DA alumnus Oliver Authried on his career since graduating from ETIA 07 in 2015

I fondly remember my time at the Diplomatische Akademie Wien. When I first set foot on the premises, the air and the fact that I was so excited to start this chapter in my life. For me, being admitted to the Diplomatic Academy was a dream come true – not only did I wish to pursue an international career, for which I felt the DA was the right place to be prepared for, I also looked forward to learning something new.

Luckily, I could quickly adapt to the academic life at the DA, which was challenging at first – coming from a “traditional” University of Vienna background – but exciting all along! The diversity and thematic areas quickly showed me that I was on the right track to be prepared for the environment in international organizations or other internationally oriented jobs. The insights into international law, European law, combined with economics, the technical and scientific knowledge at the Technical University in ETIA’s second year could give me valuable insights and eventually landed me an internship in an international organization soon after my graduation – and I remained there ever since.

The extension and honing of my skills – not only the knowledge and lectures – at the DA were a major driving force in enabling me to understand the requirements at UNIDO, for which I work now in project management and implementation. The multidisciplinarity of my work, constantly being exposed to new topics and fields, wouldn’t be so easy to understand if I hadn’t had exactly that approach being taught at the DA and Vienna University of Technology.

I still thoroughly enjoy this challenging international environment, where my flexibility is needed to adjust to different projects contexts, and work in various environments without much time to adapt – and I continue to relish the opportunities thrown at me from each corner of the globe. I am now at a time in my career, where I can say with certainty that my time at the DA has helped me overcome challenges I didn’t see coming, and will continue to help me during the next phase of my professional career.

[April 2021]