Transoft was pleased to welcome Rita Wavinya, who joined us as an intern Junior Developer in February. Rita is also a Transoft bursary recipient through our partnership with One Girl Can in Kenya where she lives.
We caught up with Rita to get to know her better.
How did your journey with Transoft begin?
It started off with me being a recipient of Transoft’s bursary program with One Girl Can in Kenya. I was one of the three girls who were sponsored.
When Daniel [Shihundu, President of Transoft Solutions] came to Kenya to meet with our school last November, I met him during the [Together-a-thon] walk with my university and took the opportunity to ask him more about Transoft. Daniel told me about the internship for fresh grads, so I asked if it was possible to apply for it. He connected me with the Transoft UK office, so here I am doing an internship at Transoft.
You mentioned in your Bamboo introduction that your parents believe that city life spoils kids, so you and your siblings spend most of your time at your home upcountry, while going back to the city (Nairobi) during school breaks and holidays. You now prefer staying upcountry than in the city. What are the main differences between life in the city and life in the country?
Biggest differences: environment and level of privacy.
The city is the same all the time, no matter the weather. But in the country when it rains, it’s a completely different environment from when it’s sunny. Certain fruits like oranges, mangoes and pawpaw ripen, and it’s so bright you can see all the way across to your neighbour’s compound!
In the country, your business is everyone’s business. If you do something at the market, even before you get home your parents will already know about it because someone would have seen you and felt it was their duty to tell on you.
I prefer staying upcountry because it is calmer. You look up at the sky at night and see so many stars, the air is much fresher, and I feel more relaxed upcountry as compared to the city which is noisy all the time. Also given that we have stable internet, electricity and water, plus cheaper food in the country, I wouldn’t want to stay in the city all the time.
I’ve interacted with pure “townies” (that’s what we call city people who haven’t been to the countryside) and they are less active, don’t like the sun, are afraid of the smallest things like frogs, grasshoppers, even beetles. When we would visit the city, we were not allowed to stay outside without supervision (as my dad used to say, “it’s the city, it’s not safe”), except for sightseeing at the national museum, the snake park in Nairobi and the Nairobi animal orphanage. On the other hand, living upcountry I had to go to the woods (unsupervised) and collect firewood, I’ve gone swimming in the river, and took part in a lot of things city people consider “risky”. I’m not afraid of spiders, frogs or even snakes. I do feel I have an advantage having lived both city and upcountry lives; I fit in well with any group of people be it townies or upcountry folks.
What are you studying in school?
I’m in the Bachelor of Science – Business Computing program, and will be starting 4th year in May this year
Any favourite courses?
I really enjoy IT-related courses like data structures, software engineering, system analysis and design, information system audit. There is a math unit; analogue electronics that I don’t really enjoy, and I don’t like the units focused just on business – though I do find it interesting when they integrate IT with those (like enterprise system technology and Business Process Modelling).
What excites you most about joining Transoft?
What excites me the most about joining Transoft is the company’s culture of care and compassion. Transoft has a history of humanitarian aid and is keen on giving back to society. I feel that getting an opportunity to work with Transoft’s team will mold me to be a better all-round person.
What have you been learning so far in your past few weeks here?
I’ve learnt to use C# (C-Sharp) – a programming language. It’s a new language I hadn’t even heard before – I only knew about C and C++. It’s a very exciting language to learn. I’ve learnt to do some simple programs, including word unscramble, a simple web scraper and the Sudoku solver. Then I moved on to KeyLINES and KeySIGNALS training. I’m done with KeyLINES and started on KeySIGNALS today. It’s been exciting to learn about Transoft’s products!
What are your plans for after your internship is over?
I will be finishing my first semester in 4th year, so I’ll be preparing to finish my project and my last semester in Uni and graduate. For my project, I plan to master C-Sharp so well that I can use it in my final year project and impress my professors!
How do you see Transoft changing the world?
Transoft products are very efficient and effective. Products like KeyLINES help civil engineers and traffic managers save a lot of time when creating road marking and traffic order plans. Civil engineers and traffic planners in my country generally do design and planning work manually, and if all countries had access to these products their work would be easier. Positioning of zebra crossings, hatched road markings and other tasks are easily done through a click of a button with the ability to accurately design, saving time otherwise spent doing the designs manually.
Looking at our entire product portfolio, Transoft helps enable roads, airports, and transportation in general to become better and safer.