 Baiklah, mari kita cuba ini dengan mikrofon. Kerana mikrofon, saya rasa ada sedikit ruang ekon. Baiklah, baiklah. Baiklah, baiklah. Jadi, hari ini saya akan bercakap tentang pengalaman saya sebagai pengalaman software. Jadi, beberapa perjalanan dan keadaan yang telah dilakukan sebagai pengalaman software. Jadi, kadang-kadang, ia tidak mudah bercakap tentang kesilapan yang telah dilakukan. Kerana kadang-kadang, ia cukup menarik untuk menjelaskan kesilapan yang telah dilakukan. Jadi, baiklah, setelah 10 tahun saya bekerja. Saya rasa cukup selesa untuk menghubungkan kesilapan saya di tengah-tengah dan melihat, ada apa yang telah dilakukan oleh spy dan saya belajar daripada itu. Dan saya boleh berkata, saya mungkin tidak akan menghubungkan kesilapan yang telah dilakukan lagi. Baiklah. Jadi, bagi orang yang tidak tahu, saya adalah pengalaman software. Sebenarnya, dengan lebih daripada beberapa tahun dari pengalaman profesional, dan sebelum itu saya meletakkan, saya telah belajar untuk lebih daripada 10 tahun sebelum saya melakukannya profesional. Sebelum saya menghubungkan dari Monash Uni dengan dua ujian dan satu ujian adalah ujian komsensi. Jadi, itu telah berlaku sebanyak beberapa tahun lalu. Itu tidak akan menjadikan seberapa tahun. Selepas menghubungkan, pilihan pertama yang saya berkata, semua orang membuat pengalaman perjalanan kerja. Jadi, berjalan perjalanan kerja untuk saya dapat mengalami, membiarkan diri saya, mempunyai kembali kepada mereka selama selama beberapa tahun. Pertanyaan saya berkuasa dan membuat saya menjadi sebuah memberi yang respectiviti. Sebenarnya, saya membuat sebuah kerja sebagai pergerakan software. Well, I learnt from my mistakes, so some of you have listened to my talk at junior deaf, who are here other than JNF. Alright, so I learnt from mistakes, so I sent out resumes, this time the resume has no typo in the phone number. It was one of my biggest mistakes I've ever done. So yeah, typo and phone number, you never get any calls. It's like, why people not, why am I not getting any jobs? No, because I have a typo. That's what happens, okay? So never repeat that mistake ever again. So I've written hundreds of resumes, send them out, written hundreds of our call letters. I keep a notebook, you know, to keep track of every single position that I've applied for. And I was sending out about 10 to 15 resumes a day, about 40 to 50 resumes a week. So that's about the rates that we do when we first started after our hunting. So any job post that I remotely qualify for, just apply, right? So that's what happens. So I did that for about four months, before I finally got good enough at interviews. So that's really how it works, right? Your first interview, you're never going to get a job because it's going to suck. So keep doing it until you finally get a good, better edit, so that you can, you know, learn your first job. That's how it works, right? So, definitely. So, what? I don't remember any of the other interviews that I've been for but I only remember two of them, basically the one that I got my job for and another one that I basically was considering other than the job that I've taken up, right? So the interview that I got my job for, it was actually done in a warehouse. So I was quite surprised. I went in, there was no office, you know, it's just a warehouse and basically it was a big room such as this and literally it was just long tables, you know, those canteen tables, you see, long tables against the wall and we were given sheets of coding tests to do. So all of us, I can see not just myself but basically 30 other guys. I think I don't see any other girls in that room. I can't remember too much. I notice that plenty of guys lining the tables doing the test and I was one of them doing it. So it's a big room. We did the test. It was one of the tests that made special impact in my memory because it was actually a well-drafted coding test that doesn't really test the small details like how much memory space would integer take and see, right? So they didn't ask very specific questions like polymorphism or stuff like that. No, but it was very straightforward. It asked me to a couple of mathematical questions which, you know, just get it over with couple of logical questions, couple of algorithmic questions and a few puzzles to solve. The puzzles are the ones that take a bit more thinking, problem-solving and it was quite interesting so I completed it and just right there and then after I completed the test pass it to somebody, can't remember who and right there I waited for another guy to finish the interview and straight away did a face-to-face interview. So I was pretty good with puzzles so I was pretty, sorry, I was pretty good with puzzles and so I was pretty confident with the test itself so I was okay, fine, I'll go in and I'll do the interview and one thing I do remember about the interview that I had a pretty good conversation with the software manager and the tag lead for the job that I'm supposed to be filling for and I think I had a pretty good conversation with them so I was pretty eager to work for this company so I didn't hear back from them for about 3 weeks or so I was getting a bit and since I'm getting a drop or not so the other interview that I remember was for a mailing company they do auto-mails for companies so they sent out plenty of mails for banks, for big marketing companies for big merchants, insurance companies so one thing I remember about the interview that they had for stipulation they were quite keen on me I was quite keen on the job itself but they do have a stipulation that was worrying me they said that I can only take my annual leave in January and that's it I was like, if that happens I'm never going back for Chinese New Year level again and that's a big downside