Victoria Rouch

IoT Study Opens Doors to a Career in IT for Graduate Victoria

IoT graduate Victoria Rouch says her HNC course gave her the confidence and skills boost she needed to kickstart an exciting new career in IT. She is now working as an Infrastructure Technician at Connells Group.

Victoria studied a HNC in Computing at South Central Institute of Technology over two years, graduating in May 2021.

Towards the end of her studies, she successfully applied for an apprenticeship with Connells, which then led onto a permanent IT support role.

Victoria explains, “Becoming an apprentice and finishing off the HNC course – homework for both – it was a juggling act.”

Victoria, who is originally from Ukraine, describes the HNC course as a “fundamental factor” in getting her current role as a first line analyst, which involves her taking calls and troubleshooting problems users are experiencing with software and machines.

Having previously worked in business administration roles, Victoria says the HNC qualification helped to fast-track her towards a new career in IT.

“I attempted to be self-taught but quickly realised that you do not see the bigger picture as you just learn narrow topics and don’t realise that you’re missing some of the essential areas. But when you go to college, they put the information in order and filter this through gradually from basics to a deeper level.”

Victoria Rouch

She added, “The first year covered very general IT topics and gave a good basis for understanding all the elements of IT but the second year made me want to focus on a career in infrastructure.

“The course gave me a lot of confidence and by the second year I felt I was ready to look for new roles away from my admin roots.”

Victoria is now focusing on further personal development and has set her sights on getting promoted to engineer level with her current employer.

She explains,” I work in first line support but I’m keen to be promoted to the second line and beyond, as my knowledge has grown, and I can now answer more technical questions.”

She adds, “I want to consistently sharpen my technical skills as the IT world is so face paced.” Asked if she would recommend the HNC in Computing to other students, Victoria says, “If you are interested in learning more about infrastructure – such as CMD (Command Prompt), PowerShell, Windows Servers, and Active Directory – it’s a fantastic course.”