2.1

YES!!!!!! 

YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

WUUUAAAZZAAAHHHH!!!!!

So it has been concluded. The 5 year journey at Imperial College. Not the most pleasant of experiences but surely the most meaningful. 

I guess things paid off. The many nights toiling away in the RT lab, the non-existent 2010 Christmas Break (Comms Systems), the unusual Artificial Intelligence course, mixing of economics and power distribution and most of all.............. developing an insulin dosing algorithm. 

My parents come first for making all this possible and for being the 'propellant' which enabled me to embark on this journey not once..... but twice in a lifetime. Thank you for supporting me both financially and emotionally. I am your son and I am forever in your debt. 

Swan comes next for having waited 5 years for my return. Skepticism was undoubtedly but has been proven wrong all this while. Thank you for being there with me and yes also for the night before your Bukit Tabur hike. I'm sure you expected this night of mine to be a rather restless one :P

My family nonetheless for giving me the support and for always making this country a place which I call home. Yea it ain't perfect but its home for me and that's irreplaceable. 

Friends! YEA! Thanks Will for being that figure which reminded me of my goals and to always stand my ground at times. Not the largest bunch of ppl back in Imperial but I'm grateful for the opportunity and support :)

So yea, that's a wrap for this chapter. Time for a little chilaxing and on to a start of the next chapter.

Until next time ;)

Follow your heart or go with the Flow

It's been sometime since my last post coz of exams. But thoughts on careers, growing up etc never cease to deliberately "Take Control" of my day especially when I just really need that extra focus on my studies. Zzz.....

So as the date draws closer, it bothers me to think that I have not made the best use of my time here. Well ideally from the eyes of the 3rd person, the epitome of success after completing studies overseas is to of course OBTAIN a job overseas and perhaps settle there or come back home after 2-3 years of experience.

What most people do not know about is the journey towards getting a job here in the UK. It is to no surprise and I myself AM a victim this stereotype. 

So let's go over a couple of key criteria's in which people hope or intend to achieve by gaining occupation here in the UK:

(1) Highly skilled professionals would most certainly find a greater avenue of opportunity here. Life sciences for example is a highly valued skill here and the government highly funds this area of research unlike back home. So there is no doubt skilled professionals would find greater solace by ensuring themselves a better opportunity of growth knowing that there is a ladder for them to climb. 

(2) The $. Yes $ is perhaps the most enticing of rewards (considering the conversion rate) but truth to be told, is $ really worth the toil and labour? It may be overly naive of me to say this but will a back-office support role bring you far in a year or 2 knowing that all you are after is the 5X after conversion salary increase? Ever thought of what's left after income tax, council tax, RENT and other necessities here in the city? More on this later.

(3) Experience. True it is a one off get it now or probably never get the chance ever again to work here in the UK.

Personally I have no reason to side with point (1). Having diversified my skillset (and also bluntly de-emphasized my depth of expertise), I have chose to embark on more corporate roles within the telecommunications industry. 

So why not here in the UK you may ask? Well let's perform a bit of a checklist. I am specifically looking at management associate programmes or roles within product management/strategy. OK lets look at the MA programmes. From my search, only Vodafone is offering such a programme. The catch? You'd had to be a UK/EU citizen. That's right people. Like the majority of firms (affecting mainly the more technically inclined industries to say the least) there is no incentive in hiring a foreign talent. This would just mean extra cost, extra formality and most importantly....... this would not address the local unemployment situation. Yea it's probably one of the strategies employed by the government to address the unemployment rate especially in the recent year on. First they took away the post-study work visa and now that limits UK companies to hire local graduates and only be allowed to hire a foreign graduate if they have exhausted their efforts to source a local hire. I can't comment on how effective this has been but from experience, I have been receiving rejections all year long and it seems to apply to my peers (bar the exceptional few who had internships last year or the really really really golden 1 or 2 individuals who secured consultancy or IB jobs). As for the other telco's here, they're pretty technical based and managerial roles are limited for experienced hires. 

So what about the money? If you're earning at least 3000 pounds a month in London then yes you're off to a pretty comfortable life. Unfortunately the average salary for a fresh graduate in the UK is approximately 22000 pounds per-annum. That's about 1800 pounds a month. The basic income tax rate for the lowest salary bracket is 20%. So that leaves around 1500 pounds? So I'm paying 600 pounds a month for a ROOM. That's right a room. So let's say you're able to source a cheaper place to stay. Say 500 pounds a month. Let's put in 100 pounds worth of bills so that makes up 600 pounds. That leaves you 900 pounds. Lets deduct 100 worth of transport costs. So 800 purely for food and expenses. I may have sparsely approximated the facts and vaguely assumed very little from so much.

 But I'm still thinking that working in the UK isn't as pretty as it seems. More importantly, happiness. There isn't just nothing like home. Most will disagree with me and say that I'm too pampered and that I have just shut these doors without even taking a peek to see what's behind them. Well that's true to some extent but what if I was just held back by other factors which just put locks on those doors? No one has ever thought of the fact if it would be hard to secure job opportunities having repeated a year of studies? Well to the few firms which put me through to interviews I am very thankful and it is my fault to have not made it past the recruitment. It is all part of the learning process and all I am hoping for is to learn for my next undertaking. But the rates have been lowered considering my grades. "Please send us your latest examination transcripts". The dreaded phrase which I have no intention of expecting even at this point of my examination. Well from experience, I practically receive rejections the next day after submitting my transcripts. Yea the ugly truth but not many will understand. 

