<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Engineering: Get out while you can?</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">Correlator <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">9:03 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 3) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>2398.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>I have to revisit this topic, the mood has change significantly, even the PAP govt. is offering a barrage of "Engineering is good" mantra. The last round drawn comments along the line of "Engineering is a dead end, long hours with poor pay and prospect"
QXD: Is your '1st class' friend still a RM?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sammyboymod/messages?msg=147679.1
From: QXD 26/07/2007 04:45
to: ALL 1 of 62
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.
Edited 25/07/2007 23:54 ET by QXD
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QXD: Is your '1st class' friend still a RM?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sammyboymod/messages?msg=147679.1
From: QXD 26/07/2007 04:45
to: ALL 1 of 62
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.
Edited 25/07/2007 23:54 ET by QXD
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