Nothing in Ayodele Daini’s background had prepared him for a career in information technology. On the contrary, he’d spent years working in the fields of agronomy and property management. But he’d always been interested in tech, and when he moved to Canada he decided to make that his new career path.
That led him to enrol in the online cybersecurity program from Herzing College. After an intense year of study, he graduated in April 2023 and quickly landed an IT security job with a major Crown corporation.
We spoke to Ayodele to get his thoughts on the training and his overall career journey. Here are the highlights of that conversation.
Q. Can you share a bit about your background? What were you doing before enrolling at Herzing?
Ayodele: I earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy in Nigeria and worked as an agronomist for a few years. Later I got into property management. When I came to Canada, I decided to pursue a career in technology—specifically, cybersecurity. So I looked around for some training.
Q. What made you choose Herzing?
Ayodele: I was actually considering two different schools, but a friend of mine recommended Herzing College.
Q. How was the instructor, course material, and general vibe in class?
Ayodele: About a month in after my first course, I spoke with the instructor Sergio Gonzalez and told him I was going to drop out. I said I thought I’d lost interest. But he encouraged me and told me that he felt I had a passion for this and that I was doing the right thing. He encouraged me to stick around and believed that I would be successful at it. And he was right.
Sergio is really a cool tutor. He was always available to give support when needed.
I had no background in IT coming into this program, but most of my classmates didn’t either. So we were all in the same boat.
Q. Can you describe some of the skills you developed in the program?
Ayodele: I am very familiar now with the fundamentals of security. I am very good with network security and using virtual machines. I also developed skills in forensic auditing.
My tech knowledge has really grown and I can now relate to whatever it is you want to talk about in cybersecurity.
Q. What was the toughest part of the training?
Ayodele: The volume of the work to be done was too much. Every week we had two labs to submit, and we had a test, and sometimes we’d also have a report and a project to do. At times we’d have 900 pages of course material that we had to finish within one month. The workload is very heavy and it drains students. It makes you feel like your head is going to explode at times because you have a lot to take in.
I worked part time while I was taking the course, and it wasn’t easy.
Q. Tell us about your internship. Where did you work and what kind of things did you do?
Ayodele: I did my internship at Avenir IT. They offer IT support to different organizations, helping with deployments and security monitoring and so on. I was involved in deploying machines for staff and configuring the systems for security purposes. I learned how to remotely enter into the system, monitor it from the back end, and secure the network.
Q. How long did it take you to find a job after graduating?
Ayodele: After graduating and after my internship, it took about another two months.
Q. And what are you doing now?
Ayodele: Presently I work in IT security and compliance for Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, or MASC. It’s going well—I’m very comfortable applying the skills I learned at Herzing.
Q. How would you describe your overall Herzing experience?
Ayodele: Overall I want to say that we had very, very good training. It gave me a very solid background in cybersecurity.
Q. What advice would you give someone who is considering this training?
Ayodele: I would tell people to be prepared because there is a lot of work to do. It is very fun, but you need to be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort.
I have already referred several people to Herzing. It’s an excellent program.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CYBERSECURITY PROGRAM
Herzing College’s accelerated cybersecurity program is just 12 months long, including a five-week internship. Training is delivered online and covers essential skills in network monitoring, digital forensics, ethical hacking, and disaster recovery.
Click below to get complete program details and chat live with a knowledgeable admissions advisor. We’re here to help!
