Atif Ahmed Khan, 28, from Pakistan, is currently working on his PhD at the TU Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology Faculty.,,I come from Pakistan, a country that’s almost twenty times bigger than the Netherlands.
I did my first degree in applied chemistry at the University of Karachi in Pakistan. After getting my degree, I joined a local pharmaceutical company as a “Shift Incharge”. Then, after working for a few months, my willingness to study more became stronger and I started applying to different institutes abroad, as there was no institute for higher education in the field of chemical engineering in Pakistan. The most logical choice would’ve been England, because there isn’t any language barrier and also British universities are more internationally renowned than TU Delft. Yet, I chose the Netherlands because my uncle was living here and I could have the pleasure of living with family while studying. So, I packed my stuff and came to TU Delft, beginning my MSc degree in Chemical Engineering, from which I graduated cum laude in August 2002.
After graduation, I was offered various PhD positions here, but I preferred to go home to work. At that time, I was too enthusiastic about working in an industrial environment dealing with real problems. It was almost impossible to get a job here and maybe I was also suffering from the same symptoms that almost every international student experiences: homesickness.
So there I was, going back home to Pakistan and thinking that finding a job wouldn’t be that big of a deal, as, I thought, there wouldn’t be many foreign qualified people in my country, so the competition wouldn’t be tough. Yet, my expectations proved false, and it took me over three months to find a job, or to be more precise, to be hired for that job. I ended up working for almost half a year there. It was a position with Unilever Pakistan Limited, but getting it required many interviews. They kept me waiting for a long time for their decision to employ me or not, until I finally informed them that I’d been offered another position as a lecturer at the University of Karachi and that I would accept that offer if Unilever wouldn’t quickly make a decision.
In those three months of unemployment, I did some small assistant sort of jobs at Karachi University. Unilever responded and they sent me to work in the ‘Home and Personal Care’ section of Rahim Yar Khan Factory, where they produce products like soap, shampoo and toothpaste. I was hired as a Junior Manager Technical and my main tasks involved taking care of production lines and managing the staff of 30 persons. The salary was good, but this was not one of the most important concerns for me.
After I started working, dissatisfaction with my work grew more and more, although my job was challenging in the sense that I had to quickly come up with solutions for everyday problems, like managing staff shortages and finding immediate solutions to all practical problems. Also, there were tasks concerning the improvement of the plant, but to a very limited extent.
There were two main reasons for my dissatisfaction: the first was that I had to do the same things everyday, and I wanted to do something that had more to do with research and development; the second reason was that the job was so far away from my family and home city. My preference for deciding to return to Pakistan was the idea that I%d have time to be with family and friends. So, it was time for me either to start looking for a new job or to go for a PhD degree. My interest in Research & Development made the choice easier. The positions at the TU that were offered to me upon graduation in 2002 were already filled. Fortunately, Ifound a good opportunity at the Mechanical Engineering & Marine Technology Faculty. I came here for three days for an interview and gave a presentation; then I went back to Pakistan knowing that I would be returning to Delft, because they had appointed me on spot.
I resigned from Unilever and came back to the Netherlands in July 2003 and started working on a very interesting and emerging topic: Safe Combustion of Biomass. And now, after being at this university for almost three years and also discussing it with my friends at various American and British universities, I can say with pride that although TU Delft is not that famous in Asia, in terms of quality of education and availability of resources, it is one of the best places for education in the world.
I’m expected to finish my PhD in 2007, and after accomplishing this I’d like to work more in the field of R & D, perhaps in the Netherlands. In the meantime, I’m enjoying my time here in Netherlands. It’s nice to live in a country where you have all four seasons. Dutch society is different than that of my country, but Dutch people are very cooperative and friendly and I haven’t had any problems % except, that is, for not being able to find a good apartment in Delft.”
Atif Ahmed Khan, 28, from Pakistan, is currently working on his PhD at the TU Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology Faculty.
,,I come from Pakistan, a country that’s almost twenty times bigger than the Netherlands. I did my first degree in applied chemistry at the University of Karachi in Pakistan. After getting my degree, I joined a local pharmaceutical company as a “Shift Incharge”. Then, after working for a few months, my willingness to study more became stronger and I started applying to different institutes abroad, as there was no institute for higher education in the field of chemical engineering in Pakistan. The most logical choice would’ve been England, because there isn’t any language barrier and also British universities are more internationally renowned than TU Delft. Yet, I chose the Netherlands because my uncle was living here and I could have the pleasure of living with family while studying. So, I packed my stuff and came to TU Delft, beginning my MSc degree in Chemical Engineering, from which I graduated cum laude in August 2002.
After graduation, I was offered various PhD positions here, but I preferred to go home to work. At that time, I was too enthusiastic about working in an industrial environment dealing with real problems. It was almost impossible to get a job here and maybe I was also suffering from the same symptoms that almost every international student experiences: homesickness.
So there I was, going back home to Pakistan and thinking that finding a job wouldn’t be that big of a deal, as, I thought, there wouldn’t be many foreign qualified people in my country, so the competition wouldn’t be tough. Yet, my expectations proved false, and it took me over three months to find a job, or to be more precise, to be hired for that job. I ended up working for almost half a year there. It was a position with Unilever Pakistan Limited, but getting it required many interviews. They kept me waiting for a long time for their decision to employ me or not, until I finally informed them that I’d been offered another position as a lecturer at the University of Karachi and that I would accept that offer if Unilever wouldn’t quickly make a decision.
In those three months of unemployment, I did some small assistant sort of jobs at Karachi University. Unilever responded and they sent me to work in the ‘Home and Personal Care’ section of Rahim Yar Khan Factory, where they produce products like soap, shampoo and toothpaste. I was hired as a Junior Manager Technical and my main tasks involved taking care of production lines and managing the staff of 30 persons. The salary was good, but this was not one of the most important concerns for me.
After I started working, dissatisfaction with my work grew more and more, although my job was challenging in the sense that I had to quickly come up with solutions for everyday problems, like managing staff shortages and finding immediate solutions to all practical problems. Also, there were tasks concerning the improvement of the plant, but to a very limited extent.
There were two main reasons for my dissatisfaction: the first was that I had to do the same things everyday, and I wanted to do something that had more to do with research and development; the second reason was that the job was so far away from my family and home city. My preference for deciding to return to Pakistan was the idea that I%d have time to be with family and friends. So, it was time for me either to start looking for a new job or to go for a PhD degree. My interest in Research & Development made the choice easier. The positions at the TU that were offered to me upon graduation in 2002 were already filled. Fortunately, Ifound a good opportunity at the Mechanical Engineering & Marine Technology Faculty. I came here for three days for an interview and gave a presentation; then I went back to Pakistan knowing that I would be returning to Delft, because they had appointed me on spot.
I resigned from Unilever and came back to the Netherlands in July 2003 and started working on a very interesting and emerging topic: Safe Combustion of Biomass. And now, after being at this university for almost three years and also discussing it with my friends at various American and British universities, I can say with pride that although TU Delft is not that famous in Asia, in terms of quality of education and availability of resources, it is one of the best places for education in the world.
I’m expected to finish my PhD in 2007, and after accomplishing this I’d like to work more in the field of R & D, perhaps in the Netherlands. In the meantime, I’m enjoying my time here in Netherlands. It’s nice to live in a country where you have all four seasons. Dutch society is different than that of my country, but Dutch people are very cooperative and friendly and I haven’t had any problems % except, that is, for not being able to find a good apartment in Delft.”
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