Jimah Power Substation

This week I am given a project in Port Dickson dealing with Power Performance Test.

The venue is the newly constructed, partially operated Jimah Power Plant.

Overview of Jimah Independent Power Plant.

The plant is currently co-managed by electrical specialists and most of the electrical technology inclusive of the GenSet, Transformers and Relay Protection Units are designed mainly by Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electrics.

Upon reaching the final phase of the project, they are now performing power and system evaluation.

So just before the hand-over, a group of Japanese performance engineers have arrived to test run the station with various load tests. I am assigned to the team under the supervision of its lead engineer Kawamura san for the data acquisition role in the Control Relay Room.

This is where I work - a Control Relay Room. It is mounted with Control and Protection panels. Above shown is one of a kind for PQ2 Bus Bars.



This is the main control panel for PQ2. Load test will be carried out in the GenSet site, while I will be pulling data related to the power factor from this control panel.



500kV Power Quality Panel. Performance Engineer will use this panel to monitor the power harmonics, unbalanced voltage and total voltage/current distortion. It is also my job to make sure that this system works by logging the power factor every 10 minutes for 24/7.



Site view from the Control Relay Room that I am working in. Beside is a step-up transformer.



A closer view of this giant Mitsubishi Transformer standing at 25 metres high.



A giant Step-Up Transformer is connected to the site pylons in 3 phase wiring system.






The 500kV supply is then fetch to these bus held by the site pylons before it is distributed to other pylons by means of cables.



More Pylons



The electricity is later bused to other pylons to be distributed for various uses.



I saw this gigantic monster beside the canteen - Coal Conveying Machine. I thought I could only see this in Discovery Channel. Cool...!!!

Overall comment: Not bad at all working in power station. It might be dangerous when dealing with high voltage source. But if safety measure is taken seriously, the job could be interesting and educational. Looking forward for the next assignment as such, if there is any.

Circuit Breaker Explosion

Finally something that I try to prevent from happening has occurred before me – a Circuit Breaker exploded!

Our engineering team was scheduled to do a Site Acceptance Test (SAT) on the motors with a supply of 415V. As a safety protocol, a Circuit Breaker (CB) is installed to make sure that if any overloaded situation such as current surge occurs, the Breaker can end the power supply immediately to protect the rest of the electric drives from getting burned.

My boss initiated the test by switching on the CB while I was by his side taking down some values from the meter for analysis. Shortly after the switch was pushed, CB was on as the current flowed smoothly. As we were about to walk away from the CB to the back of the panel to control the motor from the VDS, the CB suddenly exploded.

It freaked me out as I was barely 5 feet away when I heard the thundering ram. The next thing I saw was smoke coming out from the panel. Without hesitating, my boss and I rapidly shutted down the main incoming power supply to prevent further damage to the CB.

Man, I have never sweat that much before in my job. The current job doesn’t compromise carelessness. Any fault can easily kill anyone working on or in the vicinity of the switchgear panel. The consequences either you get fried into ashes or simply blasted into pieces.

No wonder my boss always tells me to maintain high level of awareness and discipline while dealing with the subordinate workers who work on site. It is important to understand that I am not only answering to myself but to the victims when accidents caused by carelessness happen.

I am glad that I am alive and still in one piece.

So, need I say more? Safety comes first!

Site Inspection and FAT in Semenyih

A week of commence for my first project which I didn’t expect to take.
The project site sits in a middle of a jungle in Semenyih. Its main function is to process the solid waste produced daily to useful energy to assist TNB to generate power for industrial and household use.

The termination and commissioning time for the overall power system came in so sudden. I still remember that my boss just received this deadline a week ago from his main contractor. Since it is our customer’s request, we have to fulfil what our customer wants.

Site visit helps to educate me from what I have read in the project documents passed down to me. I have a chance to experience the Field Acceptance Test for the functional motors.

To supply power to them, we need to first bring up the Circuit Breakers for the power surge / short circuit protection. Now we come to the most important part of the procedure - to switch on the Circuit Breaker (Fig.1).


Fig. 1 Switch Board.

Some of us might think that turning on the breaker is like switching on a light. Right? Wrong...!!!

It nearly freaked me and my other colleagues out when my boss attempted to power on the breaker. Once the switch is moved to the ON position, the magnetic circuit immediately attracts a steel bar to connect the high voltage circuit. And due to the dust collected on the Bus Bar (Fig.1), all of us witnessed a huge electrical sparks.

