Programming is all about structure, logic, and, well, planning. But Eden? Her journey wasn’t exactly mapped out. No lifelong dream of being an engineer, no childhood hacking stories, just a solid instinct to pivot and a willingness to bet on herself.

When I approached her about writing her story, she laughed and told me she was camera shy and that work and maybe adulthood had taken some of the wide-eyed excitement out of things. 

And just like that, we got talking. This is Eden’s story.

Eden meets Backend…

Eden studied architecture at university. But after she wrote her final exams in 2019, life slowed down. COVID-19 hit, and she couldn’t do her project defence. Everything was on hold.

“I was just at home. I didn’t even have a laptop, so it wasn’t like I could intern anywhere or try out anything new. But one day, I was online and came across an article about why architects should know how to code. It got me thinking.”

So what did you do next?

“I decided to learn.” She shrugs as if it was that simple. “But I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I needed structure.”

She moved from Port Harcourt to Lagos and joined a boot camp.

“That was 2022 to 2023. One full year of learning. I had no background in tech and no experience at all. And then my first programming language? Java.” She lets out a short laugh. “That thing is like the pharmacology of programming.” 

She explains that, early on, people kept nudging her toward design or frontend development. “They made it sound like the ‘easier’ route, like I should go for that instead. But I never wanted the supposed easier route. Honestly, there’s nothing easy about frontend, and I wanted to do backend,”

So, she stuck with it.

Eden meets Moniepoint...

After boot camp, she secured an internship, gained experience, and set her sights on Moniepoint, knowing it was the next step in her growth.

How did you join Moniepoint?

She laughs. “That’s a long story.”

A friend had gotten into Moniepoint through the Women in Tech internship, which was the first time she had heard about it.

“At that point, I had actually applied to Moniepoint twice. No backend engineering role was open the first time, only QA, and I didn’t get in. The second time, I was hesitant. I had a job already and didn’t want to come in as an intern again.”

But when a new application cycle opened, five people sent her the link.

“I thought, okay, fine, let me just apply.”

And?

“I didn’t hear back.” She shakes her head. “I was like, ‘Welp, that’s that.’”

She had missed some calls from the recruiter.

“So they reached out again, I continued the process, and I got in.”

Eden meets the sprint…

Joining Moniepoint as an intern was no minor adjustment. “When people say fintechs are fast-paced, they don’t do justice to how much work is actually happening,” she says. “Something is always moving. It feels like I’m constantly in a sprint.”

She admits it pushed her in a way that made her grow. “There’s always so much to do and learn, which keeps things exciting. And, of course, there’s that feeling every engineer gets sometimes, wondering if they’re good enough.”

She smiles. “Having someone to guide you early on makes a huge difference. Someone who bridges the gap between you and your manager.”

Why?

“Because your manager has years of experience over you. You might spend an entire sprint figuring out a solution, which they solve in two hours. It’s not magic, it’s experience. And instead of feeling discouraged, I’ve learned to see it as something to look forward to. One day, I’ll be that person who solves things in two hours and gives my manager a break.”

What’s been the most exciting project you’ve worked on?

She thinks for a moment. “I’ve worked on a lot of cool projects. The most recent being settlement processing systems for banks. But right now, I’m on a team building something from scratch. That’s exciting because I get to be part of it from the ground up.”

Eden meets the future...

And what are you looking forward to?

She laughs. “A well-deserved time off.”

Then, more seriously, “I like seeing my confidence grow as I take on more responsibility. That’s already happening. Maybe one day, I’ll even give my manager a break from all my questions.”

Final thoughts? Advice for women who want to get into backend engineering?

She looks directly at me.

“The parts of engineering that people say are too hard for women? That’s where you should go.”

She sits up. “More women need to get comfortable doing things out of spite. Just to prove that they can. Sit in front. Do it.”

Eden’s journey is a reminder that there’s no space where women don’t belong, especially in tech. Ready to take up space too? Explore opportunities at Moniepoint.