How to get the career of your dreams

KMD is one of Denmark's largest IT and software companies with branches in Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg. The core of KMD's business consists of its own software development and the company develops and delivers IT solutions to municipalities, regions, the state and private companies.

KMD's teams consist of employees who have been in the IT industry for many years, and talented graduates who are hired as part of the Readynez Talent programme. The graduates have many different educational backgrounds, but they have an interest in IT in common.

One of the people, who was hired through the Talent programme as an IT developer is Toke Fogh, who was hired as an IT Developer - coming from a background in physics.

This is how Toke got a career in the IT industry:

What educational background do you have?
I have a degree in geology and geoscience, so I do not come with a background that is related to IT in any way. I thought I was going to be a geophysicist, but when I graduated it turned out to be really hard to get a job. There were simply not many positions to apply for.
But then, I got an internship with a company, where where I did some simple coding, and I actually got a taste for it. 

I think the vast majority of people have at some point processed data in databases, just an Excel for instance or coded a bit, as part of their education, so the step to an IT career is often much smaller than you may think.

Why did you choose a career in IT?
I think it was a pretty obvious choice, now that I think back. I had had a lot to do with code during my studies, and I love technology, so when one of my fellow students recommended me to take a closer look at the Academy, it was quite obvious, even for a geologist. I actually did not think it was a huge leap. There was clearly an overlap between the competencies I gained in the study and the IT professional competencies I had to build.

What is interesting about the Talent recruitment and Training programme?
I knew that no matter what I wanted to do in my future career, the skills I would gain from the programme would only benefit me. I was attracted to how general a subject IT is. There are so many opportunities to develop, and then it is not bad to get a permanent job in a great company. It has given me an opportunity to get out there and contribute, and it meant a lot to me to have that opportunity after 6 years of study.

I really wanted to go out and do something with my skills, and I got the opportunity to do so with Academy.

What has been the hardest thing so far?
If you do not come from an IT professional background, you must realize that it will not be easy. When I finally finished my thesis, I thought I had finished studying, but there I could think again.

Now that I'm in the job market, I sometimes get the feeling that I wasn´t veruy well prepared from Uni.

Of course, you get some good tools, but you also lack some very specific competencies to provide value in the labor market. 

What has been the most exciting?
It has all been good, but it has been especially exciting to get into a big company and be part of a larger organization; it was interesting to get out of the study bubble and into reality. It has also been really interesting to get the official Microsoft certifications 

The whole Readynez training programme was insanely good, it was really exciting. It was a cool experience!

What is your best piece of advice for others considering applying?
I will pass on the advice I received myself. Regardless of your education, just go for it, you will probably be surprised at how much of what you know already that you can use and what you dont know, you will learn!