So I dare say that the main issue here is with perceptions. Most people think: You're spent the time and $ studying abroad. You should stay abroad. Personally I have this perception that EVERYONE in Oxbridge must be the brainy top scorers. I was probably right until the UKEC recruitment stages. I met this girl in one of the AC's. Lets refer to her as L. I've met L before in Imperial back in November through a friend. She was invited for an interview with company M which I really wanted and wasn't aware that they invited candidates for interviews. Unfortunately I never got any invitations from them and that really put me off a little but it motivated me to approach them personally :P Anyways, L received the invitation and I was really impressed. She struct me as a very brainy person and perhaps were among the top percentile in her course.

I met L once again in March and yes I still had the same perception. Intimidating in a way since we were more or less competing for opportunities in the same pool. A couple of days later it appears that L did not get through the assessments. I bumped into her a day later after the final interview rounds and we chilled a bit over lunch. So we talked about our so called "search for the dream career" goals etc and ended up spilling about my rumble through with my experience here at Imperial. Somehow the conversation developed  into a less cheerful situation where she started to err.... tear up. She was very frustrated that she never got any offers from the fair. I tried consoling her by saying that her Oxbridge degree is an award enough to place you anywhere upon graduation. AND it was her turn to spill the beans. She was on a second lower and L says that she totally understands my feelings about being deemed an 'ugly grape' because of our pasts. 

That conversation by itself made my whole day worthwhile. It made me realize that even great people screw up and it is through such experiences that we realize the more important meanings in life. In addition, it also made me think more on another person's perspective and to not put perceptions directly into judgement. Everyone has a story to tell so let us lend an ear. People have their reasons and lets not live our lives chasing another person's shadow. For the 3rd person saying "Man if I had the opportunity like you I would ensure that I would be working in the UK". So here's the question back to you, 

"So what are you doing standing here and not making an effort to get there instead?"

Remember that there are always 2 sides to a coin ad you might only know what's on one side. Try flipping it over and you'd find a greater meaning by itself.

Until next time ;)

A time go give and take

Decision; Influence; Constraints; Uncertainty

These are a couple of factors which I tend to overlook yet speculate upon especially at times when I really don't need to! Frustrating yet crucial. 

I have mentioned before that my goal was to build my career in the telecomms/mobile technology industry with hopes to shape this industry in the future. That is my ultimate career aspiration period. 

But why is it that I lost track of this goal? Did I forget? No! Did I just lost interest? NO!!

It was due to several factors:

PERCEPTION: I had the perception that it was all techy stuff which shaped the industry. IT IS NOT! It is true to say that people may build the largest boat with this being on the the greatest feat of mankind. But what use is this boat if it was never used in the first place? What use of it if no one ever knew or was unable to use it at all? 

I see this the same way in the telecomms industry. We serve not only to give you the best technology, but also to ensure we do it in the best way possible and in the most creative yet novel manner you could ever imagine. 

So what happened along the way? I was weak in the technical discipline. I lost focus and perhaps it also skewed my career aspirations. I seeked alternatives which I never considered before. Yes I would agree this is a form of which an individual grows and develop. Well this happened to me and I started looking into management consultancy. The incident which sparked this was the talk by Accenture back in 2009. I sat in for the company presentation and I was astonished by the contribution of a corporate firm not only in the corporate world but more importantly in the telecomms industry. Food for thought at that point. Adding to that, Mr. Stockley (Entrepreneurship fellow) inspired me by telling us that consultancy is a channel to open more doors. So that was a very compelling factor that I COULD find what I am passionate about then.

I started looking into consultancy jobs for the next 2 years. The result? I have failed in every single case interview. I felt as if I wasn't fully equipped. My mind was not tweaked to fully accept this method of critical thinking which is crucial for all consultants no matter his field of interest. In a sense, I was INADEQUATE. I believe all I can do for now it so practice and practice but the doors have seemingly shut itself or rather....... I have allowed the doors to shut. Bummer T.T

On a brighter note, I soon realized my long term goals (concurrently to say the least). Even if I stepped into the world of consultancy, I would want to see myself contributing in the telecomms industry as an end game. So the question is...... WHY not just do it from the start? And I have gotten my answer. 

To the ME in a few years down the road. Did you realize your dreams? Or did you let your dreams manifest YOU instead?

Nevertheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity with blue-green. I have heard that it is a really awesome programme and I am truly looking forward to it. Adding to that, the people are just astoundingly fantastic! These are the people who have made such a great impact in my life within just a short time frame. I am truly thankful for this opportunity by itself.

Time to hit the books for the final show down.

Until next time ;)

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

There is a saying that passion overcomes all obstacles. And I am a believer.

The past couple of days has by far been the most memorable and cherish-able moments of my entire life period. Here's just me throwing a couple of keywords to recap the whole experience:

(1) The PEOPLE: I've met some of the worlds most extraordinary individuals. Yea they were great achievers, highly capable and most importantly, they loved what they did for a living and that is something I admire most. 

