Second chance : A new hope

Taking a break from the oil & gas, doom & gloom (incidentally, oil has dropped just below $50 right now) :

Well, this is certainly an improvement over the events first related in "Fast Crash".

I am now holding in my hands a letter of employment (aka "offer letter") from an American MNC, for the position of a Java R&D engineer (though that's not the exact title), and I will be starting work at this company in about 2 weeks' time. They are doing projects related to logistics and defence (okay, I probably have to brush up on my American spelling now : *ahem* "defense"), with a cumulative worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Career-wise, it will be a move into a real R&D environment. I will no longer be among the lone one or two engineers in a small company trying to do some R&D work. Money-wise, well, it's a permanent position, they not only matched but actually upped my pay, and there are quite a few stock options to boot.

This is a second chance in more ways than one. Last year, around this time, I was headhunted (via another agent) and went for an interview at this company. I passed the technical tests, and talked to them for just over 3 hours (!!). On what, you may ask. Well, on things like how the Java JDK was designed, and how it works. We talked on and on about the internals of java.*, so to speak. They were about to offer me a position when top management came over and froze hiring (probably due to it being an election year, I'd suppose).

This year, this time, after the retrenchment announcement, another agent re-introduced me to this company. So I went for a second interview. This time, we talked for about an hour and a half. And this time, I got the job.

That's about all I have to say on this for now. Back to the regular oil, gas, doom & gloom ... :)

Comments:

Congratulations man! You certainly deserve it.

Posted by gwunwai on April 15, 2005 at 10:14 AM SGT #

Life is all about Hope. Never lose hope whenever wherever you are. Remember it is always around the next corner no matter how big or small.

Just receive an old joke. To me, the moral is not to be restricted in what you hope for.

>
> A jobless man applied for the position of "office boy" at Microsoft.
> The HR manager interviewed him then watched him cleaning the floor as a
>test. "You are employed."
>
> He said."Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the application
>to fill in, as well as date when you may start."
>
> The man replied "But I don't have a computer, neither an email." I'm
>sorry", said the HR manager,"If you don't have an email, that means you do
>not exist. And who doesn't exist, cannot have the job." The man left with
>no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only $10 in his pocket. He
>then decided to go to the supermarket and buy a 10Kg tomato crate.
>
> He then sold the tomatoes in a door to door round.In less than two
>hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the Operation three
>times, and returned home with $60. The man realized that he can survive by
>this way, and started to go everyday earlier, and return late Thus, his
>money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a
>truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.
>
> 5 years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the US.He
>started to plan his family's future, and decided to have a life insurance.
>
> He called an insurance broker, and chose a protection plan. When the
>conversation was concluded, the broker asked him his email. The man
>replied, "I don't have an email". The broker answered curiously,
>
> "You don't have an email, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can
>"you imagine what you could have been if you had an email?!!"
>
> The man thought for a while and replied, " Yes, I'd be an office boy at
>Microsoft!"
>
>
> Moral of the story:
>
> M1 - Internet is not the solution to your life.
>
> M2 - If you don't have internet, and work hard, you can be a
>millionaire.
>
> M3 - If you received this message by email, you are closer to being an
>office boy,
>
> than a millionaire..........
>
> Have a great day !!!
>
> Pls Note: - Do not forward this email to me back , I'm closing all my
>email addresses & going to sell tomatoes!!!
>
> Smiling after reading this is not mandatory !!!!
>

Posted by Sze Chieh on April 15, 2005 at 10:25 AM SGT #

Oh, do try not to worry about the oil shortage for once and enjoy life and have more hope. People on this earth will definitely find meaningful existance till the end.

Posted by Sze Chieh on April 15, 2005 at 10:35 AM SGT #

Well, I dunno about the tomatoes part. Buying from a supermarket means that he wasn't exactly getting wholesaler prices, right? :)

Anyway, thanks for replying. Guess you're still one of the audience, eh.

As for worrying about the peak, once you know something of this nature, it is impossible to ignore. I have many people *telling* me to "don't worry, be happy". If only it were so easy, to fiddle while Rome burns, to continue to dance on the sinking Titanic, but if it keeps most of the people happy ... *shrug*

Posted by lowem on April 15, 2005 at 11:11 AM SGT #

I meant, the doom, gloom, etc. only as "tongue in cheek". I'm decidedly not in the hard landing camp - those are the guys buying guns, ammo, and farmland in some remote part of the countryside. I'm not convinced that that is a good model, anyway.

There is a certain phrase used sometimes when people talk about the fall of the Roman empire, that "the rot starts at the edges". The hordes from what is now Germany attacked the outer edges of the empire first, causing severe disruptions to the lives of the folks who lived "way out there".

On the *other* hand, large concentrations of humanity are ripe targets for massive terrorist attacks or de-population campaigns.

It comes to how fast the decline is, and how far down it goes. Many of us on the PO forums actually do hope for a softer landing, though that is by no means a guaranteed outcome.

Posted by lowem on April 15, 2005 at 11:30 AM SGT #