to me it's like, what, seriously? so I wasn't keen on that job right after that stipulation no, I don't really want this job anymore but actually, right there, I called up the other company that I've heard nothing all for 3 weeks hey, how's the application progress going? okay, I asked about it and I was quite surprised actually so they immediately said, yes, yes, yes we want you, we want to hire you you just need to go through some paperwork and that's it so right there, I got a positive feedback from them, okay, that's good so I don't have to accept the other job I can now do this one so yeah, it was really good I don't know whether or not it was because I did well I was one of the top candidates or some other candidates that their approach has already declined their offer I don't know, but anyway I'm just glad that I got a job and count my lucky stars so then I was in my first job and then I realised why the interview was done in the workshop why the coding test was done immediately and then after I got my face-to-face interview because they didn't actually have an office in Melbourne so this was in Melbourne they didn't actually have an office their headquarters was actually in Sydney so in Melbourne was just a warehouse that's all they have so I learnt that I was the only developer to be working in that warehouse and basically the other developer in Melbourne he was working from home because his house was 2 hours away from the warehouse he was at North Sydney and our warehouse was down at the south sorry, North Melbourne the warehouse was at South Melbourne so yeah, it was interesting so it would have taken him 2 hours to get to work so he worked from home most of the time and basically they needed a Melbourne tag representative for their Melbourne clients so the other guy who was handing calls and I was to take over the ANZAC client so there was yep, I was perfectionist I still am to a degree perfectionist, being a Virgo and everything so I was particular with all the details a lot of things and this is my first job so I wanted to learn basically everything, every single detail about the job so that I get it right you know, stuff like that and it was quite interesting it was quite fun so I don't have a boss looking over my shoulder that's a good thing about being the only developer in the warehouse my boss is actually not present so it was my chance to grow in a new environment basically these situations where you get a new job face a new teammate and everything it's a very good chance to grow without pre-existing expectations of your peers and that was my chance so I've made mistakes in uni I wanted to leave them behind so this was my chance to start a new leaf you know get some better experience hopefully I've left my mistakes behind and learn from my mistakes and not repeat them with a new batch of peers new batch of colleagues so that was it so first job for the first two weeks I got the guy who interviewed me the teleo interview me basically the first two weeks he was in Melbourne he flew down from Sydney came to Melbourne for the two weeks to basically give me the spiel about the job what's required how to start off and what's required and stuff like that so hand on basically the ANZ account to me from there so as I said I was the only white-collar worker in this warehouse so the warehouse manager he was quite curious about why I can come in at 9.30 come in late in the morning still you know I'm crazy working hours sometimes I typically would leave at 5.30 or 6 o'clock 5.30 typically just so I can go to the shops for one last shopping because in Melbourne everything closes at 5.30 slash 6pm so I need to leave early if I want to grab anything from the shops so sometimes I would do that but obviously he doesn't I also sometimes stay late as well that happens but he was quite because in a warehouse they have quite set hours set working hours so it was very different from the typical warehouse worker that I was working with and stuff like that quite interesting but those were my colleagues as well these are people that I have lunch break with so it was quite interesting for me and there were definitely scary moments as well where this is a warehouse out in far far suburbs of Melbourne and at night I was typically by myself in the evening if I had to work late I was I was the only person because the warehouse worker has left at 5.30 you know later they would leave at 5.30 I would be the one locking up everything after that so it was I would have all by my lonesome you know I could watch Facebook you know watch video before I carry on with my work that anything I would like to do you know but it's one day something scary really happened I went to the washroom came back to my big little warehouse you know empty empty warehouse room and literally I have the whole warehouse room I can basically have all my gadgets all my terminals spread across 3 desks and you know it was fine and I saw something dropped up of this whole at the corner of the room and to be honest it must be a rat it's nothing else it's either a rat or a possum or something like that I'm thinking it must be a rat it's too small for a possum but it's huge it was huge something just black drop down and it's like shit I was damn scared so what I do I quickly just rush in lock my computer rush out that was it it was scary alright so plenty of interesting stories to tell you about my first job I learnt a lot during that first year I was the go-to guy I met clients my first obviously my software managers would bring me and the project managers would bring me to meet the clients and after that after a while after I got used to it I was the one that do the the work of meeting the clients and everything so I learnt plenty of things and not to request a 