are the volunteer community. A community where generosity and a thirst for adventure dance together.
To volunteer means to join a selected group of people who’d play a crucial role in addressing various societal and environmental needs like; hunger, homelessness, poverty, healthcare inequality and many more. It is an act of humanitarianism that helps to build up the community support social welfare and promote social harmony among people.
So, What is Volunteering?
Volunteering is giving one’s time, talents, and efforts to a cause without anticipating any form of compensation, unless stated. In the same vein, a person who chooses to serve the community, wholeheartedly, for a good cause, is called a Volunteer. A volunteer is driven by a pure desire to influence the world using his innate or refined skills to cause a positive turnaround.
In this article, we will:
Delve into various ways to volunteer.
Discuss the common challenges faced by volunteers and how to overcome them, and
The joys of volunteering
Ways to Volunteer
1. Local Community Involvement: Volunteering in your neighborhood is a powerful way to make a real difference. You can assist at local events, take part in neighborhood clean-up efforts and mentor young people in your community.
2. Nonprofit Organizations: Many non-governmental organizations rely largely on volunteers. Whatever may be your area of expertise, let’s say; web development, accountancy, or marketing, you can contribute to the success of these organizations.
3. Global Volunteering: If you have the time and money, think about volunteering abroad. This could be working as a volunteer for international health organizations, helping with relief efforts after natural disasters, or providing education in underdeveloped regions of the world.
4. Virtual Volunteering: You can also Volunteer from the convenience of your home thanks to technology. There are other distant impact options, like social media management, virtual event planning, and online tuition.
5. Corporate Volunteering: Some businesses promote volunteerism among their staff members as a way to uphold their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR). This is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen relationships among coworkers while giving back to the community.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Volunteering
1. Time Constraints: It may be difficult to find time for volunteering due to busy schedules. To get around this, set your priorities, create attainable goals and resolve to volunteer, at least for a few hours every week.
2. Burnout: At times your commitment to volunteering might become intense for you. By establishing boundaries, letting the organization know what you can handle, and getting help when you need it, can help you avoid burnout.
3. Skills and Experience: Consider taking advantage of the training opportunities offered by the organizations if you feel your abilities don’t match their volunteer requirement. Never be scared to develop personally in addition to your voluntary work.
4. Financial Constraints: For some, the fact that volunteering is frequently underpaid may be a hurdle. If travel fees are a concern, look for programs that provide stipends or pay expenses. You might want to consider virtual volunteering.
5. Lack of Recognition: Sometimes volunteers may feel unappreciated. To combat this, ask for feedback, talk to people about your experiences, and keep in mind that your efforts have a positive effect.
The Joys of Volunteering
While volunteering undoubtedly benefits those in need, it also enriches the lives of the volunteers themselves. It fosters a sense of purpose, strengthens community bonds, and provides an opportunity to develop new skills and perspectives. Moreover, volunteering can be a source of personal fulfillment and happiness.
Conclusion
Volunteering is a life-changing experience that exemplifies the true meaning of generosity.
Individuals can start down a meaningful path of service, leaving a lasting legacy of positive change for future generations, by knowing what it means to volunteer, investigating various methods to get involved, and learning how to overcome common hurdles.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 necessitated a change in work structures around the world. This development led to a shift in organizational attention, to the immense potential of a system that could accommodate millions of people working independently from different locations to achieve organizational goals.
Remote Work – Brief History
Remote workers did not just appear from anywhere. The practice of working from any location other than an office is as old as man and the internet.
History shows that the practice of working in offices and factories originated just after world war 1 – the industrial revolution, long after man had revolutionized the systems of trade and business.
Despite the increase in office culture over the years, remote jobs and the practice of remote work have remained relevant, co-existing side-by-side with office practice for the completion of unfinished tasks after work hours.
Remote working has always been an integral part of our work culture even though it hadn’t been given widespread acceptance as we now have it. From the usage of staff-only servers where information is passed from superior to subordinate; to online staff meetings and social media conferencing, in one way or another, we all have done remotely what ought to be done within the confines of an office.
This article discusses the advantages of working from home, as well as how working from home, can enhance global living standards. It goes on to explain how a “work from home” policy might help an organisation’s output.
Why Remote Work?
Working from home has the following advantages:
Improved Employee Productivity
Reduction in Operational Cost
Improved Market Penetration
High Staff Retention Ratio
Better Work-Life Balance
Improved Employee Productivity
An analysis of efficiency on remote work was carried out in March 2021 by Jose Maria Barrero of the autonomous Institute of Technology, Mexico, and Steven .J. Davis of Chicago booth. The statistical results showed that, as of March 2021, a year after the coronavirus pandemic, 60% of America’s working population worked remotely and were said to be more productive working from home.
Employees who work from home are generally more productive than those who add an office to their workspace. This is so because the freedom to establish their work hours allows employees to work when they are most productive, rather than the usual 9 to 5 hours.
