In June 2026, I enrolled in the University of the People's BS Computer Science program. I'm also a 200-level Software Engineering student at Obafemi Awolowo University. Both are active. Both are real. And no, I haven't lost my mind.
This post is the honest version of why I did it — not the polished answer I'd give in an interview.
OAU is a great school. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But there's a ceiling on what a Nigerian university degree does for you when you're trying to play on a global stage. Recruiters at international companies, remote opportunities, DAAD scholarships, grad school abroad — they all involve some version of credential evaluation, and the honest reality is that an accredited US-based degree travels further than most Nigerian ones, regardless of how strong the curriculum is.
UoPeople is accredited, tuition-free (you pay per assessment, not per credit), and fully online. It's built for exactly this kind of situation — someone who already has a life, already has commitments, and still wants the credential.
So yes, part of the reason is the degree itself. That's the CV answer. It's true, I'm just not pretending it's the whole story.
I'd been self-studying for years — system design, DSA, backend architecture, distributed systems. Stuff OAU's curriculum either doesn't cover deeply or pushes to later years. I was doing it anyway, informally, through YouTube, docs, and building things.
UoPeople gave that a structure. Deadlines. Assessment. A transcript that reflects the work. I wasn't going to stop studying those things regardless — now I get credit for it.
There's also something about accountability that a formal enrollment creates that self-study never quite replicates. I've started and abandoned more Udemy courses than I can count. A university doesn't let you do that quietly.
Everyone I told assumed UoPeople would be the hardest one — the "online degree" — and OAU would be the eaiser one. The institution with physical lectures, lab practicals, exam halls, and lecturers who are... let's call it unpredictable.
They were wrong. Or at least, partially wrong.
OAU is demanding — but not always in ways that build you. A lot of the stress is logistical: lack of water, lecture cancellations, last-minute exam schedule changes, courses that move fast on paper and slow in reality. It's a different kind of hard.
UoPeople is academically rigorous in a way that's actually about the content. The peer assessments are genuinely useful. The discussion forums aren't just busywork — they make you articulate things you'd otherwise skim past. And the coursework maps closer to what I'm actually building on the job than most of what I'm currently doing at OAU.
That wasn't what I expected. It recalibrated how I think about both programs.
Honestly? It's not as overwhelming as it sounds. A few things make it work:
- UoPeople is async. No clashes with OAU's schedule. I work on it when I have windows — late nights, weekends, free periods.
- I'm already building things. A lot of what UoPeople covers overlaps with work I'm doing at Axile, on SAMKIEL BOT, on NACOS OAU, and across other projects. The theory reinforces the practice and vice versa.
- OAU is the primary commitment. I'm not trying to ace both simultaneously. UoPeople is additive, not competitive.
The real constraint isn't time — it's attention. When you're also working as a Lead Frontend Engineer, running a company, co-founding another one, and managing a developer community, the scarce resource is mental bandwidth. I've had to get ruthless about what gets focus and when.
Depends on who's asking.
If you're a Nigerian student who's already self-studying, already building things, and already frustrated that your effort doesn't show up anywhere official — yes. UoPeople is worth it. The cost is low, the credential is real, and the curriculum is solid.
If you're looking for a shortcut or a way to collect degrees without the work — don't bother. It's not that kind of program.
If you're a developer who already has years of experience and doesn't need the degree for anything — skip it. Your GitHub and your shipped products are your portfolio. The credential is for navigating systems that don't know how to evaluate work on its own.
At some point you realize the game has layers. Writing good code is one layer. Shipping products is another. But getting into rooms — the right programs, the right companies, the right conversations — sometimes requires credentials, not because they prove competence, but because they clear filters.
I'm not cynical about it. I just decided to play the game on multiple boards at once.
Two universities. One goal. Forward.