15 inch laptop no matter you know a big screen size and everything like that because it sucks carrying it around in high heels you try it nah, not good and also this was my one and only experience where you know I was a lady who drank wearing business suit and everything carrying heavy laptop and all the gadgets because I worked with terminals back then you know those I've post terminals to start your credit card so I have to bring it around with me when I meet the clients and so I was carrying quite a few things and this was in CBD, Melbourne and this very gentlemanly guy basically let me get on the bus before him use very like yeah so that was my first and only experience of a gentleman doing that it was interesting it was right and I learnt many other things to get all these development gadgets through the airport security learn to give estimation of work you know my first one of my first I think it was the first PM I had or I think it must be the second PM I had and he was really great so he asked you know he just called from Sydney you know how long do you think you need to finish this project I looked through it X and X days and say okay no worries I'll just time 3 just right there and then any initial I did because developers' estimations are not accurate I learnt right there and then any estimations I come out with I times 3 and the still works the rules still works for me to this day that's good yep so yep answer technical questions learn how to pack for suitcase for work trips stuff like that so I was basically for that the lowest ranking person in the company right in the whole team so I took any job that they throw at me whatever it is they throw it at me after the first project well the I think one of the first after the first project I completed for A&Z basically so they had a lousy and they basically they flew me to Sydney and I to get all expenses paid trip to Sydney for a month staying at the service apartment to work on project 4 I think it was Westpac so it's pretty good so that the guy who was in charge of the Westpac project basically taught me how to the requirements of the project and stuff like that I just did that completed it and also one of the other projects that I basically was tasked on lowest ranking person you just get thrown all the different odd jobs here and there so I was also tasked to help another developer another senior developer at that time to move to set up SVN so at that point we were moving from CVS to SVN if you are unfamiliar with CVS was one of the oldest co-versioning system and then we were moving to SVN which was quite popular before Github right and I did that and when that developer after a couple of months he moved on to another company I took over and right there and there I was named SVN Queen that's how things gets done developer leaves and you just take on whatever mentor that you know thrown to you so I did not know at that time basically these people who basically taught me all these things these are my mentors and every senior developer who guided me on every single project they were teaching me things right these are the people who basically were teaching me their work experiences their life experiences whether they were my manager my PM or the QA manager themselves you know and I think I think that was the part that I was proud to have done right so to speak in the sense where I would do the research on any new projects right and then basically they would I would ask the required questions they will provide me with the links on how to get the information and as a perfectionist what I do I read through everything that they sent me you know and find the answers in them only when I cannot find after I read through all the information I could find of Google or anywhere then only I would ask for ask them for help for any other stuff and there was a trick basically when it comes to these people make sure you do your own homework right because the mentors are not the one to be doing the homework for you they are not the one that will be doing the homework for you and then tell you the answers no that's not how it works these mentors are the people who are available to guide you to where to find these answers for yourself and these are people that to this day I'm still thankful for you know so those are the great stuff and basically these are more the same of happening basically for the second year of my workplace and slowly you know I find my place in the workplace hierarchy I find my groove at the workplace so it's pretty good but because I was the only developer in the Melbourne office so one of the things that I did not get to practice on was my social skills or workplace politics skills because there wasn't much of it in the warehouse so it was it was good fun for me it was good chance for me to grow without having to border with or the distraction so to speak well other than learning how to drink in a Christmas party so that was important any Australian workplace learn how to drink you must need to learn how to drink so it was quite important it was interesting and yeah so it wasn't until I think it was about third year that they hired more people in they brought more people in to help out with the ANZAC work because I did a good job so ANZAC likes give us more work to do that's how it works right but not really but anyway so we had more work to do so we hired more people and by the end of it I was a tech lead for team of two or three people I think the most people we had I had not quite under me but in my same team was for other people in my team so it was quite interesting for for Arduino developer to basically to at once the rank quite quite fast so to speak but yeah so the first two developers they hired in-world fresh grads and at that point I was still