"**Software development is a rewarding and hard field. It is creative in the same sense as an art form, but (unlike art) it has tangible, quantifiable value". Charles.

Introduction

When I came across the advert on Mr. Sham's status—as he is affectionately known—I was genuinely minding my own business and wondered WHAT THE NEXT THING IS as I applied just a few days before the application deadline, just to see what the whole program would look like, maybe like the usual online classes that we know.

When the notification for the qualifying tests arrived in my mailbox, I had forgotten that I was scheduled to attend the Saturday Owanbe. Lol!

Omo! How do I approach it? I had to quickly set up my system and took the exams, and when I failed to meet the cut-off score, I just concluded, the program wasn't probably for me.

However, for whatever reason that is unclear, BOOM! On April 2nd, I received a newsletter of congratulations, welcoming me to the TIIDELab family for the Pre-Fellowship 3.0.

I was experiencing conflicted emotions, and I had several unresolved questions in my head on how to go about the whole program, but we move.

The program started with a day onboarding seminar with our program coordinator, ADEROJU SHAMSUDEEN, fondly called Mr. Shams and welcomed over 200 of us into the Pre-Fellowship program, that was when I realized I was in for a very long journey.

The Pre-Fellowship provides excellent learning opportunities, and I greatly appreciate the guidance Mr. Shamsudeen gave us during the On-Boarding workshop on Day One.

Everything we learned was more comprehensive and in-depth than anything else I've ever encountered.

TIIDELab provided me with the path and the supportive and conducive environment I needed. It felt like the perfect place to acquire and enhance my software development skills.

It's incredible to consider how even the smallest details of information may have such a significant influence.

there and then, my idea about online classes started to change and my perception of tech got excited that I promised to give it my all, at least, 'what is worth doing is worth doing well and whatever your hands find to do, do it diligently!

I was completely immersed in lectures, assignments, CcATs, and Saturday Town Hall meetings, different from balablue on Twitter where we get to review everything we completed during the week and obtain clarification on anything we are unsure of from our mentors. I jumped at the chance to increase my expertise.

During my learning process TIIDELab, I have had the opportunity to firsthand experience some technical and soft skills, which include, Teamwork, Effective communication, Leadership skill, Project management skill, Critical thinking, Decision-making skill, and Collaboration.

There are a ton of benefits to becoming a web developer, as we discovered during our soft skills training course. But to benefit from them, we were instructed to develop our soft skills, which will enable us to solve problems more effectively and increase our work prospects. Coding is not the focus of everything.

Throughout the program, we were assigned a range of tasks, such as developing a news website, designing an identity card, establishing a portfolio website, and defending it by presenting virtually and explaining how we constructed it to our program coordinator, Mr. Shams, mentors, and other participants.

Following our professional development and personal branding seminars, we were advised on how your online and offline presence matters to sell yourself well, by putting yourself out there.

Hence, we learned about social media optimization, which will help improve our social media platforms to create an online presence, mainly on LinkedIn and Twitter, and utilize professional photographs and proper display names.

The major highlight of my activities during the Pre-Fellowship program is our project week. During the project section of the program, all trainees were divided into sub-groups, and I had the good fortune to be a member of the world's best team, TEAM ALPHA where I was opportune to be elected as the team lead, and our amiable designated mentor, @Unclebigbay143, Ayodele Samuel Adebayo is deserving of recognition.

This allowed me to work closely with our mentor and also worked with a team of great software developers. I was tasked with overseeing the completion of our team project and ensuring it was delivered in good time. Having to work with people of different backgrounds, ideologies and perspectives was tasking and at the same time rewarding.

The research was the first step in our project phase, and it later gave rise to TIIDETrack, an Attendance-Taking app that would soon be a game changer in Nigeria's tech industry in the nearest future.

In the process of creating the project, I learned to be stern with instructions, I learned to negotiate, I learned to take the lead, I learned to delegate tasks and also to follow up on team members to meet up with timelines.

Although I have a team to work with, however, I cannot but especially appreciate the efforts of some team members, Shuka Zubaidat, Popoola Rahmat, Okwong Elizabeth, Omitogun Sherifat, Aisosa Margret, Oladoja Rasheed, Sanusi Rasheed, you guys are the real deal, a great team player. We have worked together as a team to achieve this great feat. Thank you for your sacrifices, and for going the long haul, to ensure we complete the project. Thank you, guys!

Everything depends on the training program and directions. "Research has it that, Mentorship is essential for a successful career in software development and both were not found wanting at TIIDELab. Both Mentorship and project approach was used to train fellows during my stay with TIIDELab.

With the help of TIIDELab instructors, we learned significantly and more quickly and we gained a better understanding of the real world's company cultures in the likes of phone and meeting etiquette, presentation skill and lots more through our weekly professional soft skill classes.

I must appreciate our mentors, Ayodele Samuel Adebayo, Ariyibi Baseet, just to mention a few. However, this sentence will not be completed without mentioning our program coordinator, ADEROJU SHAMSUDEEN, Mr. Shams, and the founder of TIIDELab, thank you for your time and commitment to this program, your effort and consistency are greatly appreciated, sir.

My learning and exposure in these 7 weeks Pre-Fellowship exceeds what I can put down here but we need to be professional.

The entire Pre-Fellowship has taught me the value of collaboration and presentation as a front-end developer. These are the most fascinating aspect of the TIIDELab Pre-Fellowship. The program has exposed me to a bevy of innovative concepts that had fundamentally altered my perspective on technology and are all based on information from professionals in the field.

Even though there is doubt about the numerous benefits of learning to code, this training allowed me to develop as a fellow while being supervised closely by mentors, this provided us with the drive to approach our software development jobs in the future more effectively.

I like to thank TIIDELab for enabling and conducive learning environment and for providing appropriate material to enhance learning.

Thank you for taking out time to read this!