All Over the Place

What is my career? Am I an Engineer, a software developer, a designer, or a data analyst? All of them? Or just a civil engineer because that is what it says on the papers? Actually, I do not know.

This circus of endless 'who am I questions' dates all the way back from college where I did not have to declare my major until last semester sophomore year, In other words, I was undecided halfway through my college time. What does this mean? It meant I had the freedom to take all kinds of classes from psychology, film, computer programming, music, philosophy, and mathematics. And when the time came for me to decide I was even more 'undecided' because I almost tried everything and I almost liked everything. 

Trying and liking everything actually started when I was a kid. I recall at 7 (surprisingly I hadn't even started going to school at that age), I used to observe things around me and try to recreate them. For example, I would try creating flying planes from a set of cardboard and a motor I picked from scrap metals. Talking about this cardboard plane story actually reminds me of one of my childhood controversial stories. I do not know the origin of this myth but I remember at some point I spending a week creating a 'power line' to my room from dry batteries hanging on a latrine pit believing that it is the ultimate power supply--batteries will never die and my whole family will have free lifetime power supply. Remember the Young Sheldon story when he tries to generate electricity from radioactive materials to save his dad from electricity bills? This is exactly the same story except this is an African kid version. Of course, the batteries faded after a week. But now I wonder who told us, kids, those lies? Ultimate power supply from a latrine pit? Real? Anyway, I don't regret much going through all those troubles because as a result, I learned how electricity works. For example, I managed to make my own functional two-way switch way even before I learned about electrons and protons at school.

Being all over the place did not end with childhood. It took me to secondary school. Studying at one of the top secondary schools in the country didn't just push me to be the best at my classes but the best at almost everything. I read inspirational books such as: The Gifted Hands by Ben Carson which was a gift from my girlfriend by then, philosophy books, sports, and traditional dances which were sponsored by Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots club. In the classroom, I loved everything! from geography, biology, physics to mathematics. Then comes that notorious grade 8 English question. Who do you want to be when you grow up? I asked myself 'grow up?' This question sounded hilarious because I was already a 15-year old grown-up man by then. Anyway, I think I wrote I wanted to be either an engineer or a doctor. I didn't know what engineering truly meant by then but I thought this will give me more options to explore myself and nature.

Who do you want to be when you grow up? 6 years later while I was at college, this question echoed in my mind again. This time, the answer wasn't as simple as saying an 'engineer'. And again, same question 10 years later after I graduated from college. My life experiences, specifically the 4 years of liberal arts education at NYU Abu Dhabi, have smelted me into everything. For example, At NYU, I learned that it is ok to be undecided in life, it is ok to try things and fail. I also learned that things in life like falling apart at the very last minute. For example, our engineering professors would always encourage us to have a backup video of all prototypes we made in case it doesn't work during the demo day.  Finally, I graduated with BSc. in Civil engineering and a minor in Interactive Media. So I did become who I wished I could be when I was as a kid? Still undecided. To be honest, this wasn't the end but rather a new beginning of being all over the place again.

So to speak, I am a civil engineer on paper. You may wonder, do I build stuff? Yes but I prefer building them with code and not concrete. I have been doing all kinds of things after graduation. For example, immediately after graduation I was working at one of the major ICT and research consulting firms in Tanzania for a year as a software developer. I helped develop, iOS, android, and web apps which ranged from microfinance, payment system integrations, and ERP. On the side, during my free time, I also worked on several mobile apps which ranging from bus ticketing, budgeting app, carpooling to real estate. Currently, I am working with a UK-based mobility data company mapping and digitizing Dar es Salaam's public transportation network. As my day-to-day activities, I manage mapping activities, analyze the data as well as establish partnership relations with mobility stakeholders such as politicians, NGOs, and transportation agencies. Despite the busy schedule and trying to make sure that the Dar es Salaam transportation data reflects the ground truth, I still manage to be all over the place as I always have been.

You may be wondering, is being all over the place a bad thing? A sign that you are a failure and disorganized? I disagree. Humans in nature prefer exploring and trying different things. The same way the universe prefers chaos so does our souls. Trying to channel our energy into one thing isn't a sign of mind liberation but rather a way to limit your true potential. After all, most challenges we encounter today require multidisciplinary knowledge to be solved effectively. Therefore, it will be helpful in the long run to know a little bit of everything. This is what the liberal arts and education at NYUAD told me and I embrace this way of approaching life. To conclude, it is ok to be undecided and be all over the place as long as you know you are still in control of your life.

Behind the Scene: To be honest, I picked up the pen(the keyboard actually) because I wanted to write about my new p2p lending and borrowing platform called niwezeshe but ended up talking about myself and the concept of being all over the place. This is another indicator that I am indeed being all over the place. I will spend some time later to write about the app and how I came up with the idea as a way to make sure that people especially youths learn about their finances but also take financial responsibilities on their financial decisions.