Meet Kennedy Jombo – AT&T RFS Project Engineer, South Africa
NSC is an organisation of 2,500 people globally. Our teams work at NSC offices and in-house with our clients. Kennedy works on the AT&T account in South Africa, ensuring projects are delivered to the appropriate specification.
Kennedy joined us in 2017, and has quickly established himself as an integral member of the team. His expertise in network design and configuration – and ability to communicate that – proving invaluable.
Hi Kennedy,
You joined NSC in 2017. What brought you to our organisation?
I have always wanted to work for a multinational company which has room for career growth. NSC is a good fit for this description.
How did you find yourself working in the IT industry for a career?
I loved technology, I still do.
The desire to see how things interconnect and work together led me to choose Computer Networking over other IT fields.
What are the most important skills an IT Engineer needs to succeed?
Some of the most important skills are none technical: diligence, perseverance, relentlessness. An IT Engineer should never stop studying and revising concepts, even if they know them.
The Engineer should also be able to see trends of where technology is going, and align their skills as such.
Loving what you do in IT should be on top of the list.
What advice would you give to those starting out as IT Engineers today?
It is about the value you can bring to the organization. So understanding technologies and being able to implement them is very important, on top of other human skills.
Securing networks is now imperative, Engineers of today must possess some security skills.
Innovations like SD-WAN and the cloud are changing the Enterprise Networking landscape; how do you see your job evolving over the next few years?
Most of our work will be automated; some processes already are. It is vital, then, for the IT Engineer of the future to learn Network Programmability skills: Python, Ansible, etc.
An IT Engineer should never stop studying and revising concepts
What tech innovations are you most excited about?
SD-WAN, Software Defined Networking, cloud computing, driver-less cars and smart cities (as part of IoT).
As a Project Engineer, what would you say are the most important aspects for successful client project delivery?
Understanding what the client wants to achieve is key; this enables us to offer them the best solution.
Meeting deadlines and clear communication should always be at the center of delivering projects. It is important to explain to the customer what you will be doing, how you will be doing it, and how that will meet customer expectations.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Work-life balance is on top of the list. My job allows me to move virtually to all continents, meeting people of different backgrounds. The tolerance I get from colleagues makes me comfortable even when facing challenges.
What do you enjoy most about working in Cape Town?
Multi-cultural environment with amazing talent.
And, finally, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love books, so outside of work I do generic reading from different aspects of life. This is also how I learn about upcoming technology and trends.
Thanks Kennedy!
