Tolu E.

Tolu had already built a foundation in IT support, including an apprenticeship as a Digital Support Technician with Go-Centric Limited in Sunderland, before deciding he wanted to specialise in cyber security. He knew he had the aptitude for it, but general support experience alone wasn’t enough to be taken seriously for dedicated cyber security roles. He needed recognised, industry-standard certifications behind him.

• Tolu’s ambitions were in cyber security, specifically detection and response, with an eye on developing ethical hacking and pentesting skills further down the line, but his experience so far was general IT support, not security-focused
• Without vendor certifications employers recognise, his CV wasn’t positioned to compete for cyber security roles directly
• Like most people moving into cyber security, the realistic route in wasn’t a straight leap into a security team. It meant securing an IT role first and building credibility from the inside

Tolu completed Newto Training’s Cyber Security career programme, earning CompTIA Security+ and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900). Alongside the certification training, we worked with him on his CV and job search approach, helping him position his support background and new certifications together for the roles he was applying for.

With his CV rebuilt and certifications in place, Tolu applied for and secured a First Line Service Desk Analyst role at Pets at Home, initially on a 12-month fixed-term contract. He converted this to a permanent position within five months, after a successful three-month probation.

He didn’t stop there. Whilst working as a Service Desk Analyst, Tolu kept studying and went on to pass CompTIA CySA+, building directly on the foundation from his Newto training. That continued investment, combined with the reputation he’d built on the service desk, earned him the opportunity to move into Pets at Home’s Information Security team as a Security Engineer, supporting detection, triage and remediation work day to day.

Tolu now works as a Security Engineer within Pets at Home’s Information Security team, the specialist role he originally set out to reach, built step by step from a service desk role into a genuine cyber security career.