It’s common knowledge that parents on many occasions dictate or suggest specific courses their children must take; unfortunately, some learners have given up on their dreams while trying to impress their parents in career paths they have no interest in, at all. Marie Magnificat Uwikuzo chooses to differ from many children; the 21-year-old software developer at Exuus Company recalls how her parents were clear from day one about her growing up to become a doctor, although she didn’t want to burst their bubble, she lacked interest in medicine, but had no idea about what the future held for her, anyway. Having completed high school where she had majored in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry, her parents proposed she pursues a course in medicine at the university. Because she dreaded blood and detested watching people in pain, that’s not a course she had envisioned chasing, but she was ready to do it, for her parents at least. While in her senior six vacation in 2019, Uwikuzo searched for a job to keep herself busy and gain some skills before joining university. Fortunately, she scooped one at a local hotel as a receptionist. But, sitting and welcoming people wasnt her favorite cup of tea, she craved something challenging. To her surprise, she was working with people in the same position who were way older than her, perhaps in their 40s, but comfortable with the job. “I was bored, because I did the same thing each and every day that didn’t even require me to use my brain that much. Luckily enough I landed on a friends’ WhatsApp status advertising for a coding course. I had never heard of coding in my entire life. I right away texted her and inquired whether I would apply if I hadn’t done any computer science course before. She told me that as long as I spoke English, and had a Mathematics background, I could apply, which I did immediately and waited patiently to be selected,” she says. She was selected for the Moringa WeCode course and resigned from her job with the intention of studying. The software developer explains that she was stunned at how she created websites, worked on a number of projects, and learned programming languages. Having completed the course, she asked for an internship placement at a telecom company in 2020, and that’s the genesis of earning some money. Unfortunately Covid-19 soon hit the country where most companies laid off workers. Uwikuzo sought means to use her skills rather than sitting at home; she started a company with her two friends who were experienced in programming. Having a company was easy for them, gaining trust from their clients and getting a number of gigs. In not so long, she had started university at Adventist University of Central Africa – AUCA which was hard to juggle school and managing a company. In the beginning, her parents were clueless about the course she was doing, but opened up about her desire for Software engineering and startlingly, her parents didn’t stop her from pursuing what she wanted, perhaps, it was because they were amazed by her project when she invited them at the coding course’s graduation. When asked why her parents had suggested that she pursues medicine in the first place, she doubts whether there was a firm reason, but just for the title the course came with, being addressed as a doctor or nurse. Since she longed for continuous learning, Uwikuzo started searching for jobs when she had just joined university. One of her friends that worked at Exuus Company, advised her to ask for a job, they called her back on condition that she first interned before getting a job- a thing she agreed to. She learned a number of skills and worked on serious projects just like any other employee. After three months, she was given a job and still works with the software development company. Working remotely enables her pursue other online courses because she believes that she can be resourceful if she learns new things often. Her future plans are to focus on data science, as it assists in finding solutions to problems, marketing and much more. She is also looking forward to creating a tutorial platform where people can hire experts in all fields, offer them tips and lessons in catering, salons, dancing, writing and so forth. Such people will be rated online by the people they taught. Her aim is to allow anyone with any skills to share them with others yet earn from them. Uwikuzo anticipates being Miss Rwanda so as to have a platform to advocate and inspire female students to partake in technological courses and make her project known in and outside Rwanda and make sure everyone benefits from it, even people from rural areas. She urges students to try their best to intern, volunteer or ask for jobs while still studying so as to learn more because it entails business opportunities, connections and so forth.
