[00:00:01] Because I was so comfortable in education, I said to myself, you know what? Let me actually step out of my comfort zone and do something that I've never done before.
[00:00:09] It is scary that I won't lie. It is very scary to which it can create us. We all can agree that's actually a future. What is the biggest challenge that you faced in this industry? It's me. I feel like a movie. It's full like a new world baby.
[00:00:25] Also guys, welcome to Tech Certified Podcast. On your host, Caleb Oni Certified and this is the podcast where we interview tech creators and tech professionals who inspire us on our journeys in the tech industry. Today we have a great guest who I'm really excited to be speaking to.
[00:00:50] Viola is a cloud engineer at consultant. It was recently made a massive transition and we're going to get into that during this podcast episode. Not only is she a techie, she is also a good friend of mine. Viola, welcome how you doing today.
[00:01:05] Thank you so much. I'm feeling great. I'm happy to be here. That's a good, good, good. So to start off, I'll just ask you to tell us a little bit about yourself given little introduction to the audience watching.
[00:01:19] Okay, cool. So my name is Viola Samia. I am like Caleb said a good friend of Caleb's. I'm professionally right now. I'm a cloud engineer in consultant. But as you mentioned, I transitioned from the education sector.
[00:01:32] I was actually a senior leader and education as an assistant head teacher. On the side, I love content created. Socialising with friends, hosting parties. But also I'm very passionate about getting women in professional industries, particularly women of color. So yeah, that's a bit about me. Wow.
[00:01:48] See, great introduction. We're going to talk about your tech journey. I think it's really, really interesting because obviously like we said Viola and I have close friends. And the story, I don't even know the story. I feel like we had discussions about,
[00:02:07] you know, you had it interest in gaming to take and before this, those who don't know you were working in education. And so from my point of view, I woke up one day and you set me a message saying,
[00:02:23] you got a cloud engineer at contract. Oh, like how when when it just happened? It was so, it was so quick. So I'm really interested to know the story and the walkthrough of how you went from
[00:02:38] one sector to the other and all of a sudden you're in cloud. And there's loads of people out here who are trying to do the same and would be really interested to understand how you transition.
[00:02:49] So yeah, if you could give a brief walkthrough of your journey into cloud. Oh, definitely. Okay. So I actually graduated from university in 2015 and straight out of uni, I went into education. So I styled off as a classroom teacher, worked my way up as a head of
[00:03:07] mass head of computer. Then I was like an associate and then I basically made it to an assistant head teacher, which is like a vice principal in America for example. And I guess for me because
[00:03:18] I was an education for nearly 10 years. I was like, you know what, I need a change. I need something different. I want to move. I don't care how it happens. I just need to get there. But what was so
[00:03:29] interesting around that time? A lot of my friends they were in the tech industry. So you've been one of them, K. And I was just intrigued as to like how do I enter this door? So 2020,
[00:03:40] 23K above that was the year for me. So I went to this event and it was called Black Tech Vests. It's this huge event. There's a whole host of creatives, entrepreneurs, people who basically
[00:03:52] are shining in their field, what particularly people of color. And I think what stood out for me was like, wow, there's this whole community out there that I did not even know of. People who are interested
[00:04:03] in AI in the future of tech who are just killing it in their field. And I feel like for me, I could see myself in this community but I didn't know how to enter. And what I did, I just went crazy.