a Arduino developer so there's a lot of things I still did not caught on so to speak and I did not realise there was actually setting a bad example for these two fresh grads so I mean what I did was basically they came in I did for them exactly what was done to me so I basically showed them the roles the way it was shown to me so and that was it so I went back to my my bad attitude of surfing the internet and never that I have free time for so typically that's what happens right that's what we find ourselves that's what I find myself doing that I realise that you know my brain power only works up to a certain you know limit and then I'll let it rest a bit that's what I do I don't have a pinball machine like they have in the Sydney office so I do I surf I go on Facebook a little bit you know watch a few videos before I get back to my work now let my brain rest a little bit then only go back but this kind of indicated to these two fresh grads that it was okay that was expected thing to do and yikes I didn't know there was setting a bad example for them so yeah so unfortunately that's actually what happened so these two guys one of them he's not that he's not that smart as a developer so he takes a long time you know getting to find bars or even coming out with a piece of code which is I think we should find to a certain degree you know everybody have their own pace of learning but the other guy he was a self-proclaim genius and well I mean he was a big fat lazy person so he was quite obese person and he has hair you know like flowing born hair but very long princess hair really likes to flick his hair all the time I get annoyed if I ever sit next to him and fix his hair anyway so these two guys they kind of like feed on each other's bad habits so unfortunately so the genius guy thinks oh you know he have this other guy he's so much smarter than this other guy he can do work a lot faster than this other guy so it's okay for him to slack off since he's amitting his quota you know if he meets the other guys job and basically the other guy thinks that you know I'm the one doing all this hard work you know I'm not like the other guy surfing the internet so I must be doing a good job so these two guys and I myself I was quite oblivious because I have my own work too I have my own job to do so okay fine and I didn't realise until almost a year I think after 6 months or something like that when I probation and my manager flew down particular questions about these two guys and I said is it true that you know who and who you know goes on the internet quite often and I said yeah he has been doing that almost a whole day sometimes so yeah stuff like that I did not really be aware of that it was a problem until my manager came down and basically question me interrogate me about the newbies and so what happened was that the manager had to make a decision so he actually told um the the self-proclaimed genius that you know he is no longer allowed to serve the internet so anything that he does on the internet has to be about the job if he is ever found serving the internet from then on well he is not allowed to he didn't actually say if he was ever found but he placed it straight away tell him you know you are no longer allowed to serve the internet make sure that you are you are actually doing work while you are at the office you know do not ever use internet privilege ever again and he did that I think only for a couple of days I don't think he last through the week I mean my manager had to fly back to Sydney so he had other stuff to do so I definitely I had I was you know task to report on this guys so I had to tell my manager and so yeah sorry I have to say that he's still serving the internet so right then and there he was really given the ultimate term and unfortunately the other guy kind of took that as his saving grace so he served through his whole year and he was basically still on still on I wasn't sure whether he was still on contract but he served through his probation which was six months and then basically after that one year mark he was kind of saying and I probably shouldn't be getting fresh grant pay anymore so he actually went and gave in his own ultimate term and say that all you have to raise my pay otherwise I'll quit and I say okay we'll let you go right there and there right so what's what's going on here right so these two guys and so after that well doctor for me at that point in time they managed to hire two more more experienced guys in so one of them was quite a senior developer who come in from totally different industry and they got another guy from the Manila team to basically relocate to Melbourne and basically work on the project so it was quite unfortunate for this newbie who's still the lowest ranking member of this to put in his ultimate at the wrong timing fortunately so what was the what was the lesson that basically need to be humble sometimes you know it doesn't matter what stage of your career you are in sometimes as long as you join a new team you are the newest member you have to be humble to learn about the work environment learn about the new team because they are not going to to do the same for you because you are the new person even to this day it's still the same no matter which new team I join whether it's internal internal transfer from different departments or it's a new job new company if you're a new person you have to be humble about yourself you have to learn get a very good gauge of the team the situation the work before you give her ultimatum like what fresh she did need to learn the different styles of working and all that so there I was into my fourth year of my first job and so at that time I was I was getting used to the job scope and everything I was slowly starting to branch