Did I?

Heard many instances of my frens getting a better starting pay than me... Haiz.. now a bit begining to wonder whether I've made the correct choice to becoming a software engineer, or more specifically a firmware one... According to him, we can make much more by becoming a project manager.. or moving into project management cos the pay should be higher over there and u dun have to crack ur brains like mad like when u are a developer on a project... Anyway for me now, I dun think my interest is in management lor... no doubt it's a possiblity tat we may get into it..but I think for now my interest lies in development...
But in some sense he is right, now we are debt ridden by the study loan, so hack care the nature of the job, as long as it pays alot who cares... like DSTA, but according to some "deserters" , the job at DSTA sucks...
I dunno why but the more I think of it I feel that my fren's view is abit simple-minded lor... Give u more $$ of cos ask u to work harder/more lah right? which coy will be so good to pay u alot of $$ to slack around? wif more $$, means also more responsibilities. Things in life is not tat simple right? U are clever but ur employers are also not stupid...makes sense?

Who won't want to have a very high pay? at the same time I also want a job that interests me..
To tell u the truth when I heard that people got more than $3000 tarting pay, I also a bit sad/disappointed cos I would say damn why can't I get so much? I think I decided too early, forfieted my chance too soon..

Anyway I think siemens VDO is a good place for me to learn alot of things... like whether I am suitable for this line, good enough? competent enough...? Anyway I am contented wif my current life, current job... to be content is bliss right? just think that although my pay is not the highest but it's also not the lowest.. however, I think it would b better if we had some OT pay kekeke

"RnD Software Engineer" stills sounds more appealing to me haha

Survived 1 Week...

My coy: Siemens VDO

So much things happened during the last week... Last weekend super unlucky, damaged dd's sunshine while trying to squeeze through a pillar... so sad there goes one of my new year aspiration... No excuse all my fault for trying to be clever.. anyway it has "recovered" but the "hospitalisation n treatment fee" is not cheap ... anyway I bore all of it a guy gotta b responsible mah...(so now super poor haiz) buy 4D (3 numbers) also never win any money..super unlucky right?

Anyway started work at Siemens VDO on monday...went through the orientation blah blah blah where each dept head(or delegate) describes his/her dept in some details..Lectures for morning to evening (10am-530pm) this went on for 3 days...monday to wednesday..also went around meeting some of the staffs there also...mainly managers lah... haha Staff there numbered about 270

then 2 days thursday to friday attended the Compatibility Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) course (for those who dunno wat this is, this is a standard process model lah, suppose to mak industry process more standardized and achieve more efficiency )..lagi worse the course so dry, 2 whole days just study on that one... Wah!!! so sleepy...Anyway in the end still dun quite get wat the instructor is talking about haha

Anyway I am going to be an RnD Software engineer haha... I can say that this is quite close to my ideal job liao cos I like low level programming but if can gimme abit more of electronics then it would be best... haha
Found out that as RnD engineer I can't be slack already..heard that there's gg to be tight schedules for projects which means lotsa OTs... so in fact $2700 isn't alot.. And alot of frightening news from seniors like slow advancement, loads, little increment and bonus of work blah blah blah...
I believe there really is a compromise between a job u like and the benefits lor.. like if I go semicon industry I think I can get more pay but that won't be a job I like..I like RnD and RnD sector means u gonna work super hard else the "RnD" for waT? Relax aNd u Die haha...
My new boss err... not much interaction wif him yet..but my impression of him is that he is a stern and no-nonsense man... dunno whether I am gg to have a hard time under him or not...
I dunno whether I am his 1st choice candidate or not cos he only selected 2 mabbe he dun get enuff people that's why he got no choice then select me? haha dunno lah anyway get in liao then dun care lor...just do my best and see how...

Dilemma..Sighzzz

Went to visit the JW showflat at JW st 93 today ... to tell u the truth , really quite like the flat and the environment... especially where u can just look out of the window and see the lush greenry of the field at the sports complex just beside the apartment. somemore it's near to the would-be-completed pioneer MRT... meaning transport will be fairly easy. Thought that JW would be quite low in demand... cos of the "ulu-ness" of the place but I was wrong...

