Interview - Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Razan Bader Hamed

Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to another interview held by the press team at SASA. My name is Razan and I am very glad to have Mohammed Al-Khafaji today with me. He was a former student at our department, and he graduated in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's interview is going to be about the thought process and all the obstacles and things that Mohammed has gone through while getting a job, an internship, and he would also would be recalling some of the things that happened to him as a student, and he would hopefully be giving us a lot of advice today. Welcome, Mohammed Al-Khafaji.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Hi, how are you, Razan?

Razan Bader Hamed

I'm good. How are you?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

I'm fine.

Razan Bader Hamed

How was your week? How was work?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

The week was stressful but stressful is good. It is not like the type of stress where you hate your life. No, everything is good. Work is good. How's studying?

Razan Bader Hamed

I am good. It is fine. Senior is going a little bit out of control, but I am pretty sure we are going to get back on track.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Sure, that is senior.

Razan Bader Hamed

Would you like to give a quick introduction about yourself for our listeners or is what I have said enough?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Well, what you said almost summarises everything. My name, the year I graduated, I found my first job before like, two or three months, then I quit that job. Now on my second job.

Razan Bader Hamed

Oh, that is amazing. I am very happy you got settled at the end. And let's hop into the questions right now. First of all, what made you decide to join the specific firm you are working for right now?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Well, there are plenty of reasons, but I will say two or three of them. One of them is the better level of design or the enhanced way of designing right now. I am working as an architect in a maintenance company, but it is not a maintenance company. It is an enterprise. I am working as a private architect for some guy. And that guy has plenty of projects. I am just doing them for him. I found that this opportunity could not, come twice in your life, working as a private architect for some guy.

Razan Bader Hamed

Wow. That is impressive. Okay. I wish you the best of luck with that. Before we really talk about the process of finding a job, finding an internship, finding a decent company to start out. You have mentioned before we started this interview, the certification exam that is usually held in Dubai when someone has graduated from an architectural engineering department. I am not sure if it applies to all the engineering departments, but as far as I know, it is also something that we should be concerned with. Can you describe briefly and explain what is the certification exam and explain to everyone how well aware we should be of it? Because it is important.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

It is very important. You won't imagine how important it is. For example, if two apply for a job and one was certified and the other one is not, most likely, they will choose the certified one, even though the other guy has better quality work. That is how important it is. It is also important in terms of salary change. Usually, the amount of salary that we hear is two thousand, three thousand, and four thousand maximum, if you are lucky, but then when you get certified, it increases the salary. They are obliged to give you that required salary from the municipality of Dubai because you are certified in Dubai.

Razan Bader Hamed

Does this apply to all the Emirates or is it just Dubai?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

It is just Dubai. If you go to Abu Dhabi, a similar thing would apply, but you need to be certified in Abu Dhabi. Similar to Sharjah, similar to the rest of the Emirates, you need to be certified in the same Emirates.

Razan Bader Hamed

I have a question. I am just trying to know more. If you have been certified in Dubai, do you have any idea whether if you have found a better job in Abu Dhabi, would that affect it if you move from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, however, you are certified in Dubai? Do you have any idea about that?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Yeah, I do. I had recently gotten an offer to go to Abu Dhabi, but I refused for some personal reasons. However, if they send you an offer, that is a really great thing, because the company wants you no matter what. Whether you are certified or not. So basically, you will be accepted in that company. However, at the same period, you are working, and you should get certified in Abu Dhabi because there are so many regulations that are different than other emirates. Every Emirate has its own regulations. When you finish the whole project, you need to upload the plans, the sections, elevations, even the detail section, the detailed drawings, the 3d, the video, and everything. You should upload it with the structure, the MEP, everything should be uploaded and checked by the municipality, then the municipality approves, then you proceed into contracting the project. So it is important.

Razan Bader Hamed

You have also mentioned that there are different kinds of certificates. Like there is one that is G+1, can you elaborate on that more?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

It is G+1, G+4, G+8, and G+unlimited. As a beginner, such as me, and all the graduates Inshallah, you will be obliged to take the G+1, but it is better to go in a sequence where you go to the society of engineers, and you are just in the society of engineers, then with that, you will go to the municipality and apply for the exam. You will start with G+1, they will give you a book. If they are kind enough to give you a book, sometimes they tell you to search for it online. And that book, you should study it really well. Usually, it is about 113 pages. Summarise everything in that book for G+1. However, when you exceed in experience, you will start understanding the scope of work, and you need to apply the certification for it.

