Everything's relative and when you're having the time of your life time passes very quickly. In fact, to quick for you to even comprehend the fine details of what just happened. So here I am sitting in the living room on a saturday morning trying to jot down a little of the week's happenings.
The week got off to a bad start as I thought about missing out on all the what-could-have-been fun at FOC. The friends I see and hang out with during classes are holding the rites of passage for all the incoming freshmen, and truth be told, FOC to be was the start of the most exciting and liberating time thus far.
Looking back, joining the camp as a freshie ranks in the 'top 5 best decisions i've made' and no I'm not exaggerating. Missing out on the second year thanks to internship wasn't that bad since it was still possible to catch a bit of the action after work. Third year was the craziest being involved as a chief programmer but not being there for the buildup. Still a great working experience with some of the closest friends I've made and I'll never forget those sleepless nights and planning for the next day's programmes. This year I had very much wanted to become a GL but no, I was to serve as a bridge to facilitate the buildup. It'll probably be one small regret if I had any in the three years so far, but what do you know, its was to be a blessing in disguise and I avoided a committment to free myself for a second shot at seeing the world. Its the kind of situation where you really cannot have the best of both worlds, but I'll be happy with the way things turned out. Surely I'll look at post-camp photos with much envy and jealousy, but then, should I remain unemployed by convocation next year, I'll be sure to go back and relive the awesomeness of a HSS FOC.
Moving on to talk more about work, there's nothing but positives for the position I'm in right now. Back when I had to make the decision of going to a firm which wasn't really related to my field or interest, but promised doubled allowance and stints to Japan, against coming to OCBC, it was a huge dilemma. Three weeks on, I have every reason to believe that it's been a correct decision to stick with my initial choice of joining a bank and to have a better picture of what is it I wanted as life after graduation.
Everyday I get to see what its like being a trader and a dealer, of managing relationships with clients, or how 0.0001 differences could mean 5-figure differences in profits. The department boss strikes me as one thinker who is constantly thinking while he observes how things work in the office. He's new in his post but the wealth of experience he's had in previous positions shines through his words. There's this assertiveness in the way he puts his ideas across, not so aggressive but yet strong enough to home the point that that's the way he wants it done, and you better be serious in trying to execute it. He's got his softer side and to be at a position where he's at, he comes down to the level of joining his staff for lunch in the meeting room (we've got a culture of eating takeaways in the office) and telling us all things interesting.
Another person that I look up to has got to be my supervisor. Although its only two weeks, but here's another character that's calm and composed even in the face of an impending storm. The kind of composure he's got at dealing with all issues is something I hope to emulate.
A trait which good leaders or superiors have, and I realised in both the boss and the supervisor, is the attention and human-touch towards subordinates. 2 fine examples I have seen in these 3 weeks: 1) The supervisor noticed that I've been eating Magnum ice-cream everyday (its 90cts over here) and asked me if I had my fix yesterday. When I said I haven't, he goes on to take out some money and got me to buy one for the day, as well for the rest of the other staff in the office.
2) The nature of my work means that I usually get busy only after 4pm, and translates to having to work a little past actual knock-off time in order to finish my tasks. It happened to be one of those days yesterday and I was still editing and compiling figures until a little past 7. While other colleagues have gone off, leaving my supervisor and the rest of the team (I'm in his team along with 3 other colleagues), one of them needed to rush off, and the supervisor just said 'should we just wait for a while more? how can we leave when our intern hasn't even left yet?' He waited for me to finish my work before leaving the office together.
Its this kind of small things that really make me look at people on top differently, and while technical aspects of a job is important, I will, hopefully be able to acquire these soft skills which could impact another one's time at his post, like it has done to me.
There's still another 19 weeks to go, but from the way things are going, it'll whisk past and I've got to take away as much as I can. Problems and setbacks may arise, but its all part of the package. Life cannot possibly be smooth sailing all the time, but hey it's only as bad as you make it out to be.
