I didn't start out in tech. I studied Real Estate at the University of Nairobi, worked in a bank as a relationship officer, and later prepared valuations and feasibility studies for property projects. Today I build web and mobile apps and data pipelines. Here's how that happened, and why the detour helped.

Spreadsheets were the gateway

Valuation work runs on spreadsheets: cash flow projections, comparable sales, financial models. I kept looking for ways to make them faster and less error-prone, and that curiosity led to Python. Automating one tedious report was enough to get me hooked.

Learning deliberately

I didn't want to just follow tutorials, so I took structured routes: a software engineering diploma with ALX Africa, then data engineering with Explore Data Science Academy. Alongside the courses, I built things. RealHive, a property app that matches tenants with landlords, came straight out of problems I'd seen in my real estate work.

What the detour gave me

  • Domain knowledge. I understand how businesses in property and finance actually operate, which makes requirements conversations much easier.
  • Comfort with numbers and money. Payments, reports and financial logic don't intimidate me.
  • Empathy for users. I've been the person stuck with clunky internal tools. I build with that person in mind.

Advice for career changers

  1. Start with a problem you know. Your old industry is full of them, and you understand them better than most developers do.
  2. Build in public. A GitHub profile and a few live projects say more than a certificate alone.
  3. Don't hide your background. It's not a gap in your CV; it's a specialism.

If you're thinking about making the switch, my inbox is open.