Windows Insider article published on Mar 1, 2021
When Josh Ndemenge enrolled in Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Kenya to pursue electrical and electronics engineering (EEE) five years ago, he wasn’t necessarily interested in the wonders of technology outside of his major. But after seeing his peers building apps and discussing concepts, he said he’d “only heard in sci-fi movies,” he was hooked, igniting his adventure into self-taught programming.
Josh’s natural sense of curiosity is propelling him even further into the world of professional tech before he finishes his undergrad later this year. As a continuous learner and self-taught programmer, he’s a strong believer that every young person should be involved in technology—if not actively involved in building solutions, at least to know how technology is evolving.
“This way as a young person, you will have a say in the way tech is built and used since it’s inevitable that technology is going to continue influencing our lives and livelihoods,” he said. “And the one thing I have learned along the way is that being curious is a fundamental prerequisite when undertaking any form of learning—you end up uncovering more than you thought you could.”
Josh with Pablo Veramendi, the Director of Microsoft’s global Student Developer programs, the Imagine Cup, and Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors.
As a Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador in Nyeri County, Kenya, Josh has organized and participated in several hackathons in the country, seeing the innovations of young developers firsthand. It is his hope that these simple hackathon projects grow into actual solutions that redefine daily operations in the agriculture, healthcare, and biodiversity conservation fields. Conservation is particularly important to Josh—he and his team placed as the first runner-up in the 2020 Imagine Cup Europe, Middle East, and Africa Regional semifinals by creating a solution to “deal with the menace of human-wildlife conflict, illegal wildlife trafficking, and poaching.”
The team built a camera trap called Xoome to precisely detect and classify different wildlife species, wildlife rangers, civilians, and vehicles, so viewers could tell who was entering a specific, protected area and know when an animal was leaving the protected area. In both cases, the technology was set up to send real-time alerts to authorities.
“Participating in the Imagine Cup was an experience like no other. The mentorship and exposure from the competition enabled us to continue working on the product, and along the way, we were able to expand the product, and soon, we will be deploying a few devices,” Josh said.
One of those new devices is Rhions Trail, a wildlife tracking device in the form of a collar that can be put on wild animals-of-interest, such as elephants, lions, and cheetahs. The device is designed not to bother the animal, and the collected data can be accessed and monitored on a custom dashboard. Both Rhions Trail and Xoome are helping establish Rhions Lab, a company that aims to improve human-wildlife conflict at an affordable cost.
Since participating in the Imagine Cup, Josh hasn’t slowed down either. Last year, he worked with a team at Microsoft’s Africa Development Center Game of Learners competition to create a solution called RemD, which focused on providing remote mental health and general physician services, pre-natal and post-natal services, drug delivery, and ambulance requests —and it’s all powered by applications integrated with PowerApps and Office 365. In 2019, he joined the Windows Insider Program at Microsoft Hackathon to work on an app that simulated the experience of accessing Office applications on a mobile device. Most recently, his Imagine Cup team received a grant from Microsoft AI For Earth.
Despite all these achievements in such a short amount of time, Josh said he’s still a learner and has been ever since he started learning computer programming in 2016. When his development journey began, he only had two resources, Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) and the Xamarin University, which have since transformed into Microsoft Learn. By day, Josh worked on his EEE studies. By night, he was learning the basics of Azure Cloud Computing and C# programming as a MVA and Xamarin University student. And that was his lifestyle for the next year.
“It was tough juggling between EEE and computer programming, but looking back now, it was worth the sacrifice,” he said. “To this day I still spend time, up to six hours every week, learning new concepts in computer science, my focus being around Internet of Things and AI.”
Since becoming a Windows Insider in 2017, Josh says the Windows Insider Program has provided him the perfect environment to plan, build, and test applications, as well as successfully deploy desktop apps. “I am also a Windows developer and being able to test out the latest features, I am better prepared for how it affects my apps and how I can leverage them to improve user experience.”
As for other students, Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors, or anyone interested in stepping into the world of computer programming and the Windows Insider Program, Josh encourages them to be curious throughout their journey, like his mentor Lawrence Muthoga, Microsoft Developer Audience Lead, told him when he joined the student ambassadors.
“Ask questions, seek advice where you can and commit to learning something new,” Josh said. “These consistent small efforts will always pay off eventually.”
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