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Cyber Workforce Enablement in action

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What we lack in IT experience we make up for with our leadership, determination and can-do attitude.

- Daren Kraus

Meet Daren

Daren joined the Canadian military in 1989 and spent a decades-long career posted mostly at air bases throughout the prairies and Ontario – and was also deployed to Italy, Afghanistan and Romania. He left active service in 2016, transferring to the Reserves and taking up a Photojournalist position at 17 Wing Public Affairs.

When he left the Reserves in 2020, Daren began planning his next move, commencing a Graphic Communications course at a local college and looking for roles in his former trade. After receiving a yet another rejection letter for a Photojournalist position, Daren saw an email about WithYouWithMe. He was sceptical but decided to check it out anyway.
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Daren's journey

Daren completed his initial assessment but wasn’t ready to commit, instead opting to continue his college course. He did some research on WYWM and found DND was championing the company for training veterans and getting them placed into tech jobs, so he cancelled his upcoming enrolment and focused his studies on WYWM.

He completed the IT prerequisite training then started on the Cyber pipeline before moving on to Linux, Data Analytics, and Service Delivery.

One day a WYWM representative phoned Daren’s wife and offered her an RCMP position. She hadn’t yet completed any of the training, but she had worked in previous tech jobs. That night, Daren also reached out about the position, and following a few interviews, was offered a contract with the RCMP as part of the Cyber Workforce Enablement Program (CWEP).
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Despite completing multiple training programs, Daren wasn’t convinced he was ready to apply for a tech role.
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What we lack in IT experience we make up for with our leadership, determination, and can-do attitude.
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A new path forward

Daren is now an RCMP System Administrator on the Microsoft Power Platform. His position is fully remote meaning he has no commute, is only steps away from work and can do it in his sweats!

“It’s the support and benefits that WYWM provides that is the icing on the cake.”

Daren believes the Cyber Workforce Enablement Program offers a great opportunity for personnel getting out the military. A lot of trades do not transfer well into civilian careers and CWEP provides veterans – and their spouses – with meaningful and sustainable employment.

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