What do you call landing a job in the career you had envisioned since you were little? Not just pursuing your dream, but doing so at a company that leaves you feeling accomplished? 

One minute, I’m doing my NYSC, thinking of what the next chapter of my life holds for me. The next, I’m signing my offer letter with Moniepoint (then TeamApt). It’s been five years as a backend engineer at Moniepoint, and here’s my story—from how I got employed to today.

The APT Challenge 

During my NYSC in 2019, I learned about a competition called the Apt Challenge, and curiously, I signed up for it.

The Apt Challenge involved solving five (5) computer-based questions on mathematics and algorithms. The faster you could solve them, the higher you would rise in the leaderboard. The person who emerged as the overall winner solved it in less than a day! 

Just when I was notified of the start of the competition, my laptop crashed. I tried to fix it or find a replacement, but it was seemingly impossible then. Left without an alternative, I decided to use my phone, and you can imagine how stressful it was. 

At the time, people had already solved all five questions. Honestly, I even considered forgoing the competition. But I decided to see it through to the end just for fun, and it took me about a week to finish solving everything.

Only 16 of us were able to solve the challenge, and it was then sorted based on who finished in the quickest time, and a winner was picked. 

There was going to be a reward for those who topped the leaderboard, although I have forgotten now what the reward was. However, it never said that anyone would get employed by the company, but that’s precisely what happened.

A few weeks later, I got a call from Moniepoint’s HRBP, and that’s how I joined the team.

On becoming a DreamMaker 

I officially resumed with Moniepoint in June 2019 as a Software Engineer. To sum up my experience in a phrase, I “hit the ground running”.

I joined the week we launched Monnify, and it was an incredibly busy period.

Everyone was working hard trying to put out a fire, fix an issue, or answer our merchants who were just being onboarded. I had to pick up things quickly through observation, grabbing as much information as I could in as little time as possible. That period was hectic, but it helped mould me into who I am today. 

Starting as a Software Engineer 1, I quickly scaled up and became a Software Engineer 2. Later, we had a change in our roles, so people were assigned what they were actually doing. So, I was assigned a Backend Engineer. Now, I’m a Senior Backend Engineer. 

What I do as a backend engineer at Moniepoint 

One thing about being a Backend Engineer is that we’re always in the shadows (not in a bad way). I like to think of us as the people who hold down the fort.

As a Senior Backend Engineer at Moniepoint, my work is focused on the Monnify product. Yes, the same Monnify that launched the week I joined. Interesting, isn’t it?

I write and review code for Monnify’s backend services to optimise their performance, and ensure the systems are reliable and can handle high traffic. You will often find me optimising database queries and reducing latency as much as possible. 

I enjoy the work I do because it allows me to interact with other teams, such as Settlement and Reconciliation, Customer Support, and Technical Support. Although we’re on different teams, we all work on the same product, so we all collaborate to ensure its functionality. 

Often, the product team and I have deep dives where we discuss how to architect and implement new backend services and maintain existing ones. From time to time, I am assigned interns and junior software engineers to mentor and help them grow. This is another thing I enjoy about the work I do, because it allows me directly impact the careers of others.

What 5 years of career growth at Moniepoint looks like

Within 5 years at Moniepoint, I have moved from Software Engineer 1 to Software Engineer 2 to Backend Engineer, and now Senior Backend Engineer. 

One crucial aspect at each level has been Technical Depth. We’re a team of extremely talented people, so you need to know your stuff and be good at it. If something is wrong, you need to be able to call it out with confidence and, of course, proof.

Another character trait that has been helpful in scaling up the ranks is Grit. At Moniepoint, we keep trying until we get a solution, as we believe that nothing is impossible when it comes to what we do.  Unless the solution doesn't exist in the world, nothing is really impossible. If it can be done by someone else, then it can be done by us. 

Even though I got into Moniepoint through a competition, I really accepted the offer because of the problems Moniepoint was setting out to solve. Knowing that my work would likely impact people out there was the selling point, and it’s been quite the ride!

If you’re ready to work with a fast-paced team that’s focused on executing results, then click here to join Moniepoint now. You would enjoy career growth and working with fantastic colleagues.