Rethinking My Career Trajectory | Antony Nyagah's Personal Site

Five years. Same company. Same desk. Same codebase. Same title.

I got comfortable. Really comfortable. And that comfort? It became my cage.

The Three-Month Reality Check

Here’s a fun fact that keeps me up at night: I did a three-month open-source internship that paid me more than I make in an entire year at my current job.

Yeah. Three months versus twelve months. You do the math.

That’s when it hit me, I wasn’t just underpaid. I was fundamentally undervalued. And I’d been accepting it because it was… comfortable.

Invisible in Plain Sight

In five years, I’ve built and maintained the systems this company runs on. I’ve mentored people getting into tech. I completed a competitive open-source internship. I’ve grown from someone shy and unsure into someone who can actually lead.

But you know what? Management still sees the junior they hired five years ago. The code monkey. The person who “just writes code.”

I’ve sat in meetings where leadership asks the new intern, the one who started last month, to update everyone on what’s happening with our systems. While I’m sitting right there. The person who built the damn thing.

That’s not an oversight. That’s a message.

When Loyalty Becomes Exploitation

I used to think loyalty mattered. That if I just kept my head down, did good work, mentored others, kept things running smoothly, eventually, they’d notice.

They didn’t.

Instead, they put me below interns in the hierarchy. Not because of my work, but because their perception of me was frozen in 2020. And perception, I’ve learned the hard way, is almost impossible to change once it’s set.

Here’s the truth: loyalty without recognition is just exploitation with a nicer name.

The AI Wake-Up Call

The landscape is changing fast. AI is making traditional web dev jobs harder to get. I’m watching people younger and less experienced than me build incredible things by leveraging AI effectively.

That stung at first. But it also clarified something: I can either stay stuck in a role where I’m invisible, or I can pivot. Build my own things. Teach others. Get paid what I’m actually worth.

I don’t have unlimited time to waste being undervalued. None of us do.

What I Actually Want

I’m older now. Not ancient, but not fresh out of university either. I want:

To build things that matter
To teach people who actually appreciate it
To feel valued for my work
To make real money that reflects my skills
To grow instead of rotting in place

None of that is happening where I am. And after five years, I’ve finally accepted it never will.

The Decision

This is the year I leave.

Not in a rage (though I’m definitely frustrated). Not burning bridges (tempting as that is). But with clear eyes about what I deserve.

I’m done being:

The person who built your systems but gets overlooked
The one who maintains critical infrastructure but doesn’t get promoted
The guy mentoring people who somehow rank higher than him
Someone making in a year what others make in months

The Path Forward

I don’t have it all figured out, but I have a plan:

Going deep on fundamentals:
Learning Go, Rust, C#, heck even Java, languages that actually pay. Getting serious with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure. Contributing to open source in a real, sustained way, not just drive-by PRs.

Building in public:
Creating projects that solve actual problems. Sharing the journey. Teaching when I can. No more hiding my work.

Targeting remote work:
Look, Kenya underpays almost everyone in tech. A mid-level dev here makes what a junior makes remotely in the US or Europe. That’s not sustainable.

Remote roles are competitive, but they’re where fair compensation lives. So that’s where I’m going. And yeah, I’m ready to put in the work.

Or maybe building my own thing:
No more getting used by corporations that see people as disposable. Maybe the answer isn’t finding a better job—maybe it’s creating value on my own terms entirely.

The formula is simple: learn, build, share, repeat. Until I’m either valuable enough to land the remote opportunities I deserve, or successful enough that I don’t need them.

Not Just Tech

Here’s something I’m realizing: I’ve spent five years making tech my entire world. My only income. My only skill. My whole identity.

With AI advancing the way it is? That’s starting to feel risky.

I watch AI tools get better every day. I see work that used to take weeks now done in hours. The bar for what makes you valuable is rising fast, and I’m not convinced pure coding skills alone will cut it much longer.

So while I’m leveling up technically, I’m also diversifying:

Teaching and creating content—building an audience
Consulting—solving specific problems for specific people
Building products—things people pay for directly
Learning adjacent skills—design, writing, building in public

I’m not abandoning tech. But I’m also not going to be completely dependent on traditional tech employment. That world is changing too fast.

What I’ve Learned

If you’re in a similar spot, here’s what I wish I’d known sooner:

Your loyalty has value. Don’t waste it on people who don’t reciprocate.

Comfort is expensive. It costs you growth, opportunities, self-respect.

You teach people how to treat you. By staying too long somewhere that doesn’t value you, you’re telling them it’s okay.

The market knows your worth better than your manager does. Go find out what you’re actually worth.

Growth requires discomfort. If you’re too comfortable, you’re probably not growing.

Moving Forward

I don’t know exactly what’s next. Maybe I’ll build products. Maybe I’ll consult. Maybe I’ll teach. Maybe all of it.

What I do know: I’m done waiting for someone else to recognize my value. I’m done being comfortable in a place that doesn’t challenge me or pay me fairly.

I’m betting on myself instead.

And honestly? I should have done this three years ago.

If you’re reading this and seeing yourself in it—that’s not a coincidence. We’re all worth more than we’re settling for. The only question is: when are you going to do something about it?