Full of sweat, I was told later that this is normal. Imagine touching a 22kV(live) Bus Bar, I will turn into dust in a matter of minutes. I really feel a bit nervous with my job now. Adding to a few stories of my colleagues getting electrocuted for several times, I am still yet to recover from a slight trauma.

Apart from the danger of high voltage devices, the construction site condition is also a threat to the workers there.

Just check out the few pictures that I have taken below. The platform (white) is only 1.5 feet wide. One mistake and I will land straight to the ground from 2nd floor.


Fig. 2 Narrow walk way with a hole beside.


Fig. 3 Closer look of the hole. SWEAT!

Man really pray hard that I survive through out the commissioning period.

Till then, sign off from Puchong.

7th day of work

I have finally passed my 7th day of work. I must admit that working on this job is not an easy task.

So far, apart from swallowing loads of electrical facts and drawings, I have visited various sites which I will be working in very soon after my training session.
There are a few projects in hand at the moment. Out of the potential 4, I have 2 which will boost up my experience from the ground right up just like a rocket blasting to the air. My bosses do not really look forward to a slow and steady take off. To them, only by forcing me to utilise my capabilities to the max, I would perform better.

And today I just got an update about my new job scope. I didn’t know from the beginning that after installing and commissioning the SCADA system for our customers, I still need to follow up with a list of trainings for the personnel involved for the monitoring and maintenance team. Just because of this, my boss bought me to TNB, purposely to show me the way to conduct trainings.

To sum up the training for today, one word…SWEAT! Picture myself getting bombarded with technical questions from the experience engineers and senior management…Alright…I think I will just stop here or else I will just carry this forward endlessly.

Tough job often means work that is so hard to implement that you need overtime and a bossy superior to guide you toward the accomplishment of your task. That sounds like an equation for a science freak. To work on the math out of this equation will often cause young engineers to sigh in depress.

It definitely means a tough job to me. But by subtracting the mean boss out of the equation, I am getting good food as a reward for a couple of nights since the first day of work. Seeing that I am not entitled to overtime allowance, my two bosses often buy me lunch and dinner in return for my hard work. To even dine in TGI's Friday, to be honest I would never indulge myself to the food there and I have clearly remembered to have done so only once in Penang with my parents. So after all, not bad for the tough job that falls at my feet. Mind not the pain, but the food...lol...

That’s it for the update for now. Hoping for more exciting hand-on jobs that I can write down to as a historical log in the future. And not forgotten about the snookering session my bosses invited me to. Will post some picture on that on the next entry. Till then, work hard.

First day of work in Puchong

A long anticipated time has arrived. The first day of work, as expected, is relatively light and easy.

The initially work for me is to run through some paper works such as the project documents and the layouts of the electrical design for the control systems. But later I found out the laptop given to me was not able to boot up properly. Without any solutions to assist me to run the OS in the normal way, it left me with the only method – reformat the OS.

After receiving the nod from my boss, I started off to reboot from the Microsoft OS disc. The configuration and installation of the necessary programs took me 5 and a half hour to get my laptop ready for work. The engineering programs occupied most of my time in the process of installation. Due to the incompatibility of the some engineering software built on the Windows platform, I need to fix the problem manually in the System32 kernel folder. So basically, my first day of work is spent on getting my laptop to operate. I was briefed on my projects only after I put the laptop back to life.

I feel a bit pressured now having to get involved in 2 major projects – Petronas Methanol Plant ENMC and Bank Negara Communication System. The biggest challenge for me would have to be learning in the shortest time frame for the project application. As a newbie in this field, to kick start is difficult as the inertia will tend to prevent me from moving forward. However, once I pick the speed, the momentum will give me the boost to flow faster. Now I will rely on GOD’s strength to carry me on my demanding job.

Small thoughts:
So how strong is GOD that He is able to meet our needs? In Numbers 11, Moses questioned GOD for His ability to provide his people (approx. 600,000 heads) with food for the whole month after they departed from Egypt. The LORD answered in verse 23: “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” Doubts in GOD’s ability will aggravate our trust in Him. To worsen the case, the monotomy of the daily routine lulls us into forgetting how powerful GOD can be. So take our time off to be with GOD and we will discover that His strength is always available.

Farewell Markus

I was impressed by your truthful sharing in my first Malaysian Christian Conference (MCC).

You amazed me by showing yourself to be a God-fearing and faithful servant in the House of GOD.

It’s unbelievable that the then 21 can be as insightful and sensitive to the society’s need. And I was touched to see the unfading desire of you endeavoring to bring the Gospel to those who yearn for it.

