HackerNoon Contributor Celine “Oibiee” Aju on Tech, HackerNoon, and the Arts

Hey Hackers!

I’m Celine “Oibiee” Aju and I’m an Editor @ We Soko Afrika; I am glad to announce that I have been nominated for the 2022 Noonies Award.

A huge thanks to the HackerNoon community and staff for considering me worthy of this opportunity. I’ve been nominated in the following categories and if you like my writing, please check out these award pages and vote for me:

1. HACKERNOON CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR- EDTECH: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/emerging-tech/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-edtech
2. HACKERNOON CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR- LEARNING: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/internet-heroes/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-learning
3. HACKERNOON CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR - EDUCATION: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/internet-heroes/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-education
4. HACKERNOON CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR.- ONLINE EDUCATION: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/internet-heroes/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-online-education

As a tech writer, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is ED-TECH because it gives us the opportunity to move from the assembly line approach to education to a bespoke approach to education.

Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on ED-TECH and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below.

1. Tell us about your journey. What do you do and what do you love about it?

Every month since then has been spent completing a course in Instructional Design Foundations and Applications by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera, attending a boot camp for women in the music business, completing the HACKERNOON blogging fellowship, and becoming a recipient of the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship for a Masters in Public Policy and Management.

Looks like a lot of stuff, but it all adds up.

By 2032, I want to develop and deploy a specialized learning program to educate 100 out-of-school music-inclined learners in Nigeria. In my final year as an undergraduate, I wrote a 60-page research paper titled “Legal education in a digital world: evidence from Nigeria”.

This paper helped me understand that the issue with legal education and education as a whole is not just the curriculum but the teaching methodology and the learning environment.

In trying to understand these key aspects of education and find a solution, I have learned that multidisciplinary education broadens and streamlines the learning process simultaneously, which is why I have done the course, attended the boot camp, and applied for a master’s.

All these are steps to enable me to reach my goal.

Embracing a multidisciplinary approach to life and educational development is my favorite part of my journey.

2. Tell us more about your work. What do you make/write/manage/build?

In terms of career, I work as an editor with We Soko Afrika - A Creative Agency for Afrikan Entertainment.

A day in my life as an editor, involves planning, reviewing, and revising content for publication on social media and on the blog. It also involves drafting press releases and managing newsletters.

At We Soko Afrika, we write about everything entertainment happening to Africans in Africa and in the Diaspora. Our goal is to become a globally recognized marketplace for African human talent.

Personally, I also want to write soundtracks for animations and write comics too.

3. How did you start writing? What made you choose HackerNoon for publishing your work?

In February 2013, I received my midterm report card, and although I was studying 6 hours a day on average, I did not have the grades to show for it, so I was asked to change my subjects. I exchanged physics and chemistry for Literature and History and that was where it began.

Analyzing poems ushered me into the world of self-expression through poetry. Since then, I have adopted and applied different writing styles to different mediums.

At the end of 2020, I decided that I wanted to earn a living as a writer, so I began applying for writing jobs but I got a handful of rejections.

With a bit of research, I began to see that I needed help, and one day, I stumbled on a post about Hackernoon`s blogging fellowship, which I applied for and got.

Getting into the blogging fellowship is the primary reason I publish on Hackernoon but beyond that, is the fact that every article is reviewed by an editor.

This assures me as a writer that any errors I missed will be spotted, and as a reader, I am assured that the information is verified to a certain degree therefore trustworthy.

4. What excites you in tech? Tell us about your favorite technology and why you are passionate about it.

Tech allows me to be sustainability conscious, and to learn skills on the go!

Right now, it’s a tie between Ableton Live 11 and an iPad which is a mix between software and hardware.

With Ableton, I am able to write songs, create melodies, and explore self-expression through music while with an iPad I can finally learn how to draw, begin drawing my comics and be sustainability conscious to a certain degree.

5. What were some of the challenges you faced being a tech writer and how did you overcome them?

Writing headlines has been the most difficult part of the journey. Using SEO tools like Ahrefs has definitely helped, however, my favorite headline advice was given to me by my assigned editor during the blogging fellowship Sidra Ijaz.

She said, “sometimes editors take a sentence from the body of work.” Since then, I no longer stress about having mechanical headlines; once the headline is clear, I write the piece and use that as a gold mine to find a more enticing and effective headline.

6. What are you learning/reading currently? Any recommendations for our readers?

I am learning to be a minimalist, especially with work. It is easy to think doing so many things is essential for growth and development but it’s best to focus on one thing, Like the 80/20 rule.

I’d recommend reading “The courage to be disliked by Ichiro Kishmi and “Essentialism” by Greg Mckeown.

7. What is your biggest achievement so far?

Decluttering my work life, there was a time I had three jobs at the same time but I have been able to reorganize my priorities. This is a massive win for me!

8. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

I would invest in myself by putting in the structures to begin the process of developing the learning program so 100 out-of-school children in Nigeria can start being educated.

I’d do this because I really believe little drops make the ocean and I cannot wait to see what those 100 children will do with their lives.

9. What advice would you give to someone just starting in this field?

Stick to one course or learning path. If you want to be a digital writer study one digital writer’s life and work for one year. Subscribe to only his/her newsletter and stick it out for one year. You will grow faster and develop much stronger skills.

10. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

“I always listen to the experts and do the opposite.”  The explanation is simple if you do not want the same results as the experts you cannot do the things they did. The trick is to always start by defining what success looks like for you, that will show you the way to go.

That was all from our side, feel free to add anything else that you want to add for our readers.

Voting opens on 15th August 2022.

Below is your sign to vote for our amazing nominees 😉!

About HackerNoon’s 2022 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2022 Noonies are sponsored by: BingX, and .tech domains. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.