“What I love about the people here is that they are great lis­te­ners”

Kamal Singh came to Oulu in 2010 for his stu­dies from India. At the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, he stu­died to be a wire­less com­mu­nica­tion engi­neer. Cur­rent­ly, Kamal is wor­king as a Network Coor­di­na­tor, and also mana­ging a pro­ject for Star­tup Refu­gees.

Who

Hi, I am Kamal Singh. I came to Oulu in 2010 for my stu­dies from India. At the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, I stu­died to be a wire­less com­mu­nica­tion engi­neer. I stu­died elect­ro­nic and com­mu­nica­tions engi­nee­ring in India and wor­ked for a few IT MNCs until I got the chance to stu­dy in Fin­land. Living for over a deca­de now, I love this sere­ne and beau­ti­ful city.

Why

I cho­se Fin­land because it was a ‘known’ place for me, as my aunt and cousins live in Hel­sin­ki and my sis­ter lived here for a few years as well. I came to know about the master’s pro­gram in wire­less com­mu­nica­tion and I knew that Oulu is one of the pio­neers in telecom­mu­nica­tions. When I applied, I got selec­ted. Back in 2010, the­re were no tui­tion fees, so I got a full scho­lars­hip.

Why Oulu? Oulu to me is a great place to be, for a per­fect work-lei­su­re balance. The city is qui­te relaxed, and people are qui­te humble. Oulu was the first city I came to in Fin­land. I remem­ber it was in August 2010.

The uni­ver­si­ty was emp­ty because the new stu­dents only start coming in Sep­tem­ber. I had mixed fee­lings because I was all alo­ne, but at the same time, natu­re made me com­for­table. Being my first count­ry out of India, Fin­land is always special to me.

What

The best thing in Oulu is the natu­re and the dedica­ted paths for biking. I love tho­se mar­ked paths for bikes because I enjoy biking. The sere­ne, balanced life here is great com­pa­red to the fast-paced big cities like Hel­sin­ki. Biking, hiking, Nor­dic wal­king, and cam­ping are just a few options.

For stu­dents, to get a feel of the city, get your­self a bike. My advice to any­one coming here from abroad would be to invest in a good pair of shoes and good win­ter clot­hes. As they say, ‘the­re is no such thing as bad weat­her, but bad clot­hing!’ Stu­dents also have an option to play indoor games, which are qui­te affor­dable.

What I love about the people here is that they are great lis­te­ners. They are kind and once they know you, they would be your super­power. They will sup­port you in the best pos­sible way. People apprecia­te it if you learn their lan­gua­ge, or even when you try to speak it, they will not laugh at all. They apprecia­te the ini­tia­tion and the effort.

Whe­re

Cur­rent­ly, I am wor­king as a Network Coor­di­na­tor, and also mana­ging a pro­ject for Star­tup Refu­gees. I star­ted wor­king for them in 2021. I col­la­bo­ra­te with com­pa­nies in Nort­hern Ostro­both­nia and try to bring emplo­y­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for job­see­kers.

Till now I have hel­ped 76 job­see­kers emplo­yed and col­la­bo­ra­ted with more than 30 com­pa­nies, and 5 schools in Oulu. It is a rewar­ding job. In com­pa­ri­son to whe­re I come from, the work cul­tu­re here is very dif­fe­rent. Wor­king in the Fin­nish envi­ron­ment is a great expe­rience for me. They have rou­ti­nes that are fol­lowed.

My futu­re plan? One day, I would like to be in poli­tics. I real­ly want to chan­ge immi­gra­tion policies in Fin­land. Many immi­grants in Fin­land, don’t think of ente­ring poli­tics. One of the rea­sons is the lan­gua­ge bar­rier, which is crea­ting a gap between immi­grants and nati­ves. I would like to see immi­grants, ente­ring poli­tics so that they can make a chan­ge.

This article was ori­gi­nal­ly publis­hed at oulutalenthub.fi
Text: She­fat Islam

Oulu Talent Hub

• Oulu Talent Hub brings toget­her and deve­lops regio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties and ser­vices for inter­na­tio­nal rec­ruit­ment.
• Oulu Talent Hub offers talents, for example, con­tacts with local com­pa­nies, match­ma­king events and info ses­sions, com­pa­ny visits, a tan­dem model for interns­hip pro­gram­mes and career coun­sel­ling. For Oulu Talent Hub, inter­na­tio­nal talent is defi­ned as inter­na­tio­nal specia­lists, emplo­yees, researc­hers and stu­dents.
• Oulu Talent Hub aims to pro­mo­te inter­na­tio­nal talent emplo­y­ment to com­pa­nies in the Oulu region and open up emplo­y­ment paths for inter­na­tio­nal talent.
• Pro­ject part­ners are Business­Oulu, Oulu Cham­ber of Com­merce, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sciences and Oulu Voca­tio­nal Col­le­ge.
• The pro­ject is fun­ded by The Euro­pean Social Fund, ESF.
• Learn more about Oulu Talent Hub at oulutalenthub.fi.

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Shar­min Farah: “Nort­hern Lights – the best thing to expe­rience whi­le living in Oulu”

Vik­tors Sobo­levs: “If you want to work in Oulu, belie­ve in your­self and push hard”

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