August 29th, 2008 §
My wife and I has our UK visas approved a few days ago. Our first application was rejected, due to misunderstanding the application requirements. Although we’re happy that this challenge is over, there are lots more to come. The cost to us was wasted time, and RM1328, and we were really starting to get extremely anxious about our possibilities.
This is a reality of making change happen.
Right now, there’s tons of stuff lying around the house waiting to be sorted into boxes for storage. We’ve got some farewells scheduled for the week ahead, and our tickets paid. I’ve made connections with old friends in London, and asked for tips on employment, and begun applying for jobs for my wife. I don’t like too much to do, but I have to get through it somehow.
Also, unemployment is increasing in the UK, particularly in London. This isn’t good news. So far, none of the jobs we’ve applied for have been positive. But at the same time, we’ve been partly selective as well. There’s lots more room to go. We haven’t used headhunters, applied for temp jobs, or skimped on our salary requirements.
Everytime I’m overwhelmed by all the logistical execution I hate to do, I’m reminded by how comfortable I could be if I didn’t wrestle so much with my career demands. But I know deep inside, I will never have this chance again. Not a chance to succeed, but a chance to try what I felt was the right thing to do at a point in my life.
For others, it could mean getting married, having yet another child, going into the army, or quitting your job.
I have an advantage in that I don’t listen to other people very well. So I throw away a lot of negative comments, and keep the good ones to myself. I also have a wife who’s supportive of my decision. I assume it could be worse.
Here are my navigational compasses that have kept me sane over the last few months:
One Step at a Time
Ellen Macarthur, one of the fastest people to sail around the world, swears on preparing for how much of yourself to expend to work through repeated circumstances of tension again and again over a long period of time. She circumnavigates rough seas, where anything can happen at any time.
My circumstances are hardly a match to hers, but it helps me realize that doing big things isn’t the way to go forward. Big things are only a signal of the destination, and not the journey. What goes into the journey are little things you have to do, most of which are annoying, frustrating, and seemingly unnecessary. But these are things you have to do. I am more prepared now to waste and burn energy than I was a few months ago.
It is absolutely necessary to go through stuff like getting an application form filled up right, spending hours waiting to get my car sold, closing bank accounts, applying for jobs, and so on. It sounds easy but nobody likes to do these things.
Life Stories are Filled with People
One of my strategies in getting ahead in life is in allowing people to “talk” me through phases in life. What I do is get in touch with people who have a specific direction, or are at a certain place in life I want to be. I make an effort to talk to them casually, and usually this is all I ever do, apart from occasional questions for tips and advice. I do this over longer periods, like months or years.
This helps me form real relationships with people who are “there”. Once I’m there, I know I’ll have people I can talk to. It’s like a story, where I meet people at different points in my life, and sometimes we meet again in the future. Each time I recall a part of my life, it’s filled with people and easy to remember. Facebook helps, too.
This is in contrast to making a decision and then making friends where I end up. Sometimes if you take a backseat in life, you end up hanging out with other people who are taking a backseat in life. I just choose not to be there.
Things that can’t be Explained often Stay that Way
I had dinner last night with my paternal uncle, who remarked that this is a part of life we all have to go through, if we really want to get “somewhere” in life. He stopped there, as though it was something the both of us understood. He’s past 50, and I’m close to 30 – and we’ve both had different lives to live.
Sometimes life needs to stay unexplained like that. We stopped talking about what it takes to survive, whether it’s really necessary for me to go back to school, and what if I considered alternatives. We’ve both come to an agreement that we’re looking at life in the eye now. It’s that “thing” that we all have to go through, to achieve our dreams (or whatever it is).
I stopped telling myself reasons why I should or shouldn’t go. I stopped reading too much motivational and practical material. Right now, it’s just learning what I can and making the best of it, in my own way. And a lot of it can’t be explained. You just have to make a decision, and execute, pick up where you fail, and make amends.
“You concentrate on solving your problems or keeping the boat safe or making sure you take the best route through the storm so you don’t get caught in the worst part of it and you just concentrate on coming out the other side,.” – Ellen MacArthur
August 22nd, 2008 §
I just sold two of my cars recently, in preparation to move to the UK. The first car was a Perodua Kelisa, a locally manufactured supermini with a 3-cylinder 1000cc engine that’s simple, affordable, and popular. The second car, a 8-year-old Alfa Romeo 146, is an Italian made sedan that looks like a hatchback, drives like a tourer, sings like a diva, and requires more TLC than your average Toyota. This is a useful case study for passion vs. pop.
