Invisible people of BracU: The campus tech warriors

“Everything around us creates our surroundings.” – a cliché statement from our 3rd grade science book that still holds true in everyday undergraduate life. This segment of the series highlights the stories of the unsung ‘lecture savers’, the individuals who come to the rescue when projectors or computers fail mid-class. 3 of these dedicated staff members shared their experiences and reflections on life behind the scenes which is full of dedication often overlooked by many.

Md. Asif Iqbal, in duty of 12th floor F zone, has been working at BracU for 4 years as an office assistant. His working hours start at 7.30 am in the morning and, on most days, end as late as 9.30 pm, almost 3 hours past his contract hour. He mentioned that the long exhaustive hours is the only challenging part of this job as there is no option to leave their workstation in someone else’s hands and no opportunity for refreshments. However, he is content with the relationship he shares with the faculties and students, despite the sudden unexpected behaviour he faces with students at times, leaving him disheartened. Regardless, he still smiled and mentioned how this work is a huge blessing and reflected, “Not everyone will be the same and that’s okay.”

Similarly, Md. Rasedul Islam, who has been working as an office assistant at BracU for 7 years, also faces a tiring journey to reach the campus at 7.30 am everyday. From Mohakhali to Badda, he has seen a massive transformation of the entire student body throughout his time serving here. Most of the days he works overtime after 5.30 pm. He expressed his frustration over how sometimes students are not cooperative, which makes it difficult for him to carry out duties smoothly. From the hardship of everyday’s tiring journey to long shifts of work, none could take away his feeling of gratitude for his job. He mentioned, “Every day of this job is a new memory.” But there is one he will forever cherish. In Mohakhali campus, one student left their iPhone, which he kept safe and returned. He continued, “After I returned the iPhone, that student was so happy, he bought me a piece of cake from outside. This has been the best memory of my job.”

Besides the office assistants who relentlessly work to provide troubleshooting help in classrooms and labs, there is another group of people who are responsible for all the technical debugging and managing equipment at BracU. Firoj Alam (Lab Technical Officer, SoP) is one of the many who provide support by ensuring the systems and softwares are always updated and secured. Hailing from Kurigram, he has a family of 6 and lives with his parents, younger sister, wife and daughter. He describes his work as stable and structured and is required to do 40 hours per week. He shared, “It gets tiring at times when I am required to assist a lot of users with technical troubleshooting, but overall, it’s manageable and rewarding because I enjoy the work and friendly environment.”

These are only a few of the stories of those who are working tirelessly everyday in providing us with a seamless education in the aspect that appears trivial to most of us and are often overlooked. Once again, it is crucial that we do not forget these saviors but instead, celebrate them and acknowledge their stories of struggles and strength.