Introduce yourself to our listeners and watchers, and tell us your title and your company you’re working for now.
My name is Silas Fongwei. I work for PNM, and the company is Power New Mexico. It’s the company that provides electricity to New Mexico, California, and Texas. And I work as a Senior Software Specialist, specifically with the Linux environment and Splunk.
Did you have any tech background before you came to Yellow Tail Tech?
Yellow Tail Tech gave me the opportunity to believe in myself. I had a little bit of tech background because I was studying by myself, but when I got to Yellow Tail Tech, Yellow Tail Tech set that path for me.
When you get your feet into IT, you’re not grounded. I was pulling everything everywhere. The Yellow Tail Tech actually gave me that opportunity to set a path for myself where I could benefit a lot, and know what I needed to do. It was a plan. They actually set a plan for me. I had to bridge that gap from where I was to where I am right now as a Senior Software Specialist.
When you were going to school at Yellow Tail Tech, were you also working at the same time?
Yes, when I was studying at Yellow Tail Tech, I was working with Investments as a customer rep.
What did you do as far as study plans? Did you have to set up a plan, or was it just whenever you got a few minutes? How did that work out?
When you get to Yellow Tail Tech, they give you the opportunity to set the plan. First of all, they give you an orientation on what you need to do. They instruct you on what you need to do to become successful.
When we started, Jubee told us what the plan is all about, what the program is all about, where they can support you, but what they need from the student is maximum work.
On that first day, I told myself, this is a place to succeed, and to succeed, I need a plan. What I did was I told myself every day, when we have a class, I can’t go to bed without practicing what we did. With the help of our instructor, Judge, he was always there for us. When you came in at midnight, he was always there to respond. Like, he doesn’t sleep.
I was motivated because I saw where I was and where I wanted to go. I knew the only way was to work hard and put in the time to succeed. I told myself every day when I had class, I had at least three hours to study.
The good thing for me was that I work in Mountain Time, and the class was East Coast. I was behind the class because it was two hours ahead of me. Some people didn’t have that time because it was late for them, but for me, it was early.
When I left work, I jumped into my class. It was really great because with the help of the instructors, I was able to draw a program for myself: after class every day, I had to study on my own.
Sounds like being in a remote classroom didn’t provide obstacles or barriers, you still had one-on-one guidance when you needed it?
That’s one thing that made me so proud of Yellow Tail Tech, because even though I was 24 hours away from my colleagues, classmates, and instructors, I didn’t feel the time difference.
I was in class every time. When somebody came up, I would reach out to the Judges. If I didn’t reach out to the Judges, I’d reach out to Santiago. Santiago was happy that we reached out because the only way to succeed is to reach out.
George’s team was awesome. We reached out to them and they were always available.
Tell me about the apprenticeship. What was your number one takeaway?
The apprenticeship is a well-defined program. That’s why I took other apprenticeships. If you stay focused, you will succeed. Look at me now. It’s awesome because from day one, the objectives are sent to you. You need to take it or leave it. That’s how it is. You have a choice.
I discovered that people who come to the apprenticeship are focused because the instructors want us to succeed. Even if you came in without a background in IT, at the end of the apprenticeship, you will succeed. In our class, many people never had any IT background, but we’re in the same field now, succeeding, having good jobs, and sharing knowledge.
When I talk to people with more experience than I have at my company, it feels like I have 10 years’ experience. The internship was intense. It gave me the confidence to express myself and communicate IT language.
With IT, the first thing professionals want to understand is if you speak their language. Yellow Tail Tech provides that technology, not just in Red Hat, but in the whole structure. What I refer to is tech speak, being able to speak the vernacular.
It gives you confidence to defend yourself or set a base for yourself in your job environment as a Senior Software Specialist.
How did those mock interviews help you prepare? Did they give you a sense of what to expect?
After this interview, I had interview after interview. I was confused about which job to accept.
That’s a great problem. I had a job with UltraMain, a software company. I barely made it three months, and PNM came knocking. In three weeks, PNM came knocking. I first had a job with UltraMain, then PNM knocked.
I was in high demand. I told myself I wasn’t going to fail. I stayed with PNM because one thing we look for in a job environment is collaboration, enthusiasm, and how you interact with your boss. At PNM, I saw all of that.
My bosses are people who are also colleagues. It was the same at UltraMain. When I left UltraMain, I told them it was a pleasure working with them, but I needed to make more than I was making there, I needed to go somewhere else.
Do you have any advice for people thinking about a career in IT?
I always said I, my wife, my wife at home, what she is, the way she sees me walking right now, she wants to do the same thing I did. But when I was getting into it, I was telling her these things, is difficult but easy because it’s a family. Now she’s telling me she wants, she wants to get involved.
What I can tell people about, what I did and how I did it, or is that? Yellow Tail Tech is a place for those who have an objective. If I’m an objective and I want to make it big in the future, Yellow Tail Tech is the place to be.
Yellow Tail Tech is a platform. I don’t call it a school, I call it a platform, because why do I call it a platform? Because it sets the path for you to succeed in life.
No matter your status in IT, no matter what you do, whether you’re a nurse, whether you are, a truck driver, whether you are would have done whatever in life as long as you, as someone who is prepared to, sacrifice your time. Put in the work, Yellow Tail Tech is a place for you.
That’s what I tell everybody, and I will say today, tomorrow, and forever, the Yellow Tail Tech is what has made a lot of people today, myself inclusive. Even those who trained me were rated by Yellow Tail Tech.
I’m even planning on coming back to Yellow Tail Tech to do a program. It’s just that I want to understand, and I want to go through this process of orientation right now. Once I understand how my job fits, how I feel in my job, I’m gonna come right back to do another program. That’s my plan right now.
How did your previous employer react when you told them you were leaving early for another job?
They understood because I didn’t wait till I had to do my job at TNM before I left without telling them. I told them ahead of time that I have a job and I’ll have to go to TNM. They were sad, but again, they were happy, even though they had to let me go early because I was just 33 weeks old in the job.
They let me off early, and I waited 2 weeks at home. And got into PNM, and ever since, I’ve been enjoying my job. This is all by the grace of D. No doubt about it.
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