Another milestone in my career - WDC

Time flies...it just slipped my mind. In the past, I always post either a month, 3 months or 6 months checkpoint after I joined a new company. Since the previous was back in my ex company Motorola, I didn't have similar post.

Now days past my 6 months tenure with Western Digital, SSD division(old Sandisk) things get very challenging and exciting. Everyday I have new code to crack. The team is rather green....both in age and experience.

Hope that I can still have similar excitement for years to come. Hope for the best for the company, its global and local leadership and of course for myself.

Oh not to forget to mention, I have made few good friends here.

6 months check point

I was scanning over my past posts and decided I need to write this one like how I did in my past positions.

So I just past my 6 months probation in 'M2'. Even before the review session, I knew clearly that I would get over it without any problem looking at my involvement and deliverable so far.

As expected, nothing shocking from my manager. However I was shocked over my own honest remarks during the review session which includes a good mix of good and bad remarks like

1 month in new Office

Decided to pen down this special day. How many more 1st month in new office can one have, right?

Few of the sweet treats from office...fat die me!!!

As expected many are puzzled with my move. After close to 8 years in the industry, I move down to Kuala Lumpur, out of Penang where I call home.

Hate being in this position

Another long stop here. Life has been miserable. On top of the busy and black box like life, why am I stuck in office politics? I am just looking forward to the day where I would be spared from all these craps. Let's pray for me that this day is coming soon.

Exhausting months

Life sucks recently. It's either I am doing some shitty no value work or I am forced to deliver on tight schedule with all its dependency still in black box mode. Wonder which programmer can write effective code is she doesn't know what it is really used for.

On top of the usual task, I am overloaded with initiatives. As usual, the reward for good job is more job. :-( Hopefully my recent 'NO's or no show do not offend those haunting souls out there. Please spare me from more work. I don't get paid overtime and I am not calculative either. I just have already devoted more than 10 hours per day in office and I need some for myself.

Counting down to 2 years service completion at Motorola

No updates for the recent months as I was all tied down at home and work.

So hell yes, I will be completing my 2 years in Motorola soon. These are real busy and intensive years. The learning curve are steep and work are demanding...or at least I have been committing myself to this busy schedule....this is just me! "If not now, then when?" attitude.

However glad that things have been very fruitful. My projects are in good shapes and my trip was an enjoyable one. Meeting people and learning from each other always amazed me. Hope to get more of such opportunity :D

9 months check point

Completed my 9 months is M. It will be my 10th beginning from next week. It has been challenging months for me as well as fulfilling ones. This is what I have signed up for. I appreciate the learning initiative they have put in place...another good example of "Leaders breed leaders". We will move forward cumulatively. Go APCO!

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Time flies

Time flies...this saying is true regardless of easy time or hard. Now I have joined 'M' for more that 6 months yet there are still so much to learn. Still a great part of the development cycle seemed so alien to me. I could not recall having this feeling when I was back in 'I'. I  was running at pace with others in the team by then.

Is it because I lost my focus? Is it because I am now overloaded trying to balance work, study and personal life all together at once? or is it because there are more to learn in embedded field or is it because 'M' is a more process centric organization?

No matter what it is, I am still eager to continue my path here. I will just need to hang on and overcome all the obstacles. This semester is coming to an end by this Saturday. After that I have only 2 more papers and a thesis to complete in next semester. Hope that I can finish my thesis by mid of this year to be in time for the 13th MMU Convocation. Then I will regain my luxury of time for my beloved activities...travelling, photographing and surfing the internet...My last long holiday abroad was in 2010 and next is in 2013. Missed those days where I have the luxury of 17 days of annual leave per year.

New Platform To Learn And To Teach

I am still committed to volunteerism despite in my busy schedule.

In my new working environment, I am still passionate to give back to the community. With this passion and eagerness to learn more, I have volunteered to run the demo for our product in a family day event organized by our employees women council. 

It was challenging to prepare myself in such a short time to face the public and share with them on our product. I have to know the product in detail yet to put in the simplest manner that was less confusing to the public, especially those kids. We started off with a little dull but quickly adjusted ourselves and finally won the attention of our audiences. It was really satisfying to get positive feedback from them and I am really proud to be part of the organizing team. 

There will be another demo tomorrow at the Penang Science Fair at PISA. 

Friends, do drop by at the event and especially at Motorola booth to show your support :-)

Volunteers rock!

Checkpoint

A quick check...this is already my forth month here in M.

My 1st 3 months here has been very challenging for me. I got on a POC project when I knew minimal about the whole development environment. With no background on model development and minimum knowledge on embedded especially in radio communication solution, I have started here in M just like a freshie but with much higher expectation.

To cope with my shortcomings, I stayed back late for over 2 weeks, in office for more than 12 hours daily. This project was equally difficult as my last project in 'I' in terms of the stress induced but both stress induction factors were different. In 'I', it was people relation and politics while in 'M' it was the uncertainty and alien environment that drove me nuts.

It was such a relieve and I have so much satisfactory when the project finally completed with lots of positive feedback from the management. It was a great learning opportunity and excellent ramping up path. It opens up my mind on how wide embedded computing can go. Now I can't wait to further my career path in Motorola. There are many opportunities and I am glad to have decided to move on with them.

Life in M

It has been more than a month since I last blogged and it marks my 1 month service in M.

I am still growing in M. I have a lot to learn here. Everything seems different from my previous position. I find it challenging and believe this position will be able to satisfy my passion for code. Many are asking if M is any better than I, honestly I think each is better in their own way. Every cloud has a silver lining.

