Skip to main content
Applied Sciences › Computing Science
SFU Co-op Student

Triumph person cheering
Image the surprise on my face, when 15 minutes later I got an email saying that I was hired! It was unbelievable.

I have a neurological disability called stuttering which makes it hard for me to talk. I was often unable talk to people, let alone have a meaningful conversation. If I did converse with somebody, it would just be bare bone to get the message across, no pleasantries or small talk. I’ve often stayed up in the middle of the night wondering if I’ll ever be able to lead a normal life, or even get a job.

A year ago, I got a job interview at BlackBerry for a Software Development position. These interviews are very hard because they are often conducted by multiple people and cover a wide variety of technical and behavioral questions. During my interview, I stuttered a lot. This made me more nervous, which lead to more stuttering. What really surprised me was that everybody was listening to me patiently. This calmed me down enough to finish the interview. I knew that I had impressed my interviewers, but I was sure I wouldn’t get the job because of my stuttering disability.

Image the surprise on my face, when 15 minutes later I got an email saying that I was hired! It was unbelievable. I had finally done what I had thought was impossible. When I started my job at BlackBerry, I asked my interviewers why they chose me. They simply said that I had the right set of skills for the job; they didn’t really care about my stuttering. 

Stuttering is just a small part of my personality, but I had blown it out of proportion and made it a huge deal. In the end, it turns out that people don’t really care about my disability, they care about the person behind the disability.

While I was interning with Blackberry, I heard about an organization called Lime Connect. I became an ambassador of Lime Connect because it is an organization that is focused on the talent of individuals who happen to have a disability. We partner with companies such as BMO, IBM, PepsiCo, RBC, TD & Google to provide students with scholarships and internships and to provide grads with full-time job opportunities. Join us at our information session on October 1 from 11am to 12pm or 1pm to 2pm at MBC 0300. 

 

SFU Co-op Student
Contact Raymon Gulati at raymon.gulati@yahoo.com.  
visibility  104
Sep 23, 2014

You Might Like These... Co-op Reflections, Professional Development, Career Exploration, Seeking, Work Term Extension

author, courtney, smiling
A Second Term in Government: More of the Same?

Having completed my first work term for Health Canada as a Communications Officer Intern, I was eager to try something new, and the government was not where I believed that was going to happen. That is until I was offered a position at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada...

picture of glichelle pondering a though
Surviving Workplace Politics

Ever been peeved with workplace politics? Have you ever been a victim of office politics? One student shares her experiences from the workplace with tips on how to survive.

 

person with their head in a book
Responsibility and Success

One of the most memorable parts of my time in co-op was the collection of accidents, errors, mistakes, and mix-ups that happened in the course of working in the laboratory.

 

You Might Like These... Work Term Extension

Image of Emily
5 Tips on Expanding your Responsibilities and Taking Initiative on Your Work Term

During their second co-op work term, Emily learned many ways to take on a larger workload and add new skills to their resume. Here are five tips to take initiative in the work place in order to better both your own and your employers' experience. Taking on new and different tasks at work can improve your team productivity, increase what you take away from the term, impress your supervisor, and make your days go by more quickly. 

picture of the theatre district in new york with lots of advertisements
Communication: So You Love Advertising, But Don’t Know How to Get in the Door

With a love for marketing and advertising, Communication student Lilian Sue discovers how to break into the industry and finds great online resources to improve one's creativity skills during her search.

Laura in a canoe
My Summer In Whistler

For Laura Lush's fourth Co-op work-term she had the opportunity to work with Tamwood International College in beautiful Whistler, BC. Read about her experience here.