“As has been our tradition to offer support for bright young things to get work experience in a real company; we have offered Shahzad Qureshi work experience with JC Designs to observe and get a feel for working in a fast-paced IT company that is at the forefront of both technical support and development”. Caroline Edney-Burchell, Commercial Director.
Q&A with Shahzad Qureshi who spent 6 days with us on work experience.
Caroline: Shahzad, welcome to JC Designs! We are thrilled that you are spending some time with us doing your work experience.
Shahzad: Thank you for having me.
Caroline: We (JC Designs) pride ourselves on nurturing “bright young things” and also for treating our employees like an extended family. Your Uncle – Rushad – and cousin – Hasan, are already working with us in the busy Development Department. How does it feel to be following in your families footsteps into the IT industry?
Shahzad: Well it helps that I have a lot of family in the industry because I can get advice and help from a lot of different people who all have different experiences. It means I can get into something that a lot of people I know are interested in and who I can talk to when I need help.
Caroline: Spill the beans now; is it all IT talk around the Qureshi family dinner table?
Shahzad: I mean it comes up occasionally but not that frequently that its a regular occurrence. People talk about a lot of different things and IT comes up at some points.
Caroline: What interests you most about working in IT?
Shahzad: The career path it offers are very rewarding in my opinion, in both job satisfaction and in salary. There’s a certain independence that comes with working in IT. You are expected to work by yourself (or in small groups) and to solve the issues you face alone or in small groups and I like that.
Caroline: What made you choose the IT industry as a career option?
Shahzad: A lot of things made me choose IT. As you mentioned earlier a lot of my family are into it so that helped influence me. Also I’m quite good at it (at least thats what people at school used to say) and I enjoy it enough so I wont be bored all the time.
Caroline: What do you hope to get out of this placement?
Shahzad: I hope to see how people work together in a real world environment. I want to see how people interact and how they approach different problems and how they solve them in the most efficient way.
Caroline: Do you have any hobbies outside your interest in IT? How do you spend your spare time?
Shahzad: I do a few things outside of university and IT. I like spending time with my family and friends. I play badminton and other games occasionally.
Caroline: How would your classmates describe you?
Shahzad: Well that depends on who you ask! Some think I’m ‘intelligent’. I don’t think I’m amazingly smart or anything. Some people think I’m cheeky, I’ve heard. I dont actually know what that means but it doesnt sound bad, so I dont mind.
Caroline: Well, we hope you will have a great time with us, and that you are able to put some of the information we have taught you to good use. We wish you all the best in all your studies.
Shahzad: Thank you.
