Hanisha Patel

“I always saw my parents work hard but I never envisioned myself working in tech. I suppose this is because the tech industry was male dominated (and still is to an extent) but growing up I was never exposed to women in tech, let alone women of colour in tech. I am so pleased that this has changed now, and there is more emphasis on women and diversity. 

Before joining the AWS Re-start course, I had a great career in CRM Management. My role was to manage CRM systems for businesses, facilitate data integrations from other systems to the CRM, ensure data integrity and security I had the opportunity to work for some incredible institutions and learnt a lot along the way. 

The pandemic helped me look at things with a different perspective and after some planning I took the decision to pursue a career change. For me, this meant quitting my job at the end of 2022, and enrolling into a 12-week AWS course at WAES. This was a big change for me, and I was anxious, but it also felt like the right thing to do for me. My short-term goals were to focus on studying and become AWS Cloud Practitioner certified – then to get a job in tech role ideally using my AWS skills and work my way up.  

Completing the course and passing the exam has given me a boost of confidence and a sense of achievement. Quitting a job to pursue full time study is not easy but was a sacrifice I made to pursue my own goals. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved and the opportunities that lie ahead of me”