Heba (pronounced “Hiba”) is the youngest guest Rufus has ever welcomed to the podcast studio. But she has been through a lot. And she has achieved great things. At the age of fourteen, she had to start over after her family fled Syria. She learned German, attended high school, and after tenth grade, decided to pursue a career in IT, just like her brother.
She attended the advanced vocational school for IT and earned her vocational diploma there. And because she wanted to gain additional practical experience in IT afterward, she applied to several companies—including Thomas, one of her favorites.
And today? She completed her apprenticeship in Herdorf long ago. As a Technical Applications and PLM Engineer at Thomas, she manages a central database containing important information on all products. She keeps the content up to date, performs technical updates, and ensures that the database is quickly restored in the event of problems.
What she values most about her job in IT is the variety. No two days are alike. There are hardly any routine tasks; you learn new things every day, she says. Of course, it can be stressful at times. And when a system goes down for once, you need strong nerves. But she’s got those—and besides, everyone on the team supports each other. So it’s no problem if Heba doesn’t immediately understand a strange German idiom or the Herdorf dialect.
She’s already taken on her next challenge: starting this year, she’s been studying business informatics alongside her job. “It’s definitely exhausting and difficult, but if you have the will, you can do it. You have to study every day after work, but so far it’s going well,” she says.And when Heba isn’t working or studying? Then she loves to travel or spend time with her family. Speaking of family: she managed to get her brother excited about Thomas, too. The siblings now both work in the company’s IT department.
Heba shares this and more about her life in the podcast. And of course, she also reveals her favorite snack. Just tune in and listen to her story!
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