Being one who is caring, kind-hearted and selfless, you earn my respect as a senior to you.

I will deeply miss you as a great leader and motivator. The legacy that you left behind will always be testimonies for all.

Finally, allow me to say thank you, for you have brought us memorable times and wonderful memories.

Rest in peace my friend, in the palms of our FATHER.

To Markus with love,
Wayne TW NG

Memorial website in memory of Markus Ng (1985-2009)

Just a little bit...

I have been missing in action for days since CNY first started. Having to celebrate my first CNY for the first time after 4 years in England, I no longer have this sense of anticipation for it. I have seemed to lose this kind of feeling after my departure to England.

There is no way that I can feel the atmosphere of the Chinese celebrating New Year in that foreign state. I remember vividly that once I had to attend my final exam during the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar. It’s supposed to be a day off for Chinese to usher the New Year. But it turned out that most of the Chinese were either in the state of fear or in the moody swing, for their last walk of the first semester course evaluation. Not too bad for me that time as I still managed to put a smile on my face, pretentiously to cover up the fear and anxiety to be called into the exam hall.

To adduce a more sensible reason of me losing the anticipation for CNY, I personally think that it is because of the change of my faith. The tradition and customs that my family used to practice are no longer bringing any excitement to me. One of the most spectacular events is worshipping of the deities for those practicing Taoism.

The event of worshiping the deities is often celebrated along with fire crackers and beautiful fireworks. And this is how the excitement comes in. Leaning that I am no longer practicing the same faith that I used to embrace, I have gradually lost my interest in the traditional events that still remain as a part of the customs maintained by Chinese community in Malaysia till these days. The only thing which is more relevant for me to be cheerful about this festive season is the togetherness of my family members. Nothing could be more important than a healthy and happy family that comes in a close bond.

Being a Christian doesn’t stop me from celebrating CNY apart from other Christ related festivity. I am still a Chinese and I am proud to be one. I am now a Christian and I am grateful that GOD has chosen me to be one too. My prayer for this New Year, no other than having more soul saved under the Grace of GOD. I hope that my career will have a great start this year despite of the economic slowdown.
To all that I know, wishing you all a prosperous year ahead and hope that you have double or more of what you had last time as your harvest.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Bak Kuk Teh - the main suspect

Really sick today and it was that delicious Bak Kuk Teh that contributes to the ailment.

I was lazy on Wednesday night, wanted to spend sometime talking to sister online. So I requested my mom to pack some food and she bought this famous Bak Kuk Teh for me.

The overall taste of it, excellent. The soup was so thick and I guess the cook must have put a lot of herbs to boil in together with the pork bones and ribs. I didn't finish the whole bowl of soup at once but saved it for consumption the day after.

Before I went to bed that night, I felt a bit sore around my throat and I knew it was coming. The next day, my throat was in pain and immediately I recalled the Bak Kuk Teh soup in the fridge. By the time I have the bowl of soup on my palm, I discovered that the soup was solidified to a form very similar to jelly. That time only I realized that the soup was highly concentrated. Normally, if you put a low density liquid in the fridge over night, it will still be watery just as the time you inserted it into a fridge. As for concentrated liquid, it will become solid until it reaches the ambient.

Well, my sorethroat is worn off now but some how i still feel the dizziness in my head. I think i am having a slight fever. Not going to continue to hold on like a hero. Off to bed now.

Dream...dream...Bak Kuk Teh.............scream!!!!!

Wedding Reception in KL

Congrats to L & V again for their wedding.

A sudden flash back for all the ex-LCCC members who were there to celebrate the wedding, when the powerpoint slides were showing the life of L & V in Leeds together with us last time.

I am sure all of us would want to turn back the time to live the past again for the unforgettable moments. Thinking back of my university life - no worries at all except my course works. Housemates and church friends are reachable in a stone throw. The excitement of fellowship was always there as if it doesn't end. All the sweet memories overflowed our minds and we shared them over the dinner itself.

Very much delight to learn that many of the ex-LCCC members are doing pretty well in their professions and also their spiritual lives. Even though they attend different churches, but they do have their own gathering once in a while to check on each others conditions( I mean those people in KL). The kind of love that never fades that is so appealing to me. It makes me want to hold a gathering like this in Penang as well, if there is enough attendance.

