As a young boy growing up in Nigeria, Emmanuel EssienEte dreamed of serving in his country’s military. In Akwa Ibom state, where he lived, he loved watching the precise marching as part of ceremonial parades. The pageantry was inspiring. “In my homeland, there’s no room to misbehave,” explains Emmanuel. “We are taught at a young age that you must strive to be your best to beat the odds.”
In 1996, when Emmanuel was still a teenager, his father won the Visa Lottery, and suddenly he and his family moved to Los Angeles. Emmanuel signed up to study at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, but when tuition turned out to be unaffordable, he joined the Navy instead.
Emmanuel thrived in the Armed Forces. “Once you get in the Navy, you can train in whatever you want to do,” he says. “You don’t need experience. You get a lot of varied skills.” He earned a degree in Healthcare Administration and worked his way into several leadership roles. In fact, Emmanuel considers leadership to be his strongest skill. Being a good leader, he says, is about “making others better than you.”
After 24 years of service, Emmanuel was ready for a second career. An honorable discharge in hand, Emmanuel knew he wanted to learn about Information Technology (IT).
He heard about JVS SoCal’s Los Angeles Veterans Technology Training Academy (LAVTTA) in the news and applied, even though he was short of one requirement, JVS SoCal’s facilitators helped him to get the certification he needed before starting the 16-week training program. Everyone in Emmanuel’s class was new to technology. They were taught a lot of IT fundamentals, and even though some concepts were difficult to grasp, Emmanuel found learning something new very exciting.
After earning his Microsoft certification from LAVTTA, Emmanuel interned at JVS SoCal as an IT specialist to get practical experience. “We assisted JVS SoCal in moving one of the offices to a different area,” Emmanuel says. “We had to rebuild the entire network. It was very successful and gratifying to play a role in putting that infrastructure together.”
He had a fantastic mentor and came notes on experience in troubleshooting, setting up email and new user accounts and doing whatever else was needed. This positive attitude landed him a permanent position as an IT manager for JVS SoCal.
If you’re inspired by Emmanuel EssienEte’s story and would like to help someone else achieve their dream, please donate today.
