Oslo

I arrived in Oslo exactly 8 years after my first email to BB. Totally unplanned.

Over the last two weeks, I got to hang with Johan, Tobias, Andrea, Ida, Ømjer, Gunnar, Henrik, Carl-Nicolai, Marianna and Garth. They were kind, welcoming, hilarious, hardworking, excellent, flawed, enterprising, stylish and everything in-between. Princess was also here for a few days!

This story starts from a cold email. A cold email that became an opportunity. An opportunity that ended in disappointment. A disappointment that was a blessing in disguise. And a blessing that just came full circle.

I’m proud of myself for making this trip. It was perfect.

20/8/2015

Hi,

I’m Aikomo Opemipo, a 23 year old Nigerian and I’ll like an opportunity to intern with Bakken & Bæck in January 2016 as a front end developer. I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from OAU last July. My National year of service will be over in November and I’ll like to intern for at least six months before my masters.

I currently work with Delivery Science here in Nigeria (deliveryscience.co) as a front end engineer and I handle the interface and logic for most of our apps. I also run helloworld.ng as a co founder and only designer.

Some Things I’ve built

• Co-founded and designed devcenter.co, an aspiring community for developers in Nigeria.
• Co-founded and designed beta.peerducate.com, code collaboration app
• Designed lostinlagos.com
• Designed grumi.com.ng
• Designed and wrote the backend for an app to make sense of bank account statements in Rails and Angular at cruncher.helloworld.ng. PS: (I’ve attached my old bank sheet that can be used to run this)
• Designed payrollplus.co and wrote most front end code
• Designed and wrote the front end code for fastornot.ng to test internet speeds in Nigeria
• Currently organising and working on open source projects at devcenter-square

Stuff I can do

I’ve been writing code for two years, and can use

• HTML/CSS
• Javascript/Jquery
• Angular JS
• Ruby on Rails
• Visual Design Applications (Sketch, Photoshop)
• Source Control Software (Git)

I’m also actively improving my code readability and visual design.

I’m applying because I want an opportunity to learn and advance outside of my country. I also will benefit from practical exposure to an established design team in deciding what part of design to study for a masters. I’m also willing to learn skills to advance digital design here in Nigeria after my studies.

I hope this is consideration enough. If you need any more information from me, please let me know. I’ll really appreciate the opportunity.

Cheers,
Opemipo.

5/1/2016

I hope the team is well! Happy New Year, man.

I just got my response from the embassy and I was rejected. The reason wasn’t included so I’m trying to sort that now. I’m also considering appealing but regardless I’ll be re-applying as soon as I’m back to Nigeria in April. I’ll keep you up to date frequently.

Thanks.

10/1/2017

Hi Johan,

Happy new year, man! I’ve wanted to send this for a while now but I kept delaying it.

Even if I couldn’t get a visa to come through to intern for Bakken&Baeck last year, I’m super grateful for the opportunity you offered. I went on to join a Nigerian startup paystack.com as the product designer / front end engineer and that’s been great.

I’m still following your company and all of the interesting projects you’re working on. You guys are great. I will apply for a visit visa early this year, and if I do get it this time, I look forward to coming over to say hi.

Once again, happy new year.

14/8/2022

Hi Johan! The last time you heard from me was five years ago — I hope you still remember me.

If not, a quick reminder: I’m Opemipo, from Nigeria. I emailed you in 2015 about interning at Bakken & Bæck. I couldn’t get a visa then, so I ended joining a startup instead.

Since then, a lot has changed. The company I helped found was acquired in 2020, I now lead a team of 19, and I’ve also been making publishing experiments for about two years now.

I’ve never stopped talking about you/BB, and I religiously keep up with Medium posts, new roles, and updates to your website. Still a big fan :)

I’m planning to visit Oslo next year, and I hope to be able to stop by the studio. In fact, I’d love an opportunity to work from your studio for the duration of my stay. I think I’ll learn a lot just being around you and your team.

I’ve been in London a few times over the years and considered visiting the office there, but I’m inexplicably drawn to Oslo. Okay, maybe not inexplicably: it still feels like something I was supposed to do, and I like to finish what I start.

I’d love for us to chat — so I can plan my visit, but also just to catch up.

Please let me know your availability. It’ll be such a pleasure.

Hopefully, talk soon.

20/8/2023

Hi Johan, I’m in Oslo! Arrived today. Let me know when to stop by the office.