I am X
My full name is Ashiekaa Elijah Aondokator, but I am mostly known as Kator on my socials and some call me X, I adopted it due to my love for Malcom X 😉. Which do you prefer to call me? Elijah or Kator or X? It's your choice. I am a software engineer with a passion for building innovative and user-friendly applications. I am a quick learner and I am always looking for new challenges to take on for there is this dopamine hit and adrenaline rush I get whenever I solve a problem, I mean who doesn't? Oh yeah! I love to feel smart.
Early Life
I was born on 14th July in Kano State, Northern Nigeria, in the early 2000s. I hail from Benue State in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. I’m my father’s 5th child out of 7, and my mother’s 2nd out of 4. I began my primary education in Kano but completed it in Benue State, where I graduated with honors. The same followed in my secondary education, I graduated as the best student in Chemistry, Computer Science, and Economics.
Outside academics, I’ve always had diverse interests. I love listening to music (I’m a full-on audiophile 🎧), going on adventures, rapping(I record myself with a bunch of free instrumentals on YouTube), solving problems, and watching movies in my free time. Music is a constant in my life, I almost always have my headset on. I love country(from the 1940s-1990s), reggae, pop, conscious and gangsta rap, especially from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. No shade, but most new-generation rap doesn’t do it for me; too much mumbling and too little substance. Rap isn’t just about women, drugs, and noise… change the artists you listen to 😎😂
Growing up, I was often told I acted beyond my age. I rarely played with kids my age and naturally gravitated toward older people. Curiosity defined me early on, I asked questions about everything and had an uncontrollable habit of dismantling anything I could get my hands on: radios, toys, phones, VCD players, cassette decks, just name it!! 😂 I just wanted to see what made things work.
My father is an engineer, so maybe curiosity runs in the blood. I developed a strong interest in electronic gadgets early on, and where I grew up, I became the go-to kid whenever someone had issues with their phone, laptop, or even electricity (a serious flex back then 😎). My dad also taught me domestic electrical installation from the age of 8 until I moved out and I also got basic-intermediate sewing skills from my mom. I'm big on DIY.
Tech Background
I’ve always wondered how computers worked and more importantly, how I could make them do what they do too. At age 9, a friend of mine who was already in final-year secondary school (yes, I’ve always kept older friends) introduced me to the internet. He taught me how to search on Google, use Waptrick, and surf the web. That moment unlocked everything. I secretly used my mum’s Nokia C2 to Google answers to every question I had. Google and YouTube made me.
By age 13, I already understood how platforms like Waptrick were built and had discovered programming. I learned QBASIC my first programming language through online searches and a textbook I later found in my dad’s book archive. My parents didn’t allow me to own a phone or laptop at the time. Like many African parents, they wanted me to study medicine and believed gadgets would distract me… and honestly, they weren’t wrong 😅. Still, my interest in computers was obvious. By age 15, I had learned HTML, CSS, and basic Python mostly by borrowing classmates’ phones and jotting down on paper, because touching my parents’ devices would have ended my life prematurely.
After secondary school, I taught in primary and junior secondary schools for about three years. I saved my salary for seven months just to afford a pre-owned phone. Coding seriously on a phone was hard, so I started blogging to save money for a laptop. The blogs didn’t succeed but it introduced me to WordPress, and that changed everything.
I went deep into WordPress: themes, plugins, SEO, security, and even headless WordPress systems. I broke things, fixed things, experimented with core files, and learned by doing. My WordPress security experience is solid, and I wouldn’t call myself an average WordPress developer by any stretch. Eventually, a WordPress gig paid for my first laptop, and by then, I already had strong technical foundations.
Despite my deep passion for tech, I’m currently studying Medical Laboratory Science, and I genuinely love it. My goal is to merge technology with healthcare, with a strong interest in medical AI. And just to be clear, my love for tech has nothing to do with Twitter tech hype in Nigeria. This journey started long before it was trendy.