(2) ACCEPTANCE: There are some who touched me on the inside; the people who accepted me as an individual. No lies, no acts, just pure old me and I have never felt this feeling for a long long time. It just softens me up on the inside and I have learnt to that I don't need a shard of prickly spines protecting me. I have learnt to open up.

(3) CONFIDENCE: It is true when they say the only way to learn to carry yourself better is through sheer hard experience. In the past couple of days, I have never pushed myself so hard, to think, to be confident and to influence. More importantly the need for coalitions which blossomed into friendship at the end of the day. 

(4) IMPERFECTION: I have learnt to realize or perhaps a little self realization that behind every success lies a certain degree of imperfection. It took me awhile to realize this today but I started to comprehend both as an individual and to consider the adversity of a situation similar to what I have gone through. Sh1t happens to me and everyone else too. 

Overall, it was an awesome awesome few days. The UKEC career fair was awesome^20. It made all this possible and reminding me of my goals once more. Focus, appreciate and NEVER go astray. 

Until next time ;)

That little bit of FEAR

Fear. During the Stamford Commencement Speech in 2009, Steve Jobs mentioned about fear being a driving factor for people to live life to the fullest. On the contrary, living in fear of death day by day as cynical as it may sound, might just turn out to be true somewhere down the road.

During my repeat year, I lived my last half a year before the end year exam with the fear that I might repeat the past once more... i.e. screwing up my academic year. I could not afford for that to happen anymore. I could not bear the guilt as to the amount of time and $ I had put to waste. And more importantly, how could I let it happen in the first place? I just couldn't live with that face. 

Fear, at the time, drove me to persevere. I can't recall the origin of this story but dad mentioned about a war general bringing his troops onto the enemy's shores. They were out-numbered and his men were far from confident in facing what lies just beyond the hills in their sight. The general ordered his men to burn all their ships. So the ships were decimated to ash and the men were furiously thinking of a way for them to get home! The general told his men that there is only one option left and that was to more forward and succeed in their coming triumphant battle. This sparked an intense determination among his men and they were as united as ever. Because, they had NO ALTERNATIVE. 

This fear back then reminded me that I had no alternative but to get through the year. I've used it in 3rd year but with the hustle and bustle of internship applications and massive amounts of project work, this fear was not as intense. But this fear of mine was a double edged sword. Yea it reminded me of my lowest moments and it also haunts me as I am reminded of the misery I went through back then. This feeling just creeps around the bottom of my heart as I am busy with work in the foreground. I could feel it and it is distracting.

It is 2 years since then and I can still feel it holding me back and really affects my self esteem. Part of me just wants to get past this hurdle as fast as I can and part of me wants more time to work (hah yea weird but that's the feeling). Part of me just wants to get a job and part of myself just wants to do my best in my Exams!! Yea the smarter fellows would tell me to toughen up and do what matters in the short term first and cross the bridge as we come to it. 

But I must not forget why I am still standing here in London. The reason I am going through this miserable life style and the reason why I had to in the first place. And that is to excel in my exams. I cannot screw up. I can not and I MUST NOT. 

I'm just hoping that this coursework month would tide away this coming weekend so I could get a proper start on my revision. Exams are just about 2 months away and there is still the whole job search coming within the next few weeks. I pray for wisdom, a whole lot of luck and I pray for your blessing.

Until next time ;)

Remembering our lowest when placed higher above

It's one of those nights where I rekindle some of the past 'at present time hardships' which has brought me to where I am today.

So its been about 2 weeks that me and Dad discussed about accommodation for the graduation trip in October 2012. We finally settled for Tune Hotel in Westminster London which wasn't excessively expensive (approx. GBP55/night). It appears to be one of the newer London budget hotels and rooms come equipped with air conditioners! So the $ was paid and no more scouring through lists of hotels/hostels. 

But that wasn't the issue. It dawned on me once again. I haven't got much time left in my final year. I've got a rather heavy load on my shoulders and I cannot screw things up. I WILL MAKE THINGS WORK!

The 15th February 2012. That's like the half way mark towards the end of my undergraduate degree. It feels as if EEE 1st year was a life time ago. Things have changed so much! 

Dad talked to me about his work in office not being appreciated by his superiors. I understand how he felt because I was in a similar position while working on my business economics coursework. It is very frustrating and all we can do is just be tolerant about the whole situation. Dad says that its just how things work in the corporate life. He then speaks about mom and himself looking towards retirement which is just around the corner. So it occurred to me once more that a lot has changed and will continue to change the moment I stepped into university. We are so busy looking for a path to develop ourselves that we forget about the times we are missing out:

I was young and naive to comprehend the adversity of current scenarios. Shrouded by short term goals I sidelined the crucial aspects which were not of my top concerns. One thing for sure, I never found out exactly how mom and dad is funding my education. Mom says that there is a reserve of funds and that I would not need to be concerned about any shortages which may cause mitigating circumstances in future. My priority was rigidly set: To make my way here and come home with success. At that point, success was simple. Success merely meant to graduate. Taking a deeper look into THIS success would mean to achieve at least an overall second-upper class degree. But that was just about all I the aim I had. It soon developed into shorter term goals which sounded like: "I just want to pass this year", "I just want to get to the next year and the next and so on" and "I just want to be eligible for a MEng degree". Because things were tough and I couldn't keep up.

