In April 2021, 21-year-old Ruth Ikegah was a recent microbiology graduate from the College of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) only one month away from relocating to Lagos for her Nationwide Youth Service (NYSC). She was scraping by on a one-off administration gig that earned her ₦70,000 ($170*). Her fortunes modified in a flash, by means of a technical writing job that paid $5,000 a month (over ₦2 million). She recollects letting out a scream in the course of the hiring name. 

“It got here on the lowest level of my life,” she mentioned in our digital interview.

At this time, Lagos-based Ikegah has constructed an award-winning profession and earns over $70,000 yearly. She is a number one advocate for African participation in open supply initiatives that search to advertise and shield open-source software program. Her work has taken her to 14 nations and led to a 2024 United Nations talking engagement. Skilled as a developer, she not often writes code. In an business the place non-coding roles are sometimes dismissed as light-weight, Ikegah proves that success belongs to these daring sufficient to rewrite the foundations.

Seeds of curiosity 

Raised in a house with separated dad and mom, Ikegah generally acquired heavy criticism from her stepmother as an alternative of the mild steering a organic mom usually supplies when a baby errs.

“It was so overwhelming that I shrank into myself and have become extraordinarily introverted,” she mentioned. 

Boarding college jolted her awake—watching public shows of affection between her classmates and their dad and mom made her realise her circumstances weren’t regular. 

“It made me suppose I might dream greater and have a special life,” she mentioned.

This paradigm of self-reinvention adopted her into her undergraduate research at UNIPORT, the place she struggled academically. 

“If I failed, I’d simply suppose, ‘I received’t kill myself over this,’” she admitted. 

That modified when a good friend joked that her flunking grades may finish their relationship. It was a wake-up name, Ikegah instructed me. She learn tens of pages of lecture notes, condensing them into bite-sized summaries, and even fashioned a studying group.

Two associates from the group, Peace Ojemeh and Alabo Briggs, quickly caught her consideration. 

“They weren’t stressing over lessons, and have been already working for international organisations,” she recalled. 

When she requested, Ojemeh defined she was a designer volunteering for open supply organisations in alternate for stipends, usually paid in {dollars}. She resolved to affix them after commencement.

In early 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown delayed her NYSC service, she turned to her associates, who inspired her to pursue tech-related expertise she discovered personally interesting. 

She selected knowledge evaluation with Python. She recollects spending lots of time at a Rivers State digital hub—a state authorities initiative for tech literacy the place free electrical energy and web allowed her to check for months. She took tutorials on platforms like DataCamp and DevCareer and even joined Twitter, the place she encountered like-minded lovers like Samson Goddy and Adaora Nwodo, and tech communities like She Code Africa. Quickly she started volunteering for open supply initiatives, together with these by Linux, an open supply working system that serves as the muse for a lot of servers, desktops, and embedded techniques worldwide.

A volunteer spirit takes root

Regardless of being unpaid, Ikegah jumped at a number of volunteer alternatives, together with an open-source problem organised by Open Supply Neighborhood Africa (OSCA) and She Code Africa (SCA).  These experiences accelerated her studying, enabled group constructing, and offered alternatives to develop her resume with out conventional work expertise.

As well as, by means of SCA’s 2020 mentorship programme, Ikegah was paired with a mentor. The mentorship programme included weekly check-ins and challenges that additionally required technical writing. 

“I began producing articles weekly or biweekly,” she mentioned, realising she loved explaining advanced matters excess of writing code. “I realised coding wasn’t my ardour—I didn’t take pleasure in it.”

Recognition and reward

Months after taking her good friend’s recommendation, Ikegah turned the primary African lady to win a GitHub Star award. The popularity was a turning level, bringing each job and talking alternatives her means together with the technical writing function at U.S.-based Animalz, that got here with a $5,000 month-to-month wage. 

Incomes that first paycheque modified all the pieces, but it surely got here with a heavy workload, and after 11 months, she left the function with over $10,000 in financial savings and an optimism that she might redefine her profession.

“It was powerful to go away, however needed as I’ve learnt to not overthink or overstay in conditions that don’t work for me,’ she mentioned. “However first I took a three-month break, together with a visit to Dubai—my first actual vacation.”

Advocating for open supply for Africa

After Animalz, Ikegah decided that supporting builders by means of documentation and group administration aligned finest together with her pursuits and expertise. So she transitioned into open supply programme administration full-time. 

Regardless of researching the sector and upskilling, Ikegah discovered that residing exterior the U.S. posed a barrier to touchdown a full-time function and went again to volunteering. 

Some volunteering roles got here with financial rewards whereas others didn’t, however they positioned her as a thought chief in selling inclusivity and variety in open supply.

Regardless of rising consciousness of open supply in Africa, sustained contributions stay a problem. Many African builders view it as an unpaid stepping stone to raised job prospects relatively than a long-term dedication, certainly one of a number of issues she hopes to vary by means of her advocacy work.

Her largest breakthrough got here with the CHAOSS Mission below the Linux Basis. When she began contributing in 2020, African participation was minimal. Ikegah elevated African participation within the Chaos Mission by advocating for extra builders to affix, serving to new contributors discover significant roles, successfully speaking the undertaking’s worth to a wider viewers, and conducting range and inclusion audits.

Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The undertaking’s co-founder invited her to guide a regional chapter, which she continues to guide at this time.

Past community-building, Ikegah consults for African corporations who wish to monetise open supply software program by means of assist companies, subscriptions, or enterprise options, fashions which have labored beforehand in Europe and the U.S. Along with OSCA, Ikegah has additionally launched an accelerator program aimed toward fostering the creation of Africa-led open supply merchandise.

Her consultations additionally embrace mentorships managing programmes for corporations.

Ikegah has additionally branched into grant-funded analysis initiatives, working with collaborators from all over the world to enhance understanding and open supply entry in Africa. 

Individuals usually ask how she finds collaborators for funded analysis, Ikegah mentioned. Largely by means of natural networking and individuals who contact her based mostly on her observe file, and her evident ardour for the work she does. Providing worth upfront, corresponding to she continues to do with volunteer work, usually opens doorways later. Confidence in promoting her expertise additionally helps seal the deal.

Ikegah’s work has taken her to 14 nations on talking engagements. Amongst these locations, Namibia holds a particular place—she has visited 3 times since 2022 for an annual outreach mentoring secondary college college students. When she visits the scholars, she usually palms out branded swag to spark their curiosity about expertise. 

Throughout one go to, provides ran quick, and because the final objects vanished, a younger lady approached her with a quiet, earnest request: “Please deliver me a cup subsequent time.” 

That easy plea struck her profoundly, a humbling reminder of her beginnings and her mission to construct a future the place Africa’s subsequent era can create open-source improvements as canonical as Linux.

*The alternate fee on the time of the occasion was ₦410 to $1.