The Kelisa was easy to sell, but I didn’t get my way with pricing. There were hundreds of other Kelisas waiting to be picked up. I decided to settle for a quick deal, instead of haggling over price. This was despite knowing that I would be receiving a dozen more calls over the next few days about the car.
The Alfa was different. There were a very unique set of potential buyers. Most of them were Alfa owners previously. To other buyers, I had to explain the car to them, and describe its “Alfa-ness”. The person who ended up buying it was someone who previously owned an Italian car, understood its dynamics, and set his heart on getting one. It was about waiting for the right candidate. I didn’t have to flinch on price very much.
Job searching is very often like this. I want to move from a very common job role as a software programmer to a very niche role as a usability engineer. For me to get a job as a programmer is dead simple, but I probably won’t get my way with salary or benefits. As I set my sights towards becoming a usability engineer, I know that what I’m getting into will only attract certain hiring companies, with work conditions that are suitable for the role. The only issue is preparing myself, and waiting for that opportunity.
Without divulging too much information, that opportunity came knocking on my door recently. And in a place where no one hires usability workers, my profile stuck out a mile high.
My point is this, for everything you’re trying to sell – your employability, your car, your idea… whatever – there’s a market. And there’s a strategy for that sale to take place. You just need to position yourself in the right way, in order to communicate the value of the sale.
The point I didn’t make, however, is when you’re stuck in the Dip – the point between passion and pop, as described by Seth Godin. If you know you’re in the Dip, you have two options – find your way up, or find your way out. The hard part is finding out if you’re in the Dip or not.
While I was attempting to sell both cars, I wasn’t sure if I was in the Dip. I wasn’t quite happy that I quit really soon about the Kelisa. I quit fast and settled for a price I wasn’t that comfortable with. But now I’m glad I did. I wasn’t willing to take the hassle to deal with all the other buyers who were looking for quick wins. It wasn’t going to be worth it. So I quit, and went with the first buyer.
But for the Alfa, I didn’t quit. I held on to my price, because I knew it was a good price, and that someone out there was willing to appreciate the car at that value.
Nobody’s going to remember that I sold the Kelisa for the price I did. But everyone will remember the great deal I got on the sale of the Alfa. I get to keep my story. I managed to navigate both of my dips.
Navigating your own dips are very important to achieving your goals.
How well are you navigating yours?
August 12th, 2008 §
I’m almost done listening to the audio version of “The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman.
When a friend first recommended it to me, I thought it was a boring history book (I was naive). It is a history book, but a brief one – about the 21st century. Friedman’s argument is that the US is losing ground to the rest of the world, particularly the East (esp. China and India), who have leveraged globalization, digitization, advances in logistics technologies and services, mobility, and the emerging flat-world culture.
I like the book, because it summarizes my observations of life, the world, and people in the last 8 years. I don’t like it because it’s highly US-centric, and offers very little help for other countries, particularly developing nations.
But it’s useful for us here in the East, especially if you are still oblivious as to why jobs are still moving to India and China, and what you can do to remain employable.
So, I’d like to offer my suggestions for employees and citizens of countries who fit this profile:
- have cheap, replaceable jobs
- are focused on easily commoditized services or products
- are unsure of how your jobs will improve over the next 5 years
- experiencing the effects of political instability
- perceives higher or further education to be of no or little value
- don’t give a hoot
1. Read the book, for crying out loud
Don’t waste your time observing the world from the surface. Friedman’s work is notable, and few of us will get the chance to interview high ranking individuals who can provide solid clues and insights to our future.
The book provided me yet another set of reasons why I believe Malaysian jobs are still stuck in the 20th century. Other books, such as “All Marketers are Liars”, and Phil McKinney’s innovation podcasts, all point to this fact. They sources may be American, but they talk about changing world, and that’s everyone.
2. If your job is insignificant, you’d better deal with it
As a software engineer, my job is insignificant. If I quit today, tomorrow there will be a hundred candidates lining up to take my job. Are you a call-center operator, an accountant, a graphic artist, a tutor, an illustrator, an employee whose job is easily outsourced? If so, your job might seem insignificant to companies, to employers, and to consumers.
