Meet Clifford Olawaiye, a software engineer at Quantum Dice, whose career journey so far has taken him from a climate science and meteorology degree, to embedded systems engineering in the oil and gas industry, to our technology team here at QD. Driven by his childhood love for robotics, Clifford has always had a thirst for knowledge – a trait that defines his time at Quantum Dice so far, where he is always embracing new learning opportunities.
Discover Clifford’s highlights from working at Quantum Dice since he joined in December 2022, and his advice for budding software engineers.
What did you do before joining Quantum Dice as a software engineer?
I was working as a freelance software engineer for the six months immediately before I joined Quantum Dice. Prior to that, I worked for three years at a company in Nigeria, which was in the oil and gas industry, as an embedded systems engineer. At the time I left I was an embedded systems lead where I was building solutions used in multiple countries to monitor oil and gas.
What motivated you to pursue a career in software engineering, and when did you first become interested in this field?
My path to being a software engineer wasn’t a direct one. As a child, I loved robotics – my childhood dream was to build robots. This motivated me to start learning about programming in school as I thought this could help me achieve that.
After school, I went to university to study for a degree in climate science and meteorology. The course included a lot of computer science – I learnt to programme, code in Python, and to analyse data. I also learnt some physics and how to work with hardware.
I then secured a six-month internship with a robotics company where I focused on embedded systems, and this experience helped me to secure the job as an embedded systems engineer. I developed a strong interest in software and took extra computer science courses on platforms like Coursera, before making the decision to pursue software engineering.
What appealed to you about working for Quantum Dice?
I had been exposed to quantum technology before during my experience working in robotics and it was an area that struck me as very interesting. I wanted a new adventure, and I did not want a conventional software role in a software company. So, when I saw the role at Quantum Dice, I thought it sounded like an exciting opportunity to learn and grow while working in the fast-growing and cutting-edge field of quantum technology.
As a child, I loved robotics - my childhood dream was to build robots. This motivated me to start learning about programming in school..."
How would you describe your experience at Quantum Dice so far?
It has been just as adventurous as I had hoped it would be. I’ve had the chance to learn a lot – for example I’ve learnt about photonics technology which has been incredibly interesting. I’ve also been lucky to work alongside deep domain technology experts in different fields. There’s a real joy in seeing how your own experience fits with the experience and skills of the other members of the team and understanding how all the cogs fit together to create a complete QRNG product.
What has it been like relocating to Oxford from Nigeria
Aside from the changeable weather, living in Oxford has been great! I love to get out of my comfort zone, and I’ve really enjoyed experiencing a new country and city
Can you provide an example of an interesting project you were involved in recently?
We recently ran a work shadowing programme for students aged 16-18 to give them a taste of what it’s like to work at a quantum technology company like QD, and I was fortunate to be one of the QD buddies. In this role I worked with Tom Gardiner, a student with a strong interest in computer science, and he shadowed me for three days. I found this interesting and enjoyed giving him insight into the world of software engineering at QD. I helped him to create some cool programmes to showcase quantum number generation such as some quantum art and a randomised depth first search maze generation algorithm.
What does the next six months at Quantum Dice have in store for you?
There are a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline for the next six months here at QD and I’m looking forward to the development of software solutions around these projects, as well getting the opportunity to work directly with customers as part of our work in the cybersecurity sector. I’m really enjoying learning more about cybersecurity and how we integrate our QRNGs into security systems.
There's a real joy in seeing how your own experience fits with the experience and skills of the other members of the team and understanding how all the cogs fit together to create a complete QRNG product."
Finally, what advice would you give to someone who is interested in a career as a software engineer?
The first piece of advice I would give is to be curious and make sure you have a genuine interest in the field that you’re considering working in.
Once you have this, you should get the necessary pre-requisite knowledge. If you’re interested in software engineering at a quantum company, no one expects you to know everything about quantum technology, but you should have a genuine interest in it and know your computer science fundamentals – an understanding of low-level programming languages like C/C++ would also be valuable. If you can gain a deep knowledge of computer science – including an understanding of mathematics and statistics – then you can apply this to the quantum field.
...no one expects you to know everything about quantum technology, but you should have a genuine interest in it and know your computer science fundamentals..."
