From a small classroom in Hyderabad to a career built in Dubai.

I was born into a large family with six siblings — four brothers and two sisters — where financial hardship was a constant part of life. My father, the sole breadwinner, cycled forty to forty-five kilometres every day to provide for us. My mother stitched clothes at home to help. Life was a daily struggle, but their dedication left an indelible mark on me.

Being the fourth child meant I was spared much of the pressure that weighed on my older siblings — particularly my eldest brother, who carried the weight of expectation. While my family worked hard to make ends meet, quality education was out of reach. I attended a government school where learning was minimal, and with Urdu as my mother tongue, studying in English was an immense challenge.

I struggled throughout school and even failed my 10th-grade English exam — a setback that felt overwhelming in a system where every subject was taught and examined in English. I didn't give up. I took private tuition, attempted again, and eventually passed.

College was not an option. At just fifteen, I knew I had to contribute. I enrolled in air conditioning and refrigeration at Sir Syed Industrial Training Institute (ITI), and began practicing as an AC technician at my uncle's shop. Honest work — but a growing desire for something more.

Then a single piece of information changed my life: Sir Syed ITI had started offering computer courses. A Diploma in Computer Applications — MS-DOS, early versions of Windows. That was the beginning.

My father was an ex-serviceman with the CRPF before taking voluntary retirement to be closer to family. He later worked as a Physical Security Supervisor at Vijaya Dairy Farm, one of the largest state-owned dairy farms. A man of quiet wisdom, especially when it came to me.

He recognised early on that my struggle with English wasn't just a school problem — it was a barrier to any future career in IT, where English was the primary medium. In 2000 he enrolled me at Russel's Spoken English Institute in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad — one of the best at the time, and quite expensive for him.

Without that foresight, pursuing IT would not have been possible.

After the MCSE course I was eager to sit the certification exams and formally validate my skills. Each exam cost 2,000 rupees, and with a minimum of six exams required, it was beyond my father's means.

Seeing my determination, my mother turned to someone whose support had always been unconditional — my grandmother, Syeda Khadija Begum. The heart of our family. A woman of immense kindness and wisdom.

Without hesitation, she said she would support me. What made the gesture truly remarkable is that she had no personal income of her own; with the unwavering support of her sons — my uncles — she made sure I had the financial help I needed.

That first IT certification opened doors I never imagined possible. I carry deep gratitude for her belief in me, and for the sacrifices made by my uncles — without them, this journey might have taken a very different path.

Mr. Noble Mohsin, the owner of Zoom Technologies, noticed how much time I was spending in the labs and offered me a position as a Lab Assistant for the MCSE course.

That was the official start of my professional IT career. I transitioned from lab assistant to trainer — teaching the very topics I had once struggled with. The job gave me financial independence and, more importantly, the confidence and communication skills that confirmed IT was the right path.

Zoom Technologies — the beginning. I joined as a Lab Instructor, earned my first salary, and was soon promoted to Trainer. I taught batches of 20–30 working professionals, simplifying complex topics. I hadn't yet graduated, but my MCSE certification gave me the credibility to teach effectively. Eventually I needed deeper, hands-on exposure beyond the classroom.

RAS Infotech — stepping into IT support. Six months after moving to Dubai, I resigned from Zoom and joined RAS Infotech as a Technical Support Engineer — the company's first technical support resource. Over time I became Consultant for Enterprise Solutions, working across pre-sales consulting, proof-of-concept execution and after-sales deployment. Through a MEA-region distributor, I trained on NetIQ and Marshal Software in London — my first overseas assignment. After nearly six years, the pull toward internal IT operations returned.

Future Pipe Industries (FPi) — a deep dive into infrastructure. At FPi I gained hands-on experience with servers, storage and core IT infrastructure during a global IT transformation programme that centralised infrastructure across manufacturing sites worldwide. It was the project that turned me from a product specialist into someone who could design and run enterprise infrastructure end-to-end.

DEWA and Moro Hub — into cloud and security at scale. Moving into the Dubai government ecosystem with DEWA, and later Moro Hub, put me in front of real, large-scale cloud, hybrid and cybersecurity challenges. That's where the certifications I now hold — Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Cybersecurity Architect Expert, CISSP, CCSK — were earned the only way they should be: through the work itself.

And that's how I arrived at DubaiLearns — translating two decades of real projects into training that actually prepares people for the job, not just the exam.