Friedman argues that capitalism has forced companies to run leaner, forcing job outsourcing, insourcing, and automation to take place. Those who will get to keep their jobs fall into these four broad categories:
1. special workers – Britney Spears, Bill Gates, Madonna
2. specialized workers – stem cell researchers
3. anchored workers – doctors, barbers (localized)
4. really adaptable workers
Most of us will fit into 4, otherwise we’d be out of a job or remain in a really terrible one. I don’t like how the tone of the book leans toward jobs alone (or lack of), because I’d rather talk about having a fulfilling career. But there’s no career if there’s no job.
3. Go back to school
Don’t get a Masters or a PhD for the certificate. Do it for the smarts.
I used to believe that learning on the job was sufficient to get ahead in life, but now I disagree. The future belongs to specialists who can adapt, who relevant within a particular domain. A higher education allows you that time and space to learn and get ready to build something big.
Although Friedman argues that being versatilists are good candidates for the flat world, I want to do more than just survive. You’ll need specialization if you’re ever going to establish yourself in any career of the future. Forget about learning on the job. The internet isn’t very good for learning in depth, because there are too many distractions.
August 10th, 2008 §
I now run four Wordpress blogs simultaneously for different purposes. I setup, install, modify, tweak, and maintain all the code myself. I’ve worked with the Wordpress core, templates/themes, plugins, and then some. I’ve had some bad days with it, but at any given day, I don’t think I would give Wordpress up for any other blogging platform out there. Here’s why:
Wordpress is constantly improving
Wordpress gets updated regularly, and it keeps improving at each release. It’s currently at version 2.6, and I like the new features like article versioning, the new plugin page, and the new theme preview feature. It’s driven by open source, so anyone can contribute the best and latest thing that people want or need. If you want to see a new feature in the next release, go ahead and write it and contribute to the source. It’s completely free and open.
Tons of Plugins
The default Wordpress bundle comes with a spam filter plugin and a plugin that allows you to print the words “Hello, Dolly” somewhere on the site. If you want more functionality, there are tons of plugins that do almost everything, from tracking user behavior, improving SEO, adding a photo gallery, or finding out which are your most popular posts.
Here are the list of plugins I can’t do without:
And here are some really recommended ones:
Tons of Themes
I don’t know why but there are way too many Wordpress themes out there. So there’s a high chance that you’ll be able to find one that suites your needs. If this is not the case, hire yourself a Wordpress template/theme designer. You can find them quite easily too, and at affordable rates.
Wordpress is built on PHP
PHP is a programming language used to build of websites today. PHP isn’t the best for everything, but it’s good for Wordpress because
- There are an abundance of PHP programmers, so you can get a lot of help
- PHP is relatively straightforward to learn, code and debug
- PHP is mature, and thus compatible with most web hosting services
- PHP is also improving, and Wordpress leverages on that
Wordpress is easy to use
A friend of mine who’s surveying blogging systems says he likes the way Wordpress keeps posts and pages seperate. It just makes sense. Blogging with Wordpress isn’t rocket science at all. It just works. Before using Wordpress, I was on blogspot and I was fiddling around with blogging software, because I just couldn’t get the layout to work right or I wanted to do more stuff. But with Wordpress I’ve never needed any software. I just blog from Wordpress itself.
If there’s any reason to hate Wordpress, it’s that the themes might be a bit tricky to manipulate on your own. If you’re wanting to change the look and feel of your website extensively, you’ll need to know HTML, PHP and CSS. But then, that’s true for a lot of other blogging platforms. It’s really hard to get around that. Practically all websites run off HTML and CSS.
August 6th, 2008 §
I got contacted very recently by someone looking for expertise in usability. He found me on LinkedIn, which makes that the third time anyone has contacted me for opportunities based on my profile. The experiences I’ve had have been really positive. I find LinkedIn to be amazing because it’s a real shortcut for both job seekers and headhunters.
Firstly, there’s transparency with LinkedIn. I get to choose what people see on my profile. It beats having to speak to headhunters who call me from a secret database of people, because they will never tell me how they got my phone number. I feel less threatened if a headhunter contacts me through LinkedIn rather than a random phone call.
