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The road to a post-doctoral degree
“I applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 1998, and the Foundation for Refugee-Students offered me the opportunity to study while waiting for my residence permit. It was a great opportunity and I would also be able to use the degree in Iraq if I needed to. After six and a half years, I got my residence permit - and, at exactly at the same time, I graduated from NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. I was offered a job straight away as a junior actuary at Achmea and continued studying to get my post-doctoral degree. It was a difficult journey, especially combined with work and a family, but in 2017 I completed my postgraduate degree. After Achmea, I worked for Delta Lloyd and EY, before starting my current job at Univé. I still really enjoy working there.”
Professional advisory commission
“Since I finished my studies at NHL Stenden, I’ve been a member of the professional advisory commission, and I'm now its vice chairperson. The commission includes graduates and company representatives, and it's where I get to provide input from a professional perspective. At one point, someone asked me whether I would consider coming to teach applied mathematics and I was all ears! I hadn't considered teaching until then: I just wanted to contribute to our society and help the new generation.”
A comfortable start
“I have been working at NHL Stenden since 2017 and it suits me really well. I started out with just a few hours a week, which made the start of my teaching career quite comfortable. I was also very familiar with the subject I was teaching. And of course, I joined a great team and some of my colleagues had actually been my teachers, so I already knew them very well. It did take some getting used to though. It’s a completely different world and you are confronted with unfamiliar lingo. Nonetheless, I was able to start out rather gently and got to pick the subjects that suited me best.”
Link with real life
“I now teach classes two half days a week and I try to be present for the entirety of those days. I still also work at Univé as an actuary, which means I assess the requirements and financial risks for management teams and boards of directors. So far, I’ve helped 7 students get a final-year internship at Univé, so I am definitely using my professional network. And I enjoy the student dynamics; they have a completely different perspective on life. On top of all that, I keep up to date with my subject theory too because you repeat a lot when you teach. I still learn a lot from this and keep discovering new things. I would definitely recommend teaching to everyone!”
Working and teaching
“The combination of working and teaching is really enjoyable and gives me energy. I’ve now also got my basic teaching qualification, which offers a wealth of knowledge about teaching, motivating students and it means you get to train your soft skills, which you can then also use in your job, like how to interact with people, for instance. We mathematicians need that! It’s good to learn that it’s not all about formulas, ha ha!”