In today’s interview, Linda Onuorah, features Mr Oguntade Abass, who will be talking about his journey through school and in becoming the Best Graduating Student of Computer Engineering Department, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).
Can you introduce yourself to our audience?
My name is Oguntade Abass and I am from Ogun state, Abeokuta precisely, I am a recent graduate of Computer Engineering in University of Ilorin.
Can you give us a look into your educational background?
My primary school education was at Abeokuta, Ogun state and the name of the school was Divine International Nursery and Primary School and I proceeded to Secondary school and while in secondary school, I was privileged to attend competitions that included American Mathematics Competition Olympiad, I also sat for my GCE during my Senior Secondary School Year 2, and I came out with good grades. In SS3, I sat for UTME and I excelled in it, I proceeded to University and now I am a graduate.
I am so happy that you graduated and that was very nice of you to take us through your educational background, so, you uhm said something about Mathematics Competition, Do you want to tell us more about that?
Yeah, It is basically a competition. The essence of the competition is to have people across the world competing in a Maths competition and before you can actually get to that particular position whereby you have access to compete with people in other countries, you would have to, there is this uhm within the country competition that would be done just to select people that would compete internationally, so I was privileged to write the exam, because initially, you are to write the exam and based on the exam you wrote, within the state, people will be selected, there is also going to be an intra-national competition just to select people that will represent the country, I was actually privileged to sit for the competition although I was unable to uhm pass the state level actually, but I sat for the competition. It’s an exam actually, sort of.
So, how much of it was a motivation for you to study Computer Engineering?
Okay, I would really say it was really that much in the sense that, apparently it was a Mathematics competition and it shows that I have strength in Mathematics, so, in going for my field of study that’s Computer Engineering, being in Engineering actually was based on the fact that I was quite good in Mathematics and I have actually been to competitions and I have been able to do well, I have actually outdone myself in competitions and yeah I felt like the competitions been Mathematics based and when you check Computer Engineering most of what you have in Engineering, most of what you have there is based on Mathematics, so, it really had more impact on me going for Computer Engineering.
Ohh, thank you for that, now let us get to your main motivation into choosing Computer Engineering, why did you go for that course?
Actually, that is pretty complicated in the sense that, to be honest I never knew what I wanted to do, I just knew that I was good in Mathematics and Further Math, so I never knew where to go to and I was quite sure I wasn’t going to Medicine, I was very sure about that because I was good with Mathematics, yes, and I felt like it’s more of uhm, I can always find somewhere I could apply the Maths knowledge that I have, so I was not really sure about where to go to but what was actually like uhm quite obvious to me that was probably like an option was Engineering but knowing the fact that Engineering was an option, I was still not sure of what department to go into because you have many departments in Engineering, Computer Engineering, you have uhm Civil Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, then you have Bio-Medical, you have lots of that , up to 10.
So, I was not quite sure about the Engineering field I would like to go for but I kind of knew Engineering was an option actually. I was lucky enough to have a teacher in Secondary school who told me that he had a student of his that is currently doing his Masters in Computer Engineering and then my teacher actually tried to describe what the project of this student of his was based on, it was an Internet Of Things ( IOT ) based project whereby you don’t necessary have to be in your house to control devices in your house, so, when my teacher told me then, it was quite fascinating to me and prior to our discussion, Electrical Engineering was looking like an option to me and when I presented it to my Dad, his fear was that I would be in this NEPA post, so uhm that was prior to meeting my teacher but when I met my teacher, he told me about what his student was doing and I kind of found it fascinating cause it was making sense to me then I also had a senior that was already studying Computer Engineering in University of Ilorin, although when I entered University, it was not really the way he presented it but he was more of “just come”, “just come”, “just come” and having that senior there and also having a teacher back then in Secondary school, I was actually able to go for Computer Engineering out of the possible options .
That’s very nice, so in other words, what is Computer Engineering?
Okay, uhm, Computer Engineering is actually let me say uhm, it’s a promiscuous course in the sense that Computer Engineering is that field or department whereby, you don’t necessarily have to, it something that you can always find Computer Engineering in other Engineering department, when you go to Computer Engineering, as a civil engineering or mechanical engineering, as a computer engineer, you can work in these fields even Bio-Medical everything, you can work on this field.
In short, Computer engineering is just a combination of departments actually, it’s a combination of computer science and electronics engineering and most times, computer engineering is always thought to be from electrical engineering because in some schools, you don’t have computer engineering, you just have electrical engineering but overtime, for instance now, in UNILORIN but recently, maybe like 10years ago, they introduced computer engineering but most of the time, computer engineering is not really like a department, even if you check universities abroad, you don’t have computer engineering standing all by itself, you always have something like Electrical and computer engineering. Normally, electrical engineering is meant to be electrical and electronics engineering so now electrical engineers are those people that deal with all these transformers and co, then electronics has to do with small devices like your mobile app, so the idea was that the electronics that you have from electrical and electronic engineering, when combined with computer science, gives rise to another department called computer engineering.
