Wind of change coming my way

I made a BIG decision last week when I was in Singapore, in regards to my work. Actually before I went to Singapore I already being scheduled for a job interview there. On that day I rushed from my work directly to Fullerton hotel for the interview. Gosh I was so nervous because I have not gone through any job interview (as interviewee) in the past 10 years! My palm was sweating and I don’t know what to be expected.Its a European company which has production, sales, and R&D centers across the world. Market leader in modern energy. (Can’t reveal more at the moment)

The interviewer consists of 3 nationalities: German, Denmark and India. The whole interview session lasted for almost 1.5 hours and by the time I walked out of the room i felt so exhausted I would rate my performance only a 7/10 because there were several questions that I didn’t manage to answer properly. But I think they liked my character as I was being honest and straightforward to them. During the interview, unconsciously I always used the word ‘we’ instead of ‘I’. The guy stopped me and asked why I phrase my answer in such a way, then I realized it and told them that I have been working with my team so its always a ‘we’ and not ‘I’. I thought it was wrong for me to not emphasize my value, but they told me they appreciate it very much, they want people whole can work as a team, because in their company there’s only the team, and no individuals. So I think I strike a home-run with that, unconsciously   Anyway I didn’t put any high hope of making the cut because I felt that the gap between my capabilities and the one that they were looking for was quite substantial.

But next day the agent called me (the arrangement was done through an agent), and said that they accepted me and told me the salary that they would be offering. Its quite a substantial increase from what I am having now (even without considering the exchange rate). But after some discussion with my good friend/colleague in Singapore, I upped my request and finally they accepted. And they gave me some reallocation allowance too, although I didn’t ask for it. Such a generous company. As part of the initiation/training program they will send me and other newcomers to Denmark for 2 months, that sounds excellent for me

I was so anxious and I don’t know what I should do next, because my boss is currently arranging my visit to Japan in order to discuss my future career path. Finally I decided to talk to my boss openly and he understood my rationale behind the decision and agreed with it. I know he must be very disappointed with my decision to quit the company but ultimately as a friend he hoped that I can have a brighter future, as compared to what is possible in the current company.

All in all I was very grateful for my boss to accept my decision whole heartedly. Its never an easy decision on my part but after considering many things (work prospect, pay, my wife, parents etc etc), I felt that the timing was right for me to have a career change, and hopefully a good turning point in my life.

My girlfriend was so shocked with the speed of my decision. The man that she knows always lived in a comfort zone and very seldom make a big decision in such a speedy manner. She worried that I will be ‘downgraded’ when I took up the new job because it seems like I am will not be involved in management area, instead I will be specifically assigned to a particular functional area. But I talked to her that one can excel no matter in what condition, as long as we work enthusiastically and of course smartly. She always thought that I wanted to work in Japan with present company, and I would definitely reluctant to work in Singapore. All in all I managed to surprised her, something that only happen once in a blue moon

Anyway, I have yet to tender in my resignation, because I have yet to receive the offer letter from the company as they need some time to prepare it. I hope next week I can receive it, and then I shall inform my management officially of my decision. Nonetheless, I have inform my boss (2 of them actually) about my consideration, I don’t want to come to office and just give them the resignation letter, I think I have been working with them for 12 years and they been taking good care of me, so I should at least let them know what’s going on, as a sign of respect to them.

Well, I am definitely looking forward for the new challenges, Its time for me to breath in ‘new’ air, European air that is, after inhaling Japanese air for so long Everyone that I know, who walked out of the Japanese ‘door’ to European/American company told me of the big culture difference, so its about time for me to find it out.

I will disclose more about my new employment in due course, after I put my signature on the dotted line

Cheers!

Anwar wins in Permatang Pauh re-election

Yes! Anwar won the Permatang Pauh’s re-election by a very convincing margin. I don’t really understand the whole political scene in Malaysia as it is very confusing right now, but I think his victory shows that no matter what the government says about him, he is still well supported by the people (at least the PP people).

What can we, or at least I can look forward for after his victory ? Frankly I am not sure…. Of course the opposition’s power in the House will be much greater now as they have their inspiring leader leading the charge. Hopefully there will be a much more check-and-balance in terms of how to govern our beloved country.

On the other hand, everyone is talking about the possibility (or the lack of it) for the opposition to topple BN come 16th Sept. I am not sure it is a good thing or not if It really happens. Will there be another 513 incidents ? I am very much worry about this because lately still some stupids from both side of the camp taunting racism speech and thoughts. We are now into 51 years of independent and yet still such idiot exist in our country. All these political instability is not going to help the people to get through daily’s life easily. With the price of everything under the sun is going up up up, lets hope the government (whether BN or PR) will pay attention to serving the people, and not their own political interests.

Well, lets wait and see what will happened eventually. I hope that everyone will be rational enough and don’t get emotional with the political scene in our country. Lets leave the political issues to the politicians, we shall judge them on how they serve us, and If they are screwing us then we should make sure we vote for the right people next time.

On a personal level, I just hope that I can go through my life in a safe and progressive environment. I wish that everyone will be treated fairly (if not equally), regardless whether you are Ali, Ah Kau or Sami.

By the way, Happy Independence Day!

Cheers!

My new phone :) Samsung I550W

Just came back from 2 weeks of business trip in Singapore. My whole body is very stiff now, got to go for massage later

Sorry for being lagging in updating my blog. It is impossible for me to update my blog during office hour, and in the hotel there’s no free internet access (they charge SDL 1/minute which is damn ridiculous!) On and off I managed to ‘piggy-back’ on some open Wifi connection but since I am staying on 12th floor so its hard to get a constant and fast connection.

Anyway, several things happened during the period I was in Singapore, so got to spend some time to update it here, in several posts.

First of all, yay got a new phone for myself Samsung I550W. I like it very much although initially I wanted to get myself a smartphone Samsung i780. But since my finance minister (girlfriend) is with me when I bought my phone obviously I will make a much rational choice Here’s the photo (took from some other website but its exactly the same)

The reason that I choose this model is that it is light, quick response, bright and nice 2.6″ screen, stable OS (Symbian S60V3FP1), and It is feature packed : Wifi, GPS, 3G. Overall the price/feature/performance of this phone wins me over, compared to Nokia E66 or E71 or other models.

After 1 week of using it, i would say that I am quite satisfied with the phone, although the track-ball type of navigation needs some time to get used too, and I have not successfully try out the Wifi and GPS feature. None the less the phone response is much more faster compared to my old N70 phone.

I spend SDL 510 on this phone, bought from Little India’s Mustapha shop. Unfortunately when I thought I got the best deal in town then I saw advert on Singtel, which offering this model without plan for SDL 495, and to my further disappointment, my colleague’s husband bought the same model few days later in COMMEX (sort of IT fair in S’pore) for SDL 460. Huh!!!! Anyway, life moves on

Later I got to buy a LCD protector, as well as a phone case, otherwise it will be scratched easily.

Hopefully this time around I will not loss my phone again…..

Cheers!