I was following a compass without a known heading. 

I was never the studious type. Never the type who was good with exam papers (which essentially made up the majority of 1st and 2nd year). I struggled with exams. I failed; returned; got through and failed once more. I was a wreck. It was one of those times where I no longer knew what to do.

Escape was one option. And I considered it. But not for long. I gave it another shot and returned as a 're-examining' student. So I returned to uni once more, as a 'forced leave' student which was not enrolled for lectures but allowed to utilize the on-campus facilities. It meant time for me to catch up with what I lost before and to catch in on things which I never took the opportunity to look into.

That year, I decided to retrace my roots. To rethink of the reasons why I had put myself in that position. It was a long year away from class but it felt as if time passed twice as slow. It gave me time to re-position myself back on the far moving track but this time, with a destination.

That year, I attended company presentations, explored available career opportunities, seek career advice from the career advisory department and most importantly; catch up on my studies. 

Things are working out so far. I have retraced my passion and aligned it with my career aspirations. I am thankful for all that has gone by to define who I am today.

There is one last hurdle in this journey. A question to myself 5 months down the line:

""Is there anything more important than passion and determination? Fate maybe? And most importantly, wasn't it all worth it?"

I dare not expect my future to be laid out plainly right in front of me. Like what the late Steve Jobs has mentioned:

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

In the meantime, I will seize ALL opportunities set ahead of me and to give my very best for this final lap. This I promise you ;)

Until next time. 

Looking past that job for a career

The 10th, 11th and 12th of February 2012. A weekend with a few big names. A weekend in a grand venue. A weekend for future aspirations. Truly a weekend to remember.

It was the Careers in Asia Summit 2012 event which took place at the London Canary Wharf Hilton Hotel. I've never been there before this but the Canary Wharf Hilton seemed to me to be one of the smaller hotels I've come across before. 

DAY 1: So it was meant to be an EXCLUSIVE networking event on the 10th which fell on a Friday. It was a networking event to meet the potential recruiters and maybe land a promising first impression with hopes it would bring me a notch above the rest of the applicants. That day, I skipped one of my lectures just to give me some extra 'preparation time' before this grand event. Networking event you say? Well that wasn't the case..........

It turned out that the networking event was just like any other careers fair. It was just the regular booth setups with a couple of recruiting associates. Sigh...... I was a little disappointed but hey it's a careers fair! Might as well get the most out of it since I was there. 

My first stop was MSD (Merck). Thinking that I could put some of my FYP knowledge to good use, I approached one of the personnel and told them about my insulin calculator used in insulin pumps. The lady whom I was speaking to was of Chinese decent and she had a little difficulty deciphering what I had install for her. So she got assistance from one of her colleagues. It appears that BOTH of them knew nothing about what I was talking about. In their defense, they mentioned that such technical issues would be handled by their specialized personnel who were not present at the fair. At best, they told me to check online for any possible career opportunities. What a bummer.......

So next off, I went over to JTI. It appears that JTI is looking to recruit 5 people........... FOR THE WHOLE OF ASIA. Apparently that means 1 candidate for Malaysia and Singapore respectively. The dude representing the Malaysian office didn't seem like a cheerful guy emitting a slight gesture of annoyance probably due to the number of people he had to talk to throughout the event. So I kept my questions short and handed him my CV. The end.

Next was Petronas. We were greeted by a chubby malay fellow who seemed quite friendly but not the most articulate in terms of speech. Basically he didn't know much about the energy business coz he wasn't able to comply to one of my questions saying that I would need to consult with the engineers who will be present the next day. He was a HR personnel btw. In an attempt to shove us away he directed us to his superior who was this HR lady. So I offered to shake her hand and............

Well yea its in her religion but its just a very awkward feeling to be rejected a handshake. lolz. She told us that Petronas was looking for well rounded talents which will be put through a fixed programme nevertheless but other opportunities present themselves along the way and we are not obliged to only follow one path. Sound promising. Oh and she says that she's met me before. I was like WTF? Like when? She mentions that she's seen me in the careers fair at Imperial College last autumn 2011. Really? Like really really? Can't remember. LOL

Onto the main event. SCHLUMBERGER. Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC) to be precise. They are a privately owned consulting arm of Schlumberger which specializes in service based operations within the oil & gas and energy industry. Management/Strategy consultancy in the oil & gas field at its best. I tried preparing some info regarding renewable energy which I eventually presented to the attending consultant at the fair. Acting like a total douche...... he replies saying that SBC doesn't do anything like that and that's probably in 20-30 years down the road. So MX questions him about some trading of oil and stuff and he starts opening up..... opening up his 'douche'ness if I may. And it struct me.... I've met him before!!!! It was that same fellow back in the Singapore Careers fair in September 2011! Back then I inquired about fresh graduate experience and how an EE engineer could contribute (I thought it was Schlumberger instead of SBC). All he did at the time was hand me a company brochure and to apply online. THAT WAS IT. What a B@stard. And here I am looking like a total fool in front of him. MX tells me that its an art of the trade. To look good on the outside but having bad intentions to win the game. Dirty dirty

Before heading home, MX decided to pay Maybank a visit. So I slipped in a couple of questions about their management programme and my CV while we were there. So that was it. End of the so called networking event which appeared to be just one of those normal careers fairs. Made my way home through the cold and tried to get a good nights sleep.

