My SIWES Journey — Finale🎉🥂
In August 8th, 2023 I stepped into Renaissance innovation Labs as a Product Manager Intern (SIWES Student), Jan 26th, 2024 I successfully completed My Internship (6 months), March 7th 2024 — I successfully did my SIWES defence at the University of Portharcourt, Rivers State Nigeria.
Hi there! I am Okonu Deborah, I am currently a 400 level Computer Science Student at the University of Portharcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. I love documenting my journey, and for 5 months I have been documenting my SIWES (Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme) Journey. Wondering why? Well, why not?😉
Before I continue, I want to congratulate you. Yes! you who have been following me right from Month 1. Can you believe it’s been six months already? Like, six whole months!🎉 It’s been an amazing journey, and I appreciate your continued support and engagement. Thank you for not giving up, for staying with me, and for not getting bored. Hope you still have a bit of cake and wine left 😉
And to those of you who are reading about my Siwes journey for the first time, welcome! I highly recommend starting from Month 1 to get the full picture. You wouldn’t start from the final episode of your favorite series, would you?
Now, let’s dive into my six months as a Product Manager Intern at Renaissance Innovation Labs. This article serves as a summary of my experiences, an appreciation to those who inspired me along the way and some JPEGs from my SIWES Defence at the University of Portharcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
This month was a whirlwind of emotions. Excitement because I finally completed my Siwes, but also slight sadness because I’ll miss the incredible people I’ve worked with, like my favorite person at Renaissance Innovation Labs; Perpetua Urama(Program Manager), and the talented developers like Inyang Johnson(Front End Developer), Obianuju (Back -End Developer), Favour John(Front-End Developer), the product deisgners - Spiff, Faith and Nuel, my Senior PM (Mr Ayaosi Godfrey) and other staffs I met at Renaissance Innovation Labs.
I could add Micheal Ukpeh (Back End Developer) but he is my course mate. so I’ll still get to see him in school until we graduate 😁🙈
Renaissance Innovation Labs has been like a second home to me, from the Monday morning meetings to the Friday meetings and hack and chill sessions (even if we didn’t always hack and chill)🙃
Though, I am going to miss the birthday celebrations and the cutting of cake. Who doesn’t like cakes🙈😂
As I look back on my journey, I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. Just when I thought I was saying my goodbyes, our HR manager, Emmanuel Stephen, proposed a final project—a two-week sprint.
Despite my impending departure, I embraced the challenge. With the support of my team, we worked on a project called BRAG(An online platform that aims to revolutionize the way businesses manage customer reviews and how users discover local businesses based on genuine feedback), based on an idea from my colleague Favour. Although I couldn’t see it through to completion, I ensured that the groundwork was laid for its success. (I carried out research, wrote the documentation, drew an Information Architecture, made sure the UI designs were completed by the Product Deisgner and made sure the developers had made a bit progress on it)
I enjoyed every bit of it!
PS: This was the project I highlighted in my IT(Industrial Training) Technical Report.
To wrap it up, was our SIWES defense in school. From the writing of the Report to the submission and finally the defense day. God really came through for me during my defence. I saw favour play out right before my eyes, his grace was made available for me and I am super grateful to him😊
My SIWES defence in School was successful and so was all my friends, God really came through for us❤️
This is me dressed up as a product manager done with my SIWES defense at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Soon to be BSC. Computer Science Graduate 🎉❤️
Overall, the Siwes experience has been invaluable. I’m grateful to Nigerian universities for including it in the curriculum, providing students with real-world exposure and experience. Thank you, University Of Portharcourt, Faculty Of Computing, Department of Computer Science.
Thank you Renaissance Innovation labs for giving me an opportunity to Intern at your organization, Thank you my Senior PM; Mr Ayaosi Godfrey for being a good mentor and guiding me during my SIWES journey. To the amazing people I met at Renaissance Innovation labs, thanks for being amazing.❤️
To my family and friends who supported me in various ways during my SIWES Journey, Thank you so much❤️
To all my readers, thank you for joining me on this journey. It’s been an incredible ride, and I’m honored to have shared it with you. I do hope that you were inspired by my Journey and that you learnt something valuable.😊
As I approach graduation, I am reminded of the importance of faith and perseverance. In as much as we don’t know what this final year holds but what I am certain of is that I have the backing of Christ and so I walk in precision, I walk in guidance, I walk in the leading of Christ. I know what to do and how to do it. I experience supernatural favour and Increase on every side.
Looking forward to writing another article on my Final Year Project Journey by God’s grace, Amen.🙈💃
I urge you dear readers, to hold on tight to God, put him first, let him direct your steps and watch as everything falls into place.
Matt.6.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)
God bless you all, I love you, and I wish you all success in all you do. Cheers! 🥂❤️
So what’s next? Let’s find out!😉
