Daniel Cavalheiro says that going back to school in Continuing Education changed the course of his life.
At the time, he was managing a team on the Geek Squad at Best Buy and wanted to expand his knowledge and his horizons in technology.
So he completed the Information Technology Support Specialist program at Champlain Saint-Lambert in 2014, which quickly led to new opportunities.
For one, Cavalheiro was hired on to work at the College as a Content Specialist right after graduation.
He said that when he started the program at Champlain, he was living in Laval and was unsure if the lengthy commute to the South Shore would pay off.
“I started without a lot of expectations,” he said.
It wasn’t long before he felt that his efforts were being recognized.
“I was one of the top of the class because I was able to bring my previous experience,” he said.
Beyond the training itself, he said that the opportunity to make new connections and learn from others in his class proved a valuable experience.
“The level of the trainings at Champlain are so high that really qualified people can still benefit from it,” he said. “They have a lot of industry experience and with that, great questions.”
As a teacher, Cavalheiro said he impressed by the diversity of students pursuing adult education.
“There is no age to start learning. I see people from early 20s to late 50s doing training at Champlain. You can always learn something extra. You have to be studying your whole life,” he said.
After four years working at Champlain, Cavalheiro jumped to Telus where he worked with a team providing tech support for Google.
From there, he was able to snag a competitive spot working for Google in the Kitchener, Ontario office.
“It’s 33 times harder to get in at Google than to get into Harvard because so many people apply,” said Cavalheiro.
He said finding out he had been hired by the tech giant was “a great moment in [his] life.”
Now a Senior Program Manager at Google, Cavalheiro said he’s learned a lot in the last four years.
“I really like the company, how they think about people and how they want to make people grow inside their careers,” he said.
Cavalheiro’s advice for current students and recent grads: “Keep going. The more you know the better. No one ever said that excess of knowledge was a problem. The more prepared you are for everything that comes your way, the better you can recognize and seize opportunities.”