DAY 2: Woke up earlier coz I was supposed to meet up with aiwoon and mx at the fair. There seems to be less participants at the fair today. Probably because most people had already attended the event on the first day. Met a couple of friends at the entrance of the fair and suddenly I received a call from an unknown number. It was Maybank! They called up to schedule me an interview on Sunday morning. I tried getting an interview that day since I was already there but they didn't have enough interview slots on the day.  So again...... feeling quite reluctant to stay any longer since there was already an interview scheduled, but I decided to once again make the most out of the event. I stayed in for a talk by Maybank. The company presentation was conducted by Pn. Nora who was the vice president of Human capital management. She spoke with a very charismatic tone. She exuded an 'strong lady' aura which served as an integrator of the company. Very much like mom! One of those presentations which really made an impact on me. She explains the modern Maybank being a multinational enterprise which is undergoing rapid development with no plans of stopping just yet! So it struct me. True I had no interest and intentions to work in the financial industry. But looking over finance, it was a enlarging multi national company! There were opportunities for project management and corporate governance which really compelled me further to look into Maybank.

DAY 3: I was really looking forward to the interview today hoping that it would be Pn. Nora sitting right across the desk. The interview was scheduled at 10.30 am so I took my time getting prepared in the morning. At 9am I received a call from the careers fair asking me if I was on my way. It was 9am and i replied saying I am still home. Well..... they told me I have been rescheduled for an earlier interview at 9.50am and that I should try to get there ASAP. WTF!!!!! So I rushed my way there and thankfully I arrived there at the venue just on time. I was sent to conference room 409 down the hall. So I made my way there and politely knocked on the door. I was greeted by a cheerful malay fellow of about 40 years of age. En. Mizal is the vice president of IT who also has a cross departmental role as Pn. Nora's 2nd in command. Yea I was a little disappointed that it wasn't Pn. Nora but it was good in a way! En. Mizal was a very down to earth kind of guy. He spoke to me very casually stating that he is on the lookout of potential individuals who would one day rise up and be a great asset of the Maybank's future management team. Mentioning that banking itself is fundamental but not of an essence in terms of corporate guidance and expansion. 'Sponges' I presume. Someone capable of being developed and lead. He understood that I do not posses much of a financial background. So we just continued talking about our backgrounds and I tried bringing up topics on corporate governance to show some of my managerial concerns in terms of a career. He paused saying that he finds it very comfortable talking to me and that he sees potential which would be complete with a little guidance at the start. Oh boy what an honor to hear that. He points to a pile of resumes on his desk with yellow and green labels. He tells me: 

"You see this pile of CV's. There are green and yellow labels on them. Green labels represent candidates who will be forwarded to the next round. And to make you day a little more cheerful, I am sticking a green label on your CV"

OMG 

I mean... I was utterly flattered! Well its probably one of those HR techniques to make a candidate feel good but I will just hope for the best. 

Mr. Mizal has earned a spot as one of those very influential people in my life. He tells me:

"Work to seek that career of yours. NOT work just to get a job"

YES sir! 

I was never really interested in the interview with Maybank in the first place; thinking that I would just treat it as a form of experience. Guess I was wrong. It was truly one of those experiences which change my views on the future. Thank you Careers in Asia. Thank you Maybank and thank you En. Mizal.

Until next time ;)

Of choices and weighted returns

Question: If you could have just one item. Anything one thing in the entire universe. Be it fiction or fact. What would it be?

I would want a time machine. A time machine of any sort. It could be the form of a futuristic car or even a wrist strapped watch! Yea that would be awesome! 

My reason is simple and rational: To seek my future answers today and to know what is coming ahead of me. Made a wrong turn along the way? Simple! Just make a leap back in time and turn the right way round! Or even more effectively, just find out what lies beyond the horizons and ALWAYS make the right choices. 

A little more than a decade ago (zomg..... I'm old! Noooo!!!!), I was sat in front of a talk by Mr. Adam Khoo. It was one of those 'how to be a high achiever' or 'Unleash the straight-A scholar within you' type of seminars. Oh wait it was't a seminar. It was a publicity campaign to advertise the seminar. It was one of those crucial years where a really big final examination took place at the end of that year (I can't remember which one it was but I think it was UPSR?) so dad wanted to mentally prep us for the episodes to come. I have read Mr. Khoo's books which illustrated his journey towards being a top scholar. Well yea his story was pretty inspirational so we thought his seminar would be a life changer.

I was young and naive science minded student. Back then it was all about science subjects thinking that science would be a big part of my life. Not too shabby yes? So the talk commenced with Mr. Khoo introducing himself while re-iterating his life story. It was an expected start but it had the feel of a business proposal. He then made a remark which I can't seem to remember how it sounded exactly. Basically he mentioned that business people would reign over the techies and that is just how the world works. Yes I was young and I didn't really comprehend how society worked. I was pretty disappointed with the talk but I didn't let his words affect me (not too much I guess). We stayed throughout the programme but made no commitments thereafter. 

