Lesson learned
I finally found motivation in my new workplace!
To be frank, I am still, not inspired by my current reporting manager. Haha. I have always felt that the greatest motivation at work is to be able to work under a highly esteemed manager, someone who can inspire you to perform and move forward. Such managers exist in my previous employments. I wasn't impelled at all during the past three weeks at work. Laziness began to set in and I became less productive.
Back to The Drive.
We have weekly meetings with our Head of Department. I joined this meeting for the first time today. This HOD leads a few teams including my team (the Workflow team), the SAP team, the B2B team and the Java team. That is all the teams I could remember for now hehe.
What is so great about him? For one, he could talk non-stop with no nonsense at all. Every word that came out of his mouth was either informational or something that could put you in deep thoughts. Secondly, he knows his teams very well and the projects that they do from bottom up. I realised this during a previous meeting that we had with our CIO (chief information officer) earlier this week. There was a small conflict of interest during the meeting. To make it short, our CIO wasn't too impressed by what team X was doing, he had expected faster delivery and he could not understand what was so difficult with the project. Mr HOD defended team X, with very detailed information about the project. At that time, the only thing that came through my mind was, How could he remember every detail so well? I mean, as a HOD who has so many teams under his wings, ah.. Lastly, I kind of admire his management ability or ummm, philosophy? He is one who does not believe 100% in Customer is always right, although the Company's motto is CITOP (customer is top) haha. He believes in his team, very very much. He encourages us, the technical people to drill down into the business in order to deliver a good solution. This.. I know very well already but he made it sounded more important that I have to continue working to achieve this!
Life of An Immigrant Worker
It is pretty much a routined life. My usual day starts at 7:30AM and ends at 10:00-11:00PM.
7:00AM - Biological alarm triggers, lazes on bed.
7:30AM - Prepare for work.
8:10AM - Journey to office begins! It is a 7-minute brisk walk; passing by a few blocks of flats and a secondary school.
The flats near my area
Walking out of the flats
Towards Street 23, where my office is situated
Onward to St. 23
Almost there... The building is at the end of the road
8:20AM - Off to the canteen to get a cup of black coffee.
8:30AM - Work starts!
5:30PM - Office hour officially ends at this time but on a busy day, I may need to stay to finish certain tasks.
Finally, off to dinner with KC!
That's about it, the life of an immigrant worker.
The Decision
Just less than two months ago, I made the decision to bring forward my career to a foreign country, Singapore. I first had this thought almost the same time last year but it was never executed, blame it to insufficient self-motivation.
After the decision comes the blessing.
I knew I had to get mom's blessing before putting anything into execution.
It was not easy. She was all hyper when we talked about the good sides of working there but when I relayed The Decision to her, there seemed to be more disadvantages than advantages now.
For a start, Mom thought I wasn't serious. I had to constantly bring up the topic, use several nights to persuade and assure her that it wasn't a decision made overnight at all.
Once I got a nod from her, I went to job sites and browsed the directories right away.
I knew from the beginning that it will not be easy to leave an impression and be selected for an interview because of my residency status and my availability period.
I tried really hard each night and finally, calls were coming in! There were a few phone interviews but only one really caught my interest.
Believe it or not, from my first job to my second job, it was the personalities and values of both managers that aided in my decision in accepting the job offers. I have some weird instincts every time I attend an interview. I would know from the moment the interviewer started speaking.
Isaac had this father's value in him. He gives good motivation to you. He was the one who made me realised that I could make it big, that I should learn to make decisions for the company regardless of my role and importance to the company (I was just few months old) and that the only rule of thumb here for a good decision is one that benefits the company.
EngLai also left the same impression to me. I never knew why I was hired because I felt I did badly during the interview. It was after 6 and I was so tired after work that day. I was all nervous and I took quite long to answer certain questions thrown to me.
To top it up, I never had working experience in the skill sets that they required but he trusted me in my very first assignment.
He said to me that he was taking a gamble and he was lucky to find himself a winner.
So there goes my instincts, being put at test again. I could feel the person interviewing me on the phone. He has given me that same kind of impression that both my previous managers had. I knew right away that this is it! I was invited for a second interview at Ulu Kelang, Ampang. My meeting with Steven confirmed my instincts. After a strings of discussions, I accepted their offer and I am required to report to work on Aug-17th!
That marks the end of The Decision and here comes, The Preparation!
Featured
Archives
Elsewhere
Recent Comments
- peiyee on Revisiting 2011
- Revisiting 2011 | Voices from within on 2011?
- fish on The Heart Says,..
- hoongmooi on The Heart Says,..
- fish on The Heart Says,..
- fish on My First Drum Lesson
- cpl on My First Drum Lesson
- promotie artikelen zwolle on #1: Historical Malacca
In the Lens