[00:04:16] So what I signed up to all the possible network events that there are that I could get my flu into. And I just met what crazy. But I think for me, the one that stood out to me, I went to
[00:04:28] this network and event hosted by Microsoft. And we all know Microsoft is a big company. And but it was particularly for women. So the whole event was aimed at women, and it was about
[00:04:40] where do you see yourself in tech? And so those guys there, he did this whole presentation and went through all the different fields. And it was cloud that stood out to me. Now I had never
[00:04:50] had a bug cloud. Only because of you, K. Love, because I remember asking you, I didn't even know what it was. I was like, okay, can you translate it for me please? But one thing he said was, women
[00:05:00] who would be amazing at cloud, but the ones who are collaborators who loved breaking things down, who were interested in processes and wouldn't give up. And I thought, you know what that sounds like
[00:05:11] me? It's a personality. But I think the biggest hurdle for me was I had no tech experience. And I think that's the daunting thing about changing careers. Like, yes I had quote unquote tech roles,
[00:05:24] but I didn't have the experience in a professional setting. And so what I did, I researched companies that would take on people who didn't have tech experts or little to no tech experience,
[00:05:35] which is the company that entered now and who are willing to pay you and train you to basically learn about tech from the bottom up. And that was more of a change in experience. And yeah,
[00:05:46] so that's what's made me today. Yeah, that is amazing. One thing that stands out to me about you, by all that, is the level of networking. That's something that you're amazing at. And it's
[00:06:01] clear to see, you know, with the events you are going to, with the people you are reaching out to, speaking to, that you really found your way through just being brave enough to, just speak to people
[00:06:14] and ask people and investigate the industry by putting yourself out there and speak it. Which is really cool. So yeah, so that's an amazing journey. And I think for me, another thing that stands out is how quickly you went from, you know, it happened very far as
[00:06:34] because that was witnessed in this. Like one month you were teaching and doing your normal role to study, you were working in cloud or getting trained in cloud and being paid. What's your training? Which was amazing. And so one question I wanted to ask you was,
[00:06:52] why, why did you want to change careers? And of course, why attacking the sketch. You got also the first one change careers. I think I didn't want to grow up with regrets. So I wanted to know
[00:07:05] for myself that I've tried this. So even if it crashed, even if it didn't work, like I've done it. So I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to stretch myself because I was so comfortable in education.
[00:07:16] I said to myself, do you know what? Let me actually step out of my comfort zone and do something that I've never done before. If it fails, it fails but if it succeeds, it succeeds. And right now
[00:07:25] it's succeed in, that's something I just did at whatever regret. And your second question in terms of white tech, I think we all can agree. That tech is the future. But I think I was so passionate
[00:07:38] of more women and women of color being in tech. I think it's something that is not necessarily seen as much, especially women in senior leadership positions. Because I was like, okay, if we
[00:07:49] can kill it in the education field, why can't we in tech? Yes, it will be hard on. But for me, working in education, I saw young children who wanted to be scientists, who wanted to be
[00:08:03] computer and what they didn't know how, they didn't know where they didn't know who to talk to. That's something that I want to bridge. I want those children to feel like I can get there and
[00:08:13] also have a willing to help them. So yeah. That's an amazing drive and motivation. And it leads us kind of nicely into our next question. And the next question is, you know, during your time working and training in this tech industry so far, what is the biggest challenge
[00:08:35] that you faced in this industry? Yeah, I think for me, it's new. I feel like a new woman, baby. I feel like someone who is starting off again from someone who's been professional for so many years,
[00:08:51] I feel like I'm definitely starting again. I think my biggest challenge was learning a new language. So a new coding language, some of you have had iPhone and sequel, new infrastructures, such as Terraform, so learning things that I'd never done before and also not given up as well.
[00:09:10] Because it gets hard. Sometimes there's days that are really difficult, but it's knowing that I'm doing this for reasons when I just have to push on. But I think those were my biggest
[00:09:19] challenges so far. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. I think yeah, I think for a lot of people learning to code or learning new technology is super daunting, right? Especially if there's no background.
[00:09:34] There's no, I played around with this in uni. You know, I started a little bit. You're learning when you're learning from scratch and you don't feel like you have any initial understanding of this thing. It can really feel really daunting. So yeah, I relate to that
[00:09:53] to that struggle, to that challenge at yours. And it's great to see how you've put fruit out. Yeah. Yes, not easy. It's not. It's really nice. There you go. It's fun.
[00:10:05] It makes it fun for you. What do you enjoy it? So it reminds me of being a child again. So when we were children, you used to play with Lego bricks or build them, and you'd always want to see
[00:10:16] things work. And sometimes they do work or fall down. And that's what it feels like. Sometimes we'll code them. You work at it. You might get far, but then sometimes it will crash, but then you have to
[00:10:25] do it again. And then once it's done, I'm there with you. You see it, it works. There you go. Simple as cool. Let's move on to the next question. And now we're going to talk about something
[00:10:38] that you like about the tech industry. And there's loads of positives. Obviously, we're also wouldn't be here. And the question is what is the number one thing that you like about the tech industry and working in this industry? Oh, that's you. Lies industry so far.