The next 10 years being a science scholar went pretty well. I was very passionate about science subjects especially Biology and I found the growth of mobile technology to be rather astonishing. On the contrary, my passion for science meant that I had no exposure to the more qualitative subjects like management and economics. It was a straight path which I had been following all this while.

Is there an end to this journey? Am I stuck here? Those were thoughts that never came to mind. All I wanted to know was where am I heading to in my next stop? Well after mom and dad suggested that I took A-Levels after my SPM. TARC was really near home and I was entitled to a 100% tuition fee waiver (applicable for all students achieving 8 A's and above in their SPM). So it was a no brainer. Get the exact same certification as what you would expect from the more expensive institutions out there relatively at no cost! 

Do you believe in positive peer pressure? Well yea it happened mid way within A-Levels. It was just after the AS-level examination. So a few buddies and myself got into the 'Apply for all the foreign universities' mood:

It was just a handful of us that got into this frenzy. We were sending out applications to Oxbridge which involved postage of documents and written material. We sat for the SAT I and SAT II just for our application to the NUS. I even sat for the SAT's twice!! Talk about being desperate. The whole process involved a quite a sum of $. This included postage costs and examination fees for the SAT's. There were also a couple of interviews along the way which took up quite a bit of time as well. Sure I had my fair share of rejections but the overall result was pretty positive. I received rejections from both the Singaporean institutions and Oxbridge as well. On the other hand I received offers from all of my UK applications! The downside was that the respondents were a mixed bag. I didn't really do much research on the UK universities but here's the list:

(1) Southampton - Said to be pioneers in Electrical and Electronic engineering. Illustrative material on the websites made the university setting look rather modern yet laid back with a near sea-side town kind of feel. According to some reviews, Southampton was ranked as the 2nd best EEE university in the UK!!! But that was just one ranking website. Still worth a shot!

(2) Manchester - Sounds cool yea?!! A city campus setting with a reasonable rating for EEE. Another addition to the list

(3) Bristol - A little outskirt from the larger towns but it was a collegiate university. Think traditional Harry Potter Hogwarts styled universities.

(4) Imperial College - Was not among my top choices because I never really heard of this place. Seriously....... until I looked it up, it was ranked number 5 in the whole world!!!! ZOMG. That made it number 3 in the whole of UK!!!!! And it was solidly holding the number 2 spot in EEE within the UK. Did you just say that I received an offer to be enrolled in UK's top 3 most prestigious universities? Zomg........ 

OK so it was a simple guess which one's I picked in the end. Oh and these were conditional offers with each university expecting a different degree of grades at the end of my A-levels. Imperial college was by far the one university with the highest demand. There was a AAA requisite for Imperial whereas the rest demanded a range from ABB up to AAB. At the time, I was standing at AABC so I had to really up my game in A2. Unfortunately my grades were stuck at AABC even after resitting a couple of papers in A2. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't make the AAA grade for Imperial College.

I had practically given up hope on Imperial so I enrolled at Nottingham University Malaysia. Nottingham was a new branch set-up in Malaysia set-up by the original Nottingham university in the UK. It was a great choice as the institution provided world class facilities with an opportunity to go abroad at the UK campus in some parts of the degree. Mom and Dad were very supportive and we even got our accommodation settled! Bro and myself would live in a double room and drive to uni together. Swan was there as well!! It would have been a great and comfortable start of my tertiary education. The registration for Nottingham were all complete and I was waiting for the official offer letter to arrive. The administration notified me that they would courier me the university starting up kit in a couple of weeks. So I was pretty excited to commence my life at Nottingham. It was going to be great!!!

The coming weeks involved me waiting for my started pack to arrive. One day I received a letter in the mailbox. Printed on the envelope was 'UCAS'. A strange feeling went down my spine as I opened the letter. So I was assuming that they were about to notify me that my entry was not permitted due my results. Well it wasn't so........ It was a letter which stated my commencement at Imperial College. I was rather confused at the time due to the shock and uncertainty upon reading those words. So I made a long-distance call to the UK to clarify the reading in the letter. I explained that I was unable to make the grade so what would the letter mean? The kind lady on the other end of the line explained that I was on the borderline and Imperial College decided to give me a chance!!!!!!!

Have you ever had this feeling that your chest was heavy, you felt happy yet frustrated at the same time? I was really happy that I had the chance to enroll in one of the world's most prestigious universities but I was also persistent on going to Nottingham as things would seem to be very enjoyable with great company. Adding to that, I would have to deal with my student Visa, flight tickets and luggage all just under 2 months (a little more than a month and a half). It was a mix of feelings that I just couldn't embrace at the time. On one end, I was excited that it was an opportunity which doesn't come by everyday. On the other end, I just wanted to rip that letter into pieces and thought that it never arrived. 