For now, self discovery in new environment has gives a lot of positive qi. Life is better with less complain. I am picking up my pace and making more productive time at work place. With all these +qi, it helps drive progress in my research project as well. :D

3 days in office

We were out for lunch together today. The 'we' that I meant here was not my new M mates but rather my ex-colleagues from I. It felt strange and irrelevant to hear those office gossips from them but really good to see them around especially in my early integration phase where everything in the day is so alien to me. Thanks mates!

Back about my 3 days experience in new office, I love my new environment. Despite of the smaller cubicle, I am happy to be there. It was a huge relieve on the 1st day knowing that my boss has been anticipating my join. My login account was created weeks ago (confirmed this after seeing whole long list of emails since weeks ago), new monitor (still in box) lying on my table and order has been placed for my new telephone set. I am really looking forward to work with him and the whole team.

I am still in setup and learning phase. I am a total 'SpongeBob' now....ready to learn and absorb all new knowledge. Gambate!

Time to move on

This has been troubling me for so long...finally I have made my decision to move on after 3 complete years of serving...
Now I really enjoyed my time in intel...hooray!

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Blessing Quarter

Finally back to my blog...really a long stop since my last post.

It has been a busy quarter be it at work, study or home.

Glad that a lot has been accomplished. I am really happy now that so much has been sorted out.

Anticipating my new start and am certain that postgraduate is something I really want and something I can accomplish.

Now that I have the green light from both my academic and my industry supervisor, I just have to kick start my project. No more procrastination, Sze Wan!

Last update before holiday

I have been quite sometime since I update my blog. So I decided to give an update before I fly off for my holiday this weekend.

Some spammer just annoyed me and so I decide to remove my cbox here.

Moving on on other updates,

1. My master prog - status unknown. Result is not out yet. Can't tell I will continue on or just stop after sem 1. If I fail, then likelihood is I will quit the program and repay my company for the 1 semester fees. If I pass, likelihood is that I will graduate in 2 or not more than 4 yrs time.
2. Work - tiring and demanding as usual with a lot of uncertainty factor. I can't tell when is my last day but item 1 above may be the 1 of the many driving factor.
3. My new home - just moved in into my bro's new house. Got a comfy bed and at a more strategic place to stay in. I now need less time to travel to and from office daily. This equate to better living quality. On my new house, the construction is progressing very well. The house is almost 80% completed. However I hoped that it will not be completed so soon. I need more time to save for my renovation fund.
4. Leisure activities - I have less time for photographing and editing. However I did a lot of reading on these topics. Looking forward to capture great moments in Vietnam. While on the craft work, I did spend few hours creating 1 and a half monkeys. I will need to go buy more to complete them.
5. Dream gadget - I want and need an iPhone 4 so badly. My poor memory needs an external support. I have kept forgetting about my early morning and late night meeting. But as usual I have financial constraint. So it will depends on the status of item 1 as well. If I do not repay the fees, then I can probably afford 1 very soon.
6. Holiday plan - Trip to Vietnam is my last confirmed holiday. Wished I could afford another next year but with all those commitment, it is difficult. Japan and Australia are missions impossible now. Asia countries are difficult as well. :S :S :S

Looking forward to my holiday.

Close to drown

To much of distraction at a time. I could not concentrate. This song totally spell out my feeling now.

Another trip came, another canceled

From the pretty empty weekend schedule in the last 2 years, my weekends now are demanding and tiring. With my master program on, I can not have much time for myself.

Sob, sob sob...

Then one plan came, another canceled.

Initially my travel plan for this year was

Family trip in Bali on 13 to 19 June 2010
VTSM gals in Hanoi on 16 to 24 October 2010

with 1 or 2 other short weekend getaways

Then suddenly came my business trip to Folsom from 15 to 30 May 2010. As I was just in the transition mode, trying to cope with new work allocation and study, I have to cancel my trip to Bali :-(

I can not make it to join my department in our quarterly teambuilding. It is so not cool to be able to plan and prepare but unable to join in the very activities. So no teambuilding for me on the 26 June 2010.

And now, I got selected to represent our country to Korea in the Malaysia - Korea International Exchange Program from 2 to 11 July 2010. I will have to skip 2 more weeks of class and a little more money to spend and less annual leave left. With this, I am uncertain if I can still make it for my Hanoi trip. However I will keep this option for now.

To summarize my annual travel calendar

• 15 - 30 May 2010 - Business trip at Folsom, California, USA
• 13 - 19 June 2010 - Family trip to Bali, Indonesia (PPKed)
• 26 June 2010 - Teambuilding at Cameron Highland (Withdraw)
• 2 - 11 July 2010 - Malaysia - Korea International Exchange Program in Seoul, Korea
• 16 - 24 October 2010 - VTSM gals to Hanoi, Vietnam (tentative)

Happy for some to happen :D and sad that some got canceled :S

Am now in Changi Airport

So tired now...cant do much other than surfing the internet and window shopping. Saving all my credit limit for my time in Califonia.

Hope that I can have a smooth flight to SF(best to be without the pills) and may I get immigration clearance smoothly.

Oh yes...I just get my flight ticket issued. Both isle and window seats are out :S I want my window seat so badly for the comfort and the view.

1st day into my postgrad study

I was glad that my postgraduate study finally took off. My first lecture by an old wise man, Prof. Tou was interesting as well as challenging at the same time. He was lecturing on the quantum mechanics, atom, electron and etc. He covered months of form 5 and form 6 Chemistry and Physics syllabus in less than 3 hours. In fact his lecture was more conclusive. Perhaps it was because we now have better understanding of the law of nature.

I am going to have hard time catching up with those lectures while juggling them with my work, family and friends at the same time. May god bless and give the strength and sanity to pursue my dream! I must finish and graduate in the minimum 2 years!

Photos from the last team building

I was so lazy to update my blogs. I have actually written quite a number of posts but was too lazy to edit my photos for the posts.

As picture speak a thousand words, here I present you only photos from my last team buildings.