I Set Out to Build Software. I Ended Up Building People | Guilian Asongtia

I thought I was going to spend my life building software.

I ended up building people instead.

Here's how that happened.

If you had asked me in secondary school what I wanted to become, my answer would have been immediate.

"An engineer."

The funny thing is, if you had asked me what kind of engineer, I wouldn't have known.

Mechanical?

Civil?

Electrical?

Architectural?

Chemical?

Never!  I disliked Chemistry.

The truth is that the branch of engineering didn't matter to me.

I was fascinated by the idea of being an engineer.

Looking back, I don't think engineering was what attracted me.

It was curiosity.

I loved science, but even more than that, I loved understanding how things worked.

Whenever an electric iron, calculator, radio, or television stopped working at home, I wanted to open it. Not because I knew how to repair it, but because I wanted to see what was inside.

I wanted to understand.

That curiosity eventually led me to study Computer Science at the University of Yaoundé I.

As my interest in computing grew, software engineering felt like the perfect destination. I completed a Master of Engineering and later had the opportunity to join a software development project with a team of experienced software engineers.

The project also included a group of undergraduate interns.

At the time, I didn't think much of it.

I certainly didn't know those interns would quietly change the course of my life.

I was genuinely excited about the software we were building.

After all, this was exactly the kind of work I had spent years preparing for.

The project was challenging, exciting, and deeply rewarding.

What I didn't expect was to discover something that excited me even more.

Working with the interns.

That surprised me.

I found myself looking forward to their questions.

Helping them break down difficult problems.

Watching a concept finally click.

Seeing their confidence grow.

One memory still stands out.

Most of the interns were beginners in programming. They wanted to jump straight into writing code. I kept insisting that before touching the keyboard, they should first think on paper.

Write the algorithm.

Test the logic.

Then write the code.

Some of them thought I was slowing them down.

I understood why.

A few years earlier, I probably would have thought the same thing.

But the few who trusted the process soon realized something surprising.

Slowing down actually made them faster.

That was when I began to notice something about myself.

At the end of each day, I wasn't replaying the software we had built in my mind.

I was replaying the conversations I'd had with the interns.

For the first time, I realized I looked forward to teaching more than I looked forward to coding.

It was a bittersweet realization.

I had spent years pursuing what I believed was my dream career.

Only to discover that the part I loved most wasn't building software.

It was building people.

That realization also forced me to ask myself a difficult question.

How many young people spend years pursuing a path simply because they've never had the opportunity to truly understand themselves?

I don't ask that question to discourage ambition.

I ask it because I lived it.

I see it every year.

Students choosing a course because they're good at a subject.

Others choosing a career because it sounds prestigious.

Some simply following the path that seems most logical.

Very few are given the time and guidance to ask deeper questions.

Who am I?

What kind of work gives me energy?

What problem do I want to spend my life solving?

What kind of impact do I want to have?

That experience completely changed the way I think about education.

I no longer believe education is only about helping students pass exams or earn good grades.

I believe education should help young people understand themselves, discover their strengths, make informed career choices, and prepare for meaningful opportunities.

Looking back, I don't regret the years I spent pursuing engineering.

They taught me how to solve problems.

But more importantly, they helped me discover the problem I was truly meant to solve.

The curiosity that once made me take apart broken radios now drives me to understand how students learn, grow, and discover who they can become.

Because at the end of the day, that's the work I want my life to be known for.

Helping every student I work with discover who they are, recognize what they are capable of, and find where they can make their greatest impact.

• Guilian Asongtia | Open Dreams

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