Shiba Walizada speaks at the closing luncheon of the Arista technical upskilling program.

Finding community is at the heart of upskilling program

Jake Garcia

October 2, 2024

A culmination of a year’s worth of work took center stage at the closing luncheon for the Arizona State University (ASU) Technical Upskilling Program. Hosted at the university’s Tempe campus on Thursday, September 26, the ceremony celebrated the journey and accomplishments of eight women from Afghanistan who had reached the finish line of the one-year program.

Raihana Fayaz, Frough Tahiry, Parastoo Mehrzad, Zainab Aslami, Farida Hazeq, Nasiba Hashemi and Shiba Walizada arrived in the United States nearly three years ago as part of ASU’s Afghan refugee program. Through a partnership with Arista and ASU Enterprise Technology, they have spent the last year learning information technology skills to build networks and troubleshoot issues and will soon complete industry recognized certifications.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as each of the women were acknowledged for their success and passion to learn.

Arista CEO Jayshree Ullal joined the celebration via Zoom, and chief information officer Lev Gonick praised a partnership that was “more than just a vendor-customer relationship.” Rather, it was two organizations, both at the forefront of innovation, that embraced the eight women as part of the technology community.

“The only place in the world where this would happen is the United States,” Gonick said. “When we’re at our best, people create opportunities for others to join us and succeed.”

Todd Simmons, director of network programs for ASU Enterprise Technology, was the lead trainer of the program and said the combination of desire and ability that the women displayed made them an enjoyable group to teach. In an accelerated model that incorporates 3-5 years of training in a single year, he provided the women with on-the-job training and instruction with what he described as the “world’s fastest growing networking technology.”

Walizada, a sophomore at ASU majoring in computer science with a focus on cybersecurity, has completed Arista Certified Cloud Engineering Levels 1 and 2 and in mid-October will take the rigorous Level 3 certification test, which is the level at which most professional network engineers operate. She said her hope is to one day work full time at Arista, thanks to a deep understanding of connectivity and networking systems and processes.

“This was a big accomplishment and a big achievement,” she said. “I’m so happy and grateful for what we did and what Arista and Enterprise Technology did for us. I know we are ready for the new journey. We learned something that we can use for the future.”

All eight of the women will take the Level 3 certification in the next coming days. Each of them expressed gratitude for the program and for their continuing education at ASU, noting a pathway to a career in technology is not available to them in their home country.

“Women are not able to continue education, they are not able to work (in Afghanistan),” Walizada said. “That is the saddest thing for everyone. We are the people here to change those things. We will be able to change the future for women back in Afghanistan.”