This post is quite long, but for those joining the "Cyber Academy", it may be useful. I'm just sharing my experience with you and leave it to you to make your own judgements. For those who don't know what the "Cyber Academy" is, it is a internal program to hire and train candidates who are experienced in information Microsoft cloud (Azure) security technologies.
I was working for one of its parent companies when I was approached by an HR from Avanade. They had already made me an offer before I started working for its parent company, but they didn't have a billable project they could assign me to before the cyber academy began, so they chose not to hire me at the time and withdrew their offer. I should have understood their mentality right then....
A couple of months before the "Cyber academy" began, they contacted me again saying there was still a place if I wanted in. The HR knew very well that I worked for their parent company, but since he didn't say anything, I assumed it was ok to switch. Once the contract was signed, my employer found out and asked me to resign immediately. Apparently they have a non-compete with Avanade and they told me that Avanade wouldn't be able to hire me either. I tried contacting Avanade, but to no avail. I received no response for several days. Assuming I was out of a job, I started to look for other opportunities.
Finally Avanade contacted me and explained the situation, saying it had been fixed. I was happy that I at least got to be part of the Azure Training and hopefully enter into the Cloud space (the HR told me that the graduates from the Cyber academy would be placed in "shadowing roles" in the topics we learned after graduation, so as not to overwhelm us). The opportunity seemed too good to be true. But here's the catch : They make us sign a 5000 euro dedication clause that obliges the candidate to stay a minimum of 18 months. In case of departure, an amount (between 1K and 5K depending on the duration stayed with Avanade) would have to be reimbursed to Avanade. I signed it since I was quite motivated to get into the cloud space.
The Cyber academy itself was a nice experience. I had done the AZ 500 certification prior to joining it, but I still learned a few interesting things. It was a 5-week long course and at the end of it, we were informed of the following via email. - A hybrid working day was to be followed by those on the bench (3 days on site) - Those on the bench shouldn't refuse any projects. We were to work on any matching role. On meeting previous graduates of the cyber academy, I learned that less than 10% of them were in the Cloud space. The vast majority of them were doing the same stuff they did prior to joining Avanade, and some of the projects weren't even security related.
I ended up in a project with a toxic work environment and decided to quit 3 weeks into it. I had to pay 4K euros for leaving the company. I think 4K euros would get you some reasonably good training anywhere. This was my experience and I hope someone finds this information useful before signing up to the Cyber Academy in future.
