Plagiarism

Picture taken from: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/abl/quilt/tilt/tilt/module3/images/plagiarism.GIF

Plagiarism is often spoken of at Universities, Colleges, saying that one should never take credit for the things that others have done. Recently at work, someone won $200 for a story writing competition. I read his story and I couldn’t help but think, how in the world did he win it since the introduction and closing paragraphs are both taken from other people? I was baffled in how the company supported plagiarism. Is it so hard to mention the source of the information? I must admit at times I will forget to quote the source but I truly believed that he had no idea about plagiarism.

His first paragraph he wrote (taken from the company portal written by CS):
“Continuous learning is not about continually taking courses – it’s about developing skills, reflection and recognition – it’s about learning how to learn so that our life’s experiences became our own learning lab.”
Found this at the following website:  http://managementhelp.org/trng_dev/design/cont_lrn.htm

Second paragraph:
“Our future depends on our continually renewing and regenerating our management and building upon past experience, learning from the circumstances of the presents, and preparing for the challenges of the future.”
Found this at the Ministry of Education Singapore website: http://www3.moe.edu.sg/corporate/mission_statement.htm

Second last paragrah:
“More and more jobs require continuous upgrading, and that all workers must continue learning in order to keep or to grow with their jobs. Then the following will become essential skills:-

•  Knowing how to learn
• Understanding one’s own learning style.
• Knowing how to gain access to a variety of materials, resources and learning opportunities.
• Training in job- related health and safety.
• Obtaining and updating credentials.
• Learning about new equipment, procedures, products and services.”

Found at the website: http://www.ebcm-vet.net/index.aspx?GroupId=35

All in all it would have been greatly written with his own story incorporated. If it was only his complete work.

Designing Information Systems Easy As Pie?

In designing an information system for some work process, it has to be done in phases whereby there is one centralise portal linking all these information systems together. The backend database is ideally one database whereby all information systems are updating particular sections of tables in it. These tables are connected to each other in some way where you have primary keys and foreign keys.

Funny thing is, users don’t really comprehend a programmer’s perspective in designing an information system. “How hard can it be!” is what they usually say. But users don’t comprehend what programmers go through when there are add ons from the original design.

It’s like having built a big round metal container for an oil refinery. A crane of 100 tons comes in and places the container at the site. A few years later there seems to be holes in the container, so the maintenance team comes in and patches it by just cutting a piece of metal and cover the hole by welding to the original structure. After doing that for so many years, then one day they decide to scrap the structure. So the maintenance team comes in with the 100 ton and lifts the structure. However the crane and structure topples. Why does it topple? It topples because all the metals covering the holes of the original structure makes the structure heavier than it originally was. The centre of mass of the structure is no longer the same due to the constant patches and add ons.

The same goes with implementing databases. If the database design originally did not consider including the idea in the original design and patches of add ons over the years are put in place, the database gets more heavier and it will be slower for people to access. This is invisible to the users and so users don’t understand the pain system analyts have to go through when users cannot decide what they really need.

Don’t Make Me Come and Slap You

By taking the initiative to buy self help books doesn’t necessarily help a person if they don’t act upon it and lately I have to admit even though I attempted to take one step forward in controlling myself, I also took two steps back today.

It’s irritating for me to hear someone in a team that says things like, “It’s not my job.” How can one be so selfish to say something like that? You’re suppose to help each other out and tie loose ends together. And to think they are of the same culture. It’s disappointing in a way. I might as well not even help him out since he can’t even do his part properly most of the time. It’s times like this that makes my blood boil at work.

Podcast for Note Taking

For those that want to have more effective note taking skills should listen to the podcast at:

http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/07/how-to-take-notes/

Get Things Going

I think the most progressive thing I have done this whole month is getting myself enrolled into driving classes. I estimated it will cost me about 3K to complete the whole manual course (if i pass for the first try) and probably by next year *hopefully* I can get a license. 

It’s been a storm at work with the new guys and I have been trying to train them. I don’t think I am a good trainer… they kind of pissed me off so I made them draw lines the whole week. *yikes* But there is a valid reason for that! It’s because I needed to catch up with my work and clear their mistakes. Besides drawing lines assists in showing them what the log books are used for. They are used to keep track of where the vehicles are going by recording the odometer readings.

Besides work and driving, nothing much has been happening. My emotions have been going up and down lately. Too much time to think? Not enough caffeine? Definately not enough sleep and definately not enough exercise. I need to start to making goals of where I want to head in life. I need to start on this project soon for my company or I will be so unmotivated to do it at the end of the day. I am interested in developing applications using C# ASP.NET. So I am thinking of saving up and picking up some courses in software testing as well. I even joined a website in Singapore that was related to CITREP? Also there was this site at iTrain saying what courses I should go for but the more I read up on it, the more choices I was given which totally made me more confused because there were so many things I could specialise in but I didn’t know if that is what I wanted?