So basically, in computer engineering, we tend to do the job of electronics engineers and then computer scientists or students that study computer science, In short, what I am just trying to say is that in computer engineering, we tend to deal with both hardware and software, hardware basically deal for instance, hardware simply has to do with embedded system in the sense that you could uhm come up with a device that you can control with your mobile phone and such as to do with for instance your web app, there are some sets of guys that just sit down in front of their laptop and build websites that you access online so that’s what software engineers do while hardware engineers are people that build machines for instance Automated Teller Machines in which when you swipe your card, there is an action it does that has to do with the hardware aspect of computer engineering so basically you have computer engineer that is either hardware or software or it is actually a combination of computer science and electronics whereby, the electronics is representing the hardware and the computer science is representing the software. That’s all I can say
Thank you so much for that, so what exactly or how is coding or front-end, back-end integrated into computer engineering, is it what you mean by the software of computing engineering or it is just a part of it?
Yes, that is actually a part of the software aspect where you have backend, frontend, machine learning, AI, data science, data analysis and co. Those are related to software. So anything that has to do with you probably buying components and putting them together that’s what you call hardware. For instance, a lot of these toy cars are considered hardware or remote controlled toys are all hardware but software is something that you would just sit in front of your laptop, write some piece of code and you just have things working.
So there is another aspect that combines hardware and software that is called embedded systems. Just assume you have your bread and akara, open the bread then put the r akara inside. So the idea is just that your hardware is actually dumb without software for instance, your ATM machine,is purely hardware, it is very dumb but it is the integration of software into your ATM machine that makes it possible for you to just put in your card and then based on some prompts, you will be able to get your money.
Without the software, your ATM will not give you money, you will just be staring at it for instance your ATM now is an example of embedded system, what I am trying to say is that, you have purely hardware and you have purely software but you also have a combination of the two and that’s software going into hardware that is embedded system, so most times, our projects in computer engineering are always embedded systems because our knowledge in hardware and software are always tested.
So, I wanted to ask you, when you said it is a combination of hardware and software, I was about to ask you because you said hardware are things like your remote control and if you are using your remote control, you have to use it like on your TV or AC or something, so does that mean apart from being embedded you were talking about, are they hardware, can you say they are purely hardware or software
When you start using a remote to control something that is actually a combination of hardware and software. So most times, when you have purely hardware, like for instance now, in computer, we have hardware devices and software devices so purely hardware is just basically something that you don’t necessarily have to, an example I can give is something like a torch, you know a torch, something like that now is considered to be just hardware, in the sense that you don’t have any software.
It is just more of when you press a button, it brings out light and when you press same button again, the light is switched off but when you now start adding software into it, you could have this, building an application in the sense that when you switch this button on your mobile phone, it is going to be controlling the torch, yes exactly, I think that would be easier for you to understand. When you start adding your software via phone, imagine you are able to control your television using your mobile phone that is like a combination of hardware and software.
Ohh okay, thank you for that insight, so now let’s go into your CGPA, can you tell us about your CGPA?
Okay, I was lucky enough to get a 4.96
4.96, wow that’s very very high, it is actually very high considering that it couldn’t have been that easy
Yes
Anyways, how were you able to maintain such a high CGPA, what was your strategy like?
Initially, my goal wasn’t to have a high CGPA but my orientation was just for each course, have an A. When you start to look at it from that angle, it is indirectly saying 5.0.
I tried as much as possible to have an A in each course and I devoted a lot of energy especially in the lower levels, because in the lower levels, I was still more of settling within the university system, so there’s this situation of trying to adapt to a whole new environment so then I had to put in a whole lot of effort, hard work, night classes, sleep in class at night and all just to start up with a very good foundation and then overtime all I just saw myself doing was to maintain that already existing foundation.
So, you wouldn’t call wanting to have A in every course a strategy?
Yeah, exactly, it’s just normal, just take a course then work towards having an A in it.
I mean to me that is a strategy because it’s not everybody that can get an A in every course, for some of us, a C will suffice?
Yes, yes and I think that’s one thing I didn’t try doing even when I was not too sure about As, I mean I had As that were just on the verge of entering B like 70s, so, I was not willing to settle for low grades like probably I would like to have C in this course, no, even when I was not too sure that I was ready, I was always going for the A because if eventually anything happens then you can probably fall into B but if anything happens that you aim for C before you know it, you can fall into D. So, I was always aiming for A regardless whether I am prepared or not. That was another thing again.
