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Decoding the Success Formula

ESTER KAMATI



Okatope-born Josephina Mikka-Muntuumo is making great strides as a computer science lecturer in the Faculty of Computing and Infor­matics (FCI) at the Namibia Uni­versity of Science and Technology (Nust).

She holds a master's degree in computer science from Nust and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the University of Namibia (Unam). Professionally, she is a certified Oracle trainer.

She has worked on several projects such as child online protection and a Havana crime prevention intervention that won an award at the sixth National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Summit last year.

She is an avid game developer and teaches game development classes on weekends to school learners. She has also received international research scholarships and recognition from renowned bodies such as the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). The dean of her faculty praises her as exceptionally smart and innovative, with a potential to be one of the great tech disruptors in the world.

Over the past nine years, Mikka-Muntuumo has gained experience in the parastatal, public and private sectors.

“I chose this career path because it celebrates problem solving and technology application for solving everyday problems. My first profound exposure to technology was when I opened my first email account in high school.

“This was to address the long turn-around time communications with my pen-pals worlds apart. It was easy, fast and cheap; this fascinated me. I love a good challenge and in high school, I majored in science, stereotypically referred to as a boys' field,” she says.

At FCI, one can sense the excitement of both the staff and students to enhance their ICT skills through research and innovative technology products.

The computing discipline is exciting; in academia, no two days are the same.

“There is always something new to learn and new challenges to tackle; that keeps work exciting for me. There is a euphoric sensation that occurs when challenging code finally runs or a faulty computer finally 'behaves'. It brings me a lot of fulfilment at a personal level and professionally,” she says. Furthermore, Mikka-Muntuumo emphasises that the field is needed in every sphere of a corporate entity because the world is evolving from manual to digital processes.

She encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in computing and science-related inter-disciplinary fields, especially software engineering.

“You will not regret it! It may be intimidating because these fields are male dominated. But you are capable, you are intellectually strong and you are a force to be reckoned with,” she adds.

She advises the youth to take their education very seriously as it is crucial; “but there is more to it, you need skills such as persuasion, negotiation, design, and adaptive thinking. You need to continue educating yourself through books, videos, online courses and real-world experiences. Additionally, there is a lot of indigenous knowledge: talk and learn from your elders in your communities.”