This weblog is by Noor Zafar, a Cybersecurity Cadet Threat Advisory Analyst at Deloitte in Australia and a former member of Cisco’s FIFA Girls’s World Cup all-female Dream Staff. We’re excited to have Noor be part of us as we go backstage with the Cisco Dream Staff on our subsequent Girls Rock-IT occasion on February 29, 2024. 

Noor holds a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) from the College of Wollongong (UOW) and a Diploma of Mechanical Engineering from TAFE NSW in Wollongong in Australia. She is at the moment within the UOW / Deloitte Cyber Academy traineeship and finding out her Bachelor of Pc Science (cybersecurity) and Diploma of Info Expertise (IT). Her multidisciplinary examine in numerous fields in Mechanical, IT and cybersecurity has led to a robust ardour for synthetic intelligence (AI).  

The Girls Rock-IT Program addresses the gender hole in STEM-related topics. Established in 2014, this system has reached an viewers of over 2 million individuals, that includes 156 feminine audio system, 91 reside TV broadcasts and 78 blogs. Consequently, greater than 974,000 individuals have enrolled in expertise programs.

There are two ideas in life that I’ve learnt; if one door closes, one other door opens, and every part is said and interconnected in a roundabout way or kind. No information can ever be wasted it—it might probably all the time be utilised—whether or not or not it’s imaginative, inventive options to actual world issues, or just the curious machinations of our thoughts’s personal creativeness. 

Nonetheless, by no means in my wildest desires would I ever have imagined that I’d be a part of serving to to seize and broadcast an iconic occasion in ladies’s Australian sporting historical past the world over. That is my story. 

Internal workings of a inventive little one’s thoughts

As a baby I used to be fascinated with the interior workings of a pc, robotics and expertise basically. In reality, one of my earliest recollections helps my father constructing and fixing computer systems in our dwelling storage. Tinkering with computer systems is a ardour that I appear to have inherited and have since constructed upon. As a baby I rapidly gained information and expertise to hassle–shoot working methods from outdated manuals that had been the scale of phone directories! And for these of you who don’t know what they’re, they’re big! As an grownup, I now look again and realise that my childhood obsession and curiosity in expertise was a a part of my undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Dysfunction trait that might kind a key a part of my identification later in life. 

Upheavals of migration 

My dad and mom migrated from Pakistan, upheaving their complete lives simply to coach their daughter. My mom gave me a robust sense of conviction and the muse to pursue exhausting challenges and set targets. As a lady, she embedded a robust perception in me to pursue training, to be unbiased and most significantly, to lead a life in purposeful service, leaving a very good legacy for future generations. My dad and mom needed me to pursue drugs, which I directed my research in the direction of. However I had no concept that in the future I’d return to my unique dream and fervour of expertise. 

Delving into programming

Throughout my teenage years, I delved into programming when my trainer enrolled me into the inaugural Google Python competitors. This concerned creating html and CSS web sites which uncovered me to technical challenges and downside fixing. As college students, we got Lego robotics kits to assemble robots with a small contact censor and a black and white digital camera for the robotic to take a look at targets forward. Our purpose was to code a sensor program so that the robotic may flip and keep away from obstacles. These experiences not solely honed my technical expertise however additional instilled in me a way of curiosity and a love for hands-on problem-solving. The eagerness for robotics naturally led me to develop a really sturdy curiosity in AI. At highschool, I liked science, expertise, engineering and arithmetic (STEM) topics and utilized for a bachelor’s diploma in science at UOW after I completed my last yr. 

Coding, COVID, and cyber profession change 

At UOW, I majored in chemistry and I did a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at TAFE NSW Wollongong. On the time, I solely continued coding and pen-testing programs as a pastime. After graduating, I had a short stint as a chemical engineer which I loved immensely. Nonetheless, after I used to be laid off through the COVID-19 pandemic, I made a decision to return to my outdated job as an early childcare educator and thought of instructing as a profession change.  