[00:10:55] I think the biggest thing is the tech industry is versatile. And it's fluid. And what I mean by that is you can start off in cloud. But then you can transition into data. You know, you can start
[00:11:07] up in data and then transition into a more technical world. So I think for me it's knowing that I'm not confined in a box. Like now with this new career, I get to explore a whole different
[00:11:18] industry and see where I'm best fit. And for me specifically, seeing how my skills can transfer into those different industries within tech. So I love that it is not confined to one
[00:11:28] box. It's fluid and we can all work together as well. So I know for example, you can have architects. You know, you can have solution consultants. You're not confined to one area. And not many roles are
[00:11:40] like that. Some roles, what you're doing this, that's it. You're there. You say that. But I feel like in tech, you can transition into whatever field and be all kind of work together. So yeah, that's
[00:11:51] amazing. Like you said in the tech industry, wherever you are, there's so many roles. And when you move on to another role, how do those have transferable skills? I'm in the early stages of my career.
[00:12:04] I've worked in this industry about two, two years in a few months or something like that. And I've already worked in different areas like what in as an operations engineer, I've worked in cloud infrastructure and I've also worked in cloud security.
[00:12:24] And through those three roles, there's loads of things that I've been able to use in all free of them, which is really good. And I know in future a lot of the roles which I'll learn and pick up on
[00:12:35] this, the skills of the previous roles that I'll be using as well, which is great. A lot of people complain about their roles and say yes repetitive, I way cop through the same thing. This is not the case in
[00:12:47] this industry. There's definitely roles that are repetitive. Within the industry, there's a lot of variety like you said. And that is one of the things that can keep you excited about working in this
[00:12:59] industry and keep you working for a long time. And what we're going to add to that is that you will find that every sort of industry requires almost like a cloud consultant or requires
[00:13:16] someone from the tech filter to make their business run. So it doesn't matter whether you're in fine art, it doesn't matter whether you're in media or telecommunications. You're going to need someone
[00:13:25] in tech. I think that's one thing about this industry. Yes, it's a fact. It's the fact. No one can manage without well if we're talking about cloud technology, there's no companies who don't use it.
[00:13:40] There's no individuals who don't use it. There's every one of my life owners using the cloud ever with an android using it. Cloud so we're at a point where when companies and big organizations use
[00:13:53] this technology, they need people to manage it. Many people to create it to manage it to implement it and all this stuff. And that's a big factor as to why being a cloud engineer or working
[00:14:06] cloud is such a great area because cloud is the present in companies cannot manage without us. That's amazing. That's amazing. That's new one. One thing I wanted to ask you was about networking like I mentioned before. I know you know how great you are at networking.
[00:14:30] I've seen it because I saw you at BlackTek first and a few months later you were 12 engineers. It's things like this where I see your profiles and I see online how you
[00:14:46] liars with different people and I feel like a loads of people don't understand the power of networking. But also they don't know how to go about it. One question I wanted to ask you
[00:15:02] was about your method when it comes to networking. What is your method when it comes to networking with other individuals? Right, I love this question. I think for me the biggest thing
[00:15:13] is when you network with someone you have to ask yourself what can I learn from this person? That will take me that one step further. So what can I learn from this person that will take
[00:15:24] me that one step further? So when I meet people I'm always trying to find the best in them that could help me as well. So it's almost like an exchange. So even though I'm going to there
[00:15:34] I'm asking them about their journey or what I can do they also get to pour into me into my own journey. And I think that's one thing that we as humans need to understand,
[00:15:43] that we can't do this alone, that we actually need you to have our two succeeds. And if you are within steps of someone that is where you want to be or you know you can learn from, don't waste
[00:15:54] that opportunity. There's a reason why you're there. There's a reason why they're in the same space as you or within the same reaches you. You need to take hold of that and I think that's my approach
[00:16:04] to network in. It's seen it as an opportunity that I need to get hold of and thinking how can it help me to move that little step further? So that's the kind of behavior. Wow, do you ever
[00:16:16] get nervous like you see this is some guy that you know someone over there said he's the CEO of this one company and I feel like what do I say? What do I say? How do I
