Stuart Adams moved into Cyber Security Technician

IT was always an area that had interested me throughout my career. I’ve never considered myself ‘passionate’ about IT – I just want it to work and make our working lives better – so the traineeship was a way to build up a solid foundation of knowledge that would help me transition away from my previous role as a teacher with a clearly defined skill set ready for industry. The knowledge that I was going to gain a widely recognised qualification was also a draw for me. I’m not sure I would have landed such a great first IT role without the CompTIA A+ certification on my CV.

I enjoyed the feeling that I was learning tangible skills that would be of immediate use in my first IT role. The review questions, tests and live lab environment, where I could make mistakes without fear, all gave me a sense of accomplishment as I progressed. The flexibility to learn at my own pace was also great; it allowed me to balance my learning alongside work and the demands of family life!

My current role is both interesting and challenging: my learning curve has gone through the roof! I’m putting into practice a lot of the theory I learnt whilst training and having lots of ‘Ah-ha!’ moments as hardware I’ve read about and concepts I’ve watched in videos all of a sudden come to life. I’m already using my growing experience and knowledge to solve problems and keep clients data safe. The company is really supportive and I’m deepening my knowledge and experience every day.