10th January 2018 10:45 am

Elvis Chidera

A young man passionate about access to education for all

Elvis Chidera is a 19 year old young man who lives in Nigeria. When he was 12 years old, a family member gave him a phone, a Nokia 2690. He would save for weeks to buy a 10MB internet bundle for 100Naira, ($0.28), which could last a month. Using this phone he developed websites and built an app, learnt HTML, CSS, and Javascript. But there was no money to buy a laptop. When he was 14 years old he launched an app Xmx Me, which made text messages cheaper and easier to send.

Through determination and tenacity, he eventually saved enough to buy a cheap laptop. At 16 years old he launched PrepUp, to help his fellow students pass their exams. He is passionate about making education more available in Africa. He read about DotLearn, a company that shared his dreams. They had an idea to make educational videos data light and thus more accessible. He applied for a job with them, and to his surprise and joy, got it. Just 19 years old and he is an Android developer with an MIT spinout. This is an inspiring story. For more details see:

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-went-from-programming-with-a-feature-phone-to-working-for-an-mit-startup-40ca3be4fa0f

https://medium.com/dot-learn/spotlight-on-elvis-chidera-cfcb1b560320

Here in Elvis’s own words is his ‘Curious People’ profile. Download Curious Elvis here

 Tell us a bit about yourself; what’s your name and how would you describe what you do in 10 words or less?

My name is Elvis Chidera. I am an Android engineer currently working for Dotlearn.

Where were you born and where did you study?

I was born and raised in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. I studied in a not so popular high school in the same city called Titi Trinity College.

Is there a person, place, event or moment that influenced or changed your way of thinking?

When I was little, I struggled to properly read and write. Over time I was able to get over this hurdle with continuous practice. Since then, I believe: Anyone can learn almost anything, all you just need is time and determination.

Who is your science hero?

Nikola Tesla

What are you working on now? Can you give us a link to a website or publication?

Am working as the Lead Android Developer at Dotlearn where we are trying to make online education affordable and accessible in the developing world. I also write Android app development tutorials on Medium and in my free time I build free apps on the Google Playstore.

What would you like to learn more about?

Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

• Read tech blogs
• Watch sci-fi movies
• Go through Quora

Do you have any recommendations for great websites, free apps, events, publications, TV/films that young scientists may not have discovered yet?

Meet the Robinsons – One of my favorite films. He went from failed experiment to another failed one but he never stopped moving forward (My motto).