A Veteran Success Story with Zooey Nguyen

My name is Zooey Nguyen, and I was an Aircraft Maintenance Technician in the US Army.

I grew up in a rural farming area of Vietnam, and life was not easy. So, my parents would often encourage my brother and me to be diligent in our studies. They didn't want us to experience the hardships they went through during the war, which barred their access to education.

When I came to America, I immediately started looking for employment to help my family. I landed a job in the oil industry. After a few years, I decided to transition into the aviation industry--which brought me to the U.S. Army. During my stay in the military, I developed invaluable skills as a mechanic in the aviation field.

I was about to transition out of the army when opportunity came knocking.

I was going over a military briefing and I stumbled upon information about Divergence Academy. Reading about what Divergence does for veterans, I decided to put my name down on the list of people interested in an IT career.

I have always been interested in Information Technology, but I never got the chance to really pursue it. My brothers, cousin, and friends were already in the IT field. Their stories never failed to amaze me.

I didn't have any background or experience in IT.

Even with no base knowledge about the field, I still wanted to pursue my dream. So, I reached out to Divergence, and Beth guided me through which cybersecurity course would best fit me.

The instructors are not exaggerating when they say "learning is like drinking from a firehose." But, if you are really determined to achieve your goals, you should take that firehose and drink as much as you can.