Vincentian software engineer selected by Twitter

By Demion McTair. Updated 7:31 p.m., Thursday, October 21, 2021, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

Vincentian-born software engineer, Janique-ka John has been recognized by global social media giant, Twitter, as a technically skilled developer.

Janique-ka told One News SVG in an interview, Thursday, that she was contacted by Twitter to be one of six inaugural members of Twitter’s Developer Insiders program in light of the work she had been doing with the Twitter Spaces API.

Twitter Developer Insiders are developers that Twitter has identified as community driving, technically skilled developers. Developer Insiders have privileges such as insight into the Twitter roadmap and closer interaction with teams at Twitter.

As of the second quarter of 2021, Twitter had 206 million monetizable daily active users worldwide, according to statistics.com

Janique-ka said she is really excited by the recognition.

“I am really excited. I worked really hard on building out my app using the Spaces API and was able to release the first application to use the API ever in under 24 hours after the endpoints went live. It is a great feeling when hard work is recognized by a company such as Twitter,” she told One News SVG.

When asked by what she thinks the recent recognition by Twitter it means for women and girls in technology, she said:

“I hope that women and girls see a place for themselves in tech and in the industry. It’s still a very male-dominated field, even to this day – but through mentorship community and hard work, anything is possible.”

John, who holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science (Double), and a Master’s in Applied Computer Science has been developing software for a few years.

She has been working in Brussels as a Software Engineer for the past 4 years and is the Founder of the Women in Tech Caribbean Community.

According to her website, Janique-ka founded Women in Tech Caribbean in 2019 after realizing a need for an easy way to share opportunities, job offers, and scholarships with more Caribbean Women in the Tech space.

She subsequently reached out to Co-Founder Sherezz with the idea, and they both launched a campaign to get the group off the ground. The Slack-based group now has over 180 members, and they meet every month to network and get to know each other better.