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In our NORMAPeople series, employees around the world talk about their day-to-day work, how they came to the company and what they appreciate most about their jobs.
Burcu Altintas has been with NORMA Group for nearly three years. She just moved from Istanbul, Turkey, to Sweden and has been working at our Gothenburg site for the past eight months. In this interview, she talks about the changes her move has brought about – both professionally and personally.
Burcu, what do you do at NORMA Group?
I work as an Account Manager for one of our largest automotive customers. It’s a really exciting job, but it’s also very challenging. There are new challenges that need to be dealt with every day like price changes.
What is the best experience you have had at the company?
The emigration process. My life is very different today than it was a year ago. There are so many things I have learned, and I feel like a different person.
Why did you move to Sweden?
I believe that getting out of your comfort zone gives you more energy and helps you to move forward in every respect: The only way to experience new cultures and countries is to think outside the box. I’m constantly changing here and getting to know so many things, including Swedish food, Swedish culture and the Swedish language.
“Life here is slower, people are more relaxed.”
I also spend far fewer hours in the car than I did in Istanbul. We have a lot of traffic there: There are about 15 million people in Istanbul alone, while there are only around ten million in all of Sweden.
How different is your private life in Sweden from before?
My private life at home has remained the same because I moved with my husband and my cat. But I don’t have that many friends here yet. I am very lucky, though, because one of my closest friends lives in Gothenburg. We are closer now than we have been for a long time.
Of course, I miss my family and Turkish food, which is very important to me. The weather is also completely different, I have experienced temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius here. That was a first for me. And the Swedish winters are quite long. They go on for five months and bring with a lot of darkness.
And your professional life?
I basically work in the same position as in Turkey. Back in Istanbul, I was responsible for a smaller Turkish customer. So that means I have much more responsibility now. When I was still working in Turkey, I didn’t have very much contact with other NORMA Group sites. But now I get lots of inquiries every day from Sweden, UK, Germany, France, Serbia, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Another challenge is the language – I speak English here all the time. Before moving to Sweden, I attended meetings where I would speak English, but now I have to speak it every day. And that’s a big change.
“But my colleagues are very friendly and helpful, they are always willing to listen to my questions.”
I’m currently learning Swedish, but I can’t estimate when I’ll speak it fluently – maybe in about two years.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Yoga is my great passion; I am also a yoga teacher. I have even found three students here that I teach. Yoga is an integral part of my routine – I do yoga every morning or after work.
In Turkey, my other hobbies were scuba diving and camping, which is not possible in Sweden at the moment because it’s winter here and therefore too cold and dark. But I hope I can find some good places to dive and camp in the summer. The landscape here is so beautiful.
What are your goals for the future?
I don’t like to think too much about the future. I focus on today and maybe tomorrow. I just want to live a happy, relaxed and enjoyable life.