Mom and Dad if you are reading this, I am terribly sorry but it was really how I felt at the time. Looking over at the college tuition fees, it would just cost too much. Yes COST was one word which I did not pay attention to when applying for the long string of universities. I was driven by short term goals and at the time, it was to just obtain as many acceptances as I could. True that most people would look at things in the long term. I get questioned a lot: "Why would you want to pay so much if you could get the same degree cheaper elsewhere?". A question that I an unable to answer as I am still a couple of steps away from graduation. But the reasoning at the time was simple: If you had a choice with everything else not becoming an issue, wouldn't you? My short term struggle at the time was to gain acceptance and to give me choices. So at the moment, I would answer the aforementioned individuals with a question instead:

"Why limit yourself if you know you could go further?"

Mom and Dad always told me to always do my best in my endeavors and think about crossing the bridge when we are at its gates. So I was still pretty reluctant to settle with the cost of education there. Considering tuition fees alone, a four year MEng degree at Imperial College would enable me to fully complete 4-6 masters degrees at the local Nottingham campus!!! And that was just tuition fees alone! 

So it was a choice which would affect my future and perhaps suppress the economic stature of my family while I am away. At the time I put myself out of the picture thinking only of funding. The JPA scholarship was closed and my family income would definitely not comply with their requirements (not low enough to be bestowed the scholarship yet not high enough to effortlessly let me embark on this voyage). We had long deep discussions on the matter within the week I received the offer. We had to decide quick as the clock was ticking and preparations had to be made either way. Mom and Dad made made a good point that such universities don't come by often. Adding to that I was given a 2nd chance knowing I had not achieved the required grades! Opportunity cost as to what I look at it even today. Mom and Dad also reassured me that they are financially capable. Stating that no matter how things turn out, my families expenditure would not be affected. At that age, I was not able to value the amount of $ spend on my education abroad. All I knew was that it was a REALLY big amount of $.

It was a collective decision in the end and I embarked on my education here at Imperial College. A commitment and responsibility which I am willing to accept. I am yet to see the fruits of my labor and toll on my family thus far but I promise that I would comprehend the whole situation one day. Thank you Mom and Dad :)

Until next time ;)

A path trodden by failure and rejection

Well yes it a follow up to what entails from the journey in seeking out that special cup.

Every now and then you meet a very inspirational person whom you have come to respect and adhere to his preaching s with extremity. I took a course called Entrepreneurship under the Imperial College Business School (No longer known as Tanaka Business School. Why? Well.... it appears that Tanaka hasn't been a good boy and he was caught read handed. lolz). The Entrepreneurship course commenced with a lecture by Mr. Simon Stockley. He was a pretty hefty fellow. Big boned I'd say. He spoke with a very charismatic tone which simply honed my attention to what he had to say. Simon was a banker in a retail bank if my memory doesn't fail me. Why is he teaching at Imperial you may ask. Well here's his story and I will try to recall as much as I can (I'd wan't to rekindle this thought someday in the future):

Simon was a retail banker. He was soon promoted as a manager of his branch office somewhere in the UK. He tell's us that it was a positioned he had worked towards for his entire career. But that was just about it. It wasn't a great life which he expected. One day his superior called him into his office. His boss sat him down in front of his desk, asking Simon to look on the table in front of him. Laid on the table was a pen. Mr. Boss-guy asked Simon to pick the pen up and handed it to him. Mr. Boss took the pen from Simon and he told Simon:

"You see this pen which I'm holding? It's just like you. I can use it but I can also do this: *Mr. Boss throws the pen into a waste paper bin next to his desk*"

It was indeed a cruel scene in corporate life which I had to picture and probably come to expect in the near future. But that wasn't the end. Simon resigned from his job at the bank and assisted his wife with her hobby-cum-small business venture. Mrs. Stockley had a knack for designing hats. Yea HATS and she was pretty good at it apparently! Most of her hat designs themed for wedding functions and most importantly, she enjoys it! One day they were approached by a magazine publishing company which proposed to the Stockley's that he would want to co-produce a magazine catered specifically for wedding hats! It was a pretty novel idea and with no sign of local competition. It had potential. So the Stockleys agreed with the magazine and the the editorial commenced. The magazine was a success. Though not a regional blockbuster it was a leap from where they were operating at. 

As the foundations of the magazine were laid, Stockley got in contact with a couple of friends which operated consultancy based businesses (I'm guessing he provided Financial consultancy judging from his previous occupation). His wealth slowly recovered as he contracted small consulting gigs ever so often and so did his net-worth as an individual! He was back on track after seeing life from a down up perspective. But that wasn't it. Not much of an implication career wise (not at this point to say the least *touch wood* ) but there was a night after work where he returned home late from work but had no appetite for dinner. Mrs. Stockley found it rather unusual but Simon insisted that he was fine. So later that night a horrid discomfort woke him from his sleep. He soon started regurgitating blood. Mrs. Stockley called up the emergency hotline and by G0d's will the ambulance arrived within the next 20 minutes or so. 

Simon was immediately brought to the hospital and doctor's treated him immediately (not sure if an operation was involved). The doctor says that it was due to a stomach ulcer!!!! The doctor even mentioned if the ambulance hadn't been around the area, an extra half-hour wait would prove to be fatal considering the amount of blood loss. It was exactly what happened to my grandpa who had a stomach ulcer 2 years ago. Thankfully we were quick to take action and grandpa has fully recovered.

