Who were you before you moved to Austria?

My name is Khurram Iftikhar and I was born in Pakistan. I spent my childhood in a small village coexisting with nature and cultural norms. As I was always inspired by creativity  I chose electronics engineering as my career and successfully graduated in 2009.During my studies,i got interested in drama, poetry and quality writing so I used this passion and I became the president of Cultural & Literature Society during my university life. Then, I started playing with words and also got the seat of “chief editor” of the university magazine. I won several awards for debates, writings and arranging memorable functions. After tasting the success in curricular and extracurricular activities I was all set to jump into practical life.

For practical life, I chose the largest footwear company of Pakistan and I joined “Service industries” as production engineer. Apart from playing with machines, I learned there how to interact with people and my friends circle within the company and outside company kept on growing. I took interest in costs and finance and helped my company in budgeting too. After serving 2 years in production, I was promoted in sales department due to my strong relations with customers and good communication skills. It was a challenge for me and within couple of years, i got the designation of Asst. Manager Sales. I was handling customers, arranging events, working with my own innovative ideas to help R&D development. Everything was going good in my life but I wanted to learn more and that keen pulsating desire of learning was pushing me forward to do more.

I was observing the chaotic situation of my country and I found that lot of problems are due to poor infrastructure of public transport. There was no development in this sector so I decided to jump in this area. So, after 4 years of professional experience I decided to study again and I moved into Vienna to do my masters in “Intelligent transport system”. It was a new doorway to learning. Vienna welcomed me with open arms and it started teaching me like a perfect teacher.

Who are you now, after moving to Austria?

I have started doing diferent student jobs during the studies and started experiencing the life from another perspective. It was a different culture, different working environment and a guy from a small village was aiming the horizons of this whole different world. I had my dreams and I had the ambitions to fulfill it. So, i carried on and overcame all the problems and met lots of exciting people and I fell in love with this culture and country. I am very consistent and exemplary in many of the various part time student jobs I did here in Vienna and all employers were happy with my work. For me, every job small or large needs to be done whole-heartedly and with enjoyment.

Now, i have just finished my 3rd semester and getting ready to enter the professional market again. I have just joined “YounitedCultures” and I am enjoying this mission to “celebrate migration”. It is not only a job for me but also my contribution to this society. In the meantime, I am starting my master thesis and hoping to graduate in mid-2017.