Don’t wait for the bigger opportunities to surface before you sit up. Don’t despise the little opportunities, they eventually result into huge achievements at the end.
ALC 2.0 program enrolled about 5,000 learners in Africa, which got me thinking about how I was going to cope with this multitude of learners. Well, we are all here to become a world class developer and nothing more, I said to myself. At the commencement of this program, ALC emphasied on one thing,
You own your learning, however unblock others
This was an opportunity to get better at my programming dexterity and at the same time unblock those that are stuck during the program. I love to help people see a bigger picture of their dreams. So, this was a platform to make that a reality.
On the 8th of January, 2018 I received my first challenge, it was tagged “New Year Challenge”
This was quiet an easy challenge for me.Learners were expected to compete in groups within their respective tracks. At the end of this challenge, I waited for results from ALC , I wanted to know if our team won. To my amusement, winners were not announced.
At this stage, I felt discouraged maybe because I had focused on competing with other learners rather than learning, which is the aim of the program.
After about two months of completing the New Year Challenge, I got another one tagged “Take a Climb Challenge”. Well, as for the first challenge, I had nothing to show for it, maybe it wouldn’t make any sense to attempt the second one. Really?
The deadline was extremely short for this particular challenge. I was wondering what ALC was up to this time. I started the challenge, it was getting more complicated at a point, I even encountered several bugs which eventually called for series of sleepless nights.
Yes!!!! I did it, I was able to submit before deadline. This was the last challenge for the program, so everybody received a certificate of completion for their great work so far.
So, that was how I received my certificate of completion on the 11th of May, 2018.
Of course I was excited to see this beautiful certificate. I was happy I joined the program, It was a fantastic experience for me.
Wait Wait Wait!!!! Is this the end of my ALC success story?
Noooooooooo
On a Thursday evening around 9:46pm, I received a mail from ALC that I have been shortlisted to take Google Associate Android Developer Exam. At first, I thought I was on Virtual reality glasses where anything can happen. I jumped up and read more than 100 times overnight to understand what the content of the mail meant.
As if Udacity knew I was in doubt or confused, they sent me a mail to explain what it means to be shortlisted..lol.
Okay it’s time to calm down and take the exam. This is a 24-hr exam, and I must submit within this deadline.
So for about a week or so, I was busy practicing all the components of android, I can’t afford to toil with this huge opportunity I thought…
To earn the certificate:
- Take the exam (learn more about the certification here )
- If you pass the exam portion, you will complete exit interview)
- And boom!!! you will receive your certificate.
I took my exam on the 13th of June, 2018 around 4:30pm
On completing all my tasks, I submitted on the 14th of June, 2018 at about 1:55pm.
After my submission was reviewed I received a mail for my exit interview. Yaaaahhhhh!!! I passed the exam portion.
And then a mail from TrueAbility
Now it was time to complete my interview. I needed a super fast internet, a good camera and Lighting.
So I started my interview during which I had 10 minutes to record my answers to 5 questions about my exam and Android development concepts.
Truth be told, those questions are pretty simple. So you don’t need a special preparation for that.
After a week, I got a congratulatory mail from Udacity!!!!!
And then this…
I’d like to say a big thanks to Andela, Udacity, and Google for believing in me. It’s a huge privilege to be among the Top 100 Udacity Scholars for ALC 2.0.
3 Lessons I got during this program:
- The key is not the passion to win a competition… every learner had that. It is the desire to prepare to win that is important
- Don’t lose focus, be intentional about Learning FIRST, other things will follow
- Don’t be afraid to fail….Fail forward, never regret your mistakes rather learn from them.
I love Andela…
I love Udacity…
I love Google…
I love the open source community…
I love my readers…
I love Africa…
I love Nigeria…
Bless up….
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