Remote work eliminates the stress that comes with having to pick the right outfit for work, and most importantly, commuting. With an almost weightless gadget like a P.C (personal computer) and an internet connection, loads of work can quickly be done – a clear definition of Productivity.
“Remote work allows individuals to figure when they’re most relaxed and within the most efficient state of mind, leading to increased productivity”.
Reduced Operational Costs
Operational costs are the expenses that a company incurs in order to stay in business. Organisations invest a lot of money every year to keep their offices in good shape – from repairs to replacements to upgrades, keeping an office is pricey for what it is worth.
Working from home helps to keep these expenses to a bare minimum. Remote working focuses on worker output and work flexibility rather than amassing operational expenditures. Because these people work remotely and report online, it allows a firm to choose a more flexible headquarters that doesn’t have to be as large to suit a large number of employees.
Working from home saves money on rent and reduces the need for multiple branch offices across the country. It reduces business overhead costs like electricity tariffs and office building insurance. As a result, working remotely reduces unneeded costs from an organisation’s total revenue, increasing the amount of profit available at the end of the fiscal year.
“Remote work focuses on worker production and job flexibility rather than operational expenditures“.
Improved Market Penetration
Simply said, market penetration refers to the level to which a company’s product offering is valued, purchased, and consumed by the local population.
Remember that working remotely allows a company to save money on operations. A lower operational cost corresponds to a lower manufacturing cost. With lower production costs, businesses can concentrate on producing high-quality goods and selling them at lower prices, making the product more appealing to the general public (Ceteris paribus and vis-à-vis, the lower the price, the higher the demand).
Working remotely also assists with market penetration through unconscious online marketing activities. Employees are sometimes unaware of the process, hence the term “unconscious.”
The frequent use of the internet to search, send, and receive data causes the internet to save certain keywords related to a company’s product offering, so that whenever a random user performs a search query using any of the keywords, the product offering is listed as one of the possible results, keeping the product in front of potential customers at all times. This is unintentional and so extremely cheap.
“With a lowered cost of production, businesses may specialise in producing quality items and selling for lower prices, making the merchandise more appealing within the broader market”.
Higher Employee Retention
Rapid employee turnover rate in an organisation reflects managerial incompetence and bad working conditions. Employees are more likely to stay with a company if they believe the company is committed to their personal development.
Working from home reduces the likelihood of employee turnover in the first two years of employment. This is because employees who work remotely have greater control of their time, feel more trusted and valued, enjoy their remuneration which does not have to get spent on commuting to long-distance offices, can share the workload through different time zones in the day, place more value on teammates and receive all the incentives they deserve at the right time- an effect of increased profit.
Remote workers are 13 per cent more likely than on-site workers to stay in their current jobs for the next five years or longer.
“Employees who work from home have more control over their time, feel more trusted and revered, and luxuriate in their salary because they’re not required to commute to long-distance workplaces”.
Better Work-Life Balance
One quotation that makes employees want to quit their jobs and start their own firm, which seems like achieving their ambitions, is “A pay-check is the bribe you get for choosing not to pursue your dreams.”
Working remotely allows you to make a paycheck while working for a business and pursuing your passions at the same time, dear employee. Working from home allows you to spend more time with your family while still being able to attend work on a daily basis.
With remote employment, a father no longer has to miss his son’s basketball game due to a long work day, and a mother no longer has to miss her daughter’s eighteenth birthday due to an important business trip. Remote work engenders profitability and happiness, a clear win-win situation.
“Working remotely, dear employee, allows you to earn a paycheck while working for an organisation and pursuing your dream at an equivalent time“.
Remote Work and The Nigerian Transport Dilemma
Nigerians who don’t own cars understand that jumping from shuttle to shuttle while trying to make your way to work every morning is enough reason to have a bad day.
Chances are that, when you finally make it to the office after surviving the many dramas that come with public transportation, you are already demotivated and not as productive as you ought to be.
Like this wasn’t enough, there is now the trouble of a galloping cost of transportation. It is funny how the cost of public transportation is almost equivalent to half your paycheck at the end of the month.
But these can be averted simply by changing work structures that enable employees conveniently sit in their primary location, yet deliver as much work as they’d normally do in the office – Remote Working
Conclusion
The benefits of working remotely far outweigh its disadvantages. The prevalence of the internet and breakthroughs in communication technology have added to the advantages of remote work.
Every business in the 21st century is beginning to not only go digital but work remotely. Remote work is no longer a pipe dream; it is now a reality that we must accept.
Subscribe to our newsletter to discover more about remote working and how it’s altering the narrative in corporate structures.
Spread across history are the many contributions of women and the woman folk to development and civilization. In today’s world, women have become major players in almost every important sector of the world, leadership, and technology inclusive. The role of women as key players in leadership and technological advancement becomes even more pronounced as the world advances towards complete dependence on technology. This article seeks to beam the spotlight on the many women who are working tirelessly to contribute effectively to technological advancement in Africa. It further highlights the importance of women in Leadership roles.
