Coming to America

Eleven years ago today, I arrived at JFK to my first winter weather. I still remember it like it was yesterday, it was harmattan season when I left Lagos, Nigeria's old capital city, with dry dusty desert wind blowing through the country. The temperature ranged from a low of about 75 degree F to a high of 90 degree F and the low of 75 was considered cold!!! So you can imagine how laughable I was in my warm wool suit standing outside, waiting to catch a connecting bus, from JFK International terminal to the local terminal, which seemed to take forever to show up. My final destination was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I didn't really have an American dream, at least not in the stereotypical way. The opportunity to relocate to the US came when I got married to a Nigerian-American and her desire was to relocate. I figured it couldn't be a bad deal for me, I had start programming while in college and never looked back. My first job, after the government mandated National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) program, was as a Programmer/Analyst at a start-up, Baseman Systems. Baseman Systems developed software for the banking industry, after Baseman I went on to do my own thing. I founded PetFund Soft, developing software for processing multi-choice examination answer sheets for some of the National Entrance Examinations conducted in the country. I however always wondered what it will be like to play with the big boys, the best of the best in the software industry.


Therefore after my relocation, my goal/dream was to work for Microsoft someday. Working for Microsoft, for me, would be like playing Football in one of Europe's premier leagues or Basketball in the NBA, it was about playing with the best of the best in the business. A year and half later, that dream came true I got my first job at Microsoft as a Support Engineer. I was working for the #1 software company in the world, alongside all the other smart software professionals, the best of the best in the software industry.

Happy Anniversary to me!!!