From the oil rigs of Nigeria’s energy sector to the decentralised servers of blockchain infrastructure, Osinachi Ibiam-Uro has forged an unconventional path in technology. Now a Development Operations Engineer at Nethermind, she builds resilient systems that power global applications all while advocating for inclusion, mentoring upcoming talents. In this interview with , the mother of two shares the story of her remarkable journey and the lessons she’s picked up along the way.

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To keep it short, curiosity and a desire for growth, I valued my foundation in engineering, but I was drawn to the pace of innovation in tech, especially cloud. I wanted to understand the technologies I once consumed while working offshore. Open-source communities fascinated me how much impact one could make just by showing up, learning, and contributing.

As a mum of two, I was also motivated by the flexibility and remote-first culture of technology. The transition wasn’t easy. I had to completely re-skill, mostly at night after bedtime, but I saw it as an investment in a more dynamic and future-proof career.

Decentralised systems flip the traditional model. There’s no central server to rely on every node independently validates and syncs data. My job is to automate deployments across distributed nodes while ensuring system integrity, network uptime, and immutability.
Unlike traditional infrastructure, there’s no fallback. Every deployment must be secure, reproducible, and highly resilient. It’s a precision game that demands fault tolerance and a deep respect for open infrastructure. I work heavily with infrastructure-as-code, containerization, and secure configurations all at scale.

At Keepamhere a cloud storage startup, we relied heavily on AWS for its breadth of services and reliability. As we began to serve real users, the needs became clearer, and that informed a pivot in the business model. Scaling successfully meant not just deploying fast but deploying smart. Infrastructure automation and cloud-native practices helped us stay resilient and profitable.

Terraform and Kubernetes are must-haves. Terraform lets me treat infrastructure as code meaning I can provision and manage environments consistently. Kubernetes handles orchestration, scalability, health checks, rollouts… it’s the backbone of resilient systems. Combined with other DevOps tools, they help me ship confidently at scale.

Definitely building a full DevOps pipeline for an in-house AI-powered AuditAgent Application. I containerised the app using Docker, stored the image in JFrog Artifactory, and used GitHub Actions for CI. I provisioned AWS infrastructure with Terraform, handled continuous delivery with ArgoCD, and orchestrated everything using Kubernetes.
Watching it go from concept to production, with real users and high uptime, made all those late-night study sessions worth it.

Beyond engineering, you’ve served as a SysAdmin volunteer for the M4A Foundation and mentor at AltSchool Africa. What drives your community commitment?

I remember how lost I felt at the beginning of my journey. Giving back helps others find clarity faster. Volunteering gave me my first hands-on Linux experience, and I want to give that same spark to others. Mentoring is about offering both practical guidance and emotional support. Tech should be inclusive, and I feel a responsibility to help shape that future.

Start with curiosity. Use what you have. Stay consistent and plug into community. Your background doesn’t need to be perfect — it can even be your unique advantage. Tech rewards grit and growth. The African tech ecosystem has huge potential, and the next generation needs to believe they belong.

(Laughs) The story of how I started learning German is one for another day! But yes, being multilingual and multicultural helps a lot. It makes me adaptable and collaborative, especially in global teams. My AWS training gave me technical credibility, while my background helps me communicate across cultures and time zones which is key in DevOps.

Access to digital skills and infrastructure. I’d love to bridge the tech opportunity gap — especially for underrepresented communities. Imagine scalable, cloud-powered learning hubs that can train thousands. That’s a dream I’m working toward.

Impact, representation, and the transformative power of tech. Every step forward proves it’s possible for me and for others like me. My journey began with a desire for more. Now, it’s about showing others that they can build boldly, no matter where they start.