Introduction

Omar Ahmetasevic, a 19-year-old male from Bosnia & Herzegovina came to Australia to a country to make his dreams become a reality. Currently, Omar is a First Year Bachelor’s degree student of Cyber Security at Deakin University. He has always been interested in the world of technology and intrigued as to how can technology contribute to the world we live in.

Completing 3 out of 4 years of vocational education for a computer technician in Bosnia where he gained a very broad theoretical understanding in computing and electronics, in subjects such as:  Electronics, Information Technology, Microprocessors, Programming, Networks and Automation. Unfortunately, not all subjects had adequate resource allocation to allow practical applications. Upon arriving to Australia, he was so excited to see if he would be able to apply his theoretical knowledge in school which would allow for him to continue his new career path in Cyber Security.

Career Aspirations and Interests

Omar’s career aspiration is to start his own business/company specifically in the Cyber Security industry that would give him great financial benefits, more of his own free time, and as one of the main aspirations is to leave something behind him, in other words , to build a company in his own native country which would help the community and next generations.

By having career aspirations, it has created a goal that would help Omar to work towards to in order to achieve his previously explained aspiration. As wanting to become either Cyber Security Analyst and Specialist or Ethical Hacker and Penetration tester a lot of skills should be pursued to become one of these roles. One of the most important skills that these roles need are having a good analytical, communication, creativity, detail oriented and technical I.T. skills (Doyle, 2019).

Through his Bachelor degree of Cyber Security, core units that are involved in this first semester is preparing him and giving him basic knowledge of what a Cyber Security person should be able to understand for his future in the Cyber world which includes thinking critically, learning basics of penetration testing and theory behind a criminals mind. Also being a part of “Career Success Workshops” will provide him extra information for selected unit, improve his learning skills and prepare him for successful results.

Skills

Work experience at LaTrobe University during the school holidays, has enabled Omar to apply theoretical knowledge from vocational education by partaking in first and second year subjects, projects and activities. In obtaining practical and theoretical experience he had been exposed and gained experience in C-Programming, UNIX, Arduino and SolidWorks. Some of the mentioned experiences helped him to tick some of the skills that are significant for continuing in pursuing his goal.

• 

• 

Apart from technical skills that Omar had to apply during work experience, other skills needed to be present for a more valuable workplace. Teamwork, collaboration through La Trobe projects all included communication which was crucial part for better understanding of what had to be done.

When working in cyber security field, many companies are looking for employees with good communication and problem solving skills. As mentioned before, Omar moved to Australia to apply his theoretical knowledge that he earned in his native country and continue his career in technology world, but as English is his second language he would need more time to improve his communications skills. When it comes to problem solving skills, all the theoretical knowledge that he gained helped him a lot to understand concepts when it comes to technical parts of job.