[00:16:31] interact with this person? So I used to get nervous. I think the reason why I don't get nervous anymore is because that CTO was once in your position. So they were once you, so no one can move
[00:16:45] like they've always been in that position. They've come from somewhere. So I think it's knowing that that person that you're talking to, you know, how senior they've been on your journey or similar journey to yours. Obviously not worried that journey but they're going to know things that
[00:16:59] you don't know. So why not? Why save yourself? Yeah, save yourself time. So that's what I do. That's a really good point and the worst they can say is I'm busy. Right. I would rather
[00:17:13] than nothing. That's what I'd say. Yeah, now that's a really good point and I'm sure it's going to be really useful for a lot of the people who are looking to network, you know, they want to get
[00:17:27] they want to start network and they want to speak to people but they find it difficult, you know, they find it hard. They get nervous. They don't know what to say or they just don't know how to
[00:17:37] network. So so I really appreciate you sharing that for the people in the audience who are looking to improve their networking skills or their network in general. So moving on, let's talk about
[00:17:52] what advice you would have for some of the audience because I know there's a lot of people who want to switch careers. They're working in a certain area and for whatever reason they're not
[00:18:05] satisfied with that area and they want to switch into tech, whether it's cloud or software or cyber security, whatever the case. They want to move on and work in the tech industry.
[00:18:18] So what advice would you have for someone wanting to switch careers in the same way that you have? Right here. I think my biggest thing is check him so ask yourself, like, why? So always
[00:18:31] find your why. Why is it that you want to do it? Once you've found your why, I think your next step is to research. So research the different industries. Me going into that, that's head
[00:18:41] first for example. Me going to Microsoft, I was able to do my research. Even though I wasn't there with a pen and paper, you know, scribbling down notes, I was watching, I was active. I was asking
[00:18:52] questions. I was like, is it with my friends? What did you think of that? I remember even all came up to you, Kate, I was like, I love this. How do I, like, stand out? How do I get there?
[00:19:04] Whenever you say, you're just going to do it. You just go do it. I was like, yeah, I'm just going to so find your why. Do your research ask people, like, people within my reach have helped me
[00:19:17] so much and I think you do not have to do it alone. Like if you want to make that switch, get people involved in your journey, you can consult, you can give you advice. That would be my
[00:19:29] biggest thing and then just do it. Just go for it. Like don't hold back. It is scary though. I weren't like, it is very scary to which in careers. It is scary because it takes you out of your comfort zone.
[00:19:41] But just go for it. Wow, that's amazing. It takes you out of your comfort zone. Yeah. I think it's a risk a lot of the time when you're leaving what may be comfortable and easy and what you're used to
[00:19:56] and going into a role where you don't know what the future holds. You don't know if this is right you don't know if you're going to do amazing in this industry or you're going for it because
[00:20:06] you think I'm just going to try. I'm going to do it which is amazing. And all the thing I want to say is that we mentioned back to us a lot in this video. I have a video I'm going to take
[00:20:17] first check out. I'm going to link it. So you guys to check that, check it out and definitely going to be there this year as well. It is a really good experience going to that event.
[00:20:30] Shout out my brother Ben Forte. You're inviting me. Put in me on. So yeah. Let's move on. A few questions which I want to ask you. So on this podcast we don't let any guests go without telling
[00:20:50] us one interesting career story, whether it's good or a bad story, whether it's in the tech industry or in your previous roles in other industries. What is one interesting, interesting, good or interesting bad career story that you can share with us? Oh, interesting career story. Okay. I mean
[00:21:12] I can share about something that has moved me. So I'll share quite a one really actually. Not trying on YouTube. So joining this new industry, I felt I actually felt quite nervous. I felt quite scared.
[00:21:28] I started to feel in post-ac syndrome. I started to feel you know where do I go from here? Who's going to hold my hand the way I've held those kids hands during school? And I just felt
[00:21:40] kind of lost and one thing I did was so there's this big cloud platform called AWS and they have this group called AWS Cloud Women. So it's literally the small community for women who are in
[00:21:55] cloud. And what you do, you put yourself out there so you did ask me do I get scared sometimes? I did get scared. I'll put myself out there to basically say I'm this newbie and I need help.
