“I believe in showing results. Little talk, more work and results. Let your work speak for you, this way you won’t just be blabbing to people” said John Oseni.
John Oseni is one of the Gen Z-ers taking the tech community by storm and from our exclusive interview with him, we are convinced that the world is not prepared for his genius. I like to think Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk is an inspiration to John considering how many times he quoted him during the interview.
John isn’t like many young boys of his age, no shade to them but talking to John might make you question yourself a bit, even as an adult. The only thing similar I noticed he had with many young tech bros was the signature hoodie he had on.
I’ll let you in on a few things I learned from him in this chat, so sit tight ‘cause you’re in for a ride.
The early life of the genius
John was a regular child who grew up in Akure, Ondo state. He had initially started repairing faulty radios, DVDs, and other electronic gadgets for his parents at the age of 13. His journey into tech started when an Akure tech hub Green Garage came to his school to teach students about computers. His interest in tech was piqued after that visit.
It was a pivotal moment for John and after this experience, he started learning to code and build digital products. Now, John is a software and blockchain developer. He started coding with HTML and CSS before he switched to other programming languages.
This young founder said he built a blockchain exchange platform within two weeks! This is a task that would normally take some people months to complete. Sadly, he was paid a meagre sum of ₦2,000 which he said he took as a reward for his data. The said job would have cost 10million naira but John was determined to add to his experience so he took the job. He worked on many other jobs for free and all he would ask as compensation was for him to be referred for other jobs.
Like the typical African parents, John’s parents didn’t entertain his interest in tech initially. He noted that he used to get scolded by his parents when they saw him repairing faulty electronics. He said he did this because he wanted his parents to save money instead of buying new gadgets to replace the bad ones considering their financial situation.
The Journey to Greatness begins
John had his name all over the internet a few months ago when he got a job offer from a company in Italy. When asked what it felt like when the job offer came in, he said:
“I was with the Ooni of Ife when I got the news and I was surprised to see my name everywhere. I don’t have a certificate in programming so most of the jobs I get are based on referrals. Someone recommended me to the company in Italy and that was it, they got in touch with me and made me their blockchain lead.”
He also works for another company in Italy and he has reportedly worked for up to 17 companies without a formal certificate. All he has are his Github and LinkedIn profile. John is the blockchain lead developer for several crypto companies, including Fly wallet and Italian-based company, Cryptonite.
“Someone recommended me to them. After a few interviews, I got hired as the blockchain team lead,” he says. He recently joined the US-based cryptocurrency team, Eastcoin as a blockchain developer. He added that he has worked for several companies in the US, Italy, and Peru.
When it comes to his work and life balance, John runs a tight schedule and according to him, he has always been a workaholic. He would use his pocket money to pay for internet access at cybercafes and also occasionally beg people to let him use their hotspot. He would then use it to download and watch coding lessons and study guides which he used to self-practice.
Now juggling his work at more than 3 companies including his own startup, UltereX, he has a strict schedule.
“I wake up in the morning, pray, eat, sleep and write codes. I hardly sleep at night because I’m up researching and coding.”
His family has grown accustomed to his busy life too and he made it a point to let everyone know what his schedule is like.
“I let everyone know my schedule so they can know when I am free to talk and when I’ll be busy,” he said.
Leading by example
It was also heart-warming to find out that John isn’t lacking in the aspect of morals. He believes in remaining humble no matter what position of authority he holds. This is no different at the companies he works with presently. Although John is the Lead blockchain developer at these companies, he still respects the older people that report to him.
“I make them take me as their son and I make sure I’m humble enough.”
Despite being the fourth child in his family, John is a source of inspiration to his siblings and we expect to see more from the Oseni family in the tech industry. According to him, his elder sister is also interested in tech
“My elder sister has taken an interest in tech but I don’t have the luxury of time to put her through. I just try my best to send her study materials.”
Building UltereX
John is currently building UltereX, a nature-powered tech company. The plan is to harness nature’s gifts like air, water, solar, and other earthly elements to reduce the global carbon footprint and make Earth a healthier place. He plans to create gadgets and automobiles that are powered by nature’s elements.
“We want to create vehicles that will be propelled by air. The project is ongoing and it might be ready in months because of the help from one of the companies I work for in the US and my growing team of researchers and engineers.”
“We believe that the future of technology is sustainability. We want to build an ecosystem that promotes sustainability in ways that have never been explored. I want to build something like Tesla but we want to do better because Tesla products still have toxic emissions” says John.
Managing relationships
As with anyone pushing the limits of success, John has had challenges in the tech community. He noted that he has struggled to keep up relationships with friends that turned out to be “unfriendly friends” that are just manipulative.
“I began to lose many friends, many of them turned their backs on me and it made me understand the saying that you lose friends as you grow. I’ve had people that tried to play on my intelligence and manipulate me because of my age. A company once wanted me to build a blockchain network similar to Solana for only 1million naira.”
Despite his bad experience with friends, he hasn’t let it deter him from building good relationships with young founders like him. He referred to them as geniuses and commended their efforts toward building products that provide solutions
“They are all geniuses. It takes a genius to conceive an idea and execute it. I am impressed by the likes of Opemipo Disu and Eniola Osabiya. I specifically set goals to connect with them because I am a huge fan of their work and I am glad I was able to achieve that goal.” he said excitedly.
He thinks his fellow Gen Z founders are all unique in what they do but he hopes that they also take interest in nature which he sees as the future of tech.
“They are all unique in what they do but I believe we should allow nature to power us so that we can also power nature. It will be a win for everyone and a key to a toxic-free environment”.
Rounding Off
John has always been an ambitious and results-driven individual and this is evident in his career development. He noted that tech has influenced his life positively and helped him to improve how he thinks and relates with people generally.
“Tech has let me have this higher IQ. It has exposed me to many life experiences that have improved how I think. I have also been able to make new friends and meet more people within the tech community.”
As the interview came to an end, we asked him what he has to say to aspiring young software developers, he said:
“ I encourage them to keep trying even if they fail. Failure is a sign that you are doing something worthwhile. Be innovative, create unique solutions to problems”.
At his young age, he has been able to achieve great and amazing milestones and we hope to see more of that. We look forward to the launch of UltereX and even more amazing news from John and his promising career in tech.