I had began doing a Grasp’s in Schooling till in the future an commercial on Reddit caught my eye. The advert promoted a UOW / Deloitte Cyber Academy Program for brand spanking new college leavers and mature age college students, paying them to check a level in pc science at UOW, a Diploma in IT at TAFE NSW and to work at an enormous 4 firm. Such prospects appeared insurmountable, but I utilized for it and after the year-long software course of, I lastly acquired in.  

This system consisted of a two-week bootcamp earlier than coursework commenced. I accomplished the Fundamentals of Networking [Networking Essentials] course by means of Cisco Networking Academy, one of many world’s longest-running and purpose-driven IT skills-to-jobs packages. My trainer, Shan Ansari, nominated me for the Cisco Dream Staff as I used to be capable of decide up networking ideas rapidly, requested plenty of questions, and was very fast to downside resolve the Cisco Packet Tracer lab workouts. He wrote me an exquisite advice letter and I utilized for the Dream Staff; it was a really last-minute software!  

You’re dreaming!

Truthfully, I used to be gobsmacked once I heard that I acquired into the Cisco Dream Staff. My TAFE trainer advised me that I used to be the primary TAFE scholar to make it into the Dream Staff and that could be a extremely coveted expertise to acquire within the IT business. The Dream Staff went to 3 workshops the place we gained hands-on expertise of how you can do cabling and primary troubleshooting. It was the primary time for me to fulfill the all-female Dream Staff which included the all-female Dream Staff which included six ladies from all throughout Australia. The workshops had been very informative as we had been all enrolled into Cisco Networking Academy’s CCNA course, and we bodily learnt how you can do cabling and work with Cisco tools. This was my dream coming true:

I had all the time needed to check and apply my technical information however this was at a complete new degree, at a significant sporting occasion!  

The Dream Staff occasion went over seven days. We had been cut up into two groups to cowl the cabling at each occasion stadiums: Stadium Australia and Homebush Stadium. The Dream Staff shadowed the Swisscom group which was answerable for planning and putting in the IT infrastructure utilizing Cisco tools. We got the schematics of the media tribune space, and we spent our time setting-up the tools to ensure that the media to have dependable high-speed web all through the protection of the FIFA Girls’s World Cup. The Dream Staff additionally arrange wi-fi entry factors close to the world of play. On the day of the opening match of France vs Jamaica, the Dream Staff gathered with the Swisscom group to troubleshoot the match in real-time. Seeing how a significant occasion is put collectively behind the scenes, from the infrastructure and planning and sheer scale of individuals working, was a life-changing expertise for me. Thankfully, the opening match protection went easily with none points and it was a unbelievable studying alternative.  

Cisco recognition

The sensation of contributing to such a monumental occasion introduced a wave of feelings over me. The camaraderie among the many Dream Staff members and the popularity from Cisco executives made me realise the quite a few alternatives and pathways for ladies in IT.  

Cisco’s all-female Dream Staff acquired protection within the nationwide newspapers, business press, and my native hometown regional newspapers. I even acquired the chance to share my expertise on the ABC Illawarra radio station. This chance has opened-up so many profession pathways and recognition that I’m actually grateful for. My recommendation to anyone beginning in IT is to grab the chance to upskill and retrain. IT is a pathway for ladies that may present extra choices and larger flexibility than many others, and all of your information that you just acquire all through your profession will be utilised to unravel essentially the most distinctive issues and create modern options. At all times be curious, be resilient underneath the face of challenges and all the time have a inventive aptitude in your work.  

I hope this story serves as an inspiration for these navigating the tech panorama. As I mirror by myself path, it’s heartening to know that the abilities I developed in my childhood performed an important function in my more moderen success. The FIFA Girls’s World Cup made Australian TV historical past. The Cisco Dream Staff journey stands as a testomony to the limitless prospects that unfold when childhood passions meet curiosity and resilience.  

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