Fighting Against Limitations: Chidiebere Anucha’s Story into Tech

There’s still a belief out there that older folks can’t switch to tech and learn something entirely new after years in another field. Chidi, however, breaks that stereotype.

With a BSc. in Physiology and a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations, Chidi launched a career in Customer Service and Human Resources, spanning over 13 years in the field. But being naturally curious and eager to learn new things, he started getting interested in technology.

As time went on, he realized that tech was becoming essential in every field, and his curiosity led him to want to learn more than just the Microsoft Excel he used at work — he wanted to dive into data science.

A friend of Chidi’s who was a Native at Semicolon told him about his experience in the techpreneurship program and explained that he could learn more than just data science. Checking out Semicolon’s curriculum got Chidi hooked, and he made plans to join.

Joining the program was exciting for Chidi. It felt like going back to school again, but this time with people from various backgrounds and ages. However, he soon faced challenges. “Coming to class was tough. At some point, I felt like quitting,” he explains. Traffic was an issue, making the commute burdensome.

After battling traffic each day and juggling multiple responsibilities related to his wife and kids, Chidi would get home exhausted and unable to study. He started to fall behind, but some of his cohort-mates and a facilitator studied with him on weekends to help him keep up.

The final months of the program, during the capstone period, allowed him to put all he had learned into practice. They were tasked with finding a problem and building a solution. His group decided to tackle an issue in the health sector, specifically on solving unified access to patient data.

Chidi realized that building a project isn’t just about having technical skills; it’s also about working with people. While some struggled with understanding their team members and assigning roles, Chidi, with his experience managing people as an HR professional and being the oldest in his cohort, had no trouble ensuring that his team worked effectively.

Today, Semicolon has given him a foundation, skills, and an opportunity to connect with people. The journey through software engineering wasn’t easy for Chidi, but he proved once again that anything is possible if we put our minds to it.