Time was so precious for me in KL this time as brothers and sisters-in-christ from Borneo were there to join us. Many of us didn't really treat the dinner as wedding reception. For us, it's more like a small reunion for all the LCCC members. I even get to meet the batch of leaders before WL's era. Each of them shared their experiences during their times in the church. And what feels good about it, is LCCC is still there and the church just celebrated its 40th anniversary. May it continue to be a blessing to the people in its vicinity. My hope is to see more LCCC people to join us in our next gathering.

To end this entry, i give my best wishes to all my brothers and sisters-in-christ in this new year. Will be glad to listen to greater testimony from you all next time. Until the day comes, God bless and be strong!

Learning Japanese

It's getting more and more interesting learning Japanese.

My sister left me a copy of self-learning guide for Japanese Language 3 years ago but I just didn't really bother learning it. Most of my time spent on my research which left me little time for entertainment, fellowship and church activities.

Since some of the character looks like those we can find in Mandarin, it helps a lot for me to define the actual meaning of the statement. The only thing that I am still having trouble in, is to correct the pronunciation of the Mandarin character written in a Japanese statement. Mandarin characters have one syllable each but when it is pronounced in Japanese, they have more than one syllable, sometimes up to 3.

Although it posts certain level of difficulties, but I am sure I will be able to tackle the problem well.

This gives me my first resolution of year 2009 - complete elementary level Japanese course.

頑張って下さい！

KL over the weekend, yet to happen.

We have entered into a new year this week and hopefully everybody is getting a better treatment this year with lots of blessings and good news in waiting.

I have a total of 3 wedding invitation this month. The first to come around is Vince and Liz's. I am pretty excited about the whole thing as I'll get to meet ex-Leeds people again out of the busiest time for those at work. But suddenly I had a bad feeling about the arrangement of accommodation.

My friend promised to accommodate me at his place when i reached KL this coming Friday. All I knew was, he is inviting my friend,Will, to stay over but something that he hid from me is, he is also accommodating another 2 people. This will lead us into trouble as we will flood his whole living room.

Actually i do feel bad to reject him since he is so sincere in inviting me and the rest to stay over. He always wanted everybody to go over to his place so that he could have a small gathering, something equivalent to a small pillow talk. I am not against pillow talk session, to tell the truth, i love it and I miss it the most when I was in Leeds. But the main concern is on his house mates. With a full load of 4 people, we will be conquering his living room and there will not be any space for his house mates to move around, and not to mention, their space to even watch TV at night. Man, I am starting to get nervous about the weekend.

My mother suggested that I should look for a hotel nearby to the restaurant itself to make traveling easy. Finding the right hotel is the hardest thing. Until now, I still haven't found a hotel which offers a cheap rate around PJ. Perhaps there is no cheap stuff around this province. I mean cheaper options, to be precise.

Hope that the stay in KL for this coming weekend would be a smooth one, if all of us had to stay at my friend's place. GOD, I need a shelter!

New Year countdown to 2009

New year is drawing near. Within another 4 more hours, 2008 will be over and we will be ushering in 2009. It marks the 10th year of this new millennium.

Right, so what about last year's resolution?

Frankly, i didn't fulfill any of them. This year is really a bad year for me. It's like, nothing really seemed to go my way. The most crucial thing in my mind when I first boarded the plane to return to Malaysia, is to get hired and start working as soon as i can. The last thing that i have never thought it would occurred to me had happened through out the year.

I might regard myself to have gone through the misfortune among all times. The world economy has turned into its negative phase in less than a week. The economic slowdown hits every corner of the world and it fails to make a climb back on track.

How the world would become if this goes on for a long period?

I came across this question when i first graduated from my Masters:
So if one day, my degree doesn't get its recognition anymore from the world's top institutes, what would i do to survive?

Clearly, it is happening to me now. Every developed country and under-developed country are all in consensus to reject excessive trained engineers, as the number of these professionals are increasing exponentially but the demand of engineered products are still in stagnant. No doubt, companies have to call for retrenchment to maintain their financial stability. This cause the recession to reach its new height everyday.

So what do we learn from this incident?

Some people just fade like this. They fell too hard to the ground. Some paralyzed, some died of concussion. And some even wonder where can they find hope again. Is there still hope?

Psalm 39:7-8 reads, "But now, LORD, what do I look for? My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools..."

In the midst of crisis, David didn't blame GOD for not making his life the way he (David) had intended to live in. Rather, we can feel his appeal for God's mercy because he could sense that the life is so brief.

Here, i highlighted the importance of living out a life of a Christian by abiding to God's word.

