Our first session this week was about values; I was excited about the session but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to follow along.

The session was led by one of the Code of Africa (CoA)’s cofounders Axel and it was conducted via miro video meeting. I had an issue joining the meeting because of browser incompatibility. After figuring out the issue. I tried to install the compatible browser but that took time, so I decided to use another computer. Finally, I was able to join the meeting but it was almost at the end. After the session, I had to reach out to my colleagues to help me catch up with what I missed during the session.

In the middle of the session, we were asked to list out our values and we compared them with CoA’s values. My values were passion, integrity, collaboration, responsibility, and patience.

To be passionate means to be enthusiastic or to have an intense desire for something. I believe that one of the keys to success is to do what you are passionate about. As software developers, we encounter challenges in the form of working extra hours trying to fix bugs and also learning new technology. Passion helps us to overcome those challenges.

Passion is energy, feel the power that comes on focusing on what excites you.

Oprah Winfrey

Integrity is the quality of being honest and always doing the right thing, even when no one is looking and even when the choice isn't easy. As we work remotely and no one is always there to check what we’re doing, when we have integrity we gain the trust of our leaders, our colleagues, and our team.

I believe that to achieve difficult tasks in less time, you have to work well with others and you must bring in their knowledge, skills, and experience. Without collaboration quality, you won’t be able to work with others efficiently.

Responsibility is the state of being accountable or to blame for duty or task that you are required or expected to perform. I take ownership of the outcome of my choices - good or bad. When you conduct yourself with personal responsibility and accountability, you build integrity, and with integrity comes trust and respect.

Being patient means listening, observing, taking advice from other people, and seeking relationships that provide new means to make good decisions. You might need to work some extra hours due to an urgent need of some matters. Without patience, you won't be able to accept those challenges and tasks without getting angry.

The values of CoA are creativity, courage, integrity, improvement, sustainability, empathy, growth, transparency, efficiency, and trust. When compared to my values, passion is aligned with courage, integrity as integrity, collaboration as efficiency, responsibility as improvement, and patience is aligned with empathy.

This week I learned that you should always seek clarification and help from others for things you don’t understand well. Without help from my colleagues, I won’t be able to learn what they got from Alex.