In 2021, Joseph was looking for work in Bay Area tech after being laid off from his service industry role during COVID-19 shutdowns. He enrolled in his first program with JVS, the IT Support training for entry-level tech professionals, where he earned his Google IT Support Specialist Certificate and received an internship with Xantrion. After his internship ended, he received a position at UCSF as a Business Desktop Analyst through Epic Systems, a healthcare software company.

“It felt great knowing that these are important people: doctors, nurses, and caretakers, and they can log in and do their job as smoothly as possible because of the work I’m doing,” Joseph says. “They care about their patients, and it felt comforting knowing that my job was actually very important to their work.”

After his role at UCSF ended, Joseph continued developing his skills in tech, taking courses online to strengthen and broaden his knowledge base. When JVS’s Director of Job Search & Placement, Jim Dowling, called Joseph with the opportunity to join the JVS Cybersecurity Training program in Spring 2024, Joseph jumped at the opportunity.

“I knew that I wanted to be in cybersecurity,” Joseph says. “This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Joseph continued to work for a Managed Service Provider (MSP) while participating in the Cybersecurity Training program. In his role, he enjoys working with different clients and solving a wide range of problems daily.

“Some days we’ll need to replace a firewall. Some days we’ll need to replace a switch. Some days we’ll need to find a missing access point. Every day, it’s just a little different,” Joseph explains. “It’s really nice to be challenged. Being able to accomplish our clients’ goals with so many different varieties of problems, it feels good.”

In addition to building his career, Joseph has used his tech skills to help family and friends with their tech-related problems. That includes his mother, who has taken the cybersecurity lessons that Joseph taught her and shared them with her community at church to improve their communications standards.

“This training isn’t just helping me and my immediate surroundings,” Joseph says. “It’s surprisingly gone further than that.”

After completing the JVS program, Joseph looks forward to adding more skills to his toolkit by pursuing additional tech training in cybersecurity and networking while working with the MSP. He is proud of the steps he has already taken to pursue a career in tech and happy that he is already on the path to build a lasting career.

“JVS has helped change my whole life,” Joseph says. “Before participating in the IT Support program, if you were to tell me then that in four years’ time, I would be applying to cybersecurity jobs, I wouldn’t have thought that it was possible so fast. Everything is moving so well in my life, and it’s affecting my friends and family in such a positive way.”

Joseph’s story first appeared in our 2024 Impact Report. Go to impact2024.jvs.org to read the report and learn more about our work.