Hugo Cañedo

Hugo Canedo was a paramedic prior to starting his training at Per Scholas, and he knew he wanted to give tech a chance after feeling burned out in his career. He was also in the Navy and discussed the severity of his time overseas and the difference between that and his time as a paramedic. He realized he didn't want to put himself at risk anymore physically, and knew it was time to make a career change. Hugo started considering if he had any transferable skills to move into tech.

As he researched training options, Hugo found Per Scholas and saw that he needed some experience to take the Systems Administrator course. He spent six months studying CompTIA certifications and network engineering through his G.I. Bill before he was accepted into our training at the end of 2019.

During his training, Hugo mentored his peers, as he had prior workforce experience and felt connected to everyone in his cohort. His class experience was very different from his training and classroom experience in the Navy. Before the end of the course, the pandemic hit, and his training had to go virtual. As a paramedic, he would see firsthand the effects of the pandemic in the city and would comment on how everyone came together to support one another.

"As a group, we held it together as best we could," he recalled. "It was challenging, but nobody ever thought 'what's the point?' because we had all worked so hard to get to this point."

Hugo mentioned that the holistic training of Per Scholas was really helpful to him in starting his career in tech.

"The organization of the training really helped me be solid with interviewing, and I was able to understand what the interviewers were looking for. I appreciate what Per Scholas taught me."

Now, Hugo is a Network Operations Center Engineer and is passionate about infrastructure and cybersecurity. He is also in school right now pursuing his master's in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. After serving in the military, Hugo developed a passion for technology and wants to continue learning in the field.

I feel very fortunate to have had this training. It's so necessary to give folks a chance in a career field they didn't think was an option."