I Didn’t Plan to Land In Information Technology. I Think I Just Kept Trying to Solve Problems.

I've been thinking about how people end up doing the things they do.

Sometimes, we have a clear plan. We know the career we want, the skills we need to acquire, and the steps we must take to get there.

Other times, we start somewhere, discover something interesting, follow a few opportunities, learn some new skills, and eventually find ourselves somewhere we never imagined.

My journey has felt more like the latter.

I didn't set out with a grand plan to become a technology professional. I didn't have a carefully mapped-out career connecting economics, data analysis, graphic design, websites, business operations, payments, and Computer Science.

I simply kept learning, exploring opportunities, and trying to solve problems.

Looking back, however, I'm beginning to see connections that I didn't recognise at the time.

And I think those connections are worth documenting.

It Started With Economics and Data

My academic journey began with Economics, which introduced me to the study of how people, businesses, and societies make decisions, allocate resources, and respond to incentives.

I also developed an interest in data analysis. I made some money from this skill while on campus. I also got an 'A' in my final year project.

Data offered a way to examine questions beyond intuition. Rather than simply assuming something was happening, I could look for evidence, identify patterns, and try to understand what the numbers were saying.

At the time, I didn't fully appreciate how useful this way of thinking would become in other areas of my life.

Today, I can see that understanding problems, interpreting information, and making decisions based on evidence are skills that travel well across disciplines.

They are useful in business. They are useful in technology. And they are particularly useful when the problem you're trying to solve doesn't fit neatly into one category.

But my journey didn't stop there.

Then Came Design

At some point, I ventured into graphic design.

This was a different kind of learning. Instead of concentrating primarily on analysis, I was creating visual solutions, communicating ideas, and learning how to translate a concept into something people could see and understand.

Over time, I created more than 500 designs working for an agency and some small businesses, and earned some $$$.

Those numbers represent more than completed projects or money earned. They remind me of a period when I was developing a skill, putting my work out there, learning through experience, and discovering what I could do with consistent effort.

Design also taught me something important: solving a problem isn't only about arriving at the correct answer.

Sometimes, the solution must also be understandable, usable, and appealing to the person experiencing it.

A technically correct solution that nobody understands or wants to use may not be a very good solution after all.

That lesson would become increasingly relevant as I explored other areas.

From Visual Communication to Technology

My interests expanded into websites and other technology-related work.

Gradually, I became more interested in what happens behind the things people interact with.

How do websites work? How do different systems communicate? What makes a process efficient? Why do some digital products solve problems effectively while others introduce new frustrations?

These questions led me to look beyond the visible interface and towards the systems, processes, and decisions that make digital experiences possible.

I began to appreciate that technology is not simply about writing code or using software.

It is also about understanding a problem, identifying the right approach, bringing different components together, and delivering something that works in the real world.

And the more I learned, the more I noticed how closely technology was connected to business.

The Business Side of Technology

My professional experiences in operations, payments, and related areas have given me another perspective on problem-solving.

In these environments, a problem is rarely just a technical issue.

A process may involve multiple systems, different teams, transaction records, operational procedures, customers, financial institutions, and regulatory expectations.

A transaction that doesn't reconcile, for example, is not merely a row in a spreadsheet that looks different from another row.

It can raise questions about what happened, which records are reliable, where a discrepancy originated, and what needs to be done to resolve it.

Similarly, a digital product is not successful simply because its features work. It must address a genuine need, fit into the user's workflow, and operate within the practical constraints of the business.

This is where my different interests begin to intersect.

Economics helps me think about decisions and incentives. Data analysis helps me investigate evidence. Design encourages me to consider how people interact with solutions. Technology provides tools for building and improving systems. Operations exposes me to the realities of making those systems work.

None of these disciplines exists in complete isolation.

Real-world problems rarely respect academic or professional boundaries.

Why I'm Studying Computer Science

I'm currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science at the University of Lagos.

