Kyra Anne Buchanan wanted a well-rounded, comprehensive co-op placement that incorporated her desire to learn about human resources administration while expanding her knowledge of business and the tech industry.

Thankfully, the fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce candidate at the University of Ottawa says she found her ideal student co-op experience at CENGN. Beyond her opportunity to make a big impact on CENGN’s HR team, it was the flexibility to work across departments that stood out to Kyra Anne.

“I was able to work with the marketing department as well as the various technical departments here at CENGN, in order to get a broad experience of what the company does here,” she said of her time in CENGN’s student program. “That has really helped me going forward in my schooling because it gave me the experience to learn different things, and not just the HR field.”

Every year, CENGN accepts 40 of Canada’s brightest, most innovative and tech-savvy post-secondary students for 16-week placements in the fields of engineering, project management, marketing, finance and human resources. Students gain the opportunity to not only work on leading-edge technologies, but also to make industry connections and contribute to the growth of Canada’s burgeoning tech sector.

CENGN has partnerships with more than 20 of the country’s top post-secondary institutions, ensuring a direct path to the recruitment of the most passionate young minds to take part in this unique and exciting opportunity.

Kyra Anne, who arrived at CENGN as the Human Resources Administration student for the summer 2018 co-op term, said she greatly enjoyed her time here and would recommend friends to come be a part of our student team.

“I’m really looking forward to gaining more experience in different fields, and hopefully using some of the skills I learned here at CENGN to help the other organizations that I’ll work for in the future,” she said.

Watch Kyra Anne talk about her experience in CENGN’s student program in the video below.

While HR, marketing, project management and finance students get to work hands-on with real industry projects during their co-op term, our engineering and technical students have the added benefit of conquering a three-week training bootcamp in next generation networking and the latest cloud technologies. These workshops introduce next-generation networking principles like Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and the most relevant cloud technologies like OpenStack, Docker and Kubernetes.

After surmounting the bootcamp and passing CENGN’s Cloud Administration and Networking exam, the students become certified to apply their new skills and knowledge of commercial-grade infrastructure to their future endeavours. The Cloud Administration and Networking Certification (CANC) confirms every student engineer has a thorough understanding of how to operate an OpenStack cloud deployment using Linux Foundation projects, proving they are professional-caliber ICT and networking professionals.

New this year for students is CENGN Academy, a training program that offers courses on the latest technologies in next generation networking and the ICT sector. These workshops provide students with training on the latest and most in-demand technologies.

Our mission to help create a pool of talented individuals who are both passionate about and experienced in next-generation networks is continually justified as we watch successful groups of students become integral contributors to Canada’s ICT sector. We strive to connect these bright minds with growing Canadian companies and large businesses, like our members and partners, that are continually looking to add to their expanding team of talented professionals. This influx of knowledgeable individuals helps drive the Canadian tech economy and reinforce the country’s position in the ICT industry.

Learn more about how you can hire a CENGN student for your organization.

About the Author

CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, drives technology innovation and industry growth through our testbed, technical expertise, talent development, and partner ecosystem. Through our projects, CENGN enables small and medium Canadian Enterprises to test and validate promising technologies, removing barriers to product commercialization and accelerating market growth.

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