Lately, I’ve been chewing on something a colleague said. She advised that my younger brother must study Computer Science, not out of passion, but out of necessity. "That’s the way now," she said. "He has to be in tech. If not, he’ll suffer."
And I get it. I really do. This is Nigeria. Every parent, guardian, older sibling, and friendly neighbor seems to be echoing the same thing: “Go tech or go hungry.”
But it made me pause.
Is this narrowing of career paths happening everywhere else too, or is this just another uniquely Nigerian reality, one more symptom of a broken system, where your dreams must first ask permission from your bank balance?
Because honestly, it’s starting to feel like every other profession is dying a slow, silent death. Especially the science fields. When last did you hear someone proudly say, “I want to be a biochemist” and actually mean it?
What happened to being passionate about finding the cure for malaria? About working in real, functional labs? About solving agricultural issues or developing sustainable energy? It feels like we’ve all collectively sighed and said, “Abeg, just give me something that pays.” And more often than not, that “something” has become tech.
I say this as someone who didn’t just hear the story, I lived it. I studied Chemistry at the university. Finished with my degree. Collected my certificate. And walked straight into the thick fog of what now?
Nobody told me the industry was dry. Nobody said, “You’ll graduate with zero experience beyond titration and maybe one faulty spectrophotometer you saw in 300 level.” Nobody told me that in this country, a Chemistry degree isn’t a door, it’s just a title. And unless you have connections, a master’s degree abroad, or the divine favor of a research grant from the gods, you’re mostly on your own.
I didn’t even get enough exposure to know what I could do with my course. I knew formulas. I memorized reaction mechanisms. But actual lab work? Equipment handling? Industrial experience? Crickets.
I don’t feel like a chemist. I don’t even feel qualified to feel like a chemist.
And that’s what saddens me most, not that I left the field, but that I never got to try it fully before deciding it wasn’t for me. That’s a whole generation of students we’re raising, students who aren’t exploring careers based on passion or potential, but based on survival and scarcity. Who look at their degree certificates with frustration, not pride.
So, I pivoted. I found tech. Not in the traditional coding-hacker way, but in the content-creation-meets-SEO-meets-digital-marketing way. I built a new path through writing and websites and storytelling. I’m grateful. But sometimes, I wonder: what would my life have looked like if I had studied Chemistry in a country that prioritized research? One with working labs, mentorship opportunities, and real industrial attachments? One where career development didn’t feel like a luxury?
Would I have loved Chemistry? Would I have discovered something groundbreaking? Would I have become a proud scientist? I guess I’ll never know.
What I do know is that everybody is now running to tech. And I don’t blame them. It’s one of the few fields that still offers a shot, even if it’s just a sliver. A chance to freelance. To work remotely. To earn in dollars. To climb out of the frustration our economy keeps handing us.
But that shouldn’t be the only way out.
Because this blind migration into tech is not always about love or curiosity or innovation. Sometimes, it’s about fear. Fear of being left behind. Fear of joblessness. Fear that every other dream is too expensive to chase here. And that fear is valid, but it’s also dangerous.
Not everyone wants to code. Not everyone wants to design or analyze or automate. Some people want to teach. To heal. To build machines. To work in the field. To study rocks. But they’re abandoning those dreams because we’ve made it clear: if you don’t do tech, your future might be bleak.
And I hate that for us.
I hate that passion is now seen as a luxury. That curiosity is buried under bills. That people who could’ve been amazing scientists, researchers, conservationists, or doctors are now second-guessing everything because society is screaming, “Go into tech or go hungry.”
We shouldn’t have to choose between dreaming and surviving.
And maybe I don’t have a solution. Maybe I’m just ranting. But I want to name this thing. I want to say it out loud, that something’s off. That our country is bleeding talent into one industry because we’ve killed the others. That some of us didn’t leave our original paths because we were done, we left because we were never given room to begin.
I hope we find our way back. Not just to tech, but to a society where every career has worth, where passion isn’t punished, and where students can dream without fear of hunger.
Until then, we keep building with what we have. And for me, for now, that’s tech.