The spotlight is on Heshima Ahayo Nehemie, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Rwanda.

Rwanda is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has a population of 14 million and its English-speaking capital, Kigali, has been dubbed the ‘Digital Heart of Africa.’ The Kigali Innovation City (KIC), under development, is a smart city that aims to foster economic growth through digital transformation, start-ups, and e-government. Upon completion in 2030, KIC is projected to create over 50,000 jobs, generate approximately $150 million in annual ICT exports, and attract over $300 million in foreign direct investment.

In parallel, the government of Rwanda is building a nationwide digitally skilled workforce through extensive technology education and training. Agencies such as the Rwanda Information Society Authority and the Rwanda Coding Academy have been put in place to ensure that the booming digital economy is backed by sufficient talent.

The Rwanda Coding Academy (RCA) provides technical and vocational training in areas such as software development, embedded systems programming, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. It incorporates Oracle Academy’s curriculum into courses delivered online to computer science students in universities across Rwanda.

Heshima Ahayo Nehemie is completing his final year as a software engineering student at the University of Lay Adventists of Kigali (UNILAK). He joined the RCA program in 2024, taking self-paced Oracle Academy courses to complement the teaching at UNILAK. He accessed the learning materials for Java Fundamentals, Java Foundations, Database Foundations, Applied Database Systems and the Oracle Academy Cloud program.

Thanks to a glowing RCA recommendation based on Heshima’s stellar results, UNILAK, a university grounded in Christian values which strives to help in the development of Rwanda, recently became an Oracle Academy member.

Oracle Academy: What is your goal once you graduate?

Heshima Nehemie: I dream of a career in cloud computing as a cloud architect, cloud engineer, system administrator — maybe even managing a cloud data center. I have a passion for technology, particularly in software development, cloud computing, and database management. The Oracle Academy courses have been real knowledge boosters, and all free of charge!

On top of what I learned, I gained certification. Now I’m working on my final year project before graduating in software engineering.

Oracle Academy: What Oracle certification did you obtain?

Heshima Nehemie: I successfully passed two Oracle Cloud certification exams: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Foundations and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Advanced Concepts. Passing these tests has given me Oracle Certified Associate credentials, validating my understanding of cloud concepts and the ability to apply them using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

In addition, I completed the Application Development Foundations certification, proving my skills in Java and SQL applied to software development. I also have participated in a three-day blockchain bootcamp in Kigali.

Oracle Academy: Congratulations. Which parts of OCI did you find to be most useful?

Heshima Nehemie: There’s so much! With OCI I have immersed myself in compute, networking, storage, configuration, access management and virtualization. I also went deep into Kubernetes, docker, Terraform and orchestration tools — plus the whole area of virtual private networks.

I aspire to be a good cloud engineer, and that requires skills in programming too, so the Oracle Academy database and Java courses have been critical to my development. It all goes together.

Oracle Academy: Have you done any practical apps development at UNILAK?

Heshima Nehemie: Yes. I managed to construct an inventory system, including online purchasing, stock management, registration and reporting. I used this project to test my skills gained from Oracle Academy and various Java-based tools I taught myself. I enjoyed working on it and faced some difficulties, but those challenges helped me increase my logical thinking and problem-solving skills. The experience put into perspective the importance of having hard and soft skills.

Oracle Academy: What were the Java tools you used?

Heshima Nehemie: I used Java and Spring Boot for the backend, JavaFX for the front end, Spring Security with JWT Authentication for security, and IntelliJ IDEA as the integrated development environment. To make database operations run faster and more efficiently, I deployed PL/SQL, which I also learned through Oracle Academy.

Oracle Academy: Brilliant. You appear to be well equipped for the job market…

Heshima Nehemie: I believe so. Here in Rwanda, there are many opportunities. Kigali is being spoken of as the Silicon Valley of our continent. And if Oracle sets up a cloud center in the country, as has been reported, then that’s where I’d love to work! At the same time, I can envisage moving from country to country in East-Central Africa, developing efficient and scalable cloud solutions for businesses and organizations. What I have learned through Oracle Academy, along with my OCI certification, will certainly give me a competitive edge.

In anticipation of getting a full-time job, I have completed a nine-month internship at a company supplying networks in Rwanda. I worked as a junior datacenter operation intern in the department of cloud computing, using platforms that integrate with Oracle such as OpenStack for managing cloud resources and VMware for virtualization in a datacenter.

Oracle Academy: Wishing you all the best. And finally, what are your interests outside of university?

Heshima Nehemie: I am an active member of the church, and I attend nearly all activities, mainly the youth activities. We organize many events including games, theatres, and choir repetitions. On Sundays I have volunteer activities.

Prayer is important to me. I was brought up in a small town in the west of the country, the eldest of six children. My father is a pastor. I have always sung in church and prayed — for my family, my country, for the meaning of life. I am happy because of God all powerful.

Thank you, Heshima Ahayo Nehemie, for your passion for technology and Oracle Academy.