To be able to live in a spiritual realm likewise to what God has called us to is easy to say and difficult to accomplish. We can sense more stability in the spiritual realm than the reality of this world that we are living in. To draw an example: Many working people tend to suffer when financial crisis hits them because they think apart from money, nothing else can they hold onto. As Christians, God called us to cling on to Him regardless of what crisis it might be. For most of us, money doesn't come that easily. But it sneaks away faster than you could realise it. So why not God instead of worshipping money instead?

To survive in this world is not what God wants from us. He crowned us the first day we were born and the crown means to transform us to be like conquerors over His created beings and objects. We are more than money can control but to control money. We serve the one Master, who is the LORD over the Heavens and the Earth and not money which is only a creation from God.

Financial crisis doesn't mean harm to us. It is yet another warning for all mankind from the LORD. The days on the Earth is a preparation for all God's people before we are admitted to the Paradise awaiting us. An analogy of this can be seen when we are in our mothers' worms. God prepared us even before we were born into this world.

So my new year resolution for this coming year, is to walk closer to God's calling.
I might face oppression in my work place or i might have to put up with certain work pressure, but i believe this is what God wants in me, as a preparation for me to excel in my future undertakings, as well as the day after life - the Days of Paradise.

Hallelujah, the old has gone and the new has come. Pray that there will be new converts this year as God has prepared a field for every Christian in every corner of the world. May there be more redemption of souls and loads of happiness.

Wishes you all a Happy New Year. God bless and peace be with you.

Sudha, good to see you!

Met up with one of my close friends, whom i knew from A levels last time.

He is the only Indian in the class. To extract it further, he is also the only vegetarian.

Never in my thoughts that I would see him again after 7 years and I am glad to be able to catch up with him this time before he heads back to London.

I remember every time when we organised party or went out for meal, he would look for the nearest Mc Donald's for his Mc Egg value meal (vegetarian). After he packed his food, then he will follow us to the designated location. I really feel bad for him sometimes as we were happily feasting, he could only chew on Mc Egg.

That's even more challenging when he first started his degree in Surrey. Under a strict and typical Indian upbringing, his parents didn't really allow him to eat out that often when he was young until he left senior high school. To make it worse, Surrey doens't really have much of the Indian vegetarian food for his diet. So i guess he is finding it even more difficult to cope with this eating habit in foreign country like this. Resultantly, he has grown thinner. Actually, it comes with work pressure to be more precise.

I learned that he doesn't like the life in UK as he finds the people there hard to get along with. I bet it is his eating habits that is drawing him from the social groups. Poor thing. He has this plan to return to Malaysia after he finishes his 5 year work there. I am not surprised that he thinks that way. Work is not everything. You still need your family and friends to colour up your life. To not communicate with other people makes us feel dull as if life is just about achieving your goals and not relating yourself to others. Looking at the problem in the Biblical way, if Adam can survive on his own, what did GOD create Eve for?

Changes that i can spot in him that's telling me that behind his silence, it actually comes with a terrible ordeal. He used to be very talkative in class and nobody seemed to have the ability to succumb him in debates. But he talks less after his mother passed away in his midst of pursuing his engineering degree in London. Now he doesn't feel like talking to other people as he sense the hostility of the people around him.

Would really like to take this opportunity to pray for this friend of mine. Hope to see him with a breakthrough in his social circle. I believe if he wants, he can make good friends in the UK. He need to be ready to face challenges even bigger than to repress the feelings of the loss of his love one. He needs to leave the past and move on. May GOD have mercy on him.

It is easy to make friends. Long term problem will be how to cherish the relationship. We should care for those who we seldom see because we might not know when we will be seeing them again.

That wraps up pretty much of what I have been doing today - chilling out with friends and recalling the wonderful moment of our A levels time...

Broken promise and disappointment

Another email that spoilt my mood today.

I received the reply from this company again. And now the company has replaced the previous product engineer position to an internship program. The salary is halved and i might have to work 5-6 days per week.

According to my friend, when the salary is halved, the working day is halved as well because the electronic companies are cutting down the expenditure on the operation.

This company is exploiting me too much and i might have to undergo the interview again, which is sucks. Man...really can not stand the management who fail to keep their promises.

So why at the first place they advertised this position one and a half month ago, if they knew that they weren't able to allocate money to hire more people? And it took 3 interviews to get me to the job but in the end, the President of the company took back his word and left me miserably stunned. Probably the President didn't realise that his decision has caused so much hurt to me and my family. With this incident, it really shows the failure of the management team in handling their own finance when crisis hits. I think there should be more failure of the company to be unraveled if time allows.

