NURMAN KAMARUDDIN: A GOOD MAN, A GOOD SON, AND A GOOD FATHER

Having already spent a little more than half a decade with us here in ASW, Nurman has seen our MY branch grow into what it is today. We caught up with him for a little chat on what drives him.

Hello Nurman! Thanks for joining us. Let’s start by telling our readers a little bit about yourself.

Thanks for having me! I’m an IT professional and I’ve been with ASW Global in the Malaysia office for five years now. Most of my friends and colleagues know me as the jokester or as the chatterbox, and I wouldn’t disagree with them.

I enjoy sharing trivia and random pieces of information. I love reading, so I have a lot of random interests that I share with people whenever I get that chance. My wife could be talking about something and I’d have an interesting anecdote to share about dinosaurs for example just because it somehow related to our conversation.

Would you care to share a little about your background and how you came to join us?

Well those random interests I told you about got me to some interesting places. I pursued Sports Science and Recreation in my higher education days, which was a considerably odd choice for me back then since I, nor my family, had very little to do with sports in general. In retrospect – it has very little to do with my career as an IT professional today.

However, the novelty of the industry wore off as I graduated and there I was, stuck with credentials that I no longer was interested in. My first job was as a fitness specialist which obviously didn’t last long. I then jumped from job to job trying out different things and figuring out what works for me.

My early adulthood was spent trying to figure myself out. I didn’t know what I wanted and I honestly felt a bit lost. As life would have it, I got involved in the tech industry through a different combination of jobs, and eventually found myself becoming part of ASW MY’s initial IT team.

Tell us about your experience working with ASW.

I remember my first day here. My first daughter was born about a month before I first started, and adulthood hit me hard then. It was a very new experience for me. There I was coming to an office where I was determined to kickstart a career, and I actually had a kid at home.

With this grand sense of responsibility, I began dedicating myself to the job. I was one of the first few to be selected for a training session in Manila. I considered this a milestone because I was chosen based on performance, and that to me was a recognition of my efforts. The ASW MY office at the time was still considerably small with just a handful of us, but to have been selected and invested in by the company gave me quite the confidence boost.

I’ve continued to grow since then and I got to see the office grow into what it is today. I can’t believe I’ve been here for a little over five years now. We used to all be gathered in one office, and now we’re spread across three really nice offices which is pretty cool to have experienced.

We’re very happy to hear that. What’s your day-to-day like?

Well, it’s almost always never the same. That’s something that kept things interesting for me at work. I work on back-to-back projects and each project has its own rewards and challenges. Far from being a boring work environment.

I also greatly enjoy working with my colleagues. They’re excellent at what they do and seeing them pursue their own respective fields has always inspired me. There is always something that can be learned, and always something that can be taught. This is something I had grown into. The younger me wouldn’t have even considered it possible as a potential career option.

I really owe this to my father. He brought me up to understand that life is a big and wonderful thing and that we owe it to ourselves to find out what life has in store for us.

That’s lovely. Your father played an influential role obviously.

Very much so. In fact, it was him that really shook me to find purpose and meaning in my life and it was him that led me to where I am today. I have a lot of love for that man.

Okay, we see that there’s a story there. Would you mind sharing with us?

I’d love to. My father was the central role of our family as I grew up. More than just a breadwinner, he played an active role in our lives. We moved around a lot in our early years which meant I didn’t get the chance to form any close relationships with kids my age. I have three other siblings, and he did his best to really get to know us individually and nurture us on our own terms.

We relied on him for comfort and advice but that came crashing down when he got a heart attack about six years ago. It really frightened all of us because this was a man who rarely fell sick and is the rope that tied us all together. He recovered, but it snapped me out of my cosy little world and made me take stock of what I was doing with my life. I realised I needed to get my affairs in order quickly.

Your father is a strong influence in your life, and now you have a family of your own. Talk to us about your role as a father.

I’m a father to two amazing and very talkative kids. Eldest is six, while the second is three years old. 

I matured a lot through them and almost all my actions are about wanting to make my kids proud. It’s a daily learning process for me. They make me want to do my best and set a good example as well as I can. Not just in front of them you know but become someone they can genuinely look up to the way I did to my father.

So how do you spend your time outside the workplace?

My life is pretty docile nowadays actually. I used to let loose and take risks, but now I just think how dangerous it is and what would my family do if anything bad were to happen to me. Back then my Sports Science background had led me to try out more risky activities like bungee jumping and ATVs, but that was a lifetime ago. I’m a family man now, dad-bod and all.

These days it’s playgrounds, dining out, and family outings – just really spending time with the family. I want to be there in the moment watching my kids grow up and appreciate my wife by our side. I’m due to take them out on another holiday so that’s next on my to-do list.

That was wonderful. Thank you Nurman for the real talk. It’s been inspirational.