Called HDB today to enquire (actually planned to go down wif dd on saturday to enquire).. Oh my gosh heard from HDB that there are already 1400 applications for the 1000+ odd flats there (397 5rm + 400++ exec) drat...sure alot of applicants gonna aim for the flats near the stadium....think our chance is quite slim...

Anyway I do have mixed feelings abt this purchase... on one hand i do really like the apartments, but on the other I found that if we booked now we would get the keys in about 6 months time... not in 2008! on the other hand this is not very ideal cos what would people think? I haben start work buy hse? haben even worked a year buy hse? career still have not stablised buy hse? all these require lotsa planning...wat if I get "discontinued" or siemensVDO pulled out of Singapore the next year? how would my poor dd finance the flat alone? cos when u get the keys, u will have to start paying liao...

buy govt exec? Viable option but they are not popular... Big yes they are but do we need it? NO I think we don't cos the 5 room i think is big enough already... if there are only 2 of us in the flat..I do think that it's a little too big, cleaning would be a nightmare... govt exec? it would be even bigger...lagi worse..somemore the price....super ex...around 300K means abt $1200 a mth for 30yrs! judging by our present salary our CPF ordinary acct would have $0 in it for 30 years... Nah that's too expensive I feel...

Anyway dd and I have decided to try our luck... just go take a queue number at HDB... if can't get a unit this time, then I guess we gotta wait a while longer... anyway I think we aren't tat ready financially for a hse in the near future... At most we will just take a resale flat lor...
but prime areas, exec flats I think too extravagant for us, personally I feel....

Moving On? Ready Yet?

Just learnt that HDB is having a Walk in Selection (WIS) for Jurong West (JW). dd and I are quite excited upon learning this cos we think that JW should be a nice place to live in the future. Think we most probably would "book" a flat there lor...

However thinking harder into it I can't help but feel abit anxious. I must admit that i really want to have a little cosy "nest" with my dd(future wife) . but there seeems to be a few questions unanswered and a few problems that we need to over come.

Firstly is the lifestyle changes.
1) If we marry we will be living on our own, no longer will we have our our parents washing our clothes for us, nor cook for us.

2) For the first time we will be looking after ourselves and wun have the company of our family.

Are we ready for this? To me I think I should be able to adapt fairly quickly because afterall I've been looking after myself for 5.5 days a week when I was in army(I am a stay-in personel) so looking after myself should be ok for me though I must admit that I am a bit lazy at times haha. For dd I am not sure, but I believe that she can also adapt but mabbe she needs a longer duration of time than me...

Secondly is the $$ problem
We will need to pay all the bills ourselves, Utilities bills, food, etc... Can we do it ourselves?
We won't have our dad paying the utility bills and other stuffs.
I think without dd's income , mine alone will be quite tough... Not forgetting that we still need to save up some $$ even though we are married and have a house... just for any "rainy days" I think it's even more essential to save up when u start your own family.... because u never know what will happen tomorrow...

Marriage Meaning - Sunboi's perception

Well in laymen terms the meaning of marriage is that 2 person want to be together for the rest of their life, to take care and look after one another. To me marriage should be built on mutal trust, understanding and mutual encouragement for each other. A strictly no-no is threats, threats will severly hard the marriage relationship. Saying things like "if u don't do this, then u will not get this", or "if you don't do according to my wishes, then u will get this from me" these are all examples of threats... sounds good?

In the modern society, marriage involves the 2 parties as well as their parents afterall when the 2 parties get married, their family will become related by law..(that's why called in-laws). Thus we get a lot of strange ideas from parents when their child are getting married. Go against their wishes, u will be branded "unfillial", love wife, don't love parents liao and vice-versa. The children is usually sandwiched between the wishes of their sprouse and their parents. In this case, mutual understanding of each other comes in. We must know that many a times, we do many things not in accordance with our wishes, we have to consider other people views and many other factors, somethings cannot say wan to do then can do... It requires intensive planning and commitment towards the "destination".

