We’d like to tell you about Brendan McIlwain. He’s a ServiceNow platform engineer at Rio Tinto, where he’s finally pursuing his passion doing the best work of his life.

Brendan grew up in Australia in the 1990s, just as the Internet was starting to hit the big time. He loved everything to do with computers and spent lots of time outside school tinkering with hardware and websites to find out how they worked. But when he finished high school, he didn’t have the qualifications to get a job in IT. He knew he could do the work but couldn’t prove it on an application. So instead, Brendan took a job in aviation, becoming an aircraft maintenance engineer. He didn’t want to become an aircraft engineer, but it was better than being employed in what he describes as “retail hell.”

Brendan grew his career in aviation, but it still wasn’t what he wanted to do. So, after 10 years, he decided to take the plunge and try to build a career in IT. But he found that changing careers was a huge struggle. He completed numerous online courses, learning about different coding languages and other IT subjects. However, according to Brendan, this all felt very disjointed, and none of the certificates he gained were in demand.

Brendan says that life was tough—really tough. He moved from one short-term contract to another, with stretches of unemployment in between. He was constantly chasing people for the money they owed him and describes working for “questionable” employers with a revolving door of disgruntled staff. Then things got even worse, and Brendan was unemployed for a year.

All that changed when Brendan saw an ad for a ServiceNow position on an Australian job site. He didn’t have the skills to apply for the job, but he was curious about ServiceNow. Since he knew nothing about ServiceNow, he went to the ServiceNow website. That’s where he discovered the ServiceNow NextGen Professionals program, a free training program to help people with non-traditional backgrounds build a fulfilling career in the ServiceNow ecosystem of customers and partners. He applied and was accepted!

Brendan says the program was “fantastic.” Within a week, he knew he had finally found what he wanted to do professionally. He gave it everything he had and says he didn’t have a single bad day for the entire nine weeks. After completing the program, Brendan was contacted by several companies for interviews. He hadn’t expected to see results so soon and says he felt like he had won the lottery. And, when it came to deciding where he wanted to work, the ServiceNow instructors from the program were a huge help, even talking to him on a Saturday when he first contacted them.

Which brings us to Brendan’s job as a ServiceNow platform engineer at Rio Tinto. He’s part of a small core team with an enormous and exciting challenge ahead. Brendan explains that he loves his job and everything he’s done since signing on for the NextGen program. And he’s now become a Certified System Administrator (CSA) and Certified Application Development (CAD). He’s also set to become a Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) for ITSM and CSM in the next few weeks. He says it feels like he’s just taken a peek through the door and is tremendously excited to find out what the future holds.

When you RiseUp with ServiceNow like Brendan, you open up a world of almost unlimited possibilities—a world with fulfilling, equitable career paths for everyone, no matter what their background. It’s an opportunity for you to thrive and take control of your future. Isn’t it time you made the leap?