Onto more trival matters, I'm going to collect my first tailored suit later, and to explore Shanghai alittle more with local friends I've just got to know. Here's to another good weekend and till the next!
The week got off to a bad start as I thought about missing out on all the what-could-have-been fun at FOC. The friends I see and hang out with during classes are holding the rites of passage for all the incoming freshmen, and truth be told, FOC to be was the start of the most exciting and liberating time thus far.
Looking back, joining the camp as a freshie ranks in the 'top 5 best decisions i've made' and no I'm not exaggerating. Missing out on the second year thanks to internship wasn't that bad since it was still possible to catch a bit of the action after work. Third year was the craziest being involved as a chief programmer but not being there for the buildup. Still a great working experience with some of the closest friends I've made and I'll never forget those sleepless nights and planning for the next day's programmes. This year I had very much wanted to become a GL but no, I was to serve as a bridge to facilitate the buildup. It'll probably be one small regret if I had any in the three years so far, but what do you know, its was to be a blessing in disguise and I avoided a committment to free myself for a second shot at seeing the world. Its the kind of situation where you really cannot have the best of both worlds, but I'll be happy with the way things turned out. Surely I'll look at post-camp photos with much envy and jealousy, but then, should I remain unemployed by convocation next year, I'll be sure to go back and relive the awesomeness of a HSS FOC.
Moving on to talk more about work, there's nothing but positives for the position I'm in right now. Back when I had to make the decision of going to a firm which wasn't really related to my field or interest, but promised doubled allowance and stints to Japan, against coming to OCBC, it was a huge dilemma. Three weeks on, I have every reason to believe that it's been a correct decision to stick with my initial choice of joining a bank and to have a better picture of what is it I wanted as life after graduation.
Everyday I get to see what its like being a trader and a dealer, of managing relationships with clients, or how 0.0001 differences could mean 5-figure differences in profits. The department boss strikes me as one thinker who is constantly thinking while he observes how things work in the office. He's new in his post but the wealth of experience he's had in previous positions shines through his words. There's this assertiveness in the way he puts his ideas across, not so aggressive but yet strong enough to home the point that that's the way he wants it done, and you better be serious in trying to execute it. He's got his softer side and to be at a position where he's at, he comes down to the level of joining his staff for lunch in the meeting room (we've got a culture of eating takeaways in the office) and telling us all things interesting.
Another person that I look up to has got to be my supervisor. Although its only two weeks, but here's another character that's calm and composed even in the face of an impending storm. The kind of composure he's got at dealing with all issues is something I hope to emulate.
A trait which good leaders or superiors have, and I realised in both the boss and the supervisor, is the attention and human-touch towards subordinates. 2 fine examples I have seen in these 3 weeks: 1) The supervisor noticed that I've been eating Magnum ice-cream everyday (its 90cts over here) and asked me if I had my fix yesterday. When I said I haven't, he goes on to take out some money and got me to buy one for the day, as well for the rest of the other staff in the office.
2) The nature of my work means that I usually get busy only after 4pm, and translates to having to work a little past actual knock-off time in order to finish my tasks. It happened to be one of those days yesterday and I was still editing and compiling figures until a little past 7. While other colleagues have gone off, leaving my supervisor and the rest of the team (I'm in his team along with 3 other colleagues), one of them needed to rush off, and the supervisor just said 'should we just wait for a while more? how can we leave when our intern hasn't even left yet?' He waited for me to finish my work before leaving the office together.
Its this kind of small things that really make me look at people on top differently, and while technical aspects of a job is important, I will, hopefully be able to acquire these soft skills which could impact another one's time at his post, like it has done to me.
There's still another 19 weeks to go, but from the way things are going, it'll whisk past and I've got to take away as much as I can. Problems and setbacks may arise, but its all part of the package. Life cannot possibly be smooth sailing all the time, but hey it's only as bad as you make it out to be.
Onto more trival matters, I'm going to collect my first tailored suit later, and to explore Shanghai alittle more with local friends I've just got to know. Here's to another good weekend and till the next!
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