The Days in Qatar

— Tsao-Tuo Tsai, Engineer of Equipment Engineering Dept., Group Engineering Business

Could you briefly tell us about yourself?

I joined CTCI as an engineer in Mechanical & Equipment Department almost six years ago.

My work involves preparing requisition, technical evaluation, and review of vendor documents.

After three years staying at Taipei office, I was transferred to Qatar as a field engineer, where I worked for one and a half year.

What made you join CTCI?

For someone like me who has studied mechanical engineering, CTCI offers a great opportunity to put into practice what we have learned at school. More attractively, the CTCI headquarters is also within a walking distance from my home.

Could you share some interesting experience you had when working in CTCI?

A posting to Qatar may not be the most comfortable experience, but it turned out to be the most memorable one in my life. Everything there is so vastly different compared to life in Taiwan. You met co-workers from other countries, you make friends with them, learn something from them, and so everything is new and interesting.

How do you get rid of work stress?

We stayed in a camp inside a restricted industrial area far away from Doha, so the choices weren’t many. 

On weekdays after work, we go to gym to exercise sometimes, and go to basketball courts in other occasions. On weekends, we go to Doha and it is a long ride, but you need to play hard in order to work harder.

Could you give us some examples of the foreign culture and people that impress you during your stay (when being relocated)?

Most of the supervisors and laborers we work with are Indian Muslims, and during Ramadan, the work schedule is quite different compared to other days, the working hours are advanced by two hours, so we have to wake up at 4:00 a.m. Muslims do not eat/drink during day time, so we have to adjust the working schedule during this period. In respect of religious practices, there will be no public activities at shops or restaurants during the daytime, but everything is back to normal after sunset.