out to non-work related activities like learning Japanese you know because they were giving French lessons so that company I was looking for was a French company so there was some of the colleagues in Sydney were giving French lessons I want to learn Japanese so I tried to find a Japanese lessons in Melbourne and I could not find any that was a tough part about being down under there's no entertainment after work hours and I found I think I found one or two people giving out Japanese lessons but these were lessons during the work hours these are for housewives or students basically not for people like me who already have a job why would I go and learn Japanese? no way so then stuff like that so I went and grabbed my I think these Japanese lessons book that my sister and my mother when my mother was working in a Japanese condominium opening a beauty salon in a Japanese condominium so she learned about 2-3 months of Japanese so I took their books and I learnt by myself in Melbourne right so it was then about 3.5 years working in Melbourne it was then that one day basically I was driving to work that I got the phone call from my cell phone so the minute I got to the office you know I pick up the call and basically my mother had called me to tell me my father has passed away so it was a shock and a pretty tough period of my life back then so all 3 of us me and my siblings all of us basically all of us were working you know outside of KL me and my brother was in Melbourne so at that time I immediately called my brother and bought the first ticket back to KL my sister was at London so she arrived back to KL almost more than a day after me and my brother so we all took about 1 month's compassionate leave and both me and my brother the minute we get back to Melbourne to our job we tried to get the transfer back home or as close to home as we could so at that time they didn't have an office in KL so I got the transfer back to Singapore which was okay for me because I've studied in Singapore before so got transferred back to Singapore my brother he got the transfer to the KL office and my sister basically what she did was she worked long distance from KL for more than a year for her company at that time so it was tough times but we dealt with it briefly and yeah as best as we could so I was in Singapore got transferred back to Singapore and co-ordinated working the same way as I did in Melbourne you know it's the same company so I didn't really expect things to be any different so the space is the same type of job and that was when I realised I got my culture shop my second culture shop first culture shop was working for Aussie company and learning to drink beer so this is my second culture shop as I come back to Singapore and realised that actually the Singapore work at this is just so much different from Australia oh dear right so and I just to this day I think I still could not get used to the Singapore working style and basically I definitely do not stay late after hours if I can help it because there's just so much brain power I can accomplish in a day no matter how late I work nothing is going to come out right no programming is going to come out after a certain period if it's root work like production sorry putting to production application that's fine you know those things don't need brain power but most of the work you do everyday is bug fixing stuff that actually requires brain power so I definitely realised that it's much better if I actually come in to work in the weekends than if I just work through 9pm or 10pm or stuff like that right not that I did but it wasn't common at all I typically just come in 9.30 and go home 5 or 6 o'clock and know that my brain is dead by now that's it so yeah but and I didn't realise it's so much new supervisors in Singapore they didn't understand they totally did not understand that so my software manager what happened I was like one of my first software manager so he tried to set KPIs for me and I I was blur at that time I had I could not understand the motivation to set KPIs for myself I mean at that point when I was in working in the Melbourne office I was getting a pay raise every single year you know clockwork I did a good job I got a pay raise I get a 10% pay raise every single year for the first 3 years in Melbourne and I kind of like expected that to continue happening in Singapore but no he put he caught me caught a meeting in his office and previously tried to get me to sign this form saying oh if I if I did a good job for each quarter I'll get this much bonus I I do not get the motivation of speech for him I I say okay fine I'll sign after I sign I go back do exactly what I did I did not change any way you know of my working style and basically the next the when the time comes for me to actually present me with my bonus because I have completed my KPI which I've done nothing differently to whatever KPI he said for me I just got the bonus and I said okay thank you and he was he was you know trying to explain you know how it works to me and trying to get me to feel motivated now that I've got my bonus I totally did not get it oh wow I made it very official but oh wow and that was it and that was it and oh wow to me it was like ya okay so so what right and there was one of the things that I probably around that time that I start learning that I probably shouldn't show my thoughts that easily you know I should probably be a bit more a bit more understanding try try well at that time I couldn't understand of course but definitely make a bit more effort to compromise in terms of how I do things right and ya I was very stubborn back then I was quite a stubborn person but at least now I think I've learnt to not speak my mind so much actually listen to people first before making