I am stuck at the crossroads again and I wish they were here to tell me what to do… funny how they could always pull me to look at things from a different perspective and tell me what I should and shouldn’t do and it felt ever so right when they explained it to me. I wonder if they know… this is one of the things I missed about them…

I miss you placing sense in my head… for the other times for making me smile making me think of how your logic does not make any sense to me but I am intrigued.

Headcount Process Continued

I actually blogged about the headcount process at work but me being the smarty pants went and deleted the post by mistake *hangs my head in shame*. I just wanted to update it and not delete it because I discovered new findings.

After having drafted out the data flow of the processes, I thought maybe rather than looking at that for the headcount process of new foreign workers coming into the company, I should look at the work flow and looked at all stakeholders/departments that would be involved. As I stated before I couldn’t see how automation of the system would assist in the long term from the manual work that is being done when I looked at the data flow. Due to the system being so manual, even if it got automated it would only assist in the calculation part which would go directly to accounts and finance side. So, I ended up getting a bigger picture of how things worked with the work flow diagram. I am still looking at how the work flow can be improved and deligated so it would be more effective and efficient in producing reports on time.

The goal of the whole headcount process is to achieve the most accurate estimation of headcounts for each site location everyday so we could provide better dispatching of transport without wasting our resources. As part of the logistics team, one would understand as this team that we provide services to all site locations and it could be quite a headache. As I see it though, if we provide the service we have to charge for it and if costs are not covered by revenue, we would make a loss financially as a department which is undesirable (basic accounting 101).

Since there is so much back log of charges still pending, there must be a better way to assist in the flow of how operations should be run. Previewing the Equipment Booking System (in-house software) they have at the company, I do feel there is a limitation to what the prototype can do. It is the daily bookings of vehicles that is not accurately placed onto paper that is causing human error. Then the question in my head at the moment is, should they split the two systems apart whereby Equipment Booking System is for equipment only and Transport Booking System is for booking of the transport? Just thinking about it makes me head hurt.

Giving Back to Those In Need

The thing you have to understand about the company I work for in Singapore, more than 60% I figure are foreign workers coming from (on the top of my head) Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Philippines, etc. They are all here for one reason and it is to make money so that they can send it home for their families hoping for a better future. Everybody works hard and the weather here in Singapore is somehow hot and humid and becoming 3-4 shades darker from working under the sun is considered normal.

Recently all the news about how Yangon (Myanmar) was ripped apart by the cyclone (Nargis) killing over hundred thousands in its path, it is amazing how people at the company I work for are digging deep into their pockets to give back to a community that has lost everything. I heard that there are torrential rain which isn’t helping those that have survived in Myanmar and as more people are dying and missing, we can only give money hoping that it would help since the junta’s refused aid initially. Take note all these foreign workers don’t earn alot in one month (approx basic ~400) so they are donating a quarter of their monthly income. Half of their monthly income goes to paying for their fees and services to get them to Singapore (or something similar to that). So the company seeing that a lot of the workers here are Burmese, the company is willing to pay what the workers pay to assist with the donation. So seeing the money go from $0 to almost $35,000 and the final amount almost hit $70,000 in the past week, I can’t but hope this amount of money will help the society in picking themselves up again even though it seems nothing is left.

Back to the Root…

I hate to say it but after being one month of being UNEMPLOYED… I am back to work at my previous company. Hopefully I ain’t back doing logistics work after 4 weeks of employment yes? This time round hopefully I get to start doing some work in implementing an online system for the current work flow processes and centralise everything to one location and change the system to less manual paper calculative system.

I don’t know… hopefully I can get the design up and running by the end of 6 months with the help of the programmers in the IT department. I was leaning to a more ASP.NET / C# prototype design to give to their end but I am having problems in thinking how to use a backend database to pull out and present it as a graphic image of a time schedule manner. It can be done … just that I don’t know how to get around to designing it. I thought of one possibility but the efficiency level for that doesn’t seem right.

I guess that is why they say its great to write pseudo code first of what you want so that one doesn’t waste their time programming and realising it was not a suitable design. Hm…

Interview Session 1

So many questions… but like always I don’t really quite know how to prepare for interviews. Truth is I was just lazy. I hope they don’t google me to find my blog. Ha ha ha *laughs nervously*. Anyways I had a feeling I BOMBED it but what’s done is already done and taking S’s advice, keep looking until somebody throws me an offer. I feel like a dog being thrown a stick and as I return with the stick there is no one there. Not the best analogy I know… need to brush up on that I guess.

