From Mechanical Engineering to software documentation¶
Charles Odada (Kenya)
I’ve been around computers since I was eight and first used a Linux operating system at 10. Perhaps not so unique today, but in the context of the Kenyan 90s, a real head-start for a technology career.
That’s what I wanted, but my father had other ideas, so despite having thought about nothing but computers for several years, when the time came for university I had to choose another path.
The sneaky side door¶
I went with mechanical and production engineering. My love for computers didn’t limit my ability to love other things, and I do love mechanical systems. It was also an excellent career path, and it turned out to be a side door back into computers!
After my degree, I received a scholarship to pursue a master’s in advanced manufacturing and automation engineering. As well as working with CAD software, I was writing code for microcontrollers handling input from sensors in the real world, developing a cyber-physical system (digital twin), manipulating machine g-code, working with obscure software libraries, and more. It wasn’t what I imagined when I first dreamed about working with computers but I loved every bit of it.
Work and opportunities¶
After completing my master’s degree, I faced a different problem. My skill-set was out of sync with the local job market. Luckily, I had anticipated this problem and had taken a short course in data science to give myself something extra to work with. This course was also my first proper introduction to Python.
A month after graduating, I accepted a role as a data and research consultant for a 3D printing startup in Kisumu. Amongst other things I worked with manufacturing systems, did some coding and data analysis, and wrote documentation.
When that ended, I spent a few fun months improving my Python skills, and then restarted my freelance writing career because I didn’t like the idea of being static - especially not with real bills that had to be paid.
My other career¶
You are allowed to love more than one thing! I love computers, but fell in love with words before I even knew computers existed. I loved writing at school, and earned money as a freelance writer when I was an undergraduate. When writing became my main source of income the second time around, I decided to only take on work related to technology and engineering.
I’d been doing this for a year and a half when a friend sent me a link to Canonical’s careers page. I saw the open technical author position and everything snapped into place.
Now, I lead documentation efforts for Canonical’s Launchpad, a software collaboration platform that is home to some of the world’s most important open-source software. I also take part in the Canonical Open Documentation Academy, helping to improve documentation practice in the open source world.
A software career may not look like what you originally imagined, but if you stay in touch with things you love, they can come together in surprising ways and the journey will take you to places worth going. At least that’s how it has been for me.