We present the story of Neda Jalilvand, a graduate of UITM of Iranian nationality. Ms. Jalilvand currently works at the Krakow headquarters of the Cisco Global Support Center.

I currently work as a customer service engineer. I found this job opportunity on Cisco’s website and applied for it. The recruitment process had several stages: from interviews with HR employees to technical interviews. The interviews were conducted by telephone, online and at the company’s headquarters.

The core of my work is to solve customer problems. The whole process involves helping customers who contact us and trying to find solutions to the problems they report. From a technical point of view, the UITM simulator laboratories helped me prepare well for this job.

From a cultural point of view, we work with people from very diverse backgrounds. In this respect, the Erasmus internship was very useful for me, because I already had the opportunity to work in a very diverse, intercultural environment.

If I had acquired only theoretical knowledge during my studies, it would not have been possible for me to solve the problems of such large computer networks (changes in computer networks are so dynamic that continuous learning is a necessity). Working on simulated networks helped me work on their real counterparts.

My professor told me about the Cisco NetRiders competition. He advised me to take part in it. The reason why I took part in the competition was the opportunity for self-development, testing myself in a stressful situation, and checking my knowledge and how quickly I could use it. I diligently studied all the materials needed for the competition and worked in laboratories. My professor helped me with preparations offered additional hours in laboratories and helped me collect study materials.

I have always been interested in computer networks, which I had the opportunity to learn about during my first-cycle studies and also after completing them. As I was learning and working in this environment, I started reading books about Cisco networking, expanding my interest in networking. I started looking for universities that offer Cisco-related courses and that’s how I found information about the Cisco Academy, located in various places and universities. One of my friends told me about Poland and how cool it is. I also had a Polish friend whom I could ask about this country. I liked what she said. I added all the information I had collected about the field I was interested in and a nice place – that’s how I found myself at WSIiZ, which offered Cisco-related studies.

When I was studying, I didn’t know what would happen after my education ended. I believed in “hard work” and its regularity with the hope that one day I would be one of the best. I believed that such people had a good future ahead of them. I started working hard and WSIiZ gave me the opportunities and resources to implement my plan. For example, when I was preparing to obtain Cisco certifications, I could use the labs as much as I wanted, and the professors were always ready to answer my numerous questions. When I decided that I wanted to complete a foreign internship under the ERASMUS program, I could count on the help of the UITM Career Office to improve my qualifications. Its employees helped me find a good company and helped me through the entire process until the internship was completed. Professors and employees of the University also helped me in looking for a job, and preparing for job interviews and informed me about Polish regulations so that I could learn about my rights.