Women In Leadership Roles
Leadership has never been gender-dependent. It’s the qualities inherent or cultivated by an individual that determines their success as leaders. Let’s take a look at some of the women who have chosen to challenge the status quo wherever they find themselves, who fight for a more equal future, and who have helped shape history!
Ngozi Okonji Iweala – Development Economist
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian- American economist and international development expert who has served since March 1, 2021, as Director-General of the World Trade Organization. She is the first woman and the first African to hold the office. She sits on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity(ARC). Previously, Okonjo-Iweala spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the number two position of managing director, operations (2007-2011). She also served two terms as finance minister of Nigeria (2003-2006, 2011- 2015) under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan, respectively. She was the first woman to serve as the country’s finance minister, the first woman to serve in that office twice, and the only finance minister to have served under two different presidents. Okonjo-Iweala is the founder of Nigeria’s first indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls. She also founded the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a development research think tank based in Abuja, and is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Brookings Institution. Since 2019, Okonjo-Iweala has been part of UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education. Since 2019, she has also been serving on the High-Level Council on Leadership and Management for Development of the Aspen Management Partnership for Health (AMP Health). Okonjo-Iweala Okonjo has received numerous recognitions and awards. She has been listed as one of the 50 Greatest World leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012). She was listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Conde Nast International. Okonjo-Iweala has received honorary degrees from 14 universities worldwide, including some from the most prestigious colleges: -University of Pennsylvania (2013) -Yale University (2015) -Amherst College (2009) -Trinity College, Dublin (2007) -Colby College (2007)
Graca Machel – Politician and Humanitarian
Graca Machel is a prominent Mozambican woman who, for decades, has worked for women’s rights, education, and peace. Despite a long career as a feminist leader, she is best known for her two marriages, initially to Mozambique’s first president Samora Machel, and later to Nelson Mandela, when he was president of South Africa. Graca Machel is an international advocate for women’s and children’s rights and was made an honorary British Dame by Queen Elizabeth Il in 1997 for her humanitarian work. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries, South Africa and Mozambique. Graca Machel is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. As a panel member, she facilitates coalition building to leverage and broker knowledge and convenes decision-makers to influence policy for lasting change in Africa. She was chancellor of the University of Cape Town between 1999 and 2019. Graca Machel received the 1992 Africa Prize, awarded annually to an individual who has contributed to the goal of eliminating hunger in Africa by the year 2000. Machel received the 1992 Africa Prize, awarded annually to an individual who has contributed to the goal of eliminating hunger in Africa by the year 2000. Following her retirement from the Mozambique ministry, Machel was appointed as the expert in charge of producing the groundbreaking United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children. On 17 January 2016, she was announced by UNESCO as a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate. Ms. Machel is a current member of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights that she co-founded with her husband, former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Novelist and Feminist Campaigner
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977 to a middle-class Igbo family in Enugu, Nigeria. Her mother became the first female registrar at the University of Nigeria, while her father was a professor of statistics there. Pressured by social and familial expectations, Adichie ‘did what I was supposed to do’ and began to study medicine at the University of Nigeria. After a year and a half, she decided to pursue her ambitions as a writer, dropped out of medical school, and took up a communication scholarship in the US. Chimamanda has bagged nothing less than 15 honourary doctorate degrees from respected universities around the world. Adichie’s three novels all focus on contemporary Nigerian culture, its political turbulence, and at times, how it can intersect with the West. She published Purple Hibiscus in 2003, Half of a Yellow Sun in 2006, and Americanah in 2013. Her novels and wider writings are the best windows into Adichie’s incisive and emotive imagination. She has delivered several impressive talks that get to the heart of their subject. They broadly encompass race and gender and our tendency to accept what we are taught without recognizing ingrained prejudice. Her 2009 lecture, The Danger of a Single Story, is a brilliant discussion of race, but her argument is cleverly applicable across many broader contexts. In this lecture, her discussion of US perceptions of Mexicans as the ‘abject immigrant’ during the early 2000s, could just as easily be transferred to our current hysteria about Syrian refugees entering Europe. Adichie’s 2013 lecture We Should All Be Feminists discusses the damaging paradigms of femininity and masculinity. We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, “You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful otherwise, you would threaten the man.” Adichie argues that Feminism should not be an ‘elite little cult’ but a party ‘full of different feminisms.’ It is an important message to take to heart – we are imperfect. We are attempting to unlearn what we have unconsciously learned and simultaneously discover new ways of seeing.