Can we have a toast for this team of people? Yam...Seng...

The cut-and-paste email is as below:

Dear Wayne,

The position is hold and will be replace with an attachment program by our goverment. Do let me know if you are interested. One thing to concern is the allowance is only RM1,500.

If you are okay, I can recommend your name for the program.

Regards

A****

**********************************************************************

NCITES INTERNSHIP PROGRAM (COLLABORATION WITH NCIA)
(Kedah)

Responsibilities:

• To undergo 12 months On-The-Job training in Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd
• Able to commit to undergo this attachment program for 12 months
• Ability to work in a team and as well as individually to carry out projects.
• To liase with other modules to ensure efficient job execution and timely data dissemination.
• Lead/Support cost saving initiation for maximization factory quality output and cost performance
• To participate and contribute constructively to the various meetings/Projects.
• Must be willing to work in shift if requested

Requirements:

• Fresh Degree/Diploma graduates (unemployed) from recognized institution either locally or overseas (recognized by LAN)
• Preferred with CGPA of 3.0 or Second Class Upper
• Candidates with exposures in fab or semiconductors during universities, practical training, final year projects, internship or working experience are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Field of studies:
  • Electrical, Electronics and Engineering (Semiconductor, Microelectronics, etc)
  • Material Science
  • Physics (Solid State, Device Physics, etc)
  • Chemistry (Polymers, Photo Chemistry, etc)
  • Others courses that related to semiconductor, electronics and microelectronics
  • Management Information System

Succesfull candidate will received allowance of RM1500/month (Degree)/ RM1000/month (Diploma) from NCIA

Disappointment...speechless!

Two weeks since I was given an oral confirmation from this company for a product engineer position. A long wait has finally come to a conclusion when i decided to email the HR instead of continue to wait for them to get back to me.

The HR sent me a short email which is written like this:

Dear Wayne,

Thank you for your email.

It is still pending our COO approval and I was informed that the position is being hold for some reason. Give me another one week to follow up.

Regards

A****

Another week? This is really pissing me off. So if i didn't remind the HR, i don't think they will ever get back to me about my application status. How irresponsible the HR can be! It might only another piece of work for them to follow up, but to me, the job is what i need for living. They just want to finish up tasks with the highest priority and needless to say, they care about whether i get the job. People are so self-centered when it comes to the point of disaster...Speechless!

I think i mentioned before about me meeting the Senior VP for my job interview. And now i received another nonsense from the HR telling me that my offer letter is currently under pending status with the President a.k.a the Chief Operating Officer of the company.

For crying out loud, why does the application of a junior engineer has to go through the President? I don't see this one necessary as the hiring manager or the senior engineer is already given authority to hire. Again I am not applying for the company's directorship or vice presidency and i hope that they get this right.

Sometimes, I really wonder whether the President has to approve the staffing of a janitor? This is ridiculous + hilarious. In another way of viewing this matter, all the hiring managers, senior managers and senior engineers are only a bunch of useless puppets who only earn their titles without real authority...Speechless!

I take the above email as an indirect rejection for me since the position is being held for some reason. Come on, tell me the reason then. Sigh...these people are not more than a bunch of maggots who are only good at issuing empty promises.

Back to square one again. Hope to see a new beginning in this coming new year.

I am so down. GOD help me!!!

Lost but not Defeated!

As expected, the interview today was really hard.

Especially when i need to face a Senior VP, who interviewed me with a long face and doesn't smile.

He asked me questions that i don't know how to answer. Straight away he condemned me for not be able to tackle such basic questions. According to him, the difficulty of that question is graded an undergraduate level. And i should have what it takes for the job that he is offering.

I can still remember vividly his posture throughout the whole interview - looking at me with his eyes half closed and shaking his head. From the way he reacted to my answer, he must be thinking this fella is hopeless. To further add the heat to the conversation, he turned to me and ask me how many times have i been to the interview. I told him that time was my 3rd time. Without even giving me a chance to explain, he started to raise his tone questioning why i am giving such poor presentation after attending 2 interviews. He furthered his question asking me why i didn't put effort in studying more about the topic that we wanted to discuss. But hey, nobody told me beforehand about what he wanted to ask me.

Before I could defend myself, he interrupted my speech. More and more anger were poured into this conversation which leads us no where. His final question to me was why should he hire me since I couldn't answer his technical questions, which he thought were simple rhyme that most of the engineers will know how to recite. I took courage to ask him to try me because I am a fast learner. But he refuted me by saying that if I am a fast learner, I would have gone to the websites to look for solutions regarding the EASY BASIC technical knowledge.

