What's your job about?

Datacom is the largest IT services company in New Zealand, with a presence in Australia and other Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and the Philippines. I am part of the Cloud Platform Services team, where we assist businesses and organizations to leverage the cloud. Our projects range from migrating on-premises infrastructure to cloud environments, implementing cloud-native applications, and optimizing cloud resources for cost and performance efficiency.

What's your background?

I was born and raised in the Philippines, where I studied Communication Arts and started my career as a journalist. Eventually, I moved to Singapore and transitioned into a role as an analyst in the financial services industry.

In early 2023, I relocated to New Zealand and discovered the Microsoft Bootcamp, 10KWomen—a fantastic program aimed at upskilling women in cloud technologies. I was thrilled to get in, and after passing the Azure Fundamentals certification, I landed a job at Datacom through the program!

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Absolutely! I come from a non-technical background myself. It can be challenging and requires a lot of study time, but strong communication, time management, and people skills really make a big difference.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

A cool thing about being a cloud engineer is the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology. You get to design scalable solutions, deploy advanced applications. Working on different projects and collaborating with diverse customers adds variety to the work, allowing you to tackle unique challenges and contribute to the success of various organizations across different industries.

What are the limitations of your job?

Be prepared for a lot of context switching. I'm currently juggling multiple projects that each need different skills. One involves remediating an Azure tenancy environment; another involves helping a customer migrate from Oracle Java, and I'm also running Copilot workshops for customers. It can be a bit hectic, but it's all part of the job.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student

1. When you join a company, it's natural to want to dive in and make an impact right away. But don’t stress about ‘proving yourself’. Focus on building up your technical skills so that when the time comes, you’re ready to step up and show you are a reliable team player.
2. You get better with practice, even if it’s messy. It’s better to fail fast and seek feedback. Just like in school, you need feedback to improve. The same goes for the workplace. Learning to fail fast and learn from it early on gives you a huge advantage.
3. Build a network. Connect with colleagues, join professional groups, and attend industry events. Networking can open doors to new opportunities, provide valuable insights, and boost your confidence as you connect with like-minded professionals and expand your knowledge base on the latest trends in the field.