Williams Landing father-of-two Zheng Ke spent seven years working as a chef, but decided to change careers so that he could spend more time with his family. He recently finished studying a certificate IV in cyber security at Melbourne Polytechnic. He chats with Alesha Capone.
What do you like about Williams Landing?
I’ve lived here about three or four years. It’s a newly-developed and green environment, with lots of parks for the kids. It’s a good environment and shopping is very close, which I appreciate.
Why did you decide to study cyber security?
I was originally living in New Zealand and had my own restaurant working as a chef, but was finding that I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my family as I’d really like to. So I looked into my options and decided to head back to school in hopes of developing skills that could provide a long-term career. I already had somewhat of an understanding of the technological environment and noticed that everything from microwaves to fridges were now being built to connect with the internet and introduced a new set of possibilities and challenges to how we live our lives. I really think it is the future and that’s inspired me to learn more about it.
How long was your course and what did you enjoy most about it?
The certificate IV in cyber security runs over two years and my favorite part about the course was actually the learning environment at Melbourne Polytechnic. Everyone, especially my classmates, were very welcoming and supportive of each other especially after moving to Australia. I also think learning from my teachers who are already in the industry was really good to gain insight into what’s happening in the industry today. I think it helped me develop some great skills that I look forward to using in the future.
Do you have a dream job that you would like to get in the cyber security field?
For myself, the dream job is to get enough experience then finally can work for world-class security organisations like CISCO, Offensive Security, etc. But I know it takes steps. As I just finished this course, I’d try to find an entry-level cyber security job to add my experience and in the meantime, I could learn more deep and advanced technology for it. I’d really love to work at a place that will make a difference in the community. I have two kids, so I’d love to have a role that ultimately contributes to a future world that they will grow up in. So working in a role at CISCO, Offensive Security would be amazing.
Has COVID-19 caused many major changes to the field of cyber security?
COVID-19 is bad, really bad. It changes people’s daily life, from an individual effect to an organisational basis, it changed everything. Everyone goes online more and more during this hard time because they have nothing can do but stay home. This gives cyber criminals more chances to threaten and manage to commit a crime. It is time to get more resources to prevent and stop those cybercrimes.