I got an email yesterday from this professor saying she’s looking for a project officer for her research topic on transnational migration. I googled her for her resume since she is a professor and all professors usually write a lot of journals. I really would like to read some of her work though… I am intrigued now. Culture has always been an academic interest to me yet I never tried to pursue it. I have always lived in my bubble of software development and getting into business side and information systems, the whole new topic of learning human behaviour in organisations just seemed to fascinate me. Although some would totally agree that Mr David Egan is the best lecturer at teaching soft systems methodology. Don’t argue with me even though he made us draw lots of stick figures! Now this opportunity comes knocking on my door… I don’t know what to say but YES I DEFINATELY will try to apply for this role.

Funny though… past few weeks of throwing out my resume out there, I have more rejections than ever and the ones I do get replies from the ones I never applied to. There are so many job opportunities out there… yet I can’t seem to be able to get my foot in that door. I have big feet too! 

Yesterday an article written by Daryll Nanayakara in ”My Paper” caught my attention. It’s published on page A2 on Monday 31 March titled, “Job seekers who don’t show up for interviews rile bosses”. Reading the article basically indicated that it mostly had to do with the lack of maturity of the job seekers that were applying and they predicted that it is the younger generation in their first job that can afford to be picky that are behaving like this.

I admit as a fresh graduate I am picky now that I have my degree because I don’t want to waste my life being in logistics all my life. I am totally sick of people employing me for logistics. I apply for a HR assistant position I end up in logistics… I apply for Software application developer positions they ask me if I am interested in being part of the inventory. My two cents, just because I have a little bit of experience in logistics, doesn’t mean I want to stay in my comfort zone. You don’t have to be Einstein to work in logistics… you just have to be organised, detail everything, be a negotiator/manipulator and know how to compromise, and learn how to act like a duck (be cool on the outside and paddle like hell under water). 

If employers can be picky, why can’t I be picky in what career I would like to see myself in for the next 3-5 years. I fully agree with the courtesy call that if a job seeker isn’t going to make it to the interview they should call… but nowadays after the interview they will say, “Our HR team will call you back in a week to confirm whether we want you.” A week? Hey a lot can happen in a week! What if I have a better offer in a week and I have accepted it? Will it rile bosses too because I wasted their time? This is the working world… only the fittest survive! You cannot blame that it is because it is the younger generation being picky because EVERYBODY is picky. EVERYBODY is only looking out what is in their best interests. Reality does slap you across the face when you don’t have money. Costs and living standards are all going up… one is unable to survive with finances of 600 bucks a month in Singapore if they want to live comfortably (includes aircon, internet, shopping money, entertainment money, eating out, have a big flat tv in the living room with starhub cable or singnet mio tv, etc, etc). This is the reason why everybody has a backup plan. If plan A doesn’t work, plan B is in play. Riled bosses, while you complain doesn’t mean job seekers are having a blast!

Besides if employers are willing to open their doors bigger, they might just see the others knocking for their chance as well. By the way I am one of those people knocking on every door with no shame to ask for an opportunity but don’t expect me to be a good doggy while you ask me to wait for a week for a reply from your end after the interview because I will still go on knocking until I hear an offer that I might just agree to sign.

Sometimes I Only Feel This Big

One of the greatest things about being delusional is that you can convince that you are on top of the world and that you are invincible and then act like a total dickhead or just an ass or you just feel the complete opposite and feel demoralised and feel so small. Currently at this point of time I am feeling overwhelmed.

People that I thought would know me were saying things like, “Why didn’t you find a job first then quit?”. Funny these are the same people that don’t know what I have been through the last 2++ months. Funny how my parents say stupid things to me about me being jobless for a week. “Why didn’t you just get a new job first and then change?” is what my mom told me yesterday as I went out with her and I looked at her and replied, “When did I have the time when I came back from work?”. “I don’t know… you always came home so late from work” she said bluntly. I could have sworn she answered her own question right there and then yet she made it seemed that it was still my fault for working so late everyday of the week.

My dad isn’t helping much since he pushes me these jobs that I don’t want to work in. He doesn’t comprehend… even if I explain it to him he seems to not listen to what I am saying. After a while I am convinced the wall are listening to me more than he does so I have given up trying to explain to him my plans.

I guess there is only 2 people that really know what I went through these past 2 months and a few who haven’t judged me for my actions and given me support by helping me out by forwarding my resume to their networks. Past week of flipping through papers and circling all the jobs I want and mass mailing my resumes… I hope I will get a reply soon. I don’t think I can last as long as I hoped for with more people stepping on me for the past few days.

Thank you for those that have been supportive these past few days, months. Those that haven’t been supportive … I have nothing better to say already. I hope you will understand why I have to walk away from you at this moment in time.