[00:22:05] Like I need someone to show me the ropes. And what they've done which I feel really grateful for is they've actually paired me with someone in Dubai. So she's a woman in the web. AWS in Dubai.
[00:22:18] And yesterday, so she spent time with me yesterday on a virtual call just like this. You know and I was able to just share my fears. I was able to just share like you know feet and
[00:22:28] not sometimes or if I need help or what can I do you know and she like shared with me a CV. She shared with me tips. She shared with me you know her downfall. She shared with me you know the power of being
[00:22:40] a woman and just like what it means to shine and how comfortable she is becoming her own self and how she felt like that before. So I share this to say like sometimes in your career you do feel
[00:22:51] like you know what am I even doing? Like where do I even go from here? But it takes you being honest about that and I think that even just yesterday like at that change as something in me where I feel
[00:23:03] like you know what I can do there, you know even when it gets scary and even when it gets to them Tim I can't do this. So that's my career story. Wow. It's just a bit quite vulnerable with
[00:23:13] you will say yeah. Now really appreciate you sharing vulnerable and we all need help. We all help especially when we're just joining this industry. I had a mentor who goes to the church
[00:23:26] that I go to and he was very helpful in just letting me know how to go about this industry. He I think I was just that church one day at Fellows who watch the channel know that I'm a man at
[00:23:43] faith and you know I tend to church weekly and I had a strong belief in God. And yeah he just came to me one day and was like oh what are you doing? What are you up to? I told him yeah I'm at university
[00:23:57] I'm at undergrad in my second year and then he asked me yeah okay what are you doing outside of university to improve yourself? And then I said I had no answer basically and then he was like so
[00:24:15] what you need to do is we need to start doing some independent learning and he recommended that I go and start looking at the computer A plus which is like you know the foundational
[00:24:29] kind of certification so he recommended a course for me to do and from there I started looking into to cloud which is where he worked. Right. And from there here we are. So having someone who you can
[00:24:43] kind of look to see what they're doing is really really great and I guess like should me sharing content online and stuff like that is a way of even doing that for others you can even see what I'm doing
[00:24:58] and be like oh yeah I just need to do is that you're a little bit there we go. So yeah really having someone to or having even a group of people to give you some sort of guideline is really
[00:25:13] really helpful. That's it. Yeah moving on I wanted to talk about content creation. That's good. I know by earlier you create content online in different ways and whether it's about your life, whether it's about faith, whether it's about fun, whether it's about enjoyment.
[00:25:34] And I know you also want to share about your transition of things of that nature so I wanted to just ask you what inspires you to just check content online and create content and do
[00:25:46] something. I mean it's fun like even being on this platform right now like the new interview me. I love it, I enjoy it. I think we all have a voice, we all have a story to share and that's
[00:25:59] something that I'm passionate about like not holding in the farm like you said not holding in the top tier. It's what being able to just shine and it also encourages other people as
[00:26:09] well to do the same so I feel like even with UK or do your content it inspires me to do content and so we have a few people for content because it gets us out of our comfort zone and it's
[00:26:19] from I think for me it's something that I enjoy but also I think inspires other people as well which is what I love. Amazing, amazing and that leads us into the last thing where you can
[00:26:33] share and plug and promote your platform so everyone wants to get to know you and find you a lot what easily so yeah you can go ahead and do that. Amazing, so I have my Instagram channel which is
[00:26:47] by Ola.samiara I also love doing fun and interactive videos on TikTok with by Ola Samiara and please check out my YouTube channel as well by Ola Samiara and there's some interesting
[00:26:58] things coming along the way but yeah I would love for you to watch that. Amazing, amazing and all of those things would be linked in the description of this video so you can just click it and
[00:27:10] find by Ola there. By Ola thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Dexterified podcast for the audience if there are any other guests who you want to see on
[00:27:24] this podcast comment down below I will do my best to make that happen. Thank you by Ola for joining me. Thank you everyone for watching and see you in the next one. Bye!