Kwame’s Story: A Taxi Driver’s Journey into Cybersecurity

Tell me a little about you.

My name is Kwame. I am originally from Ghana, but I’m in Germany for years now. I studied philosophy at university, but afterwards, I wanted something practical. So I did another two years of training in finance and I worked in an insurance company.

That must have been difficult. How did you find work?

Then I got a job at a bank, doing mainly data analysis. We were actually doing fraud analysis, even though I did not have any background in that. I was fired, and I was really down because it was a job I really liked, and I definitely didn’t want to be a taxi driver again.

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So, how did you start your career path to tech?

I understood there were educational vouchers available to me, like the Bildungsgutschein, learning is for free if you’re unemployed. I didn’t even believe it, I thought it was a joke, so I spoke with my agent at the Jobcenter. I wanted to first learn German better. I thought that maybe the reason I was fired from my last job  – you are dealing with official documents and I was making grammatical mistakes. 

But at the Jobcenter, my agent said – you know German already . We support people who don’t know German at all, but your German is good enough. And that if I really want to upgrade myself , I should  learn something that would enhance my opportunities in the job market . 

Then  my daughter sent me this information about Masterschool, I was a bit skeptical, because it was online – and well, I was skeptical. Once I started, I understood the seriousness of it. My agent at the Job Center asked me if I really wanted to do something in tech, and I said, well, they have a program where if you’re not sure what you want to do in tech, you can try it and at the end be able to determine what field you want to go into.

What happened after you began the course?

I began the course thinking that I want to learn data analytics. But what I am passionate about, really, is Cybersecurity. To be honest, before Masterschool, I didn’t have any idea about cybersecurity. But that’s what I want to do, and that’s what I’m doing now.

How did you discover your passion for Cybersecurity?

The work that I was doing in the bank was in the credit card department. Fraud analysis, like cybersecurity and data mixed together and I was always fascinated with that. I also started to get an idea of how many internet crimes there are. 

I remember actually, when I was still driving a taxi, I was always talking to my clients in the car, and I would ask them: if I want to get a different job, what should I do? One  client actually told me, “try Cybersecurity: And I laughed, I said, “no, I don’t know anything about that, and I don’t know programming.”

He looked at me and he said, “Oh, I couldn’t program either but now I am the Head of Cyber IT Security at my company. You can do courses, you can make it happen.” And that was always in the back of my mind, from six years ago. And here I am today.

Want to get into tech? Learn more about the Orientation course here.

Why do you think Cybersecurity is the field for you today?

One of the reasons why I chose cybersecurity: to ensure I have a good future.

Whether we like it or not, the future is already in the cyber arena and a lot of security is needed to make our activities online secure, the same way we have traffic rules on the road. Because it’s a relatively new domain, there are more and more new jobs in the field. Before  AI, the people who were hacking needed programming skills. Now with AI, anybody can deploy cyber attacks and the potential crime will increase exponentially.

Tell me about your average day during the Orientation course.

Well  I study late into the night (whereas previously I would just watch YouTube on the couch or whatever). I have a very active social life on the weekends, but my weekdays until now, were very relaxed. 

Now, most of the time I go to sleep around two o’clock and by 7:30am I’m up, I drink my coffee or tea and sit in front of the computer to work. 

Nine o’clock until three o’clock, I will study, and then I’ll do other things. It’s hard for me to take breaks actually, but that’s something I need to change. I only take small breaks because I don’t want to lag behind. If you want something you have to put in whatever you can, to get the most out of it.

Learning online can be difficult. How did you stay motivated throughout the course? 

The instructor, Rein. He was one of the best things about this course. He made sure that nobody was getting left behind. He really helped us all – very patient, very sympathetic, just amazing.

Were there any challenges during the Orientation course that stand out in your mind?

People who have some prior knowledge can make you feel intimidated if you have no knowledge at all. You can really feel insecure when you are grappling with something that’s difficult for you but not everyone else. 

How did you overcome that intimidation?

I understand that some people will know more than I do know, some people will learn faster than I do. But no matter how slow I think I am, someone is slower. Stay focused, learn what you can, just keep learning.

I think about how this is the chance that I have. I didn’t want to finish the program and not know anything by the end. IfI learn even just 50%, I will make sure I learn that 50%. Yeah, I could go to ChatGPT and find the answers, but I want to really understand what I’m doing. I have that desire to make sure that I have something in my hand.

Even though I’m not going into programming exactly, I can look at it and not be scared, I feel like, no, no I know what that is.

What advice would you give to somebody who is about to start the Orientation course?

You just have to be ready to do the work to find things out yourself, even if it’s frustrating. Later on, when you find the answer yourself, it gives you the impetus to keep going. And don’t panic.

What about somebody who is debating whether or not to sign up at Masterschool?

You can never know the sweetness of the pudding until you try it!

Anybody who wants to try something new, or is seeking to enhance his future boldly – if you are unemployed and want to upgrade for better opportunities on the job market, then try this.