Selma Petrus is fulfilling her lifelong ambition by working in cyber security as well as fulfilling her father’s wish: for her to work in the public service.
Considering the assumption that government services are pretty low-tech and a bit of a paper fest, the last place one would expect to find a budding cyber security expert is in the elevators and corridors of government offices, yet this young IT boffin happily plies her trade in the Ministry of Finance.
If the alleged sluggishness around personal growth for employees in the civil service is anything to go by, Petrus would be working towards her dream to eliminate security threats and vulnerabilities within IT infrastructure elsewhere and not in government.
But for her, the Ministry of Finance, where she is employed as an information technology professional is the perfect launching pad for a career that can lead to growth. From the looks of it, this northern-born and Ekulo Secondary School matriculant had it all figured out from day one. Upon her graduation from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), she went straight into government service.
“I joined the public service in 2017 after completing my degree but prior to that, I was doing random jobs as a student to sustain myself such as ECN elections, NSA census, the NSFAF MIS launch, ICT summit conferences, and more. All as an IT practitioner,” Petrus revealed.
But unlike many young people who would go on about how it has been a lifelong dream for them to become civil servants, for Petrus, her commitment to the civil service was wrapped into her obedience to her father’s wish.
Fulfilling daddy’s wish
Queried as to whether it was her dream to join the government, Petrus does not beat around the bush.
“My dad said government officials are important people in society, and from there, I developed a keen interest to be a public servant, and I shall forever be thankful to God for the opportunity accorded to me to serve the public with integrity and passion,” she said with hints of sentimentality.
The youthful Petrus states that she serves within the IT division, and is responsible for maintaining and monitoring computer systems, servers, and networks, as well as troubleshooting and diagnosing computer hardware and software problems. This, is done while at the same time providing day-to-day users with the necessary support on IT-related issues and training them on new technology, to highlight a few.
But while she is barely staying afloat, overburdened by the heavy workload, as there is so much to do, she takes pride in the knowledge that as an IT professional, she is important to the ministry. “I’m not saying this to undermine other employees. Some people are important, others like me are ‘importanter’. In IT terms, I would say I am a critical infrastructure,” she said jokingly.
Queried as to how beneficial her expertise is to the public service, especially her ministry, Petrus stresses that while most people do not value IT professionals, especially in government, they make a significant contribution to efficient and effective service delivery.
“Technology is the present and the future, and with IT, it is not about the work quantity but the quality,” she added.
She wastes no time in revealing that she is a proud holder of a National Diploma in IT, a Bachelor degree in Systems Administration and Networks, an Honours degree in Information Security, and recently enrolled for a Master’s degree in Information Security. She further has a certificate in ITIL and another one in Fortinet Infrastructure and Security.
Happy to serve
But with all these qualifications under her belt, she is yet to develop itchy feet and vows to stay put, mainly because of the general working atmosphere, which she says is pro-growth.
Said Petrus, “the general skills and experiences one develops while working for the government can put you in a position where you are able to grasp opportunities that arise in a range of industries. Further, I have noticed that a career in the government can really mean several great things depending on one’s interests and goals. You will make a cluster of connections that in themselves will end up in a diversity of fields. This means that you will find yourself faced with opportunities down a range of avenues throughout your career.”
She is quick to rubbish the perception that civil servants are unproductive, stressing that sentiment is misplaced because government employees have different goals, motives, and interests.
“Many civil servants known to me have the public’s interests at heart, and tend to sacrifice their precious time and efforts to serve the public in many spheres, however, the unfortunate part is that such sacrifices are mostly not recognised by many. Thus, as you have rightly put it, there is a big misconception out there,” she maintained.
She added that while the future is uncertain, she is currently satisfied as a government employee and happy to serve.