The past week

Saturday, January 21, 2006

So what has happened this passed week? Btw, sorry for not updating because I didn't have the time and energy to type an entry. By the time I arrive home from work, I'll feel exhausted, and I need the time available to spend time with my family, my girlfriend, and rest.

Last weekend on Saturday night was Lini's wedding reception, which was superb! The whole event was grand, held at Dewan Perdana Felda. The food was delicious. The experience was satisfying, because I was able to meet most people that I have not met for quite some time. Ichi was there, Alip too, I brought Chali also... etc. Those that were married also brought their wives. Basically everything was great.

Then came the start of my 2 weeks training with the Engineering Support Team. Verdict: Boring. Nothing much to do, coz most of the time I just watched and learned how the technicians perform testing on prototype compressors, how they record and report the testing data obtained, as well as on how to perform design judgement based on the data available.

Unfortunately my supervisor thinks differently. He prefers me to perform the testings myself. In my opinion it is beneficial, but in the real case, the technicians will be doing the testings. So I find it also counter-beneficial to do it. But oh well, let's see how the next week goes.

Also had the chance to go for Motorola interview on Saturday morning at Sheraton Imperial KL. I find it to be a very relaxed type of interview. Honestly, I came with the intention of only to come and get the free lunch they give for attendees (hey, not every day you get to eat at a hotel!), and perform only so-so during their interview.

But upon attending the briefing session they gave about Motorola and the nature of their job which is related to R&D also, I felt quite impressed. Asked quite a lot of questions during the briefings, especially during the "Career Rewards and Development" talk. I even performed, if I may say it, as good as how I performed during Panasonic's interview. But again, I don't want to feel too confident. Let's just see how things go.

The one thing that I felt quite impressed was how Motorola's Malaysian R&D Centre even handles major design jobs, i.e. designs that come from scratch, coming from an idea by any employee. Compare that with Panasonic Compressor R&D, where those type of "design from scratch" jobs are only handled by their counterparts in Japan. Us Malaysians will only handle simple design jobs, like changing the appearance of the compressor. The most they would allow us to do is changing the compressor's motor. It's like freedom of creativity is not given to Malaysian designers.

Like what that interviewer said during my interview session, these so-called "R&D" design centres in Malaysia for Japanese companies are only focused on the "D" and not so much of the "R" (maybe none, even!).

I know the job is in Penang, but based on the freedom they give to their engineers (they even have a 6 months training course before truly working, just like TNB's Program Eksekutif Pelatih) and the nature of the job which is R&D, I am seriously going to think really hard to consider whether I should join Motorola or remain with Panasonic if I'm given the job offer.

But based on my entry today, I guess you know what the decision might be. Right?

Posted by Nikman Shah at 11:40 pm
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