Role Model: Naqueeb Ahmad

TwoCircles.net ongoing series: Role models

Twenty-four-year old Naqueeb Ahmad is System and Server Administrator at HCL Technologies in Noida. He is here today because he kept afire his childhood ambition to join the Information Technology(IT) world. But to reach this sometimes he had to do odd jobs – working as a salesman in an electronics goods shop in Calcutta and once as a crewmember in McDonald’s outlet in New Delhi – to meet the cost of his professional courses as his was financially a weak family.

Me: I was born and brought up in Mahua in Vaishali district of Bihar. After 10+2 I went to Calcutta and remained there for a year. Then I shifted to New Delhi and have since been living here with 2-3 trips to hometown in a year.

Family: Mine is a 10-member family – seven brothers and one sister. My father is a physician. He runs a clinic attached with a medical store in the village. My mother is homemaker. I am number 4 in my siblings. One elder brother assists my father and the other works in Saudi Arabia. Younger brothers are studying.

Education: I started my education in a convent school in my village. I did matriculation from a government high school in the village. Then I did +2 from RDS College in Muzaffarpur. I went to Calcutta for graduation. Some members of my extended family live there. As colleges in Calcutta require 80% marks and they reduce 20% marks from the aggregate of students from outside Calcutta, so I could not enroll. As I was carrying an ambition to go to the IT field, I decided to do a one year diploma course in hardware and networ engineering. Meanwhile my father fell ill. He remained bed ridden for long. He was then lone bread-earner for the family. So to continue my education I started working as a part time salesman – first in an electronics goods shop then in a readymade clothes shop.

Profession: I topped the Calcutta institute and got a job there but they did not pay me as I was a fresher. Meanwhile my father recovered fully and the family was on its feet again. I shifted to Delhi in 2004. I got job in a hardware and networking centre in Nehru Place. They also did not pay me. To enhance my qualification I got admission in a one year MCSE CCNA course, online certification course for server and router configuration. At the same time I also got enrolled in a degree course at Jamia Millia Islamia. At one stage, to make my both ends meet and continue education, I had to work as a crewmember at McDonald’s outlet in New Delhi also. Soon after completion of my technical course, I got a job at Innodata Isogen, an MNC in Noida. After one year I joined Tech Mahindra. Then I joined HCL Technologies as System and Server Administrator and have been working at this position for the last two years.

Extracurricular: I have not been attached to any social group but in times of calamities I spend hours and days on collecting help for the victims. I have worked for victims of Kosi flood in Bihar last year.

Young Muslims: I would advise them to get higher education as there is no shortcut to success. Many aspire to go Gulf countries to earn money but there are lots of opportunities in our country itself. To get these opportunities they will have to get higher education and strive hard.

Indian Muslims: Muslims are facing lots of problems and they are feeling alienated for good or bad reasons. There is a need for Muslims to enter the mainstream and work hard to maintain communal harmony. For reasons, the living standard of Muslims in India has just gone down over the decades. They need to work hard to improve their conditions.