Rilebohoa Ngcobo, who is an Applications Development graduate from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), is over the moon with his new job portfolio at an international company.
He shared the news of his permanent appointment as a Solutions Engineer, working remotely, at the esteemed, international Content+Cloud, a leading technology services business and Managed Services Provider (MSP), based in London, United Kingdom.
Ngcobo, a DUT alumnus, is extremely proud of his accomplishment.
“I feel deeply grateful and proud of myself. It has always been a goal of mine to work internationally and build business applications for large corporations. Nothing fulfills me more than to know that something I have built has made someone else’s life simpler,” he explained happily.
After working at a Development Startup as a Software Engineer writing code for eight months, he decided he no longer wanted to write code and that he would like to use a low-code platform created by Microsoft to create mobile applications without writing any code.
“I quit my job, spent several months upskilling myself and writing Microsoft certificates until I felt I was ready to use my acquired skills professionally. In the process of job hunting, I came across Content+Cloud. The job profile had everything I was looking for, I researched Content+Cloud to get a better understanding of what they do. After attending a few of their public seminars I fell in love with the company and then applied for the post. I went through the interview process and was offered a role after a few weeks,” said Ngcobo ecstatically.
Speaking on Content+Cloud, Ngcobo indicated that the company’s goal is to help ambitious organisations and their people to succeed.
“We help our clients transform the way they do business, optimize the way their people work, take advantage of flexible and secure platforms on which to operate. Our clients enjoy technology solutions and user experiences which meet the high expectations of their employees and teams operating in a digitally transformed world. We are called Content+Cloud because we understand the fundamental interaction between content, people and performance,” he said.
Ngcobo conveyed that his new position entails building complex PowerApps and workflows for clients, and the tools used could be different depending on the client’s requirements.
For Ngcobo, his profound interest in technology was sparked at Merebank Secondary School where he took up Information Technology (IT) as a subject in High School, learning coding using Java.
“There was not a specific reason other than the fact that I enjoyed the process of developing applications when I was first introduced to it in High school. The act of submitting commands to a computer and watching it execute them always fascinated me. I decided I would rather spend my life doing something I truly enjoyed. My story is not one of glory and success all the way. In my earlier days, I struggled a bit with IT in High School, but I remained relentless, and put in more work,” he stressed.
After matriculating, he decided to pursue a career in IT and began his journey at the Durban University of Technology (DUT).
During his studies, Ngcobo joined the Microsoft Student Partners programme which changed the trajectory of his career completely.
“The programme exposed me to students who love tech as much as I did, I interacted with the Cloud Advocates and also learned more about The Power Platform,” he said.
Ngcobo added that his community engagement projects also helped shaped his career tremendously.
A big part of Ngcobo’s journey is due to his community engagement ventures and working closely with Fanie Ndlovu, a DUT Master’s degree student in Information and Communications Technology, (ICT) and the brainchild of VarsityGenie, a student leadership platform.
Ndlovu explained further that Ngcobo came to him in early 2020, requesting some form of mentorship.
“I organised a presentation session with the Mangosuthu University of Technology and assigned slots for him to talk and he presented very well. After the MUT visit, I assigned tasks for both Ngcobo and Someleze Diko-a Cloud Advocate (Power Platform) now based at Microsoft, UK), to learn about Microsoft Power Platform and develop a timesheet application for DUT Enactus using Microsoft Power Platform. Their love for Power Platform started there. This year, 2022, Diko and Ngcobo are working for UK companies developing and advocating the Power Platform,” he said proudly.
Ngcobo also stressed that it is therefore becoming important to interact and stay up to date with what students in similar courses are up to.
“The sad reality is that to compete with the rest of the world a university qualification is not always enough to get into a good tech role, you need a bit more to set you apart from everyone else but most importantly you need to have a passion for it. It makes the difficult work more rewarding,” he said.
Going forward, Ngcobo will focus on building his professional portfolio and understanding the corporate world.
“I have found that a traditional qualification combined with other certificates such as those offered by Microsoft adds a lot of value to one’s skills,” he said.
