After successfully completing my A Levels in 2013 I was given the opportunity to kick-start my career as an Apprentice here at Cisco in August 2014, along with 15 other new apprentices. Before starting Cisco, I had taken a year off to try and find a company which would allow me to grow as a person whilst starting my own career… And that’s when the Cisco opportunity popped up! I started Cisco with a keen interest in Project Management and the apprenticeship programme has allowed me to explore this avenue as well as giving me exposure to a big variety of other roles. As part of our apprenticeship we rotate around the business throughout the 3 year scheme which allows us to develop very good knowledge about the business and also network with a large number of people in a variety of different areas within Cisco.
I had very little work experience prior to joining Cisco, so when I started in August 2014, I was put right out of my comfort zone facing new challenges every day and working in unfamiliar environments. However, I wouldn’t say that this was negative. Environments, processes and Cisco jargon became more and more familiar as time passed. Becoming a Cisco employee at the age of 19 has benefited me in so many ways from improving my public speaking skills, learning about technologies I had never heard of, gaining certifications such as CCNA and ITIL, networking with a large number of people every day and also becoming part of a company which is constantly growing and aims to be the best in everything we do. I am currently in my second year of the apprenticeship following the Project Management path from the help of QA whom is our training provider, along with longer placements in Advanced Services, Technical Services and Sales. I am proud to say that working at Cisco for over a year now and successfully completing my first year has definitely taken me out of my shell. Working at Cisco has opened up many opportunities for myself as well as the other Apprentices.
I have also been extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to live in Dubai for 6 years, where I was able to watch the city grow from 2004 up until 2009 before moving back to England to complete my final years of school. I can relate Dubai and Cisco as I feel our goals are very similar to Dubai’s; Dubai wants to be the number one city in the world, and Cisco, well of course we want to be the leader in every market becoming the number one IT company in the world! Living in Dubai allowed me to learn about different cultures and meet loads of people from all around the globe, just like I am now continuing to do at Cisco.
The family culture at Cisco is amazing. Everyone I have met so far has always been more than happy to help me learn about the business and learn about the different roles they do. I am very appreciative for those who take time out of their daily jobs so that I can make the most out of all of my role exposures. Having the chance to network with the amount of people I do is extremely valuable to me. Since 2014 when I started my career here as a “Cross-Functional Apprentice” I have had the opportunity to network with senior leaders who sponsor the apprenticeship scheme as well as hundreds of individuals in many different areas of the business, who are sometimes even on the other side of the world. Most other schemes I know about don’t have the same to offer… After all that said, I believe the thing that makes Cisco such a great place to work is the people!
It feels as if there is a never ending list of opportunities at Cisco and I am glad that I get the chance to experience all of these. We are CISCO!
For more information on how to apply for the apprenticeship scheme click here
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