OK so maybe some parts of the story didn't match up that well and there isn't much of a relation ( i mean I did and I still do). Simon tells us that we shouldn't be hampered by academics and monetary rewards. Money for one is simple yet necessary element which job seekers seek. Personally I would and probably still am having the same perception but hey who doesn't want $? He tells us that opportunities are everywhere and it depends on our effort to seek them out and of course, a whole lot of LUCK. He also made a remark stating that Finance, though an important and well sought after career, is a deep trench. Though aligned with ones goals, it's almost never a continuous learning curve. To make big $ we have to be entrepreneurs (hence the course) and more importantly we must have a passion for what we do. PASSION is something which you may or may not have found yet. So he urges us to highly consider Consultancy as a starting career path. Consultancy is a business line which sees all types of businesses from an objective perspective but almost always a subjective solution. It was the exposure and learning that a fresh graduate needs to develop inspirational goals. And consultancy as Simon mentioned is a perfect way to kick start a career in finding one's true calling. 

So maybe some would see Mr. Stockley's claims as a crude way of contrasting the Consultancy line of work with that of finance. But his message was sincere. We had to do something we are passionate about. Life is very short and sheer happiness itself is not everlasting. He must be very glad with how things turned out. Not being hampered with unemployment, Simon seeks to grow other important 'assets' which he share in life and has learnt to appreciate even the least significant of returns of the day. I for one, will always remember him as a figure which reminded me of the reason I stepped out of my comfort zone. Drilling for the stars! 

As for the drill; until next time ;)

To get that one-of-a-kind cup [Part II]

Ok I'll take back some of my remarks about everyone having the same coffee in their cup and that the cup is only aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

I've read some notes off a forum and it makes more sense on how the cup and coffee conceptualize the whole education/life scenario.

We should think of the taste of the coffee being life's achievement. Good coffee = Good life. Firstly there comes brewing of the coffee. Sure everyone probably gets the same bag of beans but what if someone just brews a nice cuppa joe compared to the rest? This is the aforementioned distinguishing factor. We may perceive this as the quality of conduct of our life which in my case, the thereafter time scope of job seeking and career fulfillment.

The main context of the previous message is still true. You have thousands of cups of coffee to taste but which would you hand pick from the sea of cups? So yes the cup is an essential part. It reflects prestige and significance over others. Qualitatively we could consider the perception of a cup in aiding the quality of the coffee as well. A paper cup is capable of containing coffee just the same way a porcelain cup would. Then lets look into the thermal retention qualities of the cups. The porcelain cup would be capable of retaining heat better which therefore makes for a better coffee drinking experience.

Sure things change over time. But let's go over one concern at a time and for this round it is a time to set foot our of the common pond and into the sea. Be brave to take the first step forward and make it count the most ~

Until next time ;)

To get that one-of-a-kind cup

So just a couple of minutes ago I had to write an awkward letter to accompany one of my job applications. No its not the usual CV nor is it one of those generic cover letters. Those were a thing of the past and I've already written quite a number of those. This one was different: it was a "pour my heart out and here's what happened" type of letters. Why??? Simply because....... my academic results were pretty... SHIET. Well relative compared to my peers it IS pretty bad. Here's the story:

Why go to a university? Why would you need a degree? Pretty simple. If you'd watch the video below I'll try to generalize a few of my thoughts:

Well the messages in the video does really conceptualize things the way they're supposed to be. Honestly I'm very touched by the messages of the video. I mean..... the vast majority of people toil their ways through work and careers just to put a loaf of bread on the table. It soon nurtures a desire to improve one's position (the quality of the cup) that we forget the less intangible aspects of life; namely life itself and perhaps our loved ones.

So yes back to the main picture and how the video relates to the whole trail which is to follow. It is a known fact that well.... living standards follow a constantly inclined trend. Inflation portrays this though in a cynical way, people want more money things get expensive people want even more money and so on. Keep up or lose out. Today, it is a race to distinguish and be distinguished. In this stage of my life, it is the concern to start a career and gain employment. EVERYONE or at least the vast majority of the modern urban community has to academically equipped with a degree of some sort. A qualification for a job hunt which no longer recognizes tacit knowledge. Employers for one, simply recognizes the academic qualifications as a requisite towards gaining employment. No degree? Then no eye see.

Cruel as it may sound, but it is perhaps a very rational fact on how firms base their employments nowadays. I guess its more prevalent for us born during the baby boom era (late 1900's I'd presume).

Dragon=luck=good life blablabla.
This meant more babies= more graduates graduating in the same time frame =lesser chances of landing a job

So its no wonder that HRM (Human Resource Management) have to come up with efficient yet shallow means of sampling the insanely large number of job applicants. So there was a need to have the 'Prettiest brightest most precious looking ~ replace with other words describing uniqueness and value ~ CUP. Surely every cup of coffee would have coffee in them but until they have the chance to decide which to taste, HRM would need to identify the potential one which would yield the most exquisite taste!!!

So yes..... the race to get the best looking cup. No I've not gotten that cup and no I don't know if the coffee in my cup would live up to its expectations. The agony of self fulfillment and expectation management.

Until next time ;)