Currently I’m working as an assistant admin at MIT Lincoln Lab on their Division 5 cybersecurity team.
Basically, I’ll be working on vulnerability management and configuration management at the moment. I started a month ago, and I’m picking it up slowly.
They’re slowly integrating me into the position.
How do you feel post-apprenticeship? Noticing similarities between tickets and your role?
Yes. The tickets helped me a lot.
Like the interview when I started the job and everything, I think without it, it would be a completely different story.
How did you find this role?
After I finished the apprenticeship, I started applying for jobs. I fixed my resume and everything, and I didn’t directly apply to this job. I applied to one that required like five years of experience.
The recruiter called me, and we talked about it. She wanted to know about my background and stuff, even though I didn’t qualify for the job. Then two weeks later, she hit me up and found a junior position for me. She asked if I wanted to apply to it, and I said yes.
After that, I even thought I wasn’t going to get it—because for about six weeks, I didn’t hear anything from her. I was like, I’m probably not going to get this role. But then she hit me back six weeks later, and we talked about the interview, set up the interview with the hiring manager, and stuff.
The interview was an hour, with three team members and the manager. It was very quick, a one-and-done interview. Three days later, they called me with the offer, and I accepted it.
But applying for a job you weren’t qualified for led to this opportunity, right?
That’s great. I think for other students and other people transitioning into tech to hear that it’s always a good idea to shoot your shot especially if it looks like a role that could be of interest to you.
You were also really active on LinkedIn throughout your program. How do you think that helped with your job search?
I didn’t get a lot of results from that, but still, I had some recruiters reach out to me about some positions.
I didn’t end up getting any of those, but it was really helpful at least connecting with people and networking. It was really helpful in that part.
How did you feel going through the program and getting into your apprenticeship?
Going through the program, since I was in the military, they gave us time off. Like the last six months of your contract, you get time to do whatever you want, if you want to work on a program or do something else to help you transition to the civilian world.
That’s when I chose Yellow Tail Tech because I wanted to be in GovTech, and I had the time for myself to study and everything. It wasn’t that hard for me.
When I had like two years left on my contract, I decided I didn’t want to do 20 years in the military or even sign a new contract with them.
I was like, I need to figure out something. Then I came across GovTech with Simone B, and later on, I watched her interview with Jubee. Then I was like, I think that is a great fit for me. And then I decided to join Yellow Tail Tech.
Did you already complete your Security+ exam before you accepted this role?
Yes, during the program. The first two months, since I had more time for myself, I was studying for the Security+. I got that done in the first two months, then continued with the rest of the program.
Did you have any bumps in the road or challenges you had to face?
The apprenticeship.
You don’t know how enterprise works, you’re trying to figure out everything how to document tickets, how to solve problems, how to do things.
Especially Linux, because getting the Red Hat certification is one thing, but the apprenticeship is another thing too.
The apprenticeship was very challenging, but it was worth it in the end. It helped me build stories that I can talk about in my interview. It’s worth it.
How did you push through the apprenticeship? How did you keep the momentum?
Just doing my research and asking some friends who were in the program too, which helped me.
Kind of leaning on the Yellow Tail Tech community.
Thinking about new students that are coming in, what is one piece of advice you would give them?
Be mentally ready because it’s going to be challenging throughout this process.
Be willing to sacrifice time for this, because in the end, it’s going to be worth it for sure.
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