1st of June 2010 was the first day I started work as an engineer in a combined-cycle power plant (together with QS, JH and Toh). It was a low key occasion, but I could still remember, by 8.30am, the 4 of us sat in the meeting room at the now defunct Plant A office. Alas, it was a significant milestone in my life - I started earning a living and paying taxes. Though I have been financially independent from the family since 18 (courtesy of a scholarship from GSP), it was still special.
And, it has been a decade!
Once awhile, when departing KLIA, I would still spot the station (if I take the left flank window seats)
After about 3-4 years, there is no more being a rookie and 'young' engineer. People of my generation are now parents, managers, or running their own businesses.
The few of us were lucky, as we went straight into the job after a brief internship a year before, so we kind of hit the ground running. I have been through ups and downs in the
office, and there is no doubt that I was extremely fortunate and lucky to receive the mentoring, opportunities and exposures at the workplace. I would say we learned more than we worked. There were also amazing people and colleagues. Not a lucrative career, but I wouldn't trade it for another one. No one teaches you to be a electrician/mechanic overnight.
In the past decade, I switched jobs, went back to university, met loads of people and remained in electrical engineering / energy sector. I was also fortunate to live in different cities.
Below are the 10 things I learned, and hopefully will be useful to the newcomers.
1. Pick up a lifelong skill.
Position yourself in a way that if there are no jobs out there, you still have a core-competency that would prevent you from going hungry. It is important to align yourself to a field of expertise, be it accountancy, bakery, certain sports (football/badminton) and etc.
Circle of competence, as coined by Buffet.
For me, I have no qualms taking up minimum wage and head back to power stations or any manufacturing plants to do electrical maintenance. I am confident in my basics, and could pick-up new skills quickly. I am a hands-on person, so any craft-work is also fine.
Of course, eventually, you could climb the corporate ladder into management, evolve into a generalist, consultant or become an entrepreneur. But for your core competency, that is a life saver.
I would tail my technicians and try to learn every skills on the table, no matter where the location was
Take your own initiative to learn, grow and develop (because no one will plan or do it for you). If you don't think you are learning, improving or developing, try find other ways, such as to take part-time studies, volunteer for a cause or sign-up for some online classes.
On a cold fall day in 2016, after class, outside the classroom in Rankine Building, Glasgow University, I asked Prof. R. Paton what should I do if my boss or the organization is
toxic (no culture of sharing knowledge, people issues, unable to learn and grow), he looked me in his light blue eyes and answered -
Leave.
2. Be humble, don't worry about doing extra work, or the donkey job.
As newbies, you will be labeled all sorts, from not knowing the basics to just being hopeless. Fret not. This is part of
growing up and trimming whatever ego or snobbishness you have. Time is on your side, but the irony is, you have only the first few years to
not know the basics or
just being hopeless. These few years are the best time to learn rapidly, make mistakes and fail (not too miserably). You could still kind of get away with it (your seniors most probably have to clear the mess for you, so thank them!).
Who isn't a noob when you first started off. I didn't even know how to use a multimeter. I once use a test-pen to check DC current (or rather, I didn't understand general AC and DC circuits and voltage ranges).
