Meet Ghada: Establishing a new career in Australia as a cloud computing engineer

Moving to a new country with a completely different culture on the other side of the world is an enormous undertaking.

This is an experience Ghada Mahmoud knows well after she and her family moved from Egypt to Australia. Despite a degree and experience in telecommunications engineering, cultural challenges and a lack of local connections and experience made it difficult for Ghada to establish herself in the workforce.

Ghada says the opportunity to join Digital Jobs came at exactly the right time.

“I hoped the program would give me the skills I needed to prepare for work in Australia. It was difficult to get into the market here so this was my main goal. I already had the technical skills, but I didn’t have the confidence to start a new career here,” Ghada said.

Ghada studied cloud computing and was able to accommodate study into her busy family life.

"Studying was very flexible. I dedicated two hours per day to study after my kids went to sleep."

Like many participants, Ghada found the support provided by her mentor to be invaluable.

With help from her mentor, Ghada was able to identify and package her skills and experience in preparation for applying and interviewing for the work placement.

“My mentor helped me realise my potential and boosted my confidence in getting back in the market.”

Ghada’s journey to employment was also a great experience for PwC Australia as it provided a non-traditional way to recruit new team members.

Ghada’s PwC Australia team is led by Asanga Lukusooriya. He says Digital Jobs helped him broaden the search for people with the digital skills he needed.

“The skills we require for the future are in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and distributed ledger technologies. Finding those skills in a highly competitive market is a challenging prospect,” Asanga said.

“I think the program shows the potential for re-skilling mid-career professionals. And I think it's a great example where with the right training, placement and support, you can get a more rapid response and benefit from these individuals.”

Ghada loves her job at PwC Australia and found the Digital Jobs experience to be very positive.

“For me the best part about the program was the placement because it gave me the opportunity to leverage my skills, to prove to myself that I can do it.”

“I would have never dreamed of being able to work in a career like this, especially with two young kids. I feel so supported and I’m excited for this next step in my career.”

This story was initially published in 2022.