Clifford – British Columbia – Junior Data Analyst – 2026 Graduate
In recognition of Asian Heritage Month, we are proud to share Clifford’s success story: one of resilience, reinvention, and finding the right door after years of knocking on the wrong ones.
Before joining NPower Canada, Clifford had spent years in Hong Kong working at a government funding secretariat, assessing and managing funding applications. He had also worked as a software developer and systems engineer earlier in his career. When he moved to Canada in 2022 with his wife and two daughters, he brought with him a strong professional background and the kind of drive that comes from starting over somewhere new.
What he ran into was a wall most newcomers know well. Without Canadian experience, skilled roles felt closed off. And despite applying to all kinds of positions, including survival jobs well below his qualifications, he rarely made it past the initial screening. For two years, he kept applying. Over a hundred applications. A couple of interviews. He knew something had to change.
At a job fair in Vancouver in August 2025, he crossed paths with Han Lee, an NPower Canada Program Manager. The conversation about the Junior Data Analyst program came with something Clifford hadn’t gotten much of during his job search: genuine encouragement. He applied shortly after and joined the October 2025 cohort.
New to Python, SQL, and AI, Clifford put in extra hours to keep up with the pace of the program. What kept him going was the people around him. Despite the online format, the cohort held itself to a professional standard: punctual, committed, and pushing each other to finish strong. He found himself surrounded by highly skilled individuals from all over the world, each facing their own version of the same barrier he was.
The program also connected him with a mentor, Michael McGuirk, a senior software developer at Hootsuite, who gave him practical guidance on networking and technical interviews. That mentorship, combined with what he was learning about resumes and professional positioning, changed how he showed up as a candidate.
In November 2025, a friend referred him to a Software Developer posting at Tantalus Systems, a technology company focused on helping utilities modernize their energy grids through data. He applied with a sharper resume, stronger interview skills, and newly acquired knowledge in data analytics. He got the job. In February 2026, just weeks after graduating from the Junior Data Analyst program, Clifford started his first professional tech role in Canada.
Today, he builds software for smart meter operation and communication, working with build systems and data every day. He calls it his dream job; meaningful work, in a field he is good at, after years of waiting for the right door to open.
His advice to anyone considering the program is straightforward: don’t hesitate, apply right away. NPower Canada prepares you as both a technical professional and a job seeker. Even if the dream role doesn’t come immediately, the three months are time extremely well spent, in skills, in network, and in readiness for when the right opportunity comes along. For Clifford, it came at exactly the right moment.