Welcome to Invest Ottawa’s Taking Root segment.
Each month, this reoccurring article will highlight a driven tech or business professional who took advantage of Invest Ottawa’s talent program and successfully landed a role at a star technology company in Canada’s capital city! Through Taking Root, you’ll learn the ins and outs of their new position and hear firsthand what it’s like to relocate to Ottawa.
6 mins | 901 words
By: Brooke Harrison
Vivian Ufodike’s journey into project management was a unique and emotional one.
She describes her path into project management as a fate-driven incident that led to the career of her dreams. From immigrating from her home country of Nigeria to Canada for school, to holding multiple degrees, her resume shows a story of extreme tenacity and drive. Vivian stops at nothing to achieve her goals. All this hard work led her to where she is today, working in Ottawa as a project manager with Irdeto, the world leader in digital platform security.
Read on to learn how Vivian landed her role with Irdeto.
From Nigeria to Canada
I never planned to have a career in project management, however, when I applied for a BS of Science my application got lost. By the time I found out, the Project Management program was the only one left with open spots. Little did I know, this happy accident would lead me to the career of my dreams.
During my program, I landed an internship with Chevron Nigeria Limited, an oil company. As the oil and gas industry in Nigeria is quite large, this was an amazing opportunity. After experiencing project management outside of school, I embraced it with everything I had. I decided to move to Canada for my Masters, and the rest is history! Ultimately, I am so happy I ended up in Ottawa.
Landing the dream job in two weeks with the help of Invest Ottawa’s talent team
I applied to a position on Invest Ottawa’s LinkedIn. It was a project manager position where they needed someone with a finance and IT background. I knew immediately I had the experience to succeed in this role. A few days after applying, a talent sourcer from Invest Ottawa, Steve Carungcong, contacted me by email and booked a virtual meeting. We had a great conversation about my background and experience, and I told him about my goal of finding a full-time permanent position. I think he was really impressed with my drive. Following our call, he introduced me to two companies. I ended up landing an interview with both and was ultimately offered a position with one of them. From the time I met Steve, I landed my dream job within two weeks!
A new professional future in Ottawa
I am really excited to help the team grow and remove roadblocks and bottlenecks to get the priority jobs done! I will be working on projects with SaaS and cloud operations which is perfect as I have a background in those areas. It’s a unique position that I can see myself excelling in. The company has already been amazing and seems to care greatly about its employees.
The position is also 50 per cent remote and 50 per cent on site, which is perfect. I have the time to be at home and focus but I am also able to go into the office and see my colleagues in person. This will help me continuously learn and grow from their expertise. Working in the office allows for those face-to-face conversations where you can teach each other and share unique perspectives.
Planting roots in Ottawa
I moved to Ottawa for my certificate program at Algonquin College and never left! I knew in my mind this is where I wanted to plant my roots, build my career and my family. I’ve had opportunities for other jobs in Manitoba and Saskatoon, but I could never picture leaving Ottawa. I love that it’s the capital city of Canada. Everything happens here. There are so many opportunities. Ottawa is also a tech hub, so it’s competitive, but being around such driven and career-focused people is invigorating. It really motivates me to continue learning and growing in my career.
Ottawa is also a great place to raise a family. Nowhere in Canada compares. The balance of city and green space is amazing. The city has the best schools, diverse people, and beautiful neighbourhoods. I tell all my friends to move here.
Advice for immigrants and job seekers
It is daunting moving to a country where you know no one. But I have been fortunate enough to have built a strong community around myself. When you first get here, you need to visualize your goal, focus on it, and don’t let anything come in the way of achieving it. There are great opportunities here. You just need that courage to keep pushing. Don’t give up, and don’t back down. No matter what the roadblocks are.
When applying to jobs, I would always pick out one part of a job description I felt less confident in and go and learn it. I would study the skill so the next time I applied for a role I could add that skill set to my resume.
Don’t give up hope, I know it can be exhausting applying to multiple positions, but the perfect role is out there. Keep pushing, keep moving forward, and keep improving yourself.
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