Praise Daramola is a 24-year-old lead software engineer at Harmony Venture Labs.
What is your background?
I moved to the U.S. in December 2016 to further my education. I got my first job ever in my sophomore year at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Libraries' then new technology department. My manager at that job introduced me to the startup and entrepreneurship scene, and I became hooked on the idea of building things from start to the first user.
I am currently working with Harmony Venture Labs to build businesses and good software.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
A key turning point in my life/a very proud accomplishment of mine was a summer internship in which I got to with my team to build a product they used every day. The internship was with Fledging, and what we built was an application for processing Solid State Drives. I got to see the value of product ownership and the amount of knowledge and value that can be gained from making decisions on the direction of a product's development.
What is Birmingham doing right to foster innovation?
From my interactions with most people in the entrepreneurship scene in Birmingham, I think one thing they all have in common is a pursuit of making Birmingham a hub for innovation. This translates to an inflow of capital and skills. For example, Landing's and HVL's decisions to establish their headquarters in Birmingham is making a statement that they intend to grow in and with this city.
