Once I was in college, doing a Bachelor of Science and IT, I began occupied with including networking, too. Then, I discovered a level program in Australia at Griffith College in Brisbane, Queensland, that allowed me to do all of it. As I started to study networking, that’s once I found Cisco.
Whereas I used to be engaged on my programs, I used to be additionally looking out for alternatives that will give me extra expertise and information within the IT subject. I signed up for electronic mail updates concerning internships, and got here throughout the 4B Internship, a collaboration between Knowledge#3, Girls in Digital (WID), and Cisco. I knew it was a tremendous alternative — a possibility to intern at Cisco!
The experiences all through the internship formed me in lots of methods. Being a lady in IT could be intimidating, and my college courses consisted principally of males. This internship — made up solely of ladies — gave me insights into the trade and the boldness to see that I can do it, too. We have been launched to professionals of all ages and genders, they usually every had a distinct story of how they obtained to the place they’re now. The publicity to actual folks contained in the trade gave me an entire new perspective.
As a double main, I hadn’t set my thoughts on a particular path, however I at all times envisioned working in Science, IT, or each mixed. The internship launched me to roles I hadn’t even thought of earlier than, and I used to be capable of work together with professionals from digital advertising and marketing, authorized counsel, human sources, provide chain, and components of IT that have been unknown to me. An instance of this was Buyer Expertise (CX) inside Cisco, which, after studying extra about, felt like the place I belonged. I found that inside CX, as a consulting engineer, you get to work together with prospects to study and perceive what they want, in addition to go into the technical components of IT — it was good for me.
As my internship was ending, I might really feel that any worry I initially had about working in IT disappeared. I had created a robust, supportive skilled community. It may be really easy to suppose that it’s important to deal with and know every thing your self; nonetheless, this internship really confirmed me the significance of a crew, and I’ll at all times have help and assist. Whereas I could not meet each qualification in a job description, probably the most priceless expertise of this internship was how I considered myself in an IT profession and the way my confidence elevated. It was the very best introduction to working in IT and gave me the boldness to go for it.
When Cisco started posting open positions, I began making use of. I made it to the subsequent rounds of interviews for options engineer and consulting engineer positions in Cisco Norway for the Cisco Buyer Expertise (CX) graduate program. Dwelling in Australia on the time, I needed to do the interviews at night time, however it was price it — the consulting engineer graduate placement was a fantastic match.
Since September, I’ve been a part of the CX graduate program and have loved exploring the totally different focus areas and getting information and expertise from a number of areas at Cisco. We deep-dive into the areas we have to study for our roles, take Cisco certifications, and work in direction of turning into a full-time consulting engineer, which I will probably be by the point you learn this. I actually recognize the crew and my managers. Everybody could be very supportive and there’s a lot to study from them.
What I actually love, although, is what introduced me to Cisco within the first place — the corporate’s world attain. There are solely two of us within the Cisco CX graduate program in Norway, however there are folks throughout Europe in this system engaged on the identical sorts of issues. All of us met in Poland and know we will attain out to 1 one other every time we want help. This world community got here full circle once I went again to Australia, reconnected with somebody from my internship, and labored from the Cisco workplaces whereas I used to be there. As I transfer ahead with my Cisco profession, I’m excited to proceed constructing this world community and see the place the longer term and its world of alternatives will take me.
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