For me, this is an opportunity to strengthen my technical foundation and better understand the principles behind the systems and technologies I encounter.

Practical experience is valuable. It exposes you to real problems, constraints, and the consequences of decisions.

Formal education can complement that experience by providing concepts, structures, and deeper explanations that help you understand why things work the way they do.

I want both.

I want to become better at understanding technical systems, evaluating possible solutions, communicating with developers, and translating business needs into clear requirements.

I also want to become more capable of turning ideas into useful products.

I don't believe that everyone who works in technology must follow the same path or possess the same skills. Different problems require different kinds of expertise.

But I do believe that understanding more of the systems around you can make you better at identifying problems and contributing to their solutions.

That is one of the reasons I'm investing in this journey.

I'm Interested in the Questions Between Disciplines

One thing I've noticed about myself is that I'm rarely interested in a topic only for its own sake.

I want to understand how it connects to something else.

How can artificial intelligence improve business operations without introducing unnecessary risks?

How should a product manager translate an operational problem into requirements any developer can implement?

What makes transaction reconciliation difficult, and how can better systems reduce the manual work involved?

How do payment systems communicate, and what happens when something goes wrong?

How can someone without a traditional software engineering background participate meaningfully in building digital products?

These are the kinds of questions that interest me.

I don't claim to have all the answers. In some cases, I'm still learning the fundamentals. In others, I have practical experience that I want to examine more deeply.

What interests me most is the process of connecting the dots: taking what I know, identifying what I don't, asking better questions, and gradually developing a more complete understanding.

I suspect that some of the most useful insights emerge precisely where different disciplines meet.

Why I'm Starting This Publication

I have kept so many notes that I could also keep these thoughts to myself until I felt sufficiently qualified to write about them, but I've started to question that approach.

Learning doesn't always have to happen in private. Writing can be part of the learning process itself.

When you try to explain an idea clearly, you discover whether you actually understand it. When you investigate a question, you may uncover assumptions you didn't know you had. When you share your reasoning, other people can challenge it, contribute their perspectives, and introduce you to things you might otherwise have missed.

That is the kind of experience I want this publication to create.

Here, I intend to write about technology, business, payments, product development, operations, artificial intelligence, and the lessons I encounter while learning Computer Science.

Some articles will explore concepts and explain how things work. Others will examine practical problems, lessons from my experience, or ideas I'm still trying to understand.

I may also write about building products, navigating a multidisciplinary career, and the challenges of turning ideas into working solutions.

I don't want to manufacture expertise I haven't earned or pretend that every question has a straightforward answer.

Where I have experience, I'll draw on it. Where I'm learning, I'll be transparent about that. And where a subject requires more investigation, I'll do the work rather than substitute confidence for understanding.

I aim to make the writing useful, honest, and grounded in real questions.

A Work in Progress

I don't have every part of my professional future figured out.

I'm still learning. I'm still exploring. And there are skills I haven't acquired and problems I haven't yet learned how to solve.

But I no longer see that as a reason to postpone documenting the journey.

Perhaps the most interesting part of professional growth is not the final destination. It is the process of becoming capable of doing things you once couldn't do, understanding things that once seemed complicated, and recognising connections that weren't obvious at the beginning.

My journey through economics, data analysis, design, technology, operations, and Computer Science has taught me that a career doesn't always have to be a straight line to be meaningful.

Sometimes, the experiences that appear unrelated at first become valuable precisely because they give you different ways of looking at the same problem.

I want to explore that idea further.

And rather than wait until I have everything figured out, I'm starting here.

If you're interested in technology, business, practical problem-solving, or the process of learning across disciplines, I hope you'll find something useful in what I share.

Perhaps we will disagree on some things. Perhaps you'll introduce me to an idea I haven't considered. Perhaps something I write will help you look at a familiar problem differently.

That would make this worthwhile.

This is the beginning of a journey I'm choosing to document, one question, one lesson, and one problem at a time.

Let's see where it leads.