A life you can scroll through.
The long version: Uganda, China, AI, open source, rejection emails, graduate school, a few wins, and the life in between.
Born in Western Uganda
Born in a small city in Western Uganda.
At the time, nobody knew the kid being carried around would one day cross continents chasing artificial intelligence, open source software, and research. I certainly didn't.
First Day of School
My first day at Jack and Jill Primary School in Kampala.
Life was simple. School, cartoons, football, and trying not to get into trouble. The future felt infinitely far away.
Those really were the good old days.
The Computer Arrives
Dad brought home our family's first computer.
Most people remember their first car. I remember that computer.
I spent hours drawing terrible art in Microsoft Paint and typing random things into Microsoft Word. Looking back, this was probably the beginning of everything.
Future Doctor?
Started high school studying Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
Medicine seemed like the obvious path. Everyone respected doctors. It sounded stable. Successful.
I convinced myself this was my future.
The Dream That Wasn't Mine
I finally admitted something I had been avoiding for years.
I wasn't meant to be a doctor.
I hated blood.
I hated seeing people hurt.
I dreaded hospitals.
The realization was uncomfortable because it felt like I was letting people down. For years I had been pursuing a future that wasn't actually mine.
One Decision Made
Graduated high school.
For the first time, I knew exactly what I didn't want to become.
Unfortunately, I still had no clue what I wanted to become.
First Job
Data Entry Clerk at Doctors with Africa CUAMM.
The pay wasn't great.
The excitement was.
I remember feeling unbelievably proud simply because someone trusted me enough to pay me for work.
Twenty Years Old and Lost
I turned 20.
No dream career.
No vision.
No roadmap.
Just uncertainty.
People don't talk enough about how terrifying it is watching others move confidently through life while you're standing still wondering what you're supposed to do.
Leaving Uganda
Applied to Zhejiang University of Technology.
Officially I wanted a fresh academic opportunity.
Truthfully, I needed a new environment.
I had become my own biggest distraction.
Landing in China
Arrived in Hangzhou.
New country.
New language.
New culture.
Everything was unfamiliar.
It was one of the scariest and best decisions I've ever made.
Finally Finding Direction
Started my Bachelor's degree.
For the first time, I felt ownership over my future.
I built meaningful friendships.
Got closer to God.
And discovered something important:
I loved building things that people found useful.
That feeling became addictive.
COVID
COVID arrived.
There is a version of my life that never happened because of COVID.
Friends I never met.
Experiences I never had.
Opportunities that disappeared overnight.
I still wonder sometimes.
Yet somehow, being trapped indoors became the period where I worked harder than I ever had before.
Outstanding International Graduate
Received Outstanding International Graduate Award.
The first major sign that my effort was producing results.
Bronze
Bronze Award at the Internet Plus Competition.
Not first place.
Still proud.
Silver
Returned and improved from Bronze to Silver.
Progress rarely looks dramatic from the inside.
Discovering AI
Took an AI course.
Honestly?
I thought the course was terrible.
So I decided to teach myself.
That decision changed my life more than the course itself ever could.
AI for Fire Detection
Built a low-cost AI fire detection system using a Raspberry Pi.
The project was graded Outstanding.
For the first time, I felt like AI wasn't just interesting.
It could genuinely help people.
Graduation
Graduated top of my class as a Software Engineer.
Outstanding International Student Graduate.
A long journey that started with a kid drawing nonsense in Microsoft Paint.
The Domino
Made my first contribution to Scikit-Learn.
One pull request.
That's it.
Yet this single contribution would eventually lead to Mozilla, Outreachy, graduate school, and opportunities I couldn't even imagine at the time.
Canonical Rejection
Failed my Canonical interview.
My first serious technical rejection.
The sting wasn't the rejection itself.
It was realizing I wasn't as good as I thought I was.
Mozilla Begins
First contribution to Mozilla Bugbug.
At the time it looked like just another pull request.
It ended up becoming one of the most important decisions of my career.
Outreachy Rejection
Rejected from Outreachy.
This one hurt because I genuinely wanted it.
I had already imagined the acceptance email.
Turns out reality had other plans.
Google Rejection
Failed Google's interview process at Stage 3.
This one hurt differently.
Not because I got destroyed.
Because I got close.
Close enough to imagine success.
Close enough to taste it.
Then it disappeared.
Outreachy Acceptance
Accepted into Outreachy as a Mozilla intern.
After months of contributions, learning, and trying again.
Finally.
University of Edinburgh
Rejected.
I still remember reading the email.
Very polite.
Very British.
Very painful.
Imperial College London
Rejected.
Then rejected again.
Two applications.
Two rejections.
Back-to-back.
At that point I genuinely started wondering whether graduate school was going to happen at all.
Lost Again
Outreachy ended.
No job.
No graduate school.
No clear plan.
I had spent months climbing a mountain only to find another one waiting.
One Introduction
My Mozilla mentor introduced me to a professor at the University of Calgary.
One conversation.
One introduction.
One opportunity.
Sometimes careers change because someone decides to believe in you.
Quansight
Failed the Quansight interview.
This remains one of the hardest losses.
I was close.
Really close.
Close enough that I could see the finish line.
And then I fell short.
Those are the failures that stay with you.
DeepMind Scholarship
Rejected.
By this point I was collecting rejection emails like Pokemon cards.
Not the collection I wanted.
University of Calgary
Accepted into the University of Calgary MSc program.
After months of rejection after rejection after rejection.
One acceptance changed everything.
Canada
Moved to Canada and started my Master's degree.
New country.
New chapter.
Back to being the new guy again.
Health Transformation
Committed to the gym.
Not for a challenge.
Not for a summer.
For life.
The biggest lesson wasn't fitness.
It was learning how much easier goals become when you build systems around them.
Moraine Lake
First hike at Moraine Lake.
Honestly?
One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
Photos don't do it justice.
First Research Paper
Published my first paper in IEEE Software.
Seeing my name on a publication felt surreal.
Years earlier I didn't even know what research was.
Going Home
Returned home to Uganda.
For the first time, I could comfortably pay for the entire trip myself.
Seeing family and friends again reminded me that no achievement replaces the people who knew you before any of it happened.
East or West, home really is best.
Arsenal
After supporting Arsenal for nearly twenty years, they finally won the Premier League.
People will say it's just football.
They're wrong.
Loyalty matters.
Hope matters.
Believing matters.
One of the happiest days of my life.
You Are Here
Master's student. Researcher. Open source contributor. AI engineer.
Still learning.
Still building.
Still failing sometimes.
The story isn't finished yet.