The engineer leading his team with sponsored training in Python, SQL & Azure. Meet Daniel.
Daniel Zammit is a warranted engineer with an abundance of qualifications and experience to his name. And yet, he has recently completed not one but four tech courses in less than a year. We caught up with him to find out more about what drove him and his team at De La Rue to skill up in code, programming and cloud.
As a security product printing company, we work closely with manufacturing technologies and IT systems. My team and I handle the digital components in the production environment and data management, so we wanted training that is directly relevant to the manufacturing industry that we are part of. We needed to equip ourselves with the right skills to move forward and remain competitive.
Learning more about SQL enabled us to structure data properly and interact with it in an optimum way, while learning Python helped us understand and improve on code scripts that were provided to us by third parties, so that made us faster and more autonomous. Here at De La Rue, we need to rely on our own expertise to move forward as the data we handle can be sensitive, so it’s imperative that we maximise our shared competencies. Team training is particularly useful because it comes with an element of standardisation. It’s a great way to bring together divergent backgrounds and approaches, and we were able to proceed very smoothly with implementing our new skills.
I received very positive feedback from the team. The short duration of the courses was a big plus because the quicker you gain the skill, the quicker you’re able to start applying it to the job. The educators are highly-skilled veterans with industry experience, which isn’t something you get with just any old course. You can tell there’s an ISO standard being adhered to. There’s a rigid set of criteria that the institute clearly measures its educators against. We also appreciated the fact that there’s a very supportive environment throughout the entire course journey. The channels are always open.
If you train your people, you’re showing them you appreciate them. This motivates and empowers the individual, but it also benefits the company directly. Combining the use of software with the right skills can have very tangible, financial results for a business.
We’re always on the lookout for ways to improve the way we do things here, so we’re sure to be back at ICE Malta as we work on developing the interface and consolidating everything onto one portal.
I value the importance of learning but there’s a practical element to this too. An academic approach cannot cover everything. As I oversee the use of different software or use certain technical skills on a day-to-day basis, I want to make sure that I’m doing everything according to best practices. I don’t just want to be doing what I think is right. I want to know it’s right.
The fact that the courses were online but live at the same time gives you the best of both worlds. I’m also a classical musician, so I have very little time to spare with rehearsals and concerts. The set-up and the lesson recording made it possible for me to keep up, while the live element gives you a structure. In the past, I purchased courses from other institutions which I have never completed because there’s no follow-up and you’re left entirely on your own. But with ICE Malta, the experience doesn’t feel transactional. It’s personal. You’re given all the guidance you need so that you can focus entirely on what you’re learning.
I’m very passionate about what I do, so I’m happy to invest the time and energy into good quality training. And I couldn’t have done this without the support of the management at De La Rue, for which I am very grateful.
ITIL is directly relevant to the production support element of my work. As a team, we are a point of reference when issues crop up, so we’re effectively providing a digital service. ITIL helps me properly understand, for example, how ticketing systems are applicable, and it’s a great follow-up if your role involves project management. I completed ITIL in a 3-day boot camp, which means you only need to dedicate a few working days to the course. It’s intense but you get it out of the way. That works.
As for Microsoft Azure, we’re talking about a modern technology here. I’m a warranted engineer, so of course, I want to be at the forefront of technology. Learning about the cloud enables me to have conversations at a highly technical level when discussing projects. It’s one thing to have a stakeholder proposing things to you, and quite another to have the skills to be able to understand what the actual implications are and meet them at their level.
Both these courses are eligible for the Get Qualified Scheme rebate, so you’re also getting top-quality content at what is ultimately a very attractive price point.
If you train your people, you’re showing them you appreciate them. This motivates and empowers the individual, but it also benefits the company directly. The right skills can have very tangible, financial results for a business.
DANIEL ZAMMIT
Digital Services Lead