Daphne Nkosi – Executive Chairperson at Kalagadi Manganese Pty Ltd
Daphne Nkosi is the executive chairman of Kalagadi Manganese Pty Ltd, which is the first African- woman-founded and predominantly African-women-led mining company in the world. Daphne Nkosi’s formidable drive as a business powerhouse, social worker, political activist, and women’s rights campaigner, has its roots in the impoverished rural environment and staunchly patriarchal society of her birth. In 2015, the Africa Female Business Leader of the Year was awarded to her The international title was presented to her at the 2015 African Business Awards held in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Daphne is committed to the people of South Africa and uses every available resource to enrich the lives of the average South African. She is responsible for the creation of more than 30 000 jobs in the Northern Cape and will go down in history as the mother of the largest mining venture.
Importance Of Women In Leadership and Technology roles
It’s no secret that women are highly underrepresented in the tech industry. But have you ever considered the great benefits of a gender-inclusive team in your organization? Read further to learn more about the importance of women in the tech industry and the value they can bring to organizations that employ them.
Diversity of Thought
Collaboration between team members of different backgrounds, genders, and races can open a world of creativity and innovation, work efficiency, better communication, and increased team success. Men and Women see things from different perspectives so having a diverse team can lead to an input of unique ideas which will enable better problem-solving skills and eventually boost performance level! Having a diverse team also means having the capabilities to understand the pain points of all members of a target demographic and, this aids in proferring the best solutions.
Mentors and Role Models
Imagine facing a gender-based issue at your workplace and not having a mentor of the same gender to talk to at the end of the day!😔😔 Having a female mentor that helps you as a woman in tech is very beneficial. It causes a ripple effect because the more women mentor other women, the more it encourages them to come into the tech space and thrive!
On 8th March 2021, First Check Africa introduced #ChooseToChallenge with a focus on highlighting the 30 Nigerian Women in Tech challenging the Status Quo. Read about them here. Conclusion: There are more women in leadership and technology who are breaking ancient ideologies, it is of utmost importance that we see them as allies than as threats. The tech space is vast enough to accommodate people from every work of life, gender, and race. Women in technology and leadership positions is a yes in the 21st century given the pace at which technology evolves daily. From little children to teen girls, to nursing mothers and aged women, tech and leadership should become dominant.
You’ve probably been advised to find a mentor in your chosen area, someone with whom you can speak and who can provide you with excellent advice and assistance as you embark on your chosen career path. But have you ever pondered over the benefits of having a mentor? And the reason to have one if you don’t already?
This article discusses the importance of having a mentor and the benefits of having one.
Why You Should Have A Mentor?
A mentor is a person or friend who acts as an advisor or coach to a less experienced person and guides them through a learning process using their professional knowledge. When it comes to breaking into the tech sector, having a mentor is crucial – whether you’re learning to code or looking for your first (or next) job. Here are seven reasons why you should seek out a mentor:
Learning from their experiences: Your mentor can help advise you or warn you if you’re going to make the same mistakes they did, saving you time, money, and other valuable resources.
Think of them as your guide.
Shortcut to Best Practices: It’s fantastic when someone can tell you about their tried-and-true best practices. You will learn much more quickly and efficiently this way.
So mentors help you apply methods that work straight away. 😎
Source Inspiration: It’s awesome to have someone you look up to as your mentor because hearing their stories and experiences motivates and inspires you even more which makes you more ambitious and excited to be doing what you are doing
This makes you more ambitious and excited to be doing what you are doing.
Learning to ask the right questions: Good mentors ask probing questions to get you to reflect on the process you’re going through, whether it’s learning to code or advancing your career. But, surprise, surprise! Many times, you are the only one who can respond to these inquiries.
And Learning how to ask yourself those types of questions is very important.
Accountability: Mentors can be super helpful in your career journey by keeping you accountable and making sure you are sticking to your goals and, keeping up with the learning process.
Objective Feedback: A mentor sees you as you are (without being biased) and, they can give you honest and objective feedback, which makes you better.
Networking: A mentor can help you become better at networking and improve your professional and communication skills. They can also expand your horizons by introducing you to the right people in their network and, this is super valuable.
Why It’s A Win-Win for Both The Mentor and Mentee?
Yup! That’s correct. Mentors gain from sharing their expertise with mentees as well. Most of our attention is focused on people who are being mentored, but what are the benefits for mentors? Why should they devote their time to assisting others in honing their abilities? Let’s have a look at some of them:
Builds soft skills: Mentoring allows you to expand your soft skills. It requires you to put yourself in your mentees’ shoes, which in turn, will help to build soft skills like empathy, leadership skills, effective communication, and collaboration skills.
Continuous learning: Mentorship allows you to keep on learning and growing in your field. The more you share knowledge with your mentees, the more you reinforce that knowledge.
Builds confidence: Consistently sharing your knowledge with someone else can improve your self-confidence. The more you teach your mentees and help them with the challenges they face, the more confident you’ll be.
Establish strong connections: Mentoring is another opportunity for you to build great relationships with individuals from different backgrounds.
Three (3) Ways to Become A Great Mentor.
Good listener: A great mentor should demonstrate active listening skills. Active listening helps you identify issues and find better solutions to the problems your mentee might be facing. Having good listening skills will help you to guide your mentee in the right direction.
