What was Rahim's goal in life before the outbreak? Was he studying? Working? What career was he in, or wanted to be in?
Oh, wow, I actually had a post talking about almost this exact thing in my queue for a couple weeks now. Itās scary how on point this question is.
Strap in, because thereās a lot of context for this answer and it got extremely long.
Something Iāve thought about a lot is how often we see or hear Rahim manning the radios in the Tower. One of the first things we see him doing is fiddling with the radio trying to get in contact with Mark, who had gone missing. The quartermaster later says āRahim radioed me about youā when we first go to him for supplies. As Crane goes about the prologue he regularly reports back to Rahim and Rahim checks in on him.
Point being, Rahim is on the radios a lot. It seems he has a lot of responsibility on them. I donāt get the impression that heās just chatting with Crane for kicks. (Although, donāt get me wrong, I do think Rahim warms up to Crane rather quickly and definitely enjoys harassing him over radio.)
Rahim also mentions later that āall [he] can do is watch⦠sit on [his] ass⦠and do nothing,ā implying that he may not go out to run missions as often as other runners.
What if they try to keep Rahim on the radios because heās good with them? Good with electronics? He knows how to (kind of) piece things together and make them work?
Thereās even a side mission where you have to find electronics for Rahim because he wants to build a ārobotic runner,ā which I donāt take super seriously and I donāt think Rahim does either, but itās at least worth noting that he wanted electronic parts for a project and has some concept of working with them.
What if, Rahim was into in electronic engineering when the outbreak happened?
I believe Rahim and Jade grew up in the slums, considering Jade mentions that ā[she] remember[s] playing [at the school] as a kid.ā Can you imagine them having some cheap old radio or tv that stops working and little kid Rahim, after fiddling with it for a while, somehow makes it work again? (Probably more from luck than actual know-how the first time, but it doesnāt keep Rahim from being thrilled with himself.)
He wants to learn more. What if he could fix all of his familyās electronics whenever they break? He starts fantasizing about piecing together crazy contraptions from scraps. Better cell reception. Free WiFi.
Thereās a chance Rahim didnāt have the funds right out of public school to go to university, so he works what entry level jobs he could to save up. At the same time, Jade was making a name for herself in kickboxing.
Heās drafted for mandatory military service, but since gay men canāt serve in the Turkish military, (and I personally headcanon Rahim as gay) he avoids it by coming out. Thereās a little bit of drama following that and with a pink certificate finding work is a little harder, but his family is supportive and he starts to get things back on track.
The details get a little fuzzy from here, but the next couple years are Rahim wanting to taste freedom and independence while trying to concentrate on going to school. Heās also caught between wanting to go do fun, selfish things and helping support his family. Of course, heās a little shit disturber during all of this and gets distracted just being a young adult.
Jade wins her first championship and uses the money to move their parents into more comfortable housing. She offers to help pay for Rahimās schooling. No one in the Aldemir family is too proud to accept the help.
Now, donāt get me wrong, by the time the outbreak happens, heās not that skilled yet at what he does. Spike manages the traps, safe zones, and electric grid for the district. Alfie takes care of all the electrical Tower maintenance. Rahim on the other hand, is no expert. Thereās still a decent amount of guesswork and percussive maintenance when he deals with the radios, but he definitely knows more than the average Joe-schmoe and it makes him the best candidate for Tower Receptionist.
Rahim wants to bring better communication and technologies to his slum. Heās definitely a product of his generation and sees the importance of social media and internet access. He wants to make things better than they are, create things that will make tasks more convenient for people, give people more access to tools to better help their situations.
All of this is further broadened by the everything going on in Harran. Itās what makes Rahim want to focus specifically on broadcast and telecommunications engineering, which are subdivisions of electronic engineering that have to do with radio and tv broadcasting, data transmission, wired and wireless communication, and the the technology to make it all work.
Rahim watches lives being risked by the lack of radio communication. He watches Zere struggle to find a cure with Camden over a static-ridden connection. The city is threatened because the ministry is able to pretend no one is left alive because no one in the quarantine has access to the outside world.
Post Harran, Rahim wants to move on to work on establishing/strengthening communication and data transmission in low income towns in Turkey and, possibly then, places around the world. Even though the jamming was the result of a government level intervention, he wants to do whatever he can to at least try to make sure no group of people can ever be threatened in the same way Harran was.
[Rahimās interest in telecommunications can also tie into the headcanon I have about our heroes getting a weak internet signal and using it to spread awareness of Harran through social media.]
Another idea Iāve had though, is that instead of the electronic engineering path, I could also imagine Rahim volunteering as a disaster relief aid for tragedies that happen around the world: war, natural disasters, poverty. He knows he has the ability to survive these messes because nothing will scare him more than Harran. His need to be doing something to help never fades.