Razan Bader Hamed

Thank you very much for answering the question. I would like to add another thing, if you have, for example, been certified for a G+4, does that limit you from the kind of projects that you would be working on, if you have joined a certain firm, and you have been certified for a certain level, does that mean that you are not allowed to work on other projects that are of a larger scope? Or is that something that the firm decides? Depending on the person himself?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Great question, to be honest. Yeah, it depends on the firm. They will see your capability. They might hand you the project, but you won't be the one submitting the project to the municipality, that will be submitted by someone else, but you will be taking the credit in terms of the fair, but in terms of the municipality, that guy might take the credits. That is the difference, but it does not matter, If you are G+1 or G+unlimited does not matter. It is how much knowledge you have to work on that project.

Razan Bader Hamed

That is good to know. That is precious information here that I think everyone in our engineering department and I am not sure if this applies to all the other engineering departments, but for us, it is good to know that we spent five years of our life studying something. And then it is very unfortunate that most of the students graduating from our department miss on things that are very important and critical, as this certification exam. It is good to know. I really appreciate the information you are giving us. I hope the listeners and the readers also agree with me. Moving on from the certification, I would like to ask you about the benefits and disadvantages of working at an office or at the firm, for example, that you are working at right now.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

There is nothing perfect in life, obviously. The benefits, right now I am working on projects that I never thought I would be in my life. For example, a restaurant, that was one of the projects handed to me, a restaurant in Expo, in fact, Arabian tea house. When I designed it, I did not know it would go to Expo, to be honest. Because it was something very heritage-related and old in design. And after researching and finishing the job, I hand it over to the CEO. He is suddenly like: Oh, great, Expo would love it.

Razan Bader Hamed

Oh wow, that is cool.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

No, no, no, it is not cool. You are not understanding the point. When you are saying Expo, it means that the level of the design should match the level of Expo. I did not understand. Till now I do not understand. And I do not think I will be able to understand it someday. Why did he want to put a heritage design inside something so modern? I do not know why. You never know, but you want it to pop out of there or something. I never knew that. I was like, okay, can you give me a chance? I could do something parametric or something equivalent to Expo. Do you want it? You are paying for it. I do not mind.

Razan Bader Hamed

That is part of the next question, which is the realities of the workplace and what it is like, this is a brief of what the workplace sounds like. What is one thing that happened to you, in your workplace? Whether at this firm or the firm that you have quit, positive or negative, something that you recall, and you think that would be stuck in your memory? Forever? And it could be an incident that happened?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

It depends on the nature of the person to be honest, in my case. In the old firm, I felt like I am alone, literally. And I am working two shifts, day shifts, and night shifts. I felt like, I am not having enough space for myself. I am not having my own time. You know, like, going to the mall, watching a movie, and playing basketball. I did not have that time. That is not the life I want to live. That was the reason I quit that job. And within this job, it is much better timewise. However, it is about how to connect with people. Communication. That is a good skill to have. Problem Solving. That is a great skill to have. It saved me a lot of time. I was about to make a lot of mistakes but thanks to problem-solving, it has all been done. It is a really important skill to have. The only time that you could learn these skills and your free at that time is in university then in real life you will have time to learn, but the hard way.

Razan Bader Hamed

Yes, you learn the hard way. That is really good to know. I know this path. It has been a little bumpy, but I think it would be bumpy for any fresh graduate. No matter what department they graduate from, but I really like how this has influenced you as a person and where you have come. It is really impressive Mohammed, I must say, I am really proud, and I wish you the best. I would like you to give advice to students as someone who has been in the industry for some time, right now, what is one thing that you have got that you have learned or heard about in university. We used to have a lot of graduates tell us that when you show up to an interview, the way you dress is something extremely critical. What is something you would say to students that would apply for internships and jobs in the future? Things that you learned and you made sure that they are true. For example, how you talk, how you dress up, how you think of things, what were things that really mattered?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

I spent approximately one year, going into the second, applying. Online, going to the offices, walk-in interviews, just like knocking on the door. Here is my CV, I am looking for a job. Literally one year. I did it in Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaima. If I have given up at one moment of my time, I would not be sitting here in Dubai designing projects as a private architect for someone. I would not be able to reach that position at all. Because when you give up, you just throw everything you have. Not only in real life, not only in university, everything. It is like a disease, when you have it, it will compete with you. In order to live or cure yourself of that disease, it will take a lot of time for yourself. Right now you are in university, you have nothing to do. I know what I am saying is kind of weird, but in reality, you literally have nothing to do. You will find yourself sitting for three hours or four hours on Instagram, TikTok, social media, playing video games, doing nothing. Right now, people are making decisions to change their own lifestyles. If you are not doing something, you will be just a human in the herd. Not your own self. You should work hard, harder in the university more than in real life.