Constructive feedback: What better way to help your mentee than giving helpful feedback and actionable suggestions! But remember that there is always a way to deliver criticism without breaking your mentee’s confidence. Educate them, not tear them down. 🤝
Willingness to share knowledge: Great mentors are always willing to share what they know. As a mentor, you understand what it felt like starting your career so this motivates you to pay it forward through mentorship.
Yes! You’ve made it all the way to the end of this article. I’m confident you now know what a mentor is and the advantages of having one! If you want to be a part of a structured mentorship program designed to help you succeed in your chosen career path in the tech industry, Visit: Techrity Mentorship Program Thanks for reading!
As a new designer in the design field, it can be quite a daunting task when you want to conduct user research, be it for a personal project or a client’s work.
User Research is a broad topic, which cannot be covered in one article. In this article, I will walk you through what user research is, the purpose of user research, the processes to be followed when carrying out user research, and also the importance of user research.
What is User Research?
User Research can be plainly said to be trying to understand how a user would feel and what they might go through when using a product or service. This answers so many questions such as:
What will be the first thing that comes to the user’s mind?
What will be the next step a user will take?
Will the user have trouble navigating the product?
Will the user be willing to pay for the service?
What will make the user satisfied and not complain, or at least, have the barest complaints?
These and many more questions, depending on the type of product or service, are answered when carrying out user research.
What is the Purpose of Conducting User Research?
Simply put, the purpose of conducting user research is to help you understand the problem you’re trying to solve; telling you who your users are, how they will use your product or service, and most importantly, what they need from you. You are offering them a service so it is only wise you know what they want and how they want it or expect it to be.
What Processes Should be Followed?
When Conducting user research, a conventional process is followed. Although, most people would want to go the extra mile. Here are five (5) processes I follow:
Identify the problem
Create solutions
Carry out feedback and surveys
Evaluate the feedback and surveys
Recreate
When you are carrying out user research, the processes above are meant to be followed. As a good user researcher, the identification of the problem you intend to solve should be the first thing. If you can’t identify any problem(s), then you can not proffer any solution. When you identify the problem(s), you create solutions. It could be a product you want to build, or a service to render or anything. Carrying surveys and getting feedback from people (users) about the solution you created is vital. Without people using your product or service, you wouldn’t know if you created a solution. Working on the feedback gotten is also very important because you don’t know the minds of everyone and you have to provide what they (users) are okay with. This is a repeated process, hence the need to always check the service you are offering or listen to the users using that service.
Importance of User Research
Many benefits come with conducting proper user research.
Customers Satisfaction: When you conduct proper user research for a product or service and build it according to the research findings, based on what the users want, you satisfy them in ways that you can’t fathom. You will gain their trust because the product/service is tailored to their needs.
Product/Service Usage: If a customer or user is satisfied with a service that you provided them, they are more likely to make more use of it. Hence, the product/service will not just be dormant but will be used for what it is created for.
Revenue Generation: When there is continuous use of your product, you get more profit, if it’s a paid service. The more people use it, the more money you generate.
Awareness: When a user makes use of your product/service and is satisfied with it, they go on to tell the next person. There’s this feeling of having tasted something good, you can’t keep it to yourself.
Conclusively, user research is just a way of knowing and understanding what your target users need to know the best possible way to create the best products with a great user experience and they are carried out using various methods.
Carrying out research makes you better!
As a User Researcher, you feel I have not covered the processes involved, please, do well to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback and suggestions.
Visit: https://techrity.org and join the community to join other user researchers and designers.
The highest earning people in almost every profession, not excluding the tech industry, aren’t always those with lots of certifications and technical know-how. They are usually not the “geekiest” people in the team, yet you wonder why they are always team leaders, corporation managers, occupy very important positions in every organization, earn the highest figures in pay and lead happy lives. Whether you want to build a career in the tech industry for only a few years or the rest of your life, soft skills are a sure bet for achieving a tech career that offers you fulfillment. This article defines the concept of soft skills, outlines the five most important soft skills everyone needs to possess given the dynamic work conditions of this century, why soft skills are necessary and how to acquire them. Do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get updated on new trends in tech and all you need to be successful as a 21st century techie.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are a set of social, interpersonal and emotional skills, a blend of which enables people efficiently carry out tasks in work and non-work environments made up of human beings. Soft skills are necessary in every field of human endeavor as long as it involves day to day interaction with people.
Best-five 21st century soft skills.
The following are a list of the five most important soft skills needed in the tech industry for a competitive advantage:
Critical Thinking
Team work
Time management
Leadership
Wondering what each of these skills are and how they blend to offer a mix of job success and customer satisfaction? Also wondering why they are ranked as the best-five 21st century soft skills? Keep reading.
