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By Heather Catchpole

Chris originally had no interest in uni, or even in finishing Year 12. Then he joined the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) – an educational program giving support to Indigenous students through high school and uni, or onto employment, at the same rate as all Australians.

Chris got a traineeship through Mission Australia that connected him with employers, which helped give him the drive to complete Year 12 and do a CS degree. He’s now in second year at the University of Wollongong, majoring in digital systems security. One of his ambitions is to make his own operating system like Windows or iOS.

Chris recently did an internship with Westpac’s information security group, where he searched for security loopholes. He wrote code that scans through a database to find hacking attempts.

“I saved the company money by writing the script, and it’s still being used,” says Chris. “I’m hoping for a graduate position with the team at Westpac, and then a full-time job with them.”

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TO GET THERE:
Bachelor of Computer Science
University of Wollongong

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