As a full-time graduate software developer at Dynamic Technologies group company DVT, Musa Msomi is part of a team that is building the backend portion of DVT’s in-house app using the ASP.NET Core stack. While working on this, he is also learning a lot about software development best practices – including clean code, principles, and design patterns – as well as cloud programming (Azure), Agile, and a lot more. But this wasn’t how his journey began.
At 26, Musa decided to quit his job and follow his dreams. While he was happy working in marketing and the music industry, mixing and mastering music, and helping musicians get placements on radio, what he really wanted to do was find a way into the software development industry. Quitting his job and going back to university, even though it had been years since he had last found himself in a lecture hall, was a really big and really scary decision. Naturally, Musa had concerns. Would he be able to relate to his (significantly younger) fellow students? Was this too big a risk? Was three years too long to spend at university at this stage of his life? He took the plunge, and never looked back.
Being an older student came with some benefits. Musa noticed that he was more focused because he knew exactly what he was there for. He was also more driven and what he calls “street smart” – he knew how to cherry-pick the important information from textbooks and lectures instead of trying to memorise everything. He was also not interested in those distractions that can tempt younger students, such as partying and social matters. He had a goal in mind, and he was determined to attain it.
Returning to tertiary education was not all fun and games, however. The anxiety of knowing he had to make it work, as well as the added weight of expectation he felt from his lecturers due to his status as a more mature student, was not easy to bear. And yet he would encourage anyone thinking of returning to study to take the plunge. He says, “As daunting as it may seem, go for it. The three years will go by in a flash, and you’ll be equipped with a new skill set. Some people still view going back to university as taboo but it’s all in your head, three years from now you’ll either be where you are now, or you’ll be graduating with a new degree. Either way you’ll still be three years older so why not spend those three years upskilling?”
Musa says, “In early 2022 I was afforded the privilege of being admitted into the graduate programme at DVT. A new beginning awaited me, the number one to-do item on my new year’s resolution checklist had been ticked. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement.”
The DVT graduate programme has had a profound effect on him. He explains, “I’ve been able to learn a lot in the short span of time I’ve been here. One of the biggest things for me was to learn how code works in the real world. Writing small personal programmes can only get you so far in terms of development. I wanted to learn how enterprise software works and how everything connects. The grad programme has been able to fill what I felt were gaps in my knowledge. There is still a lot more to learn but I can proudly put my hand up and say that I’ve acquired more knowledge in the past five months than I would have if I had gone straight into a junior role. Being in the grad programme means that I’m now able to confidently take on tasks with the knowledge that I’m applying the best practices.”
Musa says, “It has been a great journey filled with constant learning, breaking code, fixing it, forging relationships with fellow developers, and getting a real feel for the culture at DVT.” He has enjoyed his time with DVT so far and takes nothing in his new career path for granted, adding, “My goals going forward would be to become a better developer through writing more code, more upskilling, absorbing as much information as I can from senior developers, and finding the perfect work-life balance. I may be looking too far in the future here, but I’m determined one day to take on a role as tech lead.”
Musa’s success is, perhaps, unsurprising given his nature. His motto is stunningly simple and incredibly astute. He says, “Learn something new every day. Incremental progress will always trump no progress.” And do you know what? He’s right.