¶. CriticalThinking: This means an ability to intelligently analyze and proffer solutions to problems. It requires mastery in tackling problems as bits of an entire whole- abstraction. This skill demands creativity, curiosity and flexibility.
¶. Teamwork: You most certainly know by now that “TEAM” is an acronym for “Together Everyone Achieves More”. Guess what? Your organization also knows about this acronym and wants to achieve high efficiency through the various teams and departments in the organization, they expect this from you too. Teamwork is the ability to contribute ideas and manpower towards the achievement of a common goal. This means sacrificing all of your time and energy to ensure that the common goal gets achieved. Teamwork demands communication, tolerance, patience and a willingness to bear the burden of a lagging teammate. This is a difficult skill given the various difference in likes and dislikes specific to different humans, yet teamwork ranks the highest in its ability to achieve organizational goal in the shortest possible time. To learn more about teamwork, click https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-teamwork-work-11196.html
Time Management: Time management is a skill that involves giving priority to important tasks and getting them done before focusing on leisure activities. Given the peculiarity of jobs in the tech industry and how dynamic certain tasks tend to be, clients are always hoping to have their projects delivered in the shortest possible time, hence the need for time management. Time management cuts across intentional planning of work schedules, to-do lists and progress level markers. ¶. Leadership: No leader is born. Yea! Read that again. Leaders aren’t born but made. As a soft skill, leadership involves directing the affairs of others to get tasks done in record time. It demands understanding various viewpoints of different people, strategic decision making, and firmness to follow through with previously laid out plans, not ignoring the intelligent suggestions from team members. Leadership involves a lifelong learning process to manage new sets of people given new working conditions.
¶. Networking: Networking is the art of creating relationships for organizational benefit. Networking creates room for growth and strengthens business connections.
If you gained value from reading this article, stay glued for the next episode where we’ll talk about the 10 easy steps to acquire and master soft skills.
If you need help starting your tech career, techrity has got you covered. Click on https://techrity.org/ to learn More.
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Showcasing Tech Innovations for Social Good in Africa.
What is Tech for Good?
The Tech for Good (T4G) is an annual conference that aims to showcase the impact of using Technology for Social Good in Africa.
It is the intentional use of technology to try and have a positive, measurable impact on the world. It’s about using technology to solve big social and environmental challenges.
Why Tech for Good?
There is a lot of negative information being spread out there concerning Tech and its use in Africa. We created Tech for Good to solve this problem.
First, the evolution of technology is beneficial to humans for several reasons. At the medical level, technology can help treat more sick people and consequently save many lives and combat very harmful viruses and bacteria. … Technology has also increased the productivity of almost every industry in the world.
Technology affects the way individuals communicate, learn, and think. It helps society and determines how people interact with each other on a daily basis. It’s made learning more interactive and collaborative, this helps people better engage with the material that they are learning and have trouble with.
In summary, it has become an intricate part of our being.
There is a lot of good being done in the Tech Space, startups, innovators, individuals, companies, NGOs are working tirelessly to ensure lives are improved. How much of those actions are being showcased especially in the international media?
T4G brings together students, communities, hubs, organizations, Non-profits, etc to explore veritable use cases for using technology for social good.
Aims and Objectives
Showcase innovations in Technology across African Continent
Foster Collaboration
Provide mechanisms for people to access or use technologies in an open, cost-efficient, and sustainable way.
Promote Diversity and Inclusion in Tech. Tech for Good welcomes everyone who has made an impact using Technology in Africa.
Event Recap
The Tech for Good Conference was held on the 2nd October 2021 at TechCreek, Rivers State ICT. Port Harcourt.
The event featured;
Talks
Kickstart Award Presentation
Inaugural Ceremony
Event Stats
No of Attendees: over 250 attendees
Social Impact Orgs: 10
Social Impact Projects: 2
Speakers: 5
Partners/Sponsors: 2
Present at the Conference was;
Mr Ibifuro Asawo (SA to Rivers State Govt.) was represented by Ella Blaise. She spoke on the topic Driving Social Good Innovations and Youth Development using Technology
Daniel Don (Founder, Frontend Mentorship) spoke on Using your Tech Skills for Social Good
Goodnews (CEO, Dantown Multiservices) spoke on Using Blockchain for Social Good
Stephen Okonkwo (Product Lead, Voyance) spoke on his Journey in Tech
Social Impact Organizations
Accelerate Hub was represented by the Women in Tech Accelerate Lead.
Fairexx Solutions was represented by Godfrey Ayaosi, Product Manager.
HerTechTrail was represented by Alex Chibueyim, Design Director at HerTechTrail.
CodeAmbassadors representative speaking at the Tech for Good Conf.
OlotuSquare was represented by Bruce Lucas, CEO OlotuSquare.
FemCode Africa was represented by Shullamite, Founder of FemCode.
TechnovilleNG was represented by the Founder, Technoville – Richard Sodienye Pepple
Kickstart Award Presentation
The award was presented to the recipients of the Kickstart Award Scholarship which consists;
Personal Laptop
Data support
6months Training.
