Meet Tiger, a Chinese national who moved to New Zealand seven years ago to be closer to his mum.

Around the time he moved was when Tiger’s interest in IT increased, and he decided to make a career from it. “No one else in my family has worked in the IT industry, but I loved hacker movies,” he explains.“ That was definitely what got me interested to begin with, and then I got into IT activities called Capture the Flag (CTF) and Bug Bounty, where you test security systems to identify vulnerabilities. These can be competition style (some organisations even put up prize money to ensure their defensive security is sound) or just an activity you can do alone to practice your skills.”

In 2020, Tiger began his Bachelor of Information & Communications Technology (BICT) at UCOL Manawatū. Now in his third and final year, he has begun an internship as part of his studies, working as a Security Analyst at Advantage Ltd.

“During my second year of studying, I decided that cybersecurity was the sub-set that I’d prefer to specialise in, so was really fortunate to secure an internship that could focus on cybersecurity with Advantage here in Palmy.”

“During my time at Advantage so far, I’ve been able to assist clients with their defence against cyberattacks by managing, diagnosing, resolving, and investigating the root causes of them.”

“The technical skills that I learnt within the System Administration and Systems Security papers, along with the soft skills I’ve learnt so far on the job, have all been useful to help me respond to real-life situations.”

Working with clients during his internship has also given Tiger a greater understanding of the importance of soft-skills when working in Cybersecurity, such as empathy and resilience. He believes the knowledge he has gained through his degree, combined with his professional experience, has helped him prepare to enter the industry upon graduation. 

“I’m really grateful to the teaching staff at UCOL too. My lecturers have been really supportive, and responsive to questions. I began studying in 2020, so online learning has played a big part in my learning journey thanks to COVID-19. Without the responsiveness of the teachers, this could have been really hard, so I was happy with how they enabled us to keep learning.”

Tiger has the world at his feet, so what’s next for him once he has graduated?

“Well, I’m stoked to have secured full-time employment with Advantage through my internship, so from here, I’ll be working to advance my knowledge in both defensive and offensive security, enabling me to become a specialist in both areas. After that, who knows, I may start my own company eventually!”