The Odyssey with Praise
A candid conversation about my journey, what motivates me, and my experience as a coding mentor at Learn2earn.
- My journey
- What motivates me
- Mentoring at Learn2earn
Engineer, founder, teacher
I'm a software engineer in Lagos with a degree in Computer Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Akure. I care about software that solves real problems and holds up once real people depend on it.
Today that means running engineering at HoldBridge, a crypto escrow and peer-to-peer trading platform I co-founded; leading product engineering at Edugist, where we build education data and civic platforms used across Africa; and building AI agents and automation for clients at GN128 Solutions.
Teaching runs through all of it. I've taught computer science to primary school pupils, mentored cohorts of new programmers in Go, Rust and Java, taught robotics on Arduino and ESP32, and now hire and mentor engineers and designers on my own teams. I'm most interested in AI-driven automation, robotics and embedded systems, and in technology that improves how people and organisations work.
In conversation
Interviews and talks, if you'd rather hear it from me.
Experience
Jun 2026 –
PresentSoftware & AI Engineer, GN128 Solutions
Lagos
- Lead the design and delivery of AI-powered applications and automation systems, turning business requirements into technical solutions that scale.
- Build AI agents, including chatbots and sales agents, that combine LLMs, external APIs, workflow automation and business intelligence.
- Built a Python lead generation tool on the Google Places API that finds and qualifies prospective businesses for clients, cutting manual prospecting time.
- Set schema and architecture standards, review code and unblock production issues across concurrent projects.
- Interview, train and mentor junior developers and designers.
Feb 2026 –
PresentCTO & Co-founder, HoldBridge
Lagos
- Own technology strategy, system architecture and engineering delivery for HoldBridge, live at holdbridge.co.
- Lead the technical team: set direction, coordinate delivery and keep engineering aligned with business goals.
- Drive multi-chain wallet infrastructure and cryptographic security, including wallet management, key protection architecture and AWS KMS integration.
- Set technical priorities and security practices as the company's technology lead.
Feb 2026 –
PresentLead Software & Product Engineer, Edugist
Remote
- Lead design, development and scaling of production EdTech platforms, including edugist.org, improving reliability, performance and user experience.
- Own the product lifecycle end to end: requirements, system design, implementation, testing, deployment and iteration.
- Architected and shipped the Top School Guide, Safe2Report and FixIt.
- Leading development of the Education Ministers Index, a directory of education leadership across 50+ African countries.
- Work with editorial, product and operations teams to turn policy and business requirements into software.
Jan 2025 –
PresentBackend Developer, FlexiSAF Edusoft
Remote, Abuja
- Built a React application for managing school employee records and leave requests, with JWT authentication, role-based access control and a Material UI interface.
- Developed backend components for an employee management system in Java and Spring Boot.
Feb 2026 –
Aug 2026Software Engineer & Instructor, Aptech
Lagos
- Taught programming languages, problem-solving techniques and software development best practices.
- Mentored students through coding exercises, debugging sessions and practical projects.
Oct 2025 –
May 2026Senior Coding Mentor, Learn2earn
Lagos
- Mentored cohorts in Go, Rust and Java, covering control flow, algorithms, data structures and modular programming.
- Ran detailed code reviews and one-to-one and group coaching on debugging and problem solving.
- Assessed submissions through Git/Gitea and internal dashboards, and monitored group projects such as Raid Quad and Event 45.
- Helped lead training programs and flagged gaps in curriculum delivery.
Jul 2025 –
Nov 2025Robotics Engineer & Instructor, Tech Talent Academy
Ijebu-Ode, hybrid
- Designed and programmed robotics and automation projects on Arduino and ESP32 microcontrollers.
- Integrated ultrasonic, soil moisture, light, temperature and IMU sensors, and DC, servo and stepper motor control.
- Built IoT prototypes communicating over Wi-Fi and UDP, plus gesture-controlled and maze-solving robots.
- Taught robotics design, simulation and programming.
Apr 2022 –
Jan 2024Computer Science Teacher, Police Children School, Ado-Ekiti
Ado-Ekiti
- Taught computer science to Basic 3, 4 and 5 and ran practical classes, tests and written and practical exams.
Oct 2018 –
Dec 2019Intern, ICTREC, FUNAAB
Abeokuta
- Managed staff and student records and processed ID cards in the Management Information Systems unit.
- First programming work in Java, Python and HTML in the Project Development unit.
- Set up a local area network and helped install a point-to-point radio link for the CAEDESE laboratory.
Toolbox
What I reach for, grouped by where it sits in a system.
- Languages
- TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, Python, Go, Rust, Dart, C
- Backend
- Node.js, NestJS, Express, Spring Boot, Hibernate, Django
- Frontend & mobile
- React, Next.js, React Native, Flutter, Tailwind CSS
- Data
- PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Prisma, Drizzle
- Infrastructure
- AWS, AWS KMS, Docker, Linux, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, cPanel
- Hardware
- Arduino, ESP32, Sensors & motor control, Wi-Fi/UDP IoT
Education and certificates
Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Engineering
Federal University of Technology, Akure, 2015 – 2021
Software Engineering Job Simulation
Goldman Sachs, via Forage
Assessed password security, cracked weak hashes with Hashcat and recommended a stronger hashing policy.
Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
FlexiSAF Edusoft
Distinction
Communication & Emotional Intelligence for Tech Professionals
FlexiSAF Edusoft
Distinction
Sustainability
Nestlé E-Learning 2025
Certificate of completion
Assistant Leader, Multimedia Team
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
Set up projection, cameras, audio and cabling for convocation ceremonies, assigned the team's stations on the day and ran the projection.