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Wow, I just happened to stumble upon an old post in SBF delphi as I was doing a Google search on Engineering in Singapore.
I've attached it as a quote below to help jog some memories.
Time can really fly. When I wrote that post below, I was still stationed in Singapore, but transitioning to Oz.
Well, fast forward to my recent visit back to SG.
Mr. First-Class-Honors-ex-engineer-turned-banker is now a family man. Still in the banking line, he has more or less settled into his role. He makes a good living, compared to living in a HDB resale in 2007, he now has 2 condos, one in the Bukit Timah area and the other in the East. One he rents out to an overseas colleague while he stays in another with his family.
I would consider him as having done well for himself. Looking back, he says that his biggest difficulty was to overcome his fear of carrying himself in a manner that earns people's confidence. To elaborate, he had no problem in the early days selling products to lao aunties whom he could communicate at a Pasar-level Hokkien and Mandarin, but in time, as he grew, he had to learn the hard way and got hammered constantly by his seniors that he was too "shifty eyed", "blabbering too many details", "too technical" when it came to dealing with HNW individuals from the region. He almost got sidelined and eased out of his position, but managed to survive. I wouldn't say he has excelled in his field, but at least he has done something different and should be rather comfortable for the rest of his life.
While he is earning good money and has seen his ex-company in the electronics field slowly fade away and move manufacturing out of SG, he still looks back fondly at it, and it strikes me like he felt that back then, he had more mastery over what he did, compared to his role now. Maybe, and I could be wrong, in Banking, there is a lot more politics and maneuverings to backstab and get ahead, or perhaps a lot more infighting between your own ethics and the legal grey areas that a banker has to play in.
In terms of the level of happiness, I would not consider him happy. Perhaps it trends with all Singaporeans, with the escalating prices and high population growth that has led to more dissatisfaction. Then again, maybe its the uncertainty the Banking Sector is facing now; he seems to have this fear that the rug could be pulled from under him at anytime, and I would suspect that it's not due to economic fundamentals but rather the impact of Banking Regulations impressed by the EU and US and it's consequence to the region.
In terms of earning power, I was way better off than he back then in 2007. And now, he has caught up with me and can be easily considered a millionaire a few times over while my income has only trended +1 to +3 above inflation through the years. He's worked hard for it and I bear no envy but rather utterly respect him for it, although I must say that after my trip in SG, I had a hard look at my own portfolio of assets and realised that many were underperforming because I was too tidakapa about them. Goes to show how life in Oz can sometimes make one too relaxed...
I have since made some corrections. Some people have even thanked me for holding prices down for as long as I did and nominated me for some community award...sheeh...
Nice gesture, but the thought of receiving an award for not being the stereotypical greedy, bourgeois, profit seeking business man, is something I don't think I deserve it or can live up to in the long run...
Things have moved on, compared to 2007, we have clearly left our innocence behind, conversation between us is now more measured, thoughtful. Even a few round of drinks can't bring back the loud, open, no-holds barred "discussions" that we used to enjoy. We are both fathers, husbands and bread-winners, not fresh uni grads who look to the sky as the limit or the world as our oyster.
Well, I guess we are showing signs of our age then. But as we do grow old, hopefully we will do so too in wisdom and in stature.
I've attached it as a quote below to help jog some memories.
Time can really fly. When I wrote that post below, I was still stationed in Singapore, but transitioning to Oz.
Well, fast forward to my recent visit back to SG.
Mr. First-Class-Honors-ex-engineer-turned-banker is now a family man. Still in the banking line, he has more or less settled into his role. He makes a good living, compared to living in a HDB resale in 2007, he now has 2 condos, one in the Bukit Timah area and the other in the East. One he rents out to an overseas colleague while he stays in another with his family.
I would consider him as having done well for himself. Looking back, he says that his biggest difficulty was to overcome his fear of carrying himself in a manner that earns people's confidence. To elaborate, he had no problem in the early days selling products to lao aunties whom he could communicate at a Pasar-level Hokkien and Mandarin, but in time, as he grew, he had to learn the hard way and got hammered constantly by his seniors that he was too "shifty eyed", "blabbering too many details", "too technical" when it came to dealing with HNW individuals from the region. He almost got sidelined and eased out of his position, but managed to survive. I wouldn't say he has excelled in his field, but at least he has done something different and should be rather comfortable for the rest of his life.
While he is earning good money and has seen his ex-company in the electronics field slowly fade away and move manufacturing out of SG, he still looks back fondly at it, and it strikes me like he felt that back then, he had more mastery over what he did, compared to his role now. Maybe, and I could be wrong, in Banking, there is a lot more politics and maneuverings to backstab and get ahead, or perhaps a lot more infighting between your own ethics and the legal grey areas that a banker has to play in.
