Engineer Story: Zipporah Mayik

I was always interested in technology – prior to joining Digital Futures I had extensive experience working in telecoms and electronics. Having worked at Ericsson for 3 ½ years, I looked to expand my knowledge and did a Bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunications, followed by two masters degrees which focused more on the Internet of Things. This really sparked my interest in moving away from hardware and into software. One of the modules on my second master’s was about the cloud and I started to build up some foundational knowledge on Microsoft Azure.

The cloud seemed like a really exciting field to get into, and I knew that once I had gained the right level of experience, I’d be able to branch out and specialise in my interests in the Internet of Things and cybersecurity.

But I needed a foundational knowledge of cloud, I needed to learn how to use different cloud platforms and most importantly, I really needed certifications to kickstart my career. I came across Digital Futures, whose programme seemed like the perfect way to kickstart my career in cloud.

With Digital Futures, I’d be able to learn and develop essential cloud skills and gain amazing and essential AWS certifications free of charge, setting me up for a junior cloud role with one of Digital Future’s clients at the end of my training at the Academy. This would help me relieve the anxiety for looking for jobs with incredible companies that I wouldn’t have applied to otherwise.

Alongside this, I really valued the support that Digital Futures was offering throughout the entire process because I was nervous about entering a completely new field. At the time I was weighing up my options, but when I met Ryan, the Digital Futures Lead Cloud Instructor, joining Digital Futures was an obvious “yes”. I really felt his kindness and his expertise and knew that I would be well supported throughout my time with Digital Futures.

This proved to be true. The Academy is intense, but you learn so much in a short space of time and I was incredibly excited to build on my pre-existing knowledge and begin my journey in AWS. I absolutely loved working and learning alongside my peers – they were a major support system for me and really helped keep me on track because I knew that they were sharing the experience with me. One of my favourite aspects of the Academy was hearing from guest speakers every Friday morning. It really helped open my eyes to the market by learning from experts and understanding more about the career path and the kinds of roles I could go into in my future. I knew that if I just took everything step-by-step, I could achieve my dreams.

Passing the AWS Cloud Practitioner and AWS Solutions Architect Associate exams within the 12-week Academy was monumental for me. It really showed what I am capable of and what I can achieve when I set my mind to it. This really motivated me when it came to securing my client placement. I’m now working as a Release Manager at a multinational telecoms and media company. This is an important job, particularly as the organisation is currently working on a major systems migration and the skills learned in the Academy have set me up really well. I particularly love the day-to-day management of software releases and troubleshooting.