Escaping My Phobia With Tech: Opeoluwa Ogungbeni’s Story

July 3, 2023, is a day I’ll always remember. It was the day I began my journey to achieving my ultimate goal — being someone valuable, someone who doesn’t need to sell herself for people to know her. That was the day I joined Semicolon’s Techpreneurship program.

In primary school, I had issues communicating because of my tongue, and it affected me academically to the point that I had to repeat a grade. As I grew, it got better. Later, at university, I studied Criminology and Security Studies, although I had originally wanted to become a lawyer.

In my final year of university, while presenting for a course, I discovered something — I had a phobia of crowds. I stood in front of the class and couldn’t speak. I dismissed the thought, telling myself that I was ill-prepared. But it happened again during a job interview. That was the moment that defined everything. I knew I needed a skill, something that didn’t involve speaking too much.

I began my research and found cybersecurity, believing it was related to my university degree. At this stage, I had little understanding of tech or software engineering. Luckily, I knew someone who had mentioned learning tech. I reached out to him, and he introduced me to Semicolon.

One thing about me is that I mirror the energy of my environment. If the people around me are serious, I tend to be serious; if they’re happy, I’m happy. On July 3, 2023, when I joined the program, I thought we would all be strangers, at least on the first day, but meeting a colleague like Joy Joseph set a new tone — her energy was hyper, and mine followed suit.

Like many others, I wanted to learn to code, and that was all. I didn’t even realize that I would be taking other courses like Design Thinking, Industrial Design, or Business Management, which were amazing.

Semicolon surprised me in ways beyond academics. Being there meant I couldn’t hide. The community was a place where I was constantly picked and asked questions. I joined the program to avoid presentations and being in the spotlight, but I found myself doing that many times. The program was challenging, and it helped boost my confidence level. The fact that I can now present myself anywhere is a big deal to me.

I tried chasing perfection during the program. There were many expectations. Sometimes, people assumed I knew certain things, but they didn’t know I was struggling too. Even when I was doing well, I kept telling myself I didn’t know enough.

Now that the year is over and I’ve started interning with the backend team at Semicolon Labs, I feel so close to my dream. It reassures me that joining the program that day was the best decision I could have made. I’m grateful to everyone who made my journey a success — to my parents, who believed in me and allowed me to join the program, to my facilitators, who pushed me toward excellence, and to everyone at Semicolon, who made it a home for me.