Despite having a Computing Information Systems degree, I ended up becoming an award-winning print journalist and filmmaker. Yes, I was on the road to becoming a hardcore coder! But alas, my interest in journalism rapidly intervened and directed me away from a career signified by 0s and 1s.
As a kid, I loved reading and writing fiction stories. Now, as a journalist, those experiences have allowed me to harness a world of creativity living inside of me. When I started college in early 2000s, interest in the Internet was increasing everywhere, including here in Kenya. To be competitive in the job market, I felt I had to study information technology, and like many other students who shared my major, land a job as an IT technician. However, pushing through my coursework proved to be a steep, uphill battle. In my free time, I wrote fiction or opinions on Blogger, WordPress, and other websites that took my then-herky-jerky writing. The fact that these platforms could immortalize my thoughts thrilled me.
In late 2008, I earned an honors degree in Computing Information Systems, but now I had to find a job matching my qualifications. I applied to IT jobs and sent my resume to almost every company looking to hire someone with my STEM background, but I only got called for one interview.
While interning, my print journalism skills improved, and my stories got published in a popular Kenyan business newspaper with my byline (which, of course, made me super proud). That training also brought out my instinct to spot good stories. After two and half years there, I left to try freelance journalism, but I hadn’t anticipated or researched how challenging freelancing can sometimes be. In this new stage of my professional career, I had to aggressively comb through magazines or newspapers to which to pitch my story ideas. I also learned that I would only get paid after the stories I wrote were published.
During my first month of freelancing, I entered and won a journalism competition that solicited agricultural writing. The accolades came with a much needed cash prize. The award gave me strong, professional credentials, such that when I approached a UK media company that published an agricultural magazine, they started accepting some of my story pitches.
The UK media company was contracted to edit an agricultural magazine in the Netherlands, and the managing editor asked me to start sending story ideas monthly for consideration. That began a successful eight year freelance writing relationship, until December 2019 when the magazine folded. When not writing for the magazine, I wrote for a few content farms and companies. In freelancing, coins can be scarce, so I didn't want to be too choosy.
I maintained solid working relationships with my colleagues at the UK media firm because I delivered my assignments on time, communicated promptly when challenges arose, and was outright courteous. As our relationship grew, the managing editor referred me to a non-profit in Canada that was looking for an agricultural content writer. Today, I work on freelance for that Canadian non-profit and have a cordial relationship with the managing editor.
To continue booking gigs in the changing media landscape, it’s wise to learn more skills. While working for the UK media company, a friend taught me photography and filmmaking techniques, and I myself enrolled in an editing course. I bought a DSLR camera, and that opened new income earning opportunities.
When the UK media company got other contracts from international, agricultural NGOs working in East Africa, those organizations needed photos, short documentaries and written content for their projects. The UK media company hired me to take photos, film the short documentaries, and write content for the projects. That increased my earnings because I could film, write, edit and do photography. I’ve also accumulated several videos and photos, which I've uploaded to stock photography websites, where these assets earn me a passive income.
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Note From Tongal: This blog is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here!
