Linguists: meet the team - Mohamed

"I applied to GCHQ after seeing an advert for rare linguists.

I was a financial officer in another government department before joining GCHQ, with an HND in Mathematics and Computing, but the advert did not call for formal language qualifications, just a high standard of language knowledge. I was intrigued by the mystique surrounding the organisation and was keen to find out more about the place.

I work in a team of three, and the most important skills to have apart from the obvious linguistic ones are common sense and an awareness that you work in a unique organisation. You also have to be quick thinking and have good judgement when you're translating and analysing. Communication skills, written as well as oral, are important and a knowledge of the area you cover is also an advantage.

In my experience GCHQ is a very forward thinking organisation. Being surrounded by cutting edge technology seems to influence the ethos of the place. The working conditions are geared to meeting staff personal requirements. There's full flexitime, and you get paid for any overtime.

Personal development is also a big aspect of the culture at GCHQ. There are numerous memos advertising a vast range of courses. As long as there is some connection to your work, management is more than willing to support these courses.

In terms of equal opportunities, I do not sense any prejudice at GCHQ. In fact, the organisation appears very keen on embracing diversity. They are very understanding about my needs as a practising Muslim. Taking time off for Friday prayers is never a problem and I was even asked if I wanted a private prayer room. I've also been asked to join a special working group on recruiting more ethnic minorities into the organisation.

I find the work at GCHQ very satisfying and I definitely recommend it to anyone else. There's nothing dubious or immoral about what GCHQ does. It helps safeguard UK security and I have no ethical problem with that."

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