As a child, Toluwani Adegoke had had dreams of becoming a medical doctor. Her choice had been pushed by her desire to solve the Sickle Cell problem. However, life soon drove Toluwani Adegoke in a different direction being a woman in tech.
“I am a final year student at the Ladoke Aknitola University of Technology,” Adegoke says, “I lead Lautech Data Science Community, which is a community on the campus that aims to raise data scientists at little to no costs. I am also a Poetess, technical writer, a data science enthusiast, and a Web Design/Software Engineering Beginner.”
Wow! No doubt that Adegoke, who says that she is a deep lover of God, has her hands full. How then, does she manage to balance between her professional and personal life?
“I cannot proudly say I have achieved balance,” Adegoke concedes, “but with the grace of God and due to the fact that I know my priorities, this helps me balance things well.”
Adegoke says that with God guiding her purpose, if it ever gets to a point that the career would begin to overshadow her purpose, then she would know that she is off-balance.
Yet, as a woman in tech, she still has to deal with the extra baggage that women have to deal with; and Adegoke, who calls herself a sister, daughter, friend, and roommate, admits.
“Sometimes being on codes affects everything else around me and I tend to forget everyone. But I pick my time carefully so that I am available when needed.”
Yet, despite working in a field that she loves dearly, biases against women persist.
“Of course,” Adegoke says when asked if she encounters biases in the tech world. “There was this time I was supposed to take up a project to debug some codes. A friend of the person that had bugs referred me but when the person saw me, they were shocked and said something like ‘will she be able to debug codes?’”
However, Adegoke kept her head straight and did her job, much to the shock of the client. And thus, to overcome the biases, Adegoke chose to always portray excellence in her work, as the tech field offers her great dynamism.
“I love the fact that new things emerge in my field daily and so, I have to keep learning and learning. I love that my chosen career is not static,” Adegoke says with a glimmer.
And to women getting into the male-dominated fields, Adegoke has a few wise words.
“You have great potential locked inside you,” Adegoke says, “Don’t be afraid to unleash your potential. When they try to scare you with their abilities, work harder and show how much you are able to achieve. You are a Wonder Woman.”