I didn't even have a chance to finish my talking and he stopped the whole interview. The next thing he did was making a call to the HR officer to escort me out of his office.

Basically, this was my INTERVIEW!!!

Luckily I didn't burst out crying. I have repressed my feeling until the interview was called to stop. Sad ending for the application of this job but I didn't know what's turning up next.

Inside the lift on the way down to the lobby, the HR officer asked me the progress of the interview. So i told her that i did badly and received a lot of scolding and humiliation.
The HR officer smiled a bit and in the next second, she broke a good news to me.

There was this engineer who first thought I wasn't sincere enough for the work, has requested to meet me for the second time. So unexpectedly, another chance is given for me to perform my best. He brought along a Taiwanese engineer and we did the interview in 2 languages.

The interview only lasted 10 minutes as there were only 2 questions being asked. Praise the LORD, these 2 questions fell into the subject that i studied in my masters. I got the question solved so fast that the two interviewers were so impressed with me and they decided to HIRE ME!!!

They even gave me a feedback that out of the 10 candidates that he had interviewed, I am the only person who can answer both of the questions correctly without fault.

I was depressed at the first hour, but GOD came in the RIGHT TIME for me - closing one door and opening another.

That ends the 9 month unemployment. I hope that this will be the greatest testimony ever witnessed by me. Trust in the LORD and work along HIS way and HE will add to you the necessities. Praise GOD that even in this time of economic crisis, HE still shines. And HE has delivered to me the job when i least expect it.

GOD has done it again, way ahead of me, to claim "Jericho". Hallelujah!

Crossing the Jordan - Preparation

Like other mature Christians, I would like to be "cool" over matters which are still in waiting.

Continued from the last entry, mentioning about me waiting for the next arrangement on my interview. I have waited for 2 days and still the HR officers hasn't got back to me.

There is no problem for me to wait, as God taught us to wait upon His instruction for the right time and the right place to strike. I guess I have prayed too much on getting more interviews - there are another two companies which called me yesterday and today respectively for job openings. It should be exciting to receive calls for interview, but somehow my worries doubled.

Speaking of being unfortunate, or rather being too fortunate, I can't exactly plan my time well for all those interviews as they are scattered around Malaysia. Planning my trip and getting bus ticket are the last few things I'd want to do, except for vacation planning.

It doesn't happen to me that the companies are calling from only one state, that is Penang. If so, I could even arrange to have 2 interviews, one after another in a day's time. A tedious journey to look forward to.

So much to think on how to schedule my interviews for this and week after, it is kind of causing me to lose all my focus on my revision in Semiconductor Physics. The actual schedule tells me that I need to finish studying the whole thing by today as I was supposed to have my 3rd interview with the Senior VP tomorrow. But till now, I still haven't received calls from them to arrange the time with me. I wonder whose turn to be unavailable this time. It's always the interviewers' time that I must tolerate. They are busy people who are so engaged with work. And SO AM I!!!

Life is so hectic even before I start working. Can't imagine how it'll be like when I am hired... Well, since there is no point forcing myself to continue my revision due to this insurmountable problem, I instead, put myself into a rather useful and peaceful moment to read God's Word.

Praise the LORD, I am enlightened from that hour of Bible study. Primary reflection gave me the impression that I may be too hurry to achieve my goal. Joshua 3 really helps in calming me in that issue. I may look like I am prepared for the coming challenge but I think God is holding this back because I have not fully comprehended His way of consecration prior to the head-on battle. Sometimes when we are in the rush, God will make us stop and listen. We'll tend to be too focus on our work and forget the divine purposes. The lesson for today: Stay put to God's instruction from time to time and we will be saved from making the wrong move.

It's happening to me in reality reflecting on Joshua's chronicles. I am looking forward to see God's miracle on my job application, like wise to the second greatest miracle He performed before the Israelites on Jordan crossing. It's later learned that the Amorites and Canaanites who were residing along the coast of Jordan river, fled with fear after hearing the mighty power demonstrated by the God of Israelites.

Sometimes, God's strategy of triumphing over a battle can be as simple as drying up the Jordan river for the crossing. The Israelites might had no idea on the tactics used by God in the battle field, but God took that opportunity to teach them that by trusting God only, will the toughests problem be solved.

Holy Spirit will you guide my heart always, so that what I have in my heart will lead to the Heart of the Father. Help me to listen to the instruction properly and follow His plan in the exact pace. My prayer will be that I can make a difference in my community to be, LORD, your witness in my success in life. Amen!

