I started my journey with the Arab Open University in 2015, when I was about to lose hope of completing my university studies. The Arab Open University was like a lighthouse that helped me grasp the possibilities in many new ways: flexibility of classes, the one day per week attendance policy and most importantly the great program it offers for IT (Telecommunications path) and starting 2019 (Network Security).
When I was in my 3rd semester, specifically on April 3rd, 2017, I got the great opportunity to work at Estarta, one of Cisco's outsourcing agents, where I was assigned to provide support for clients all over the world. The job was not easy, and it came with a lot of pressure. There were a lot of new things to learn and long tiring 12-hour shifts (day and night); yet these challenging circumstances did not stop me from pursuing my dream to graduate. And the fact that I was one of the AOU students helped a lot in enabling me to be hired in that company and succeed in my journey as well.
In 2020 another two big challenges came along. The first one was the virus that affected the whole world (the COVID-19), which was announced as a pandemic in March of that year, and the second was my career shift as I was directly hired by Cisco Systems itself, a company that I've always dreamt of working at. With a more challenging job and greater responsibilities, my study has never been affected. Although a lot of obstacles were faced by many international educational institutions during those hard times, AOU students were granted the best possible support levels, with the materials, class recordings, psychological support and a great exams system that was not depending on final and mid exams only, but on a weekly quiz and semester assessment system such as TMAs. Through this approach, students were able to use a number of skills in research and learning in efficient ways, away from the common and traditional methods of learning which has guaranteed credibility and reliability of the exam results by preventing cheating, plagiarism and ensured that students get their marks fairly.
Finally, I would like to thank the Arab Open University for the great support they have been providing continuously, that lead to a great success for me, both on educational and career levels.