Okay, so, apart from the strategy, or apart from you wanting to have an A in everything, what else do you think or what else you feel that was something you did that got you through that high CGPA
Okay, one thing I did or probably one thing I have learnt was always telling myself that fingers are not equal and we all came from different backgrounds, like for instance now in my own level, I kind of like focused on my education more, I had people that they weren’t really focusing on their education and it is quite understandable because we all came from different homes and then you know where I came from and where someone else that probably focused on academic came from is going to be different and obviously based on that difference in background, the way we see things or do things will be different background, one thing I told myself is that fingers are not equal and this thing I told myself was actually the reason why for instance now I had colleagues that didn’t have to read from the beginning of the semester, they only had to get the material just before the exam and then before you know it, they are going to write the exam, I am not that kind of person, I am actually the kind of person that likes to start from the beginning of the semester. I tend to carry my course materials often, I like it when I carry it repetitively and most times it is not really about something technically, it is really about how often you carried it, so I understood myself, that I am someone that if I don’t carry it up to two or three times, I won’t really get it especially for very technical things, I made sure that I carried my book often even if I have read something especially for something that is quite complicated, I try as much as possible to pick it up so then I don’t really have to wait till exam period before I’ll pick up a material and before I know it will just be overwhelming when it is close to exam period and you are just picking up the material. So, that was one thing I did.
Another thing I did was that I had seniors that I tend to reach out to for guidance, what are the things you regretted and what are the things you probably advise someone that is probably in that level that you were, so that was another thing I found myself doing then, also, another thing I did or I found myself doing is that I made sure that while I was in my lower level, I made a lot of notes and then another thing again was to study very hard, I ,went for night classes, most times, I sleep in classes at night and then just to make sure that I am able to cover enough part of the syllabus, so that’s pretty much most of the things I did that I remember.
So now, talking about your mentor and people who encouraged you when you were in school, if it’s possible, can you tell us who they are and how they came through for you
The one I would mention is actually Deacon Adams, he was my senior in Computer Engineering and uhm he was someone that was in his third year when I just entered the school as a fresher. Like I said, I had a senior from school and he introduced me to Adams, who was in his third year and then when I entered school I always heard the name Deacon Adams and eventually when I got to know him later, I realized that he was the one working in the department then, he was actually someone that was serious about his academics because he was at the top in his department and he was also into tech, and when we were in school, he was doing tech things, he was doing very well in both so he was actually the one that I saw more as a mentor, I drew a whole lot of inspiration from him. That’s actually the person that stood out for me as a mentor, they were many more but he stood out for me the most.
So, you know it’s not easy been in school, studying and trying to balance your social life, did you or were you engrossed in other activities when you were in school?
To be frank, when I was in my lower years, I was not really involved in other things asides my academics and the reason was the fact that I was still trying to find my foot in the university and then it was going to be very overwhelming for me to start combining things with the reason why I was in school, it was during my final year that I think I tried doing something asides school although I was not deep into it but that was when I still made an attempt at doing something else asides academic.
So that was just in your final year?
Not just in my final year but when I was in my third year, fourth year and fifth year, I did things aside school work but 100 level and 200 level, when I was in my third year, I kind of like uhm developed my tech skills and I was actually able to get a gig and then worked as a developer asides my academics.
Wow, you already had a job experience already and you combined it with your CGPA, I am very shocked, the future is looking very bright for you
Yes ma, yes
So let’s talk about your challenges, what were the challenges that you faced while in school?
Okay my challenges, the challenges I faced while I was in school, the first one especially in my first one, I think the challenges I faced was misinformation no lack of information because I could remember I devoted a whole lot of energy into reading for exams whereby all I just needed to do was to pick up past questions and treat so in my first year, I was not adequately informed as regards to some courses that you will just try as much as possible to treat the past questions and you will be fine and good, then I never knew there was even past questions, I was always reading materials and textbooks and it required a lot of time, it took a lot of time actually and energy so that was the challenge I faced then. Spending a lot of time and energy on something when it there is another way you can go about it and you will still achieve almost the exact same result.
Another challenge I also faced was getting people that I can reach out to for help, because in my first year, I was part of the people that was topping in my faculty, the issue I had then was when I had problem, people don’t believe I had problems because obviously you are topping the department and co . That was another challenge for me, it was just few people that I had available that I could reach out to and they were the ones that probably understood that ohh this boy truly doesn’t understand this thing and he is not faking it.
Those were the major challenges that I think I had, okay another challenge that I think I had was actually combining academics with something else especially in my lower level, it’s not like I did not try picking up things asides academic but when we resumed, I always find out that I am always dropping them and then it happened actually, first year, second year, while we were on break, I’ll pick up something but by the time we would resume, then test and exam were coming, I’ll drop them. So those were the challenges that I know that I faced then.
Read Also: “How I Got 4.91/5.00 CGPA In Biomedical Engineering” – Interview With Heba Hamzat (Part 1)
