Itzel Ventura

I am a first-generation immigrant who had to learn to navigate the school system and figure it out all by myself. Despite the challenges and many failures, persistence has been the key to achieve all my goals. I always wanted to be a software engineer, but nobody looked like me, so I changed my major to mathematics. I wanted to become the teacher I never had. Unable to qualify for DACA, getting my teaching credentials wasn’t an option anymore. My dad always told me “El saber, es poder” so I kept going to school. Knowledge is something that no one can ever take away from me. I decided to take some computer science classes, went to many networking events, even volunteered at a technology conference, which I couldn’t afford to pay for, to keep myself up to date with the new technology.After all the struggles, I am proud to say I am a software engineer at Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT, networking and cybersecurity.

A platform that pushes you to keep going, que si se puede.