any assumptions and I think I've learnt a little bit from then so here I was in Singapore doing the same job but totally different from Melbourne where it was only after I quit that I realised hey I was actually doing more support work than R&D work than actually design archetype development work which was expected of me in Melbourne and at that point it was pretty much a downhill spiral for me right so I did not actually get much satisfaction from work at that point so I was starting to look out for extracurricular activities and in Singapore there's just so many you know it's not like in Melbourne there's nothing here there's just plenty on plenty of distractions for me to you know go with so I took Japanese lessons took the N4 N3 exams and stuff at that time was when I actually start taking a SELTA course to actually get a certificate to teach English to adults so because I did the Japanese lessons there are a couple of people in there who who are basically are looking to get a job in Japan because Singapore have an agreement with the Japan MOE to basically that's a way for you to teach English in Japan for a year as long as you are under 30 and a Singaporean I didn't have that because I was a Malaysian so well anyway I give it a try anyway so it was shortly after that that I finally got fed up after 2 years in Singapore and at that time I was sent by my then manager to give IT support in Hong Kong and now it wasn't everything I've been doing that on and off basically I went to Thailand to support and then to Hong Kong but this one was a bit more critical at that time and basically I was needed to support our clients went though in Hong Kong for a pilot of our terminal so I went to Hong Kong and we came and I wasn't smart enough to actually actually go and plan for my travelling to happen during the work hours so I was smart enough to do that so when I actually go and book the tickets it was typically after work hours you know whether at night in the evening or in the weekend and that makes it very very tiring because as soon as I come off the airplane in Singapore I will go back to the office and work and vice versa so it was quite tiring and basically in addition to basically a full work week in the Singapore office I still have to go and support the Hong Kong site in the weekends so that was that so I asked my boss it's okay if you just let me stay in Hong Kong for the week instead of me flying back and forth over the weekend you know again and again and he refused because a flight ticket to Hong Kong is cheaper than a stay in a Hong Kong hotel what the cheaper so I was like and that was how I actually hit my limit and I was like shit this is not working after 3 trips in the same month 3 trips separately to Hong Kong in the same month I was tired I was dead exhausted and that was it the after the third trip I come back from Hong Kong I immediately draft my resignation letter and submitted and that was it right that was the stint of my my first job so that was how I tried to basically change career path at that point so I've now completed at that point I've completed about 5 years of work and I was thinking I was basically hitting my quarter life crisis at that time so that's what happens you know you work day in day out then suddenly you think that is there something more to life right so I tried at that time I remember I had 2 degrees from uni one was common science and the other one was sociology so I actually majored in sociology and minored in anthropology so I was quite interested really anthropology was actually very interesting subject I would have learnt like to learn more so that's what I wanted to go to a different country learn a different culture and of course I learnt Japanese so I picked Japan and I got a certificate to teach English to adults that's what the type of jobs I searched for and of course some of you might have expected this so Japanese don't actually want a Chinese Malaysian to teach them English they want somebody with an English name they want somebody white Caucasian you know to teach them English so they didn't hire me I couldn't get a job no way so after 6 months at that point I moved back to KL to live with my mum so I didn't have to pay any rent so it was pretty cool that was actually the only period where I did not have a high blood pressure so I had high blood pressure for quite a while since you know since uni since uni I had high blood pressure I was taking medications by the time I joined the workforce so it was quite bad but at that time I actually started to win all because my mother at that time she was also taking high blood pressure medicine and they suspect that it might be because of familiar traits but not quite so I don't believe that also so she was telling me once you start everybody was telling me once I start high blood pressure medication there's no way I can get off with it that's it for life but no I managed to so I win myself of the medication I think I was still in I can't remember I think I was still in Australia at that time I win myself of the medication slowly so slowly basically from one pill a day to half a pill to quarter but I literally every day go and chop the pills into half into a quarter and I slowly win myself off so during that time when I was staying with my mother in KL surprisingly my blood pressure was normal there was very surprising my mother one time my mother basically had to force me to take take my blood pressure level because I was very lazy to do it myself I was just do it I was playing computer games fine okay do it and she was so surprised that it was normal I was surprised too so it was quite it was quite a good good break from work from the stressful lifestyle from Singapore stressful lifestyle of course so it's quite interesting