My first 8 months in Canberra

Upon arriving in Canberra, the first thing that I noticed was the traffic, after years of enjoying driving on rural Australian roads this was something to get used to. I freaked out a little bit at first with the number of cars on the road, but I adapted.

The second thing I noticed was the heat; I arrived during a summer heat wave. When I arrived on campus at my new university (University of Canberra) I had to unpack my wagon and carry all my belongings up to the fifth floor of my student accommodation. This was a struggle during the heat wave, but I adapted and purchased an air purifier and some beer to keep myself cool.

The university decided to kick off its “O Week” festivals, I would hear the parties and students drinking and having a good time from the window of my student accommodation, I appreciated that this university has a culture that allows students to let of steam.

During “O Week”, the university arranged for a tour of Canberra, I got to visit a plantation, the old Canberra parliament house, the new Canberra parliament house and the Australian war memorial. The Australian war memorial was very cool, good to learn about history, the old parliament house was also very cool. The university also arranged for a trip to the war memorial for the Anzac Day service, I appreciated this. I have attended the Anzac Day service mostly in rural Australia, attending this service in Canberra was something that I will remember.

My first semester kept me busy, I enrolled in the units “introduction to information technology”, “introduction to network engineering” and "technology engineering and management”. I found these units to be very practical, these units were technical in nature and introduced me to business concepts, because apparently companies like technicians and engineers with business skills. I really enjoyed the guest speakers, such as the older engineers. I passed all my units and received one distinction and two high distinctions.

Then the winter break came, I ran out of things to do so I mostly focused on going to the university gym, watching the kangaroos, applying for jobs and starting on my Brainyap project. I wanted to create a social networking website for university students and associates that was more ethically sustainable then the social network websites of today. I learned a great deal of how to secure a web application. Things were going good, but then the automated job rejections came, I got so many of them.

This was something new for me, apparently now AI reads your resume before it decides that a human can read it. I assumed, that with my strong educational background combined with a master’s in cyber security I would have tons of interviews lined up, but I only was able to score a few interviews. Furthermore, I was interviewed by non-technical people. I assumed, I would be interviewed by senior technicians and engineers but that was not the case. In my honest opinion, the whole recruitment process needs a major overall. Companies and organizations are missing out of true talent due to ridiculous tests that have nothing to do with the role and using AI systems to scan resumes, back in my day a human would read your resume, not a machine, anyway, rant over.

Semester two has finally started, about time because I was getting bored and I needed something more to do. I enrolled in the units “ICT & engineering research methodology”, “network architecture” and “professional practice in engineering”. I also recently attended my first hackathon and have stated on my first team-based project. I still am going to the gym, I can squat heaver weights now and I am still watching the kangaroos.

Lets see what the next 8 months brings.