MyTechStory: Meet Ifeanyi, A Product Manager, Freelance Product Designer, and Customer Support Expert.

My Tech Story

Ifeanyichukwu Mekea

I’m a Product Manager, freelance Product Designer, and Customer Support Expert. I currently work with Kweekatel and More Techies.

• What prompted you to take on this particular role?

I love to build products that cater to business goals and user needs while offering excellent user experience.

• How long have you been working in your job role?

Altogether about 11 – 12 years.

• How did you get your tech role?

I started in customer service where I was used to facing and solving user problems regularly. I started in reactive roles where we tackled problems only when they came up to proactive roles some point after I became a manager, where I needed to be proactive and find solutions to problems before they came up. This shift in mindset activated my interest in how entire products were built in the first place and after some extensive research, I came to find out about Product Management. I took some relevant certification courses to get the required skills and started applying for product roles soon after.

• How does your typical workday in your life play out?

A typical day for me starts with prayers for life… Then I proceed to review my calendar for my daily scheduled tasks which will typically start with reviewing the status of whatever project I am working on. This is important because a typical day will have me joining a couple of meetings with stakeholders, management, and the team.

• What platform do you enjoy using in the course of working and what fascinates you about it?

I can’t say I am fascinated by the tools per se. I use whatever platform and or tool that would help me get the day’s job done. Meetings are mostly on Google Meet or Zoom, depending on what I am doing I go through WhatsApp, Slack, Freshdesk, Jira, Figma, and Google suites.

• What’s that one thing you wished could be taken off your role’s functions? Better put, a major thorn in your flesh…😅

Lol… I love challenges because they help make you better when you overcome them. If there is something that needs to be done, I’ll find a way to do it.

• What do you think would make you perform better at what you do? (You never can tell who’s reading this presently)

A great source of motivation is always a good driver of work performance. A great work environment that promotes growth and development with awesome perks and remuneration is always a good start.

• Who do you look up to as a role model in your role and why?

I look up to a lot of people. Not one person in particular and it’s mainly for their goal-oriented work ethic and massive success.

• Trying not to sound like that troublesome HR… Tell me, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In 5yrs I will be a Product Leader in charge of delivering great products that exceed user and business goals.

• Techies are stereotyped as nonchalant; some even claim to work around the clock and have little time for socializing… How true🤷‍♂️?

I can’t speak for everyone, but minus the nonchalant part, this is true for me only when I am super swamped with work. It’s not that you can’t but you simply prioritize other work-related stuff.

Movies and chill with the boys.

• What do you have to tell More Techies?

Keep up the good work helping talents transition seamlessly to tech.

• What golden secret can you tell someone trying to get into a similar role as yours to help them succeed?

Learn as much as you can as fast as you can and be willing to do the hard work in the beginning.

• Do you have any happening in the course of your journey that could get someone inspired?💪🏽🚀

If anything, it will be my first design gig. Got it only 2months into my learning. I was scared I wouldn’t deliver exactly because it was my first time and the client had expectations and a deadline.

Turned out well, and also gave me the morale boost to go on to apply for more design gigs and more importantly double my rate😅. The more confident you are in your abilities the more you can charge for work. So long as you can deliver.

• Kindly share a link to your most active social platform. You may be the light someone has been waiting to connect with.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifeanyichukwu-mekea-427175ba/

• If you don’t mind, do you have works/products you’ve worked on that you want to showcase?

I can share the latest of my projects which just went live. I designed the product and doubled as an associate PM – https://simxchanger.net/

• Before I leave you😊, what’s that one thing that’s going/working well for you ✅, that you can consider as a rose🌹, ever since you ventured into your field of tech?

I keep on growing and improving with every opportunity I get. I started out in Customer service but now I manage, teach and I design digital products.