Shikothetechgirl 2022 Wrapped!|My 2022 Year in Review

Long time, no blog! Without further explanation of why I’ve been MIA, let’s get right into business and the rest might explain why. If you’re reading from me for the first time, I am Shikothetechgirl, a girl passionate about tech. Lately, I have been pushed so much out of cybersecurity, a stack which I was majoring in. Nowadays, I have learnt to embrace tech as a whole, which honestly isn’t such a bad thing. I am getting into the tradition of writing my year reviews (this will be the second), read last year’s here. Back to 2022.

Ethical Hacking here I come!

The year started on a high, I was determined to see my cybersecurity technical skills move a notch higher. This is the same year I joined my fourth and last year of study for my Information Technology degree. #Advent of cyber3 by Tryhackme had ended, aaand better late than never. I finished up on the cybersecurity challenge and somehow came up with a roadmap of how I would cover important technical topics in ethical hacking.

First Microsoft Africa Development Center Nairobi Visit

We are starting to get to the meat of the year. Being a Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador, I got the opportunity to apply for the Game of Learners hackathon, Captain position and luckily got in. To select the team members, we had to converge at the Microsoft ADC office.

This was such a great experience, everything was phenomenal! Talk of many firsts. Here, I also had my first ever interview (think of lights camera action haha). During this stage of the hackathon, everyone was expecting to win and so did I.

Giving back to the Tech Community

I did my first talk for the year, ‘Beginner Guide to Getting into Cybersecurity’ , I later turned the slides into a blog. The blog has great resources for cybersecurity beginners.

The International Womens’ Day is now around the corner. This is where my popular phrase, ‘Do it afraid’ comes in. I applied to be a speaker and part of the panelists for this event. My application was accepted. This was my first ever physical event as a speaker. It went well. The panel session was also great. I should brag that since then, I have become such a popular in the tech space. Being a celebrity feels so nice 😂

Microsoft Africa Development Center, Nairobi was Launched

When you are called to volunteer, you never have high expectations. Plot twist….I was among students who were present during the Microsoft ADC launch. The president was among us too, not as a student, but as the guest of honor. We weren’t aware the then president of Kenya was attending, other big names in tech also graced the event.

It was such a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and also network with them. The 2 day event was tiresome but very important in my tech career…I never met the president😂

Campus Tech Initiatives

Being the pioneer class of tech courses in an institution means most things like tech communities aren’t set up. In 2022, I joined efforts together with fellow students to ensure our Campus tech club was growing. I also managed to organize a physical event ‘Building REST APIs using AWS API Gateway’.

Of course, I wasn’t the speaker, I almost know nothing about APIs. The speaker was Willie Macharia, a software developer from South Africa. It was nice seeing students learn and appreciating efforts that go towards organizing tech events. I definitely ensured there was snacks.

Game of Learners Microsoft Hackathon Results are out!

Remember I mentioned I participated in a hackathon, well, the results were not as I expected. A lot goes into development of any application. Managing a team is among these things. Being the team captain, I had underestimated the effort it would take. The hackathon was 4 weeks long, if not 5. We had Microsoft employees as our coaches. This is where I was learning that sprints and stand ups are a thing. The problem at hand was around climate change.

Please read more here. Although our team wasn’t the overall winner, we won the Learn Challenge Category. I was also featured in the GOL Season 3 Show, another thing I attribute for my fame😂.We are definitely better earthlings. We love the world…. it is our planet…

Cybergirls Happened

I joined cybergirls fellowship program. We also had a physical meet up where I met Confidence Staveley, a cybersecurity powerhouse. Although I did not successfully follow up with the program, it was nice being around girls who were so eager to learn cybersecurity. Sharing with my teammates and learning from our mentor in Incognito9 was a great privilege too.

Tech Events Break

I looove tech events, here are a few photos of part of those I attended.

AfricaLaw Tech Hackathon

When I was planning to attend the Africa Law Tech Festival, I wasn’t aware of the hackathon part. I met many lawyers and advocates, some top journalists, tech government officials who were all speaking my language.. tech!. I later learnt of the hackathon, joined a team midway and came up with an idea to solve issues around election misconduct. All the solutions were based on Artificial Intelligence.

We managed to win the second runners up place. It should be noted that in all these events, I am collecting swag, this is why I live in tech tshirts😂

Where I became a Microsoft ADC Game of Learners Ambassador

A few months after the GOL hackathon, I got nominated to be a GOL ambassador and successfully got in. My role involves GOL program management. I ensure students are aware of learning and growth opportunities in Microsoft ADC. I empower students through instructor led sessions, free courses and certifications. For the better part of 2022 and 2021, I was also a cybersecurity peer mentor.

Nairobi AI Community was Reborn

I was part of the managing team that revived the Nairobi AI community. It is exciting to see the much growth it has attracted. For now, follow us on our social medias. We all have so much knowledge to share, espcially when we come together.

The Kamilimu Application That Never Went Through

It is with great sadness that I write this. Jokes. In 2021, we had a similar highlight, my application to Kamilimu Mentorship program getting rejected. Well, it did, again. The good thing was that I at least managed to reach the interview level (A win is a win). Although I wasn’t successful, please apply for this program if you are still a student. I may not know the benefits in detail, but I for sure know there are.

School is Almost Ending, I got an Internship!

We are now remaining with around 2 months to get done with school. Around this time, I also get an internship. This is in a very different area from cybersecurity. I will share a major lesson here, learning never stops. During this time, I was balancing so much, I was honestly overwhelmed. However, the end was near. Please remember I still have to do my undergraduate project and I still have my hate.. fear relationship with application development. Well, I managed to pull through with my sleep suffering the most. This also marked my entry into the telecommunications world!

National Cybersecurity Conference

Being among the top 25 students in the Huawei Cybersecurity boot camp, I got sponsored to attend the National cybersecurity conference. There was also a training before the conference. There were many conversations on privacy and data protection. Major stake holders in the ICT space were also present. I enjoyed the networking sessions and food too😂

Jamhuritech and Innovation Summit

The government of Kenya introduced themed national holidays. 2022’s Jamhuri day was all about tech.

I was an exhibitor for Microsoft ADC, Game of Learners Program. I was happy to share my experience in the program and encourage students to join too. Other companies had their exhibitions too. Safaricom’s stand stood out for me, their cybersecurity presentation was great. By now you’ve already learnt security speaks to me😂

The Best for the Last! I graduated

After 4 years of hard work, patience (4 years is looong) and commitment, I got conferred with a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology.

Its really great to see what I have done with the 4 years. That’s it for my 2022! I have left out different ctf challenges I participated in for next time (the blog’s already long) 2022 was great, 2023 is going to be greater! Hoping to write more too, so look out for more content.

Margaret Kamau is a tech advocate, passionate about everything tech, cybersecurity and recently telecommunications. You can connect with her on twitter and LinkedIn