Meet: Raeef

"Hello, my name is Raeef Ibrahim, 22 years ago I was born in Aleppo, Syria but in the summer of 2015 I fled the war with my parents and two brothers to the Netherlands. Now I live with my family in Hoofddorp. My oldest brother left already in 2012 after studying medicine and works as a doctor in Germany."

"I study Software Engineering at the HvA (Hogeschool van Amsterdam) and am now in my third year. At Unc Inc I am in the last weeks of my internship as a developer and I really like it. I help develop mobile apps and web applications, especially those for our client HVC."

"Like many kids, I once had the dream of becoming a professional soccer player and although that didn't work out, I still love soccer. For example, below you can see a photo from when I played in the 0-19 of Jalaa SC. And in those other pictures I am wearing the black-orange jersey of FC VVC from Nieuw-Vennep. After that I also played for SV Overbos in Hoofddorp but corona made me stop for a while. To still be busy with soccer, on the weekends I have a side job as a Football live data operator at Gracenote (a Nielsen company, ed.) in which I record data from live soccer matches for use on TV or in app."

"Officially it is Raeef but actually I was going to be called Ralf when I was born, named after the archangel Raphael, as my mother had wanted. On the way to the civil registry, however, my father changed his mind and decided to register me as Raeef, to name me after his best friend. That made my mother so angry that she has always called me Ralf. And the rest of my family and friends still do. But I use and listen to both names."

"As a child, I liked everything to do with computers and apps. Therefore, at an early age, I set a goal to study IT later. But the war in my country prevented me from finishing high school. So I had to find a way to start my dream study in the Netherlands. Of course that was not easy because first I had to learn the Dutch language. After about two years I had passed NT2 (Dutch as a second language, ed.) at b2 level, but I still didn't have a high school diploma to start a study. Fortunately, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam offers foreign students the opportunity to complete a transition year and thus obtain the required diploma. That's how I was still able to start studying Software Engineering."

"Well, it was also really difficult. Because I had no experience at all with programming, but indeed also because my Dutch wasn't really good enough to be able to follow the training. I may have passed the b2-level Dutch course, which the training required, but that's something quite different from speaking the language. That's why I consciously looked for side jobs where I had to speak Dutch, in order to improve quickly. So I worked in the catering department of the Johan Cruijff ArenA and as a sales assistant at H&M. With hard work and hard study I slowly got the hang of the language and now I am already in the third year of the program."

"In doing so, it is nice to have - besides Dutch - a few Syrian friends at school. We are in the same situation and so we can help each other well. But yes, the second semester the school closed because of the corona measures so that's a shame. We met once via Skype but that's different anyway. So it's kind of boring like that."

"That's actually not too bad. People are very different and it's no different here. In Aleppo I was already living in a big city and city people are, I think, a little bit alike everywhere. Of course there are differences. Here everything is much more organized, in Syria people improvise more. In Syria working days are longer, but there is more time for humor at work; for joking around. Here it's all a bit more serious."

"At school, it seems to be the opposite again. Many of my Dutch friends are more concerned with what they are going to do on the weekend anyway, with parties and girls and stuff. I think I take my studies a little more seriously anyway."

"We were very lucky because when we came to the Netherlands in 2015, the borders were not yet closed. Of course it is dangerous; because you travel illegally without a visa, you pass military who may shoot at you and there are criminals who want to blackmail you. But with us, fortunately, it all went well."

"I don't remember exactly how long the trip took, but we eventually arrived in Ter Apel (the Central Reception Location of COA, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) without many problems. A day later we left for Dronten, to an asylum seekers' center for minors with very friendly supervisors. Eventually we got a residence permit and a house in Hoofddorp."

"Yes, it is of course very different in Hoofddorp than in Aleppo. On the streets it was very dangerous. Once when I was 15 I was walking in the street when a truck passed by, I can still picture the driver like that. Further on I saw him driving straight ahead instead of turning left. I was about 50 meters away when the truck exploded with a huge bang. I couldn't have been farther away."

"Yeah, that's the scariest thing I've ever experienced."

"I join the 'A-Team' (one of the three production teams, ed.). There are four developers, a product designer and a project manager. From day one, I felt part of the team. And not as an intern, but as a real employee. I really like that. Nico de Groot(Read 'Meet Nico') is my internship supervisor and he helps me a lot. Not only with programming, but also with my internship assignments for school. I find it very clever how they can do so many different assignments, but all with the same high quality. That also made my internship very interesting."

"As a walk-in intern, of course I learned a lot, but it seems like everyone here wants to learn. From manager to developer, everyone wants to keep developing. I think that's why it's a really good place to do an internship. You are really listened to and your opinion is valued, even as an intern. At Unc Inc, everyone respects each other. It's like a big family where everyone takes care of each other."

"The first thing my friends would say about me is that I have humor I think. And I also think they would say I'm always motivated and energetic."

"At work I am a little less of a joker anyway, maybe also because I am new here. I already said that I take my education very seriously and so does this internship. Therefore, I think my colleagues find me quite serious and see that I work hard. At least I hope so."

"A very important moment, was when I was accepted by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam into the transition year program. If I hadn't been accepted there, I would have had to go to mbo, or even havo 3. If that had happened, I would now have had to take havo final exams with people 5 or 6 years younger than me, instead of HBO third year."

"After my studies, I would like to work on a large project at a large company. For example, an app for bol.com, KLM or an Internet provider. Such a well-known name looks good on your resume, and for a Syrian refugee that is extra important, I think. And big companies often pay well, too. But my dream is to have my own company: my own agency for software development. An agency like Unc Inc yes, haha."

"If you want to achieve something, you just have to work hard and not listen to negative reactions. Nothing is impossible if you work hard and believe in it."

"Next time you get to interview yourself, Jos (van der Lem, strategist and, um, interviewer)."

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