The recipients of the scholarship were;
Prince Onuzulike from Inama International College
Chijioke Egbomuche from Hybrid College
Prince Onuzulike receiving his scholarshipPrince Onuzulike receiving his T4G swag from our partner company DantownPrince Onuzulike and his mother and siblings with a representative from the Inama International College – Mavis Ejiofor (right)Chijioke Egbomuche receiving his scholarship from the CEO, Dantown Mr Goodnews IgweChijioke Egbomuche and his Father (Left)
Dantown is a fintech company that solves on-ramp and off-ramp payment problems by providing a secure environment through its mobile application, where users can trade cryptocurrency and gift cards.
Our services are geared with customers’ needs in mind. This is the reason we focus on securing the funds of customers, provide a 24/7 helpdesk service, and also offer great digital asset-to-fiat rates.
The company’s goal is to provide more services within the coming months that will further make financial settlements safer, easier and more accessible for the unbanked.
Founder, Techrity in a group photo with the Dantown Team
Productsio is a learning hub for product builders. we train product makers to build products that are intuitive, that deliver real, usable and commercially valuable innovation through research and understanding in-depth the different cultural keys that go into making a product attractive to local markets.
Productsio representative, Iyerefa speakingProductsio, sponsors of Tech for Good represented by the Productsio Team
Inaugural Ceremony
Techrity is a tech non-profit that began its operations in December 2020, incorporated in April 2021 and officially launched on 2nd October, 2021 focused on talent development and building innovative solutions using technology for social good in Africa.
We aim to bridge the gap in unemployment, gender inclusion and poverty by providing the vital resources needed to kickstart young talents into tech and build solutions for social good in Africa.
We envision an Africa where everyone has equal access to opportunities. Has a motivation to pay it forward. We’re engineering the spirit of social good in Africans. We believe if we solve the problem of the digital divide, gender inclusion gap, unemployment and target more social innovations with technology we can inspire social good actions in others.
Tech for Good Team, Speakers, Special Guests cutting the inaugural cakeTech for Good Team
You can follow the updates from the Tech for Good conference on Social Media using the hashtag:
You probably have heard all about the importance that comes with the position of a lawyer, doctor, accountant and all of the regular corporate world job titles. What you most likely have not heard is that aside those corporate positions and the prestige they offer, there are a wide range of other career options that offer as much relevance as a job in the corporate world, with an added advantage of having to work from any location in the world at any time in the day deemed convenient.
A bulk of these career options is found in the Tech industry. Data science, software development, information security analysis, computer systems analysis, web development, search engine optimization, technical writing and artificial intelligence are some of the high demand career options that exist in tech.
If you’ve always wanted a job that allows you all of the freedoms you deserve to lead a happy life while harnessing the best parts of your mental capability; if you fancy the idea of contributing effectively to making the world better yet remain behind the scene, you definitely should consider getting a job in Tech.
Here are five reasons you should consider a job in tech, especially if you desire to contribute a part of your mental ability to increasing world innovations while getting rewarded.
Skill over qualification
Opportunity for innovation
Opportunity for growth
Possibility of working remotely
High demand
Skill over Qualification: Jobs in tech such as web development, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, cloud computing etc., do not necessarily need a lot of paper work to get you hired and strapped in for a new project. Unlike regular office jobs, tech career options reserve the best positions for the most skillful and emphasizes competence over certifications. A job in the tech industry has no discrimination whatsoever on age, gender, nationality or religion as long as the job gets done.
Opportunity for Innovation: Technology is evolving daily, thanks to the millions of tech-professionals working daily to make things easier. You can agree with me that twenty years ago, an interactive website with a very colorful landing page used to seem like a luxury especially in developing continents like Africa. Today everyone can have access to millions of specialized websites in seconds, connecting from virtually anywhere in the world. This is proof of how quickly technology has evolved in the past two decades. This trend therefore suggests that, a career option in any tech field, gives no room for monotonicity and boredom as every day is an opportunity for innovation.
Opportunity for Growth: Tech knowledge is pretty easy to acquire with practice and consistency. A job in tech offers you the opportunity to get better in your primary skill and pick up a few new skills. In tech, it’s all about working and growing.
Possibility of Working Remotely: Not many career options can boast of liberty to have workers function remotely, away from the supervising eyes of Management yet perform at maximum efficiency. Taking on a job in any field of tech allows you the liberty to work in an environment other than the organizations facility, yet function effectively.
High Demand: These days, everyone depends on one form of tech or another to get through daily life activities. From social media handling, to creating just the right designs for banners and business logos, down to completing a college assignment, there is always a need for the use of the computer and internet enabled devices; Thus an increase in the demand for tech savvy individuals with every tick of the clock. This insinuates that getting a high paying job in the tech industry isn’t just a possibility but a norm in our century.