Razan Bader Hamed

I totally agree. We always get younger students, telling us we do not have time. We do not have time to work out. We do not have time to read a book. If each one of us looks at the screen time on their phone, and they see how much time they spend on their phone, I will take myself as an example, I spend three hours a day on my phone. And those three hours are not three hours that are continuous, they are like ten minutes over here, fifteen minutes over there. They add up to three hours. So imagine three hours of your entire day, every day is wasted in a way that is not going to be beneficial for you, whether as a student or after you graduate. So I definitely agree with you. We always say time management is key for succeeding in our department, but at the same time managing your time wisely and knowing where to put time and on what is extremely critical. I hope those that are listening to us right now benefit from all the things that you have said and you have mentioned so far. I really appreciate your enthusiasm about this interview and how you are putting a lot of effort into giving information to the students. I will try to be a little quicker, jumping into our last question. How was your thought process as a student and what were your biggest worries? Where do you think you could have done differently? As students, we know that a lot of students, especially in the first and second year are most of the time struggling with many things regarding design, regarding their subjects, regarding their time management. if you went back in time, and you were a student right now, what is one thing you would like to give as advice to the students that are right now in their, second and third year?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

I would do literally the same thing that I used to do. Do not worry about the grades. Do not worry about your GPA. Do not worry about anything on paper. Not even on your degree, do not worry about that. It is about the quality you present. It is how you present it. Oh my God, I am going to get an F in that subject. Or maybe I will fail physics II or something. No, do not worry about that. Nobody cares. We have set ourselves boundaries in our grades. For example, I want to complete a master's, I want to complete a Ph.D. Go ahead, complete your Ph.D. and master's. Yes, some universities ask for a GPA, but there are better choices of universities, but they do not even care about the GPA, they in fact give you an exam in your own program that you studied, to see how good you are. And then they will see if you are good enough to enter the university or not. For example, you have IAAC. Institute of Advanced Architecture in Catalonia, they do not care about your degree, if you want to complete a master's, you can go there. They do not care about anything. When we say I am afraid we add extra intensity to our life and extra suspense that we do not need. Extra stress that we do not need. It might conflict with our work, and maybe even destroy our work. The best thing to do is chill, work hard with quality. Usually, we do such stuff. For example, once I have learned this method in Design IV, I was designing a stadium, and apparently, I needed to design parking for the stadium. And the parking should contain around one thousand or two thousand parking lots. I won't copy-paste every line a thousand times, I do not have time for that, even offsetting it, I won't have time for that. I found that I could fill the lines. It was like one minute of research, I could literally do fill and put the line then I just do the one thousand parking in one click, by just putting the dimensions. This is problem-solving. If I am doing copy, paste, or offset, or using another type of strategy that will take a lot of time. I just solved that problem and just finished it within two minutes. Problem-solving is the key.

Razan Bader Hamed

That is impressive. That is pretty nice. I am happy you have said that if I went back in time, I would do the exact same things that I have done. That means you were doing something right as a student, and I hope the people listening to us do the same. I know sometimes we go back, we wish we did things differently, but in most of the cases, the things that we did and the mistakes that we made, actually made us the people we are today. So I am really happy you shared all those thoughts with us and all the advice. I really appreciate it and I think the listeners and the readers will also appreciate it from you. I would like to close up this interview. I would like to thank you again, for your time and for your presence. I want you to know that it is highly appreciated by everyone in our department and by me especially. You gave us some time of your day to do this interview. I wish you the best of luck and the best of everything in life. All the success you dream of. That is it on my side. Would you like to add anything?

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

You are most welcome. I just wanted to add that the certification exam is applied to all types of engineers and all types of degree holders.

Razan Bader Hamed

Watch me go to all my engineering graduates and tell them to go get their certificates.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

And if you have an electrical engineer friend, just make sure to tell them, you do not only have the municipality certification exam, you have the DEWA certification exam and so many others.

Razan Bader Hamed

It is good to know, it is extremely good.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Sometimes you need to know that there is a storm coming before.

Razan Bader Hamed

Yes, definitely. It is always good to know that there is a storm coming. So that is it for us. Thank you very much, Mohammed.

Mohammed Al-Khafaji

Thanks for hosting.