but of course I didn't get a job in Japan so my my deadline that I've set for myself has come and passed so what I do so I came back to Singapore and I look for a job in Singapore basically as a software engineer again so I I think I applied for both software engineer jobs as well as English teaching jobs but to be honest the software engineering jobs are the ones that pay better so obvious choice yeah so that was how it worked after one year I of not working almost one year almost one year because I joined a competitor company and because of that I have to surf out that one year non-competition non-competition clause so I joined a competitive company they send me straight back to Australia so yep so I guess it was happenstance so to speak that no Singapore company wants me they send me straight back to Australia I work better in Australia I guess so yeah send me straight back to Australia so I worked in Australia so basically they send me to have an orientation so initially they expected me to do my orientation for two months in Sydney but for the when I end up there they finally managed to basically got a acquisition through for New Zealand company at that time so I was sent for the second month I was sent to the New Zealand office to surf out my orientation so to speak so that's how I find myself working for New Zealand so it was interesting so for about six months I was getting paid in singdollars basically getting signed through a contract job in Singapore and basically working for New Zealand New Zealand office so it's quite interesting and only after that six months I finally push and push and push basically they keep giving me a temp contract and the kids say oh there's hiring freeze I can only get you on as temp contract until I put down my food I gave them an ultimatum so this is my turn to give an ultimatum and say no way if you're not going to give me a contract if you're not going to get me on as a permanent employee I'm not continuing I'm looking elsewhere for a job I'm not continuing as a temp so that's it they got me a contract so at that time I find myself being an expert in New Zealand and it was great fun it was great fun being an expert they paid for so I argued for quite a few things I demanded quite a few things I demand quite a few things they paid for my rent in New Zealand it was great they paid for my initial relocation package so they gave me the company money I can get the company a credit card I went to buy things like pillows pillowcase, bed sheets and stuff like that to supplement and New Zealand had space so the cheapest apartment I could get was a two bedroom apartment it was great two bedroom apartment all to myself it was pretty good New Zealand is a very interesting country I find I learned a lot about the country itself and do you realise that New Zealand is actually one of the most technologically advanced country around the world interesting because they have such they are so far out from the general world what do you call it the workflow that they are outside they are outside of most of the influences of the world so they are the furthest the south most country of the world and basically they have the right size population same population size of Singapore but with just a bigger landmass more ships than men of course so what happens is that a lot of companies what they do when they test out a new tech product they test it in New Zealand and it was the one of basically they were the first country to have 3G and then 4G like once 3G came out in less than a year 4G was out in New Zealand I bought a 4G phone immediately of course and I came back to Singapore and realised I can't use it in Singapore I can only use it in New Zealand so for more than 6 months that 4G phone I cannot use it in Singapore I can only use it in New Zealand so what's interesting and every single household has a dishwasher and in the office there's actually dishwasher etiquette so that's where different skills so it's quite interesting and well I tell you this story at that time I was pretty much almost a senior developer at that point so I was getting expect pay and stuff like that and they got a new manager at that point so the first manager that actually got me into New Zealand he knew my worth so he was willing to pay all these things willing to smoothen out as long as I continue working for them but the new manager he did not have that base so he thought I was overpaid so I didn't realise that they have one-on-ones at that time so he caught me in for a one-on-one over coffee and basically just chit-chat I told him my ideas about how next step is for the team and stuff like that and then by the end of the one-on-one he basically dropped a comment that stayed to me to this day and say that chit-chat-chat chit-chat and he suddenly realise something I guess and he told me oh so that's why you needed so much money to support your lifestyle he said what I earn so much because I deserve it not because I need to support my lifestyle not because I'm to him I'm a single woman I don't need that much money but he needs money it's nothing to do with that I earn so much I pay I work hard for it but right then and there I realise something he's never ever going to give me a pay raise so right there and then I decided I'm never going to renew my contract so things like that it's very important to realise your own worth sometimes trust your own worth trust in yourself don't let other people demean you or put you down in any way you have your own keep to your own pride it's nothing to do with being humble but know your own worth don't let other people put you down so I guess that's all the time I have for today quite a long time so you must be tired of my stories but I hope you find that interesting and yeah, thank you