The Munster Technological University Faculty of Engineering & Science Awards recognise and celebrate students who have shown academic excellence throughout the year. For the first time this year, Cyber Skills had a category, honouring three students who excelled in their chosen pathway.

Chloe shares her experience of studying Secure Network Operations with Cyber Skills and the value the pathway has provided her.

“I graduated in 2020 in BEng Computer Science from Queens University Belfast and started remotely in Dell Technologies as a Cybersecurity Analyst in Infrastructure Management in May 2021.

In June 2022, I made the change over to the Network Security team, and I am now working in Policy Hygiene which focuses on firewall clean-up and automation.

I was made aware of this opportunity through my leadership within Dell Technologies, who have always prioritised the continual development of its staff and was generous to sponsor myself and several colleagues to undertake the Cyber Skills pathway of our choice. I was particularly excited to study a Cyber Skills pathway.

Not only is it developed in collaboration with industry partners such as Dell Technologies and Mastercard, but it was also provided by Munster Technological University, which made it stand out to me compared to other possible courses/certifications.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a Cyber Skills student; the lecturers were very knowledgeable in their field and made a point to make the information as up to date as possible; particularly Dr. O’Mahony who updated us on current threats and attacks as they happened in real-time and how they could possibly be counteracted/prevented. The lab environments were very well developed, and the course content as a whole felt very relevant to my workplace.

I believe I gained valuable skills and knowledge undertaking this pathway, and it has broadened my view of network security as a whole. I am very interested in further Cyber Skills pathways in the future, and I think it will become a worthy qualification to hold”.