ΝΕΑ

06/09/2016

Spotlight: a success story of a network engineer

Are you interested in working in the digital economy, but you are unsure of the possibilities and types of roles that are available, and the skills that you will need to get hired? eSkills for Jobs has come up with a list of success stories of people working with high levels of digital skills. One of them is Xavi Roman Lopez, a network engineer.

Xavi, 26, decided years ago that a job in the ICT sector was for him.  Today he works for Cisco Systems in Krakow as a Network Engineer.  Here he describes how he got into this sector and made a career for himself in technology.

On a day-to-day basis, Xavi says he spends around 70% of his time helping his customers maintain stability in their networks and finding solutions to help them with their businesses.  The remaining part of his job, Xavi calls ‘integration’ where he helps his customers with big strategic projects to integrate new technologies, such as cloud computing, into their systems.  Being customer orientated and problem solving are key skills he says for people who want to be in this line of work.

Xavi finds his job very rewarding and most of all he enjoys “connecting people and helping businesses to be more efficient.”

But what attracted Xavi to this sector all those years ago?  He says he realised early on that he was fascinated with computers and had a passion for them which he could turn into a career.“When I decided I wanted to go for it, I took steps to go down this path” he says.

He advises other people looking to break into this sector to go to university as it “gives a solid basis for learning about all IT” and adds that a good understanding of maths is helpful.  Xavi also participated in Ciscos’s NetAcad programme which he says gave him “a good theoretical grounding as well as more practical experience in the industry.”

However, he also advocates self-learning and points to all the online resources that are available for free.  Xavi says these tools are key not only for people wishing to get into IT but also for those in the industry who need to update their skills.

“It is essential for everyone in the industry to keep up to date with new technologies and to keep learning.  If you are someone who enjoys learning new things and ideas, this industry is constantly evolving and changing so you don’t get bored easily!”