Secondly, LinkedIn is like a personal career blog – headhunters read my profile like a storybook, because I put effort to make it read a certain way. I’ve found that all my new acquaintances on LinkedIn were like career conversations that sort of pick up where I left off. People who get in touch with me talk to me as though they already know me. So, I react in the same way. It really saves a lot of time, and it’s more pleasant talking to people that way, even during a first meeting. This just beats first time phone conversations, where time is wasted explaining to the headhunter my interests and goals.
Thirdly, it feels more appropriate for someone to introduce opportunities through LinkedIn than over the phone. LinkedIn is a good place to meet people. I invest quite a bit into building my presence in LinkedIn, though not very thoroughly. I got my profile to 100% completeness. I also spent time writing recommendations to people, subscribe to groups, and answering questions. Somehow I feel better when someone wants to speak to me over a network that I’ve already built an interest in, and I can view their profile too.
Fourthly, I get a better sense of what value I portray to people who want to meet me over LinkedIn. I don’t get this with headhunters who call me over the phone. To those people, I’m just a guy with 8 years of Java experience in the telecoms industry. But with LinkedIn, those who got in touch with me seem to understand me better, and it’s rewarding to know that they’re trying to match my goals, instead of just my skills, with their requirements.
I do agree to some extent with Jeff Pulver that LinkedIn isn’t as good as Facebook for social networking (if even for business), but I prefer it that way. I like how LinkedIn is really designed with that corporate no-nonsense feel. I’d be embarrassed if a potential employer read odd posts on my Facebook Wall. I prefer to keep my work and personal life a bit more separate than others. I don’t mind employers reading this blog, though.
Finally, it’s true that blogging about your career helps your personal brand. But LinkedIn is that glue that holds everything together. One guy I met mentioned that he got my contact through my blog, while he was looking through my profile. He picked up on a few articles I posted, and we had a good chat. I don’t blog about industry topics that much on my blog, but there was something authentic and consistent across the profile and the blog posts. People get a better sense of connection about that.
Resources:
August 5th, 2008 §
I sold my car to a chicken rice seller recently. I asked him what his job looks like. He told me that he sells chicken rice from the morning to about 4pm, 7 days a week. Then at 4pm, he shuts down his stall, and goes home and prepares chicken rice for the next day. By the time he is done, he is too tired to do anything else and goes to sleep.
He and his wife mans the stall and does the work. They hire an indonesian helper to wash the dishes. Their stall costs RM1k per month to rent from the restaurant (it’s a restaurant with a few stalls, the restaurant owner leases stall space to each stall hawker).
Life is simple for them. Simple but hard.
Hardly anyone I know these days wants to start a food stall. Maybe because the perception of it is so alienating. Instead, we settle to become accountants, marketing executives, software programmers, lawyers, doctors, auditors.
At 44, the chicken rice seller now owns two cars, some properties, and who knows what else. He has the Kelisa I sold to him and the new Honda Civic that looks like a doorstop. He probably bought the Civic with cash too. I found out he’s also financing some homes, perhaps for investment. Outside of the food stall business, he probably lives his life just like everyone else.
I asked him why he’s been selling chicken rice for the past 14 years. He says it’s just how he got into the food business and doesn’t see himself doing anything else.
So I think it really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you enjoy it and can earn a decent living. It’s a lesson I learnt from the chicken rice seller, so that I don’t overcomplicate life and careers for myself.
August 4th, 2008 §
Life can be hard when you’re invisible. Attractive, remarkable, or rich people tend to get things their way a lot easier. Perhaps it’s not big competition, since we’re still able to get jobs and live lives. But standing out in a crowd makes it a lot easier to get things done. Here are some tips.
Produce results and stay sharp
I once contended for a promotion with a colleague, and didn’t get the job. It was quite clear – I wasn’t the one people were rooting for. I could’ve spent a hundred years speculating why I lost out, and how I should do better, but I figured that this that was totally uneconomical and prone to failure. It’s one thing to be as great as someone, but it’s another thing to be someone you’re not.
I decided to focus on what I do best at work. I got all the credit for that effort because it was obvious to everyone. I didn’t do it with the expectation of gaining another promotion, although I almost got one… but that it just made sense.
Now, I get to choose what story to tell about my successes. It stays on my resume, and the lessons I’ve learnt from it are mine. I stick with those stories, and I handle all the objections from people who give me crap about otherwise.
