From Target to Microsoft Without a Tech Background with Victor Aldanda | Ep075

What do you say when Microsoft asks why they should hire the guy with a hammer? Victor Aldana grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Las Vegas after high school. He wanted to be a lawyer or an archaeologist. He spent five years at CSN changing majors, worked full time the whole way through, and finished a business degree at UNLV. His first jobs were at a travel company and at Target, where he ended up building processes and leading a team. A recruiter's phone call pulled him into staffing at Eastridge. That turned into construction staffing and utility scale solar projects across the country, including days that started at 4 a.m. in a Conex box in Colorado. When COVID hit and a Microsoft opening came up, he interviewed without any cloud experience and got the job. WHAT VICTOR ALDANA DOES NOW: Victor is a Senior C-SAM at Microsoft. He works with customers on where they want to be in a year and how to get there, from deploying AI and agents to moving old code to the cloud. At night he teaches an applied AI and cybersecurity course at UNLV, where he earned his master's degree in cybersecurity. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION: Be careful what you measure A metric at Target taught Victor that people change their behavior to protect the number, even when it hurts the customer. Business skills transfer He got hired at Microsoft by showing he could talk to a C-suite and a welder in the same day. Lead for commitment, not compliance Curiosity about why someone works the way they do gets you further than telling them to do it your way. Explain it in a way the audience cares about He teaches authentication and authorization with an airport and cybersecurity basics with a locked car door. Say yes and be willing to be uncomfortable A phone call in a parking lot led to Eastridge, and saying yes to invitations later took him to teach AI and cyber in Kenya. TOPICS COVERED: What a Senior C-SAM does at Microsoft, and how it compares to a Technical Account Manager at AWS Wanting to be a lawyer or an archaeologist and finding the common thread in puzzle solving Working full time while going to school full time Why Victor left Target and what he was feeling when the recruiter called The metric that taught Victor to ask what behavior a number rewards The billboard test a professor gave him for making decisions Staffing, construction, and OSHA safety work on utility scale solar projects Interviewing at Microsoft without cloud experience Translating the same message for a worker and for upper management Commitment versus compliance How a library poster led to teaching cybersecurity to seniors and students Building a LinkedIn presence and helping the next person up the ladder WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR: Career changers who feel like they do not have the "right" background for tech People in retail, staffing, or construction thinking about a move into technology Managers who want to lead through curiosity instead of authority Customer-facing professionals in account management and customer success roles Anyone thinking about teaching, speaking, or mentoring in their community Students and working adults going back to school for a degree or a master's CONNECT WITH VICTOR ALDANA: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorhaldana/ Website: victoraldana.ai ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS: Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday. Connect with Career Downloads: Website: https://careerdownloads.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloads YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloads TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloads Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloads FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249