Career Spotlight: A day in the life of… A Software Academy Graduate

In our career spotlight series, we shine the light on career pathways that talented Black professionals are taking and hope to inspire others on their journey.

Ayo Bamidele is Software Academy Graduate at Capital One.

Ayo is a graduate software engineer working at Capital One. He studied Computer Science at Lancaster University for 3 years. He is originally Nigerian, but has lived in Ireland and the UK for most of his life. He loves computers and programming – it’s always been something he wanted to do as a career. Currently, as part of his grad rotation Ayo has been working on Capital One’s iOS application – adding new features and maintaining existing code.

How did you get started in your career/industry?

”I grew up playing lots of games, and some of those games let you create your own games. That got me to discover the world of programming and learning a programming language. After that I was hooked, I loved programming and creating things. It put me on the path of doing it as a career from an early age.

Looking back on those early days, what advice would you give an 18 year old…..?

 

”At least for the software development industry - the advice I would give is to start interview practice! Interviews for internships and grad positions can be quite difficult in this industry. I particularly find the interview environment challenging and I wished I started practicing earlier.

What are the biggest challenges you face/are facing in your role?

 

”One of the biggest challenges I’m facing in my current job at Capital One is that it has involved a lot of context switching and working on different things with different people at the same time. I like it as it challenges me and keeps me busy - but it still is a challenge! I’m working on my organisational and time management skills to improve this, but it still wasn’t something I expected to be a challenge when I first joined.

Ayo is a mentor for Black Tech Careers Fair (Wednesday 19th October)
?️ Info and tickets available here. FREE for students.

To all entrepreneurs and career professionals in tech
Book a Wednesday Tech Day Pass to get access to Black Tech Careers Fair (Wednesday 19th October – 10am – 4pm) and Black Tech Experience (Wednesday 19th October – 6pm – 9.30pm).
?️ Info and tickets available here.