Raul Ochoa doesn’t limit himself. He loves to learn.
“Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than master of one — that’s my philosophy,” Ochoa said. “I like to do a lot of things. The one thing I wish I was better at is cooking. I’m not horrible at it, but I’m striving to get better.”
That drive to keep learning carries into his professional life. As a security engineer for the University of Nebraska’s Information Technology Services, Ochoa is constantly building new skills.
“I’m jumping for joy every time I come to work, because I’m learning something new,” he said. “I’m learning a new skill or a new way to explain a product to somebody else. Personally, it’s elevating me as an engineer, and professionally, it’s making me a better professional than I was even six months ago.”
Ochoa has led the security operations center for the Lincoln campuses for about a year, a role he describes as constant problem-solving. In cybersecurity, engineers look for patterns — or the absence of them — while monitoring systems for unusual activity that doesn’t align with typical software behavior. They also work closely with vendors to determine whether suspicious activity points to an attack or a compromise.
Before moving into security engineering, Ochoa spent 15 years in system administration, working for private companies before joining the university’s Information Technology Services. A career in IT wasn’t something he initially planned, but his skill set aligned with the field, and he continued to build on it as opportunities arose.
“I knew a little system called Linux — that was my bread and butter when I was in high school,” he said. “Knowing Linux opens doors, because so many services out there are built on it.”
While he loves his current role, there are things he misses about more client-facing work.
“I miss fixing printers,” he said with a laugh. “They’re puzzles, and I love fixing puzzles.”
Ochoa and his wife moved to Nebraska in 2010, at the tail end of the Great Recession. At the time, the job market for information technology in Utah was tight, and friends who had looked farther afield were finding more opportunities.
“We thought we had to give it a shot,” Ochoa said. “I was curious about Nebraska because that’s where my wife’s family is from, but I figured we’d live here for a year and then move on.”
That didn’t happen.
“We never looked back,” he said. “We fell in love with everything about Nebraska.”
Their first stop was Lexington, where Ochoa was struck by how welcoming the community was.
“You could go anywhere in town and people were shaking your hand, asking how you were doing,” he said. “If you’re thinking of it like a rom-com, that was my meet-cute.”
Although his career took him to other parts of the state, Ochoa and his family stayed in Nebraska. He eventually joined the University of Nebraska’s Information Technology Services, where colleagues often ask if he ever gets bored with his work.
His answer is an emphatic no.
“I work on a computer for eight hours a day, and people talk about vegging out in front of a TV or playing video games,” he said. “That’s me, too — but I can lose hours in front of a computer screen learning something new. I’m a constant student.”
That mindset has followed him into his newest role as a staff senator. Now in his first year, Ochoa is again learning at a rapid pace. He didn’t know exactly what to expect when he decided to run, but he’s found the experience rewarding, particularly the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the university.
“It’s made me a better communicator and a better leader,” Ochoa said. “I’ve learned how to run an efficient meeting — and that is gold.”
