I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, helping in my mother's store. Like many young people, I dreamed of a future in technology. I applied to study Computer Science three times and failed three times. Each attempt felt like a door slamming shut, like confirmation that maybe I didn't belong in this field.  

 

Instead of giving up, I accepted a change of course to Mathematics at the University of Ibadan and graduated with First Class honours. But something was still missing.  

 

It was during my master's programme at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS-Ghana) that I discovered Python programming. Suddenly, everything clicked. I had found my calling at the intersection of maths and computing. 

  

But the rejections weren't over. Graduate school applications brought more closed doors, more waiting, more doubt. Each "we regret to inform you" forced me to confront the same question: Was I good enough? The answer came not in a single moment but through persistence. I finally secured a fully funded PhD position at the University of Glasgow.

  

Today, I'm a Lecturer in Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, teaching the very subject I once couldn’t get admitted into. 

 

Every lecture I give, every student I mentor, feels like reclaiming something I was once told I couldn't have. It's proof that rejection isn't the end of the story. Sometimes, it's just the beginning of a better one.