Sticking with what you believe and the results from your work gives people less reasons not to believe you. If there’s one thing that’s scarce in the world, it’s trust. Build on it, and you’ll get far.
Be remarkable
Being remarkable is an art. Youtube is proof of that. If you haven’t discovered what makes you remarkable, maybe you need to ask your most honest friends.
A few months ago, I decided a push for a new way of implementing projects, and came under heavy fire for that. By some measure of fortune, I was allowed to do it, and I thank God the project actually went somewhere. It was a big gamble, but I’ve always taken gambles like that in life.
When I announced my departure, a few of my colleagues thanked me for being a “stubborn donkey” and praised me for actually doing more than mere talk. They encouraged me to stick to my ways. I know it’s not the best way to get things done, but it’s a way I’ve learnt by myself. I’m not quite sure how to explain it.
If you ask some of your closest friends about what makes you remarkable, you may be surprised. Sometimes, being remarkable isn’t about doing crazy things, but becoming more of the person you really are.
Give
Giving breaks a lot of social norms, and cuts to the chase. It instantly makes you vulnerable to the things you really care about, and people take notice. Even better when you don’t expect anything in return.
In a way, giving is a way to shut the voices in your head. A lot of people think they’re good people, but they also want to be successful. When is the right time and wrong time to give and get? Logic can be deconstructive as our minds play tricks on us. Giving helps you break that cycle, and keeps things in perspective.
In the past, I’ve given regularly to charities, tithes, personal gifts to specific people, the needy, children… I’ve done this because I needed to understand I could do this on my own, without anyone’s help. I needed to remind myself that climbing to the top of the food chain isn’t worth it without the essential things in life.
Giving helps me understand what’s important to other people, and not just myself. If they have different labels for what’s important in life, then there’s no real “top”. It’s just a personal description.
August 2nd, 2008 §
If you want to get ahead in life, specialize. Don’t generalize.
Take it from me – I’m jack of all trades, master of none.
I do fairly good pencil portraits. I used to freelance doing graphic design. I also used to play in a college rock band, fronting the vocals and rhythm guitars. I founded a college newsletter when I was 18. I’m quite good at resume writing. I absolutely love writing and I maintain 2 blogs. I’m a software engineer by profession, but I also am a certified project manager from PMI. I have experience in more than 2 dozen software languages. Now I’m thinking of building a social network. And writing an e-book. And offering resume writing services. On top of that, I think I’m pretty okay in husband-wife relationships. And in children education. And cars. Oh, and I scuba dive.
I’ve never had a problem thinking about ideas. The problem is getting them to work. There are only a few ideas that have really taken off the floor, and that only happened because the conditions were appropriate. One of them was the college newsletter I founded, Taylor’s College ADP’s “Flipside”. As far as I know, it is still in operation today. By my time with college newsletters is far gone.
Everything else I’ve started hasn’t gone very far. Some are still standing, but getting it to the next level requires real dedication, and I’m too interested in too many things to pursue one thing for a long period of time. A lot of this has led to burn-outs. I’m making a decision today to make the change.
If you’re young, and you want to get ahead in life, generalize enough to get the job done, and spend more time specializing. Choose ONE thing that is close to your heart, and defines you best as a person. It could be something that’s related to your current job, or not. It doesn’t matter. In the course of time, this is that ONE thing that will remain part of you no matter what.
For me, it really has to do with computers. And the Internet. And design. These three things put together are really all I have really cared about in my life, from the very start.
It’s not about service to the world. It’s not about earning big bucks. But it’s something people should know you for, and something you’ll feel confident being associated with, for better or for worse. It’s like marriage, but it’s a profession, not a relationship.
If you’ve already started asking yourself HOW you should be generalizing, don’t worry – it’s really simple.
Just choose not to do anything that’s not related to that ONE thing you want to specialize in.
If you want to specialize in art, forget being an expert chef. If you want to be the world’s best pet enthusiast, forget about being the world’s best accountant.
I’m not trying to dumb down your strengths. I’m sure, with the proper dedication and time, you’ll get to be all that you can be. But there’s not enough time in the world to do everything.
My aunt used to say, “anything, but not everything”. And she’s right. You’ve got the passion, but you don’t have time.
Don’t get sidetracked. You have only one life. Choose the right battles. Make the memories count.
Don’t waste it by diluting the experience with too many things.
Resources:
