We first met Hugo Cortes, early on in 2013 on one of our ACMT courses as he was looking to retrain following a career change from a professional dancer.
Hugo was born in Brazil and has always had a passion for music, art and technology. As a young child, Hugo was really shy, and his mum encouraged him to get into acting in order to boost his communication skills and confidence.
From that point, Hugo was hooked, having found his love for performing he knew that he wanted to become a professional dancer. However, in Brazil, a degree doesn’t always guarantee a career and Hugo knew that he had to learn other skills in order to survive. Consequently, from the tender age of 7 he was always looking for ways to make money, and this is how he discovered his other passion, technology!
Originally, Hugo was a PC guy, however; he quickly became fed up with constantly having to fix certain problems that are typical of PC computers. As many of Hugo’s friends were Apple users they encouraged him to try out a Mac, and he instantly fell in love with the OS, quickly snapping up all of Apple products!
When Hugo wasn’t busy working, he was reading how Macs work, however, as much of his time was being spent performing at some of the big shows in London such as Stomp, taking his ACMT certification was put on the back burner for a few years!
However in 2013, he had to take some time out from his artistic career, and, therefore, had the time to pursue his other passions and signed up for the Amsys ACMT course.
Following his course, he came along to one of our Mac Meetups and spoke to James about the Amsys apprenticeship. We were more than eager for him to join us, as not only was now ACMT certified, but had impeccable people skills too!
Hugo has now been at Amsys for 6 months, and his day-to-day role involves the assessment and repairs of the many out of warranty Macs that our workshop receives. Even though his two careers couldn’t be more different, Hugo has taken a lot from the discipline and work ethic as a professional performer into the professional and demanding environment of an Apple Technician.
“It has been fun to break apart from something I’ve been doing for so long and challenge myself to take on a new career… I have taken a lot from my success as a professional dancer into my new career in IT… By working hard and constantly staying up to date with the latest tech.” Hugo Cortes
If you are looking to retrain or change careers, please speak to our helpful and friendly training team who will be happy to advise you on the next best steps to take.