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“It’s friendlier here, cleaner here, greener here – with easy access to nature even in the city, and on average it's cheaper than the UK. There is a real family feel here and the standard of living feels higher ... but I do miss Amazon same day delivery.”
Cybersecurity consultant Lee Faldo made the move to New Zealand with his wife and children in June this year and says it has allowed him to achieve the work life balance he was lacking in the UK and given him opportunities to advance his career.
While starting a new role in a new country was a daunting prospect, Lee says he was supported throughout the process and felt welcomed into the Datacom cybersecurity team and the wider community.
“The people at Datacom are amazing; they’re knowledgeable and friendly and you’re made to feel more like a member of the family than a team member,” says Lee. “Our leadership team are also good at listening and driving us forward in the right direction and it feels like you’re respected and valued for your contributions.”
“I realised on my first day on the job in New Zealand that I had discovered the right place for me to build my cybersecurity career.”
Lee is one of several British ex-pats who moved to New Zealand in search of greener pastures, and they confirm they’ve found them in their cybersecurity roles at Datacom.
“I’ve got a brilliant role at Datacom with the potential to expand into a particularly specialised and budding sector of cybersecurity, and there are opportunities to go up the career ladder faster than the oversaturated UK/US cyber job market.”
Monique Mckenna is another UK ex-pat who believes the risk her family took in shifting across the world with no existing ties to New Zealand ‘well and truly paid off’ for them all.
“After living in numerous countries over the years, there is nowhere I would rather be than raising my family in New Zealand.”
Originally from London, the cybersecurity operations team manager has rapidly grown her career since joining Datacom in 2018.
“I’ve always had development opportunities within my roles that enabled my growth and drive to get me to where I am today,” says Monique, who has worked across cybersecurity engineering and analyst positions in the business, gaining a broad base of knowledge which now supports her in her management role.
She also attributes her success to Datacom’s organisational culture, which she says is special and not something she has seen anywhere else.
“When dealing with cybersecurity incidents, these are high pressure situations, so it’s vital to know I’m in a supportive team where people have each other's backs.”
Monique, who is based in Wellington, says it is an exciting time to be working in cybersecurity at Datacom as it focuses on growing talent and faces increasing demand from organisations looking to improve their security.
“We have seen cybersecurity being given a higher priority in organisations across New Zealand in recent years. Datacom is invested in being a lead in this space we have invested heavily in building our capability which has ultimately led to us being one of the largest cyber managed security service providers (MSSPs) in New Zealand.”
Datacom’s incident response manager and fellow Brit recruit Graeme Bailey first worked in in New Zealand from 2008-2010, and then re-emigrated from the UK in 2020 after deciding he wanted to share the Kiwi experience with his son – and enjoy a better climate and greater work-life balance.
“It’s a little bit more of a relaxed culture overall, with less of the rat-race feeling that you sometimes get in the UK. And it’s more picturesque and less crowded.”
It has also been a positive career move for Graeme.
“I’ve been able to contribute to and lead the development of a service line, join the leadership team within my business function and taken on a GM function with responsibility for the strategy and profitability of my service line," says Graeme, who is based in Auckland.
“Datacom is a large provider of IT services with lots of customers and touchpoints, so it means we get to interact with customers who are all at different stages of their cybersecurity journey. Lots of organisations have realised – at a board level – the need to drastically improve their security posture and are keen to engage with Datacom to help them uplift their capabilities. As a result, there are lots of opportunities to help them make significant improvements and have a real impact on their business.”
After nearly three years working with Datacom, Graeme is moving to a new cyber role with a partner organisation at the end of the year.
“My time here at Datacom has supported my career journey. Working in a busy managed security provider and working across a number of customer cyber incidents has helped me better understand the maturity of the local market. I’ve also benefited from on the job and formal training and certification in new security tools.”
For any UK cyber professionals looking to relocate to New Zealand, right now Datacom is looking to support that journey with a 15 per cent lump sum payment of their annual salary to help with flights, accommodation, childcare, and visa costs, and one-on-one relocation support is also available to make the transition smoother.
If you're considering making the move and you think you could be interested in a career with Datacom, get in touch with us.
