Thank you to our Skills for Hire Atlantic volunteers

As another Skills for Hire Atlantic cohort comes to a close, we want to shine the spotlight on the people who helped bring it all to life: our industry volunteers.

More than 450 participants took part in our Data Analytics and Cybersecurity streams this year. The courses and content are important, but it’s the real conversations with real people working in the industry that truly move the needle. That’s where our volunteers came in.

Over the course of the program, 46 mentors offered one-on-one support to participants through 54 mentoring sessions. They answered questions, shared honest advice, talked through career paths and helped people feel a little less alone in their job search.

Many participants told us how much these conversations meant to them.

"[My mentor] was very supportive and shared valuable tips and resources related to data analytics tools he uses in his work. His guidance was very helpful and appreciated,” said one SFHA participant.

Overall, 61% of mentees rated their mentorship sessions highly.

[caption id="attachment_3498144" align="alignright" width="300"]

Some of our valued mentors at our SFHA Volunteer Appreciation Event on November 4, 2025.[/caption]

Our industry panels were another big highlight. Across six live virtual sessions, more than 900 attendees tuned in to hear from professionals working in AI, cybersecurity, data analytics, hiring and more. Panelists shared their own career stories, how they broke into tech and what they look for when hiring.

We heard over and over that the panels were insightful, encouraging and full of practical tips, especially for those transitioning into tech from non-technical backgrounds. Ninety-four per cent of participants told us the panels were valuable for their career journey.

“Overall, the exposure to industry voices was a huge value add," said one participant. "I think all of these events were a crucial part of the learning process and a way to make great industry connections and could help us in the future to be ready for our first role or land our first role via the connections we made," said another.

On top of that, volunteers contributed blogs and recorded Q&A sessions that were shared through our learning platform. Participants loved having those “on-demand” perspectives to return to, especially around transferable skills, resumes, interviews and what working in tech actually looks like day to day.

All of this added up to something really important: participants felt more connected to industry. In fact, 67.7% told us the program helped them build connections with professionals, which is a big deal when you’re just starting out or switching careers.

Want to Get Involved Next?

We’re already getting ready for the Skills for Hire Atlantic: Growth Edition (Jan–Mar 2026), and we’re looking for more volunteers to join us.

If you:

• work in tech (or a tech-adjacent role),
• enjoy cheering people on,
• and have even a small amount of time to give,

we’d love to have you involved, whether that’s mentoring, speaking on a panel, or sharing your story in a short blog or video.

Learn more and sign up to volunteer: https://skillsforhire.ca/industry-involvement/volunteer/

Thank you to our Cohort 7 volunteers:

• Chris Gallant, Executive Director, PEI IT Alliance
• Varsha Hemrajani, Digital Developer, League Data Ltd.
• Anastasiia Kolchanova, Game Producer, Ubisoft
• Glenn Balmonte, Salesforce Service & Sales Cloud Team Lead, Ateko
• Nicole Khoury, Project Manager, resulta
• Nima Nair, Senior Business Analyst, RBC Capital Markets
• Stephen Clowater, Director, Global Head of Production Services for Securities Clearance, Reconciliation, and RPA, RBC Capital Markets
• Sean Scrivener, Senior Manager, IT Risk, RBC
• Lauren Murray, Associate Director, Business Optimization and Strategy, RBC
• Ganesh Aditya Gangadhar Dasika, Senior Software Engineer, Cognizant
• Adesoji Lawal, Senior Software Developer, Naadaq
• Alexei Bissonnette, Director of Web Services, Nukleo
• Stephanie Lewis-Bursey, Sr. Information Security Analyst, Trellix
• Soumyadeep Ghosh, Sr. Architect, Cognizant
• Srishti Jain, Data Engineer, CGI
• Vishal Sonawane, Manager - Projects, Cognizant
• Ashwin Jacob, Technical Lead, Cognizant
• Sreeram Keerthivasan, Manager, Cognizant
• Krishna Kunwar, Senior Project Manager, Cognizant
• Vinod Philip, Director, Cognizant
• Sarada Archana Nair, Senior Project Manager, Cognizant
• Manojkumar Kotakonda, GenAI Technical Lead, Cognizant
• Sreekanth Kurudi, Associate Director, Cognizant
• George Frempong, Director of Research, Delmore "Buddy" Daye Learning Institute (DBDL)
• Angamuthu Natarajan, Software Quality Assurance Senior Specialist, NTT Data Canada Inc.
• Jason Stewart, Onsite Field Support Analyst, AVASO Technology Solutions
• Antonio Pineda, Data Engineer, WCB Nova Scotia
• Robert Afari, Agile Scrum Master / Business Analyst, Consultant
• Parimal Halder, Software Developer, Cognizant
• Aditya Nar, Strategic Analyst, IWK Health Centre
• Rajesh Kumar Veerian, Senior Product Specialist, Cognizant
• Jithin Thampi, Data Engineer, Cognizant
• Babak Hajazimzanjani, Senior Backend Engineer, Cognizant
• Ezinne V.C Onwuekwe, Senior Clinical Informatics Analyst, Nova Scotia Health Authority
• Sam Kennedy, Business Intelligence Lead, EfficiencyOne
• Titilayomi Damiro, Business Analysis and Process Support Lead, Mosaik Credit Union
• Md Shahriar Tasjid, Research Assistant, Dalhousie University
• Laura Whalen, Analytics Engineer, Outshine
• Soumya Markandeya, Founder & Principal Consultant, Aritra Consulting Inc.
• Dan MacLeod, Co-founder, Dunvegan
• Kevin D'Aguiar, Principal Consultant, Matters of Data
• Patrick Shannon, Software Developer, bbox.digital
• Paul Allen, Director, Cyber Security GRC, Sobeys
• Mohammad Reza Sarkheh, Consultant, Mimra Digital Solutions
• Adam Duval, Analytics Engineer, Vetsource
• Craig Steinberg, CEO, WBC Designs