I have always loved the idea of designing and building things. Early on, I dabbled in design, research writing and data work, but during my NYSC, I found a deep passion for designing and building user interfaces. And I believe the web is the best place to bring those interfaces to life.
At the end of 2024, I started learning web design with the intention of crafting and building lovely, usable and delightful web experiences for the simplest of things thereafter. Having put some practise of learning web design, upon completing my NYSC in February 2025, I started working on learning frontend development. Through Twitter, I discovered an open-source full stack web learning experience called The Odin Project. I paired it alongside FrontendMasters (which I obtained via the GitHub Student Pack) to start my learning process up until this moment (July 2025). Over the free 6-Month FrontendMasters subscription I completed ten courses, and I'm currently utilizing the Odin JS Full stack Pathway to forge ahead.
During this period, I faced several setbacks. After all, Nigeria happens to everyone. For half of the year, there was no power supply to my residence, which forced me to use my NYSC stipend to find alternative sources. A more significant setback came when my laptop battery failed, and I had to save up to replace it. While getting a new battery eased the burden, I still feel I could get much more out of each day with longer battery life and a faster computer. Even though I couldn’t code or learn daily due to these challenges, I stayed consistent by reading about new design principles on Smashing Magazine and exploring new CSS properties through MDN and similar articles. Whenever I had the opportunity, I built projects to reinforce my learning in design and frontend development, which are available on my EIOP and GitHub
Regardless and through this journey, I have learned a ton of things - HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Design Principles, Git, Bash - since February and I believe the MacBook would help me maintain a better consistency, streamline my workflow, and help improve my performance, bringing me closer to securing a frontend engineering role at a forward-thinking company like Cardtonic.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that Cardtonic’s Upskill program provides. With a MacBook, I will push myself to new heights in frontend engineering, solve real‑world problems on the web, and share what I learn with others in my community. I am ready to become one of Cardtonic’s Upskill recipient and success stories, transforming challenges into solutions and empowering future learners along the way.
Yours sincerely,
Olorunfemi