Chioma Sonia Eze earned a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2022 despite personal challenges. The oldest of five children, Nigeria’s Eze lost her parents at a young age but grew to inspire her siblings.
Her aunt, with whom she was living at the time, disapproved of her decision to pursue computer science, so she chose computer engineering instead, she told Edugist.
She also believed that the electrical and electronics engineering curriculum was reserved for brilliant people. Eze, with the advice of her teacher, chose electronics engineering as her first choice and computer science as her second.
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She recounted, “I looked at him and asked him if he thought I was smart enough to study the course; he looked at me and told me I was smart enough to study anything I wanted to.”
Eze held firm and persevered despite some difficult days and lessons. She overcame stress from exams and tight assignment deadlines by pushing herself to fall in love with the subject she was studying. This helped her discover motivation to learn and understand fundamentals rather than just focusing on getting high grades.
Eze balanced her demanding academic schedule with her leadership responsibilities in her service unit. She remarked, “Many times, I had to show up for others, sometimes at the expense of my luxury. It could get overwhelming and I could be down for days. There were times when I felt foolish for taking on such responsibilities.
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“However, I always found joy in service and in helping others. It helped me take my eyes off the problems in my life and focus on what God could do in the lives of others. That gave me a lot of faith and assurance that God is interested in his children and if he can work it for someone else, he’ll definitely take care of me.
“Those years shaped me into the person I am today. I can say I’m stronger and better and I’m glad I got the opportunity to serve in my student days.”
Eze seized the chance to work as an intern in the field of electrical and automation engineering at Guinness Nigeria Ltd., a division of Diversey West Africa Ltd. The go-getter also applied for a DataCamp scholarship to master data-related skills and was selected as a Cowrywise Ambassador.
She was able to attend Covenant University for her first two years of study thanks to the Vice Chancellor’s scholarship. She eventually raised the remaining funds for the rest of her years in schools via crowdfunding.
Eze named many people as her source of inspiration, including Ire Aderinokun, a renowned female Nigerian software developer, saying, “Seeing her and the things she did and is doing inspires me to go for all I want to be in my career.”
The Enugu native stated that she plans to work in automation and machine learning in the future. She also plans to dabble in machine learning in cybersecurity and finance, since she is an avid investor.
She added, “I look forward to doing a master’s in data science and machine learning.”
As she pursues the rest of her goals, she has begun her career as a junior analyst at a startup.
Even so, she is continuing to learn. To extend her knowledge and skill set while she works and gains practical experience, she is enrolling in classes, obtaining certifications, and applying for internships.
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