In terms of the level of happiness, I would not consider him happy. Perhaps it trends with all Singaporeans, with the escalating prices and high population growth that has led to more dissatisfaction. Then again, maybe its the uncertainty the Banking Sector is facing now; he seems to have this fear that the rug could be pulled from under him at anytime, and I would suspect that it's not due to economic fundamentals but rather the impact of Banking Regulations impressed by the EU and US and it's consequence to the region.
In terms of earning power, I was way better off than he back then in 2007. And now, he has caught up with me and can be easily considered a millionaire a few times over while my income has only trended +1 to +3 above inflation through the years. He's worked hard for it and I bear no envy but rather utterly respect him for it, although I must say that after my trip in SG, I had a hard look at my own portfolio of assets and realised that many were underperforming because I was too tidakapa about them. Goes to show how life in Oz can sometimes make one too relaxed...
I have since made some corrections. Some people have even thanked me for holding prices down for as long as I did and nominated me for some community award...sheeh...
Nice gesture, but the thought of receiving an award for not being the stereotypical greedy, bourgeois, profit seeking business man, is something I don't think I deserve it or can live up to in the long run...
Things have moved on, compared to 2007, we have clearly left our innocence behind, conversation between us is now more measured, thoughtful. Even a few round of drinks can't bring back the loud, open, no-holds barred "discussions" that we used to enjoy. We are both fathers, husbands and bread-winners, not fresh uni grads who look to the sky as the limit or the world as our oyster.
Well, I guess we are showing signs of our age then. But as we do grow old, hopefully we will do so too in wisdom and in stature.
Engineering: Get out while you can
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sammyboymod/messages?msg=147679.1
A week ago, I sat down for a coffee with 2 University mates. 3 Engineers minted from the same school, many years ago.
We suffered through endless nights of studying, stared blankly at lecture notes during our first year back in school after 2.5 years of NS, cursed our lack of enjoyment over stacks of books and once in a while, peeped over one another's shoulder during exams.
We couldn't have been more different graduating. One with First Class Honours and a job as Process Engineer lined up in a HUGE US manufacturing MNC before he graduated, one with no Honours and me, well...thought I could outsmart the school system but got outsmarted and "awarded" an extra year in School.
Fast forward back to present, the only one still a practicing Engineer was our bookworm kiasu, first-class honours buddy. We were talking about our individual choices, why we left Engineering and how it would be from here on out.
Mr. First-Class honours was still in the same manufacturing line, Mr. No-class honours was in IT for the past 5 years, Mr. Retain-one-year ran his own small little business.
The fact was, my friend in Engineering was pretty distressed. He saw it coming, his company has been restructuring, moving product lines away from Singapore or building factories overseas with Engineers seconded from Singapore for contracted periods of time. Soon it would be his time to go. He knew it, and it would happen soon. Funny thing was, he wanted to go into Banking/Finance or just become a remisier on his own.
He is no ordinary person. Once he set his mind to something, he made sure he got good at it. During Uni, a lecturer we all considered as racist and never gave Asian students good grades, gave him a distinction after he bitched about his Credit pass all the way to the top and stood amidst the Board of Appeals chaired by the Dean. He would stand behind me in a retarded stupor as I played Blackjack in Jupiters and after a set of cards, follow my winning hands and stay from most of my losing ones.
But now he wanted out of Engineering. BIG TIME and BADLY. He had practically blitzed the ST701, ST Classifieds, Jobstreet, JobsDB etc with his resume and wrote tons of Cover Letters explaining his intention to enter into the Finance/Banking Sector. He even took IBF certifications to qualify for the relevant jobs. I related my experiences of finding a crossover job, citing all the nonsense I heard about "lack of experience", "no relevant degree", "too old" before venturing out on my own. I even mentioned that perhaps with the IDR, revival of Batam/Bintan economic zones, Engineering would shine again.
He listened intently with the same retarded stupor like back then at the blackjack table. I told him not suffer the same indignation, start his own business, I could help him finance some of it.
I'm glad I was wrong and, as usual, under-estimated him.
Today, in 1 months time, it will be goodbye Mr. Big-MNC-Engineer, Hello Mr. Big-Foreign-Bank-Relationship Manager.
Well, the catch is, he would have to sell "Wealth Management" Products and go through 3 months of vigorous training with kids in their 20s. Maybe even see him around Bugis MRT canvassing sales. But goodness knows that in a few years time, I would have to grovel to him for financing my business.
His story is an exception to the norm. Stay as an Engineer in Singapore and you will be prodded like cattle in a slaughterhouse toward the light at the end of the tunnel that leads to an untimely demise. The sooner you wake up and see the world of diversity around you beyond your factory walls, the brighter your future is ahead of you.
Get out while you can. Engineering Degree perhaps, but Engineering Career in SG?
Forget it.
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