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“I was very lost growing up. I had no idea what I wanted to do – after high school, I took nearly a ‘gap decade’,” says Wednesday Wilson.
She was working as a receptionist when the pandemic hit, and says it provided the pause she needed to ‘reevaluate what she wanted to do with her time and what she was working towards’.
At the same time, she was active in online gaming forums for the likes of Runescape, where she enjoyed learning to code and design custom configurations to manipulate games and tools as an amateur.
It was in these communities that she met other gamers working in tech professionally, who saw her talent and encouraged her to pursue it as a career while providing insight as to what that could look like.
“There was a huge appeal to working in an industry where I would to learn a lot all the time. I didn't want to be doing the same things every day. I liked the idea of working on new projects so I could continually grow,” says Wednesday.
“Having that support to back my passion and learning about what a career in IT involves helped me realise it was my calling.”
Now an associate consultant in Datacom’s information systems team working on cloud projects, Wednesday’s talent has seen her nominated as a finalist in the Graduate category for the 2024 Reseller News Women in ICT (WIICTA) Awards.
Making the move from working as a receptionist and gaming and coding in her spare time to a career in tech required long hours of study and training – but Wednesday’s love for learning has provided a strong foundation for her journey in tech.
As the first in her family to pursue tertiary education, embarking on her Bachelor of Computer Science at the university of Waikato in 2020, Wednesday excelled throughout her degree – even electing to work at the university.
She says being the first in the family to go to university has been important to her. “It's something that I've been really proud of and something that my family's been really proud of.”
With Waikato Tainui and Ngāti Whātua whakapapa, supporting other Māori and first in family rangatahi on their IT career journeys has been a focus for her.
“Being a somewhat mature student, I took on a leadership role.” “That led into helping students as an assistant during computer lab sessions as well as becoming a whītiki tauira – a Māori mentor – for computer and mathematical sciences.”
In this role, she promoted Māori student achievement through mentorship, guided by whanaungatanga (connection), rangatiratanga (leadership) and manaakitanga (kindness and support).
With the end of her degree and a compulsory work placement approaching, she applied for an internship through TupuToa, a non-profit and Datacom partner dedicated to empowering future Māori and Pasifika leaders, which led to an internship and eventually a graduate role in Datacom’s cloud team where she excelled under the mentorship of Desiree Hutcheon.
Cloud practice lead Desiree says Wednesday created a lasting impression.
“She made a huge mark on the team and the wider business as an intern and graduate, emerging as a leader and making the most of every opportunity. We know she’s someone very special who will go far – we were lucky to have her.”
During her time as an intern and graduate, she completed training initiatives including the AWS CloudUp program and Microsoft Azure Summer Bootcamp, led and presented at early careers and recruitment events, provided mentorship amongst her own and incoming cohorts and, of course, started working on projects to deliver impactful results for clients.
“Coming into Datacom with TupuToa, I really had that whānau-type support from all sides that enabled me to succeed,” says Wednesday.
“When I was at university, cloud wasn't on my radar. I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to start my career in cloud because I've learned so much, and I realise how foundational cloud has been to the rest of technology.”
Since completing Datacom’s graduate programme as a cloud engineer, Wednesday has been promoted to a new role in the Information Management team, where she works as an associate consultant.
Her current manager, Daniel Piper, says despite having the role title of associate, Wednesday is working at a consultant level.
“Wednesday has an outstanding ability to blend technical expertise with a personable approach, which means she can explain complex concepts in an accessible way. Clients consistently praise her.”
“She has an innate talent for programming alongside a great personality and sense of humour, while also being a skilled communicator. We need more people like Wednesday working in tech.”
In her new role, Wednesday is leading projects working across clients to present workshops showcasing how AI can transform their data management, as well as designing AI processes and frameworks and automation solutions.
“A day in my life is giving customers solutions to their technical problems – providing advice and recommendations, facilitating discussions, then creating and implementing proof of concepts,” says Wednesday.
“It’s been a highlight of my career so far, to be trusted with this responsibility. I’ve found it immensely valuable to learn about how so many different businesses across Australasia work and what they do.”
"I’m really excited to continue to grow my career. One of my long-term goals is to be a Microsoft Influencer – part of the MVP programme – teaching other people and bringing them into tech,” she says. “I’m a lifelong learner, I will always own that and want to share it.”
“Part of that means continuing to stay very involved in our intern and graduate programmes. Those programmes have made a huge difference for me, and I want the opportunity to make that difference for someone else.”
