Peter Otobong: The software engineer who learnt to code on a ‘borrowed’ laptop
The technology was not the problem. For Peter Otobong and his team at Fraqtion Finance, the idea was simple enough: allow people to pool money to finance real-world trade, such as a Chinese company buying lithium from Nigeria. The software could be built. The architecture could be designed. The engineers could make the system work. […]
Peter Otobong, a software engineer, once dreamed of becoming a mad scientist inspired by cartoons and animations as a child. He wanted to build things and explore the impossible. However, his early experiences with computers left him with more questions than answers. At his primary school, he learned basic applications like Microsoft Word and Excel but became fascinated by the inner workings of the machines. This curiosity led him to teach himself coding in 2014, after receiving his first laptop gifted by an uncle.
Despite his growing interest in coding, Otobong did not see software engineering as a viable career path growing up. It was an unfamiliar profession in his environment, where common careers included government work, accounting, engineering, and oil industry jobs. Software engineering was not something he saw around him as a realistic option.
When choosing a university course in 2015, Otobong followed a familiar route by opting for electrical and electronics engineering at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. This choice allowed him to bridge the gap between physical systems and computers, which fascinated him.
During his internship at Atopets Automation in 2019, Otobong worked on hardware systems such as robotics and automation, but he found himself increasingly drawn to the software that powered these systems. He realized he enjoyed both hardware and software development equally. His final-year project was a facial-recognition system that could identify authorized users and control access to a smart door, which further solidified his passion for software engineering.
In 2020, Otobong was selected as a Google Student Developer Lead at the University of Port Harcourt. This opportunity exposed him to developers across Africa, showcasing that software engineering could be a viable full-time career. This realization changed his perspective and confirmed that he could build a successful career in the field. After graduating in 2021, Otobong began his professional journey at the African Blockchain Centre for Developers (ABCD).
Written by urgent.news from TechCabal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