To conclude, the tech industry isn’t just interesting, it is also rewarding. A job in tech might just be your first step to career fulfillment and financial freedom. Tech-up today!
Need the right tools and resources to help Kick start your Tech Career today? Visit: https://techrity.org and join the community to get started.
“She is a woman. She can’t code” This has to be one of the biggest tech myths ever! Every year we see more women venture into the tech space, challenge the stereotype, and excel in whatever path they’ve chosen. But the gender in the tech space cannot be overlooked. Taking one of the world’s premier centers for tech as a case study, the UK records “19% of women employed in tech jobs, despite women making up 49% of the overall workforce in the country“. But do these statistics confirm the myth that women can’t code based on their reduced numbers in the tech space?
Breaking the Myths
Women have continuously broken bounds in the tech space, though seemingly glaring, it still needs to be pointed out – You don’t need to be a man to be a programmer. Though recent stats shows men still make up the majority of programmers, this is rapidly changing. Any business of thoughtful leadership has understood the importance of gender-diverse teams. It’s not just good for equality, but a gender-diverse team make better decisions and are less likely to be biased. Gender type is not a factor in how good of a programmer you can be. Programming is mostly about problem-solving and we need as many perspectives as possible to solve a problem in the best way.
Going Against the Stereotype
In times past, women have been recorded to being on top in influential programmer lists. Here’s a brief list for you:
Ada Lovelace – An English mathematician and writer. She was the first programmer in the world.
You can read more of her interesting journey in tech here.
Grace Murray Hopper – Grace Murray was a pioneer of computer programming and one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark 1 computer. She also developed the first compiler for programming language.
Jean E. Sammet – Jean was an American computer scientist. She developed the FORMAC programming language in 1962. She was also one of the developers of the influential COBOL programming language.
The impact of educational outreach programs in schools can be felt on the academic, physiological, and psychological traits of the students.
Various barriers prevent many young ones, even the young female, from starting a career in tech at an early age. One of such barriers is the lack of sensitization of an early career start in tech, even as a secondary school student, limited availability of resources and materials for learning, as well as a Mentor, to guide and track progress.
Techrity’s talent development scheme called the Kickstart program is aimed at solving these problems. We embarked on an outreach program tagged: TECHing the Young in various secondary schools in a bid to educate the young ones on the need to start a career in tech at a young age to boycott the unemployment problem faced in Nigeria. The outreach program was embarked on to commemorate the International Women’s Day held on 8th March 2021, and also to sensitize the female gender and educate them on the opportunities for females in technology, this was done as part of our commitment to the UN SDGs 5: Bridging the gap in gender disparity in the tech industry.
The outreach program featured talks centered on careers in tech, the need to start their careers early, as well as showcasing successful young talents in the tech industry such as Opemipo Disu, the 15-year-old developer and IBM champion from Nigeria.
Opemipo Disu aka the 15y.o developer and IBM Champion
Two students who showed great enthusiasm were awarded scholarships to enable them to kickstart their tech journey. Techrity’s Kickstart program includes a laptop, a personal mentor and data support for each child to aid their learning journey.
These students are Prince Onuzulike of Inama International Secondary School, and Chijioke Egbuomuche, a student of the Hybrid International Academy.
Prince Onuzulike is in class 1 in the Junior Secondary category of Inama International Secondary School. Prince is a young lad who almost had a deformed hand from an accident, which is quite noticeable.
From left: Miss Owanate (Founder, Techrity), Mrs. Onuzulike, Prince Onuzulike, and Mr. Adagboyi Joseph (Principal, Inama Intl Sec. Sch.)
Chijioke Egbuomuche is a student of Hybrid International Academy Senior Secondary. He has a flair for creating things which can be seen in the picture below.
Chijioke created a Fan, a Car, and a Dispenser. These things were all made from cartons, D.C motors and batteries. For the fan, he used something like a blade to act as the propeller so an amount of air touches you when it is turned on. The car moves with help of the D.C motor connected to the back tyre under the car. The Dispenser is a manual one, so it had no use for the D.C motor. Chijioke’s creativity and innovation are what earned him the scholarship to further enhance his creative flair and help him digitally.
Chijioke – Winner of Techrity Kickstart Scholarship Award and Owanate
The recipients of Techrity’s Kickstart Program will be given a laptop, a mentor as well as data support, to help guide these young minds to early career exploits in technology. The mentors assigned to these young ones are responsible for their growth and progress in technology.
Few students were also awarded cash prizes for their great performances. These students are David Bob, Emmanuel Ekeh, Prince Onuzulike, all of Inama International Secondary School and Miracle Eboseh of Hybrid International Academy. Some of the students were awarded cash prizes for their ability to answer technical questions, performance in examinations and their quest for knowledge.
A student receiving a maths set and books for his outstanding performanceA student receiving a maths set and books for her outstanding performance
Techrity is all about Helping New Talents and building solutions for social good, we also believe in Paying it Forward.