Crossing the Jordan River...NOT!

D-Day is delayed yet another day!!!

I'll add more exclamation mark if I'll be able to shout louder.

Don't know whether i should be happy or sad in this case. Done with the second interview but...but...but... the interviewers still cannot make up their minds whether or not to hire me.

The senior manager, in his indecisive mind, has arranged yet another interview session with me next week! Yes, yet another one! Aren't those people not sick of interview? Or interviewing people just makes their day and makes their happy while seeing people suffered from anxiety, sleeplessness and etc.

And of course, the fun is not theirs solely. I am scheduled to meet up with the Senior Vice President of the Company to decide my fate.

It's not a typo my friend, you are looking at SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT of the company!

Did I apply for the wrong position? or the interviewers are on the wrong track?

Still the same question, why do they need a Senior VP to verify me even after my second stage of interview? Can't they just make up their minds? Or they just lack courage and reluctant to bare responsibility if the people they hired may not turn out helpful in improving the production.

There are 2 issues arise here, which i think it's not reasonable for all these "jokes".

Firstly, it would a big disgrace for them to have to request for the Senior VP to interfere in the round of selection for the right engineer...hey, I mean a JUNIOR ENGINEER in this context!

Secondly, I am not applying to be the DIRECTOR of the company. There is needless for the Senior VP to meet me. Except that Senior VP has a better offer for me. And this offer had better be a good one.

I am just worn off after the interview - having to travel 2 hours and had another 2 hours spent on the interview.

GOD, help me! I wonder why I can only stare at the "promised land" but i can never cross the "Jordan River" to claim it! LORD, reveal yourself to me!

Back from Asia Conference 2008

Supposed to update my blog 2 days ago after Asia Conference 2008.

But I was so engaged with my work after I reached home. The second interview for another engineering position is scheduled on this coming Friday. And more to that, the interviewers have requested to look at my Master's theses, which is a bad idea because I might have to reread the whole piece work from the beginning. It was a sophisticated piece of work, and if the interviewers wanted to go into details on the research, I would have to spend even more time to comprehend the details myself.

I remember the Fellow for the company asked me a question, which is still fresh to me even now, is "why the mass of of a hole is larger than an electron?"

Flabbergasted I sat there with an empty mind. I don't really know how to answer his question, which for me, is regarded as a basic knowledge that a graduate engineer should know before they are graduated. Ish...so embarassing!!! But in return, he tried to comfort me by telling me not to get offended as he was analyzing my knowledge level and was trying to determine whether i am suitable for the job.

Praise the LORD, after the first round of interview, he seemed to be quite satisfied with my performance and he gave a green light for the second interview as stated above.

I believe that i will perform pretty well this time. In Asia Conference, I have kind of learned from the people from City Harvest Church that as Christians, we should learn how to prophesy, confess and claim victory for the task we are about to work on. Only the belief that we have, the trust we own for GOD, and the faith we discharge, can we be VICTORIOUS!

GOD is always ahead of me, HE will pave the way for me! Just like what HE had done for Joshua the son of Nun in the battle of Jericho to claim the Promised Land which Moses failed to enter.

So have faith, take the cross and go with Christ Jesus. You may not know what you are going to receive after your consistency in prayer.

Note: will update more on Asia Conference 2008 in the next entry.

Week of "The Mass Massacre"

D-Day next week. Loads to be dealt with. Nothing have i started on yet.

The time when i really hope for the interview never came. It always arrives at the wrong time when i have some other things to do. To an extreme state, it comes in "pair" this time.

Doubtfully, the question arises, as for why people would prefer to have job interview next week. Probably it is the "right" day as regarded by Chinese referring to the Chinese Lunar Calender.

Apart from the interview, it's a last minute plan for me to attend the Asia Conference 2008 in Singapore. Always and very often after i have decided on something, other extra events will suddenly land on me, having me to change all my previous schedule. And now i have things filling up to my nostril - experiencing difficulty to even breathe.

The new schedule reads, Monday - Renew Passport, Tuesday - Silterra Interview, Wednesday - Power Electronics Revision, Thursday - Harmer & Simmons Interview. Right after the interview, i will travel down to Singapore.

The new Saga will begin right after i reach Singapore. Asia Conference 2008 will be the next station where my stamina is once again being evaluated. Hopefully, I could REST through the conference in the presence of the LORD.

Pray hard for this to come to past.