Am I in the creative industry?
Am I in the media industry?
Well I certainly hoped to be in the above 2 industry but unfortunately I’m not.
I did my Olevels very very badly and got a mere 23 points for best five subjects. As I looked through the subjects which I was eligible for Poly education.
- Mechatronics Engineering.
- Nursing
- Marine Engineering
I have the “luxury” to pick the course which I can get myself in.
I had wanted to opt for a design course but after much rejection from parents, I didn’t even try.
I picked Mechatronics Engineering… cos it’s in Temasek Poly and heard they were moving to Tampines in 1996.. (Oh yeah I studied in TP from 1995 – 1998) and got into the course because I lived in Bedok!!
Temasek Poly use to have a few campuses… Grange road for business … Kim Seng rd for Engineering… yeah man… my old campus is ‘walkable’ distance to Zouk! Bukit Merah Campus was infact the one which I attended much of my course before shifting to Tampines.
After Poly, I went National Service… and in 2001 March I took my first step into the work society Full time!
The job which I applied was an Associate Engineer in an American company. When the manager interviewed me, he asked me a strange question.
“Would you like to try out as a Production Supervisor?”
I was taken aback, cos when you mention Production Supervisor, the first impression would be those uncles trying to get the aunties to work properly.
But since the industry was pretty bad in 2001 and sensing that the manager would not have employed anymore Associate Engineer, I decided to take up the challenge.
So my first job was a Production Supervisor… and a starting pay of S$1,550…
I went on to work for the same company for 3 and a half years the company was bought by another company. During my 3.5yrs of stay, I did my Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics… Sensing that the future was vague, I decided to look for jobs and ended in my second job.
A Production Supervisor in a hard-disk company in Kakit Bukit.
Well… I didn’t have much to say… cos I quit within a year of joining cos I was loggerheads with my senior manager. I threw my letter without securing another job… and stayed jobless for 3 weeks!!
The thing about jobless was not really about the money, it was you wake up everyday in the morning don’t know what to do. People argued that its time to take a good rest and relax… but how long can you relax?
I’ve applied for everything that websites and newspapers have to offer. In the end, I’ve went through 11 interviews and got 3 offers in my jobless period.
I told myself… it’s between Engineering and Manufacturing. Either one type will determine my future.
Then 3 weeks later, my present company called me and offered me a job. Well… apparently it’s another hard disk maker in woodlands but the processes are totally different.
Guess what? I was offered a Manufacturing Supervisor again!
So I just carried on my job… up till now.
6.5 years and counting… I’m doing the same things over and over again. The difference is only the people I worked with and the processes.. (pay of course different lah!)
Being a Supervisor is about the operations of the areas that you managed. You managed the man, materials, machine, method, quality and quantity. That’s practically everything you see, hear, feel about your work area.
Oh yeah … I’ve been promoted to Senior Supervisor with effect 1st Oct 2007.. (Don’t ask me about the increment cos it sux!)
I used my right brain a lot during work because I managed costing and projects. Maybe that explains why I used my left brain when I’m off work… to balance up bah…
If you ask me, what was my greatest regret in my career?
My answer is really “why didn’t I go study design last time!!! Blah!!”
Because I always wanted to be a fashion designer… now I’m a Production Supervisor… HOW FAR AWAY!!!