Just think, when a guy just started working and he tells his parents or his gf's parents that he wants to get married..what will the parents think? Putting on the shoes of the parents, will they think this way? "Wah haven't got career wan to marry, where got the $$? Desperate izzit?
or "Good marry good, faster marry not enough $$, get from us". Generally which response will the majority of parents give?

If in this situation, sprouses(future) dunno how to encourage and understand each other's predicatment then how can these 2 live together? How can they handle the future life challenges together? Before marriage is He and She but after marriage is We... They definitely need the support from each other...Only together can they advance and overcome all problems.

If no $$ to...

buy BMW then buy Kia/Perodua lah
buy big house then live in HDB and smaller house lah
go big resturant eat then eat at hawker center lah
go far and exotic places for holiday then settle for somewhere near lor
wear designer clothes then wear cheaper brands lor
open 20 tables to invite people to wedding then just order less lah those unimportant one heck care (all cos of the "face" problem)



A temporary setback is not the end of the world, as long as we are willing to work hard there will always be a way out.

Moving on to next stage...

Hurray, yesterday found out that I've passed all my modules haha, though results are not that good but I think as long as I can pass and graduate, I'm happy liao... it's been a long and hard 3 years at NTU... glad that it's all going to end soon. Anyway I think your academic results are for you to ge a job, for the manager to decide he's going to take another look at you. but since lucky me gotta job already so I guess results are not that important to me already haha...

Anyway moving into the next stage of my life - work, I am actually quite nervous and excited. There are many uncertainties ahead like...
Will I be a good software engineer?
Will I be able to complete my tasks?
Will my job be boring?
Will I get nasty colleagues?
Will I adapt to the working environment quickly?
Will my pay be enough to support myself and at the same time save for pongx4??

Whatever it is I will try my best at my new job...certainly hope that I have made the correct choice...Thinking back, I think I am a very lucky guy...A Good relationship with a good dd(though I still think she spends $$ a bit too much), found a job relatively fast and with a reasonable pay... I think I am contented already...

Sunboi's Job Hunting Chronicles

Job hunting begins around 1 mth before the end of the semester(end of exams) which is around April, as sunboi is poor, he can't afford to go holiday (furthermore no one to go with him), so he has to start looking for work ASAP.

Number companies applied: 5
Total resumes sent(online): countless
Average number of resumes per company: 3

Application status:

Companies: Status

1) ST Electronics (info-comm sys) AMK job offer
2) Siemens VDO job offer (accepted)
3) HP shortlisted, 1st interview
4) ST Electronics (info-comm sys) JE shortlisted, 1st interview
5) Philips Electronics KIV

List will get updated once news comes in hehe

Finally, One Job Offer!!! Yeah!!!

Today very unexpectedly I received a call from ST Electronics (info Comm system, AMK) that they are offering me the position of a Software engineer with them... yeah at least got 1 coy that wans me so I am very happy., Though I am still considering their offer (promised to get back to them by Mon) mainly cos it's more of an IT job(I still prefer firmware cos it's software /w hardware) but if no other offers come along then I think i will have to accept this one... only thing is I am not sure whether I will be able to do the job...but nevermind... so happy, I called my dd niang zi the moment I put down the phone, haha cos I wan to discuss wif me...she is my dd niang zi mah hehe
Hmph.. my elder bro still say(to my mum) that my kou chai ( talking skills or watever u call tat) is not good tat's why the coys never call but at least I got 1 job offer yeah!!! so can sort of shut him up a little. Though I am still habouring hopes of going into siemens VDO (cos it's more firmware) but I think the chances are slim lor haiz...Look at the number of applicants then... some got master's degree somemore...
In some sense my bro is right, I dun feel at ease about "boasting" about myself which is the thing that I must do in interviews... tat I lose to him hands down... cos I really dun know how to promote myself... I only speak the truth and try to move people with my sincerity and honesty..tat's why I try to be as honest about myself to the interviewers as possible...
Oh Ya another thing my kou chai not good but at least I got a dd who have stuck with me through thick and thin (dunno true or not) for 7 long hard years already so I still win him...haha
Yeah !!! happy happy...