Cisco Networking Academy has been changing worlds for 20 years. To celebrate this milestone, we are spotlighting some of the 7.8 million students worldwide who have benefited from this IT education and career building program. 

Rayden Yongxiang Chia

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Current occcupation: Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Networking Academy coursework: CCNP Routing & Switching, CCNP Security
• One word to describe his Networking Academy experience: Compelling

When he was only eight, Rayden's parents got a hand-me-down computer from some relatives. "Like any other child, I started playing a lot of computer games," Rayden says. He played so much, his parents put a password on it; Rayden hacked it, using research at the library. "That's what spiked my curiosity," he says. And that's why he took Networking Academy courses in high school.

He says it helped him to focus on his future plans. "I foresee myself in some position related to information security," he says. Rayden is especially interested in "penetration testing, which is basically breaking into systems" as a way to keep hackers out. He wants to test the system and look for flaws - just like the one he discovered on his parent's computer, years ago.

1. Listen to Rayden Chia's story

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