And in our yet another feature of women in tech that participated in the #AWITNigeria19 event. We bring you Mary Job. She is a Product Manager at How Do You Tech, an ed-tech firm curating answers to specific question in tech. She teaches #WordPress and digital skills at Uwani Hub. She loves cats, photography, rabbits & traveling.
So here is a little snippet of our little sit down with Mary Job on the sideline of the African Women In Technology conference held last month in Lagos, Nigeria
Technology represents to me three things; Freedom, Empowerment and Actionable Resource.
Why did you choose this career path?
It chose me. Just like philosophy is known to be the foundation of all disciplines. Educational Technology to me is the bedrock of how we will possess knowledge in the future.
As an EdTech professional, how receptive have the African women population been to Educational Technology?
On a scale of 1 – 100, 100 being the highest, based off my experience and attendance seen at women dedicated conferences, such as the AWIT2018 and the Summit for Women and Girls organized by the Web Foundation last year. I would score women’s’ participation in Edtech, 50. The focus though is more on securing jobs in STEM, rather than adoption of tech in education and teaching the next generation how to navigate in these waters.
As an African woman in tech, what is the most significant challenge you have faced professionally?
That would be working remotely in the sense of not having a brick and mortar shop. The work we do is one we can carry out from anywhere, so long as there is electricity and reliable internet connectivity. This also means that we do not need to operate a physical office. The implication of this is that clients who prefer to walk-in to request for our services are not able to do so. Even though we are able to manage our remote processes efficiently, some clients would still insist on physical contact when it is clearly not needed.
Where do you place the value of EdTech in the next few years in Africa?
I see it saving the current degenerating educational system we have in Nigeria. I see it opening new frontiers in learning especially in areas lacking access to internet and its technologies. I see it becoming a norm and a strong tool for the economic liberation of most African countries.
There is so much to be done within the education sector with regards to coming up with tech-based solutions to make learning more fun and effective. For instance, check out the following educational technology examples to inspire your creativity within the Ed-Tech space.