I don't know how to describe my feelings now, im presented with a big choice in my life now. A choice that determines the course of my life and im really overwhelmed by the magnitude of the choices presented to me, though it might seem easy for some. Read on to know more..
I seldom see my CEO in the office as he is always away on client meetings and marketing trips. His name is Björn Klippel. He's a well spoken man, very friendly and always address us with "gentlemen" every time we meet. Well, i had a (not so) short chat with him last evening after working hours, and, boy was i glad that we had the conversation. I can say it was the most significant conversation of my trainee ship since i started 4 months ago. In our conversation, Mr Klippel shared with us his vision of the company and his strategy towards that goal. As a quick recap, our company, TIM Consult is a consulting company that specializes in logistics and transportation. We consult our customers in how their logistics should be managed and also about the transportation of products from factory to warehouse to regional distribution centres and so on and so fourth. Our company has a big customer base all over the world and lately they have been busy expanding their market in Asia especially in China. However, from the feedback from the customers in china, they think it would be better if they were to support them in a more long term period. This will eventually mean opening a regional office in China. But, being a very internationally experienced businessman, Mr. Klippel knows that without the support of a local person that knows the local market very well, its almost impossible to open a regional office in a country. Getting good workforce is very hard. Blindly hiring local people would not do much good either as they wouldn't know how things work in a German company, particularly TIM Consult. So the best strategy was to hire Trainees from other countries train them in Germany for a year or two on the working culture of the company and, with a senior consultant, migrate to the foreign country and try to setup a regional office that could benefit the customers as well as the company. From this situation we can see how much a (soon to be) multinational company knows the value of their employees.They know, its the employees that make their world go round. Unlike a 'certain' GLC in Malaysia I mentioned about in my blog some time ago, where they treat their operational staff as if they were 'kuli's.
Anyway, that is why my company has a close relationship with AIESEC, because AIESECs potential to offer international trainees from all over the world. Potential -> thats what a company need to be able to see in employees or to be employees before it can get anywhere. So regarding the topic of our conversation, Mr Klippel made a passive job offer to us trainees to fill the post of that "international" relations officer (if i may) cum trainee consult. What i mean by passive is, it was not a job straight forward job offer, but more to telling us that there is an opportunity that we can work out together, if we were interested. Mr Klippel wanted to give us an option at the same time giving us the opportunity to explore our potential.
But before anyone gets excited and start to speculate what my reaction is, i have tell you guys my part of the story first. So keep my story above in mind while i tell you my side of the story. To start off, i must rewind back to before my traineeship here. Why did i go for this traineeship? what was my goal and expectations settings? My goal and expectation settings were mostly influenced by the confusion of the last few years of my Uni life, which was partly caused by joining AIESEC itself. Don't get me wrong, this is a good type of confusion, the type that is life changing.
For those who don't know me, I studied Computer science when i was in UTM. It was a typical case of just taking whatever course i got from UPU application. It wasn't my first choice but i thought its better than nothing. The first few years were OK, i could handle most of the Computer science subjects due to my analytical mind. I didn't really think of what i really like so much, i thought studying is just something we all have to go through even though we don't like it. To make a long story short, the internationalism that i was exposed to in AIESEC presented me with many types of people, people that do what they do because of passion and sheer interest.Thats when i began to question myself and what i wanted to do in life. Life must be more than studying (the course that can make money), get a job, get married and live a kindda mundane life. Life should have a more meaningful meaning rather than just living for livings sake. You know what I mean? Even animals have purposes in life, cattle to provide food and milk for people, we get eggs and meat from chickens, and so on and so forth. What is my purpose in life. As i come from a quite religious family, there is a verse in the Quran that says God created man and jin so that they worship and perform "ibadah" to him. Here ibadah does not just mean praying only. For me the meaning of "Ibadah" is anything good that has a good result and done in a good way with good intentions. So having understood that, it was just a matter of what i can do to contribute to the advancement and welfare of the society. In which area do i want to contribute my efforts. To cut the story even shorter, i soon found out that my field of interest is Journalism. And the interest is very deep. Coming from a family of educators i like to share my thoughts experience with people so that they can learn from them and hopefully teach others too. I think starting my AIESEC XP at a time that the words "Agents of Change" and "Paying it Forward" were the theme of AIESEC (or at least @inUTM) really influenced my thinking and choices. I think Journalist are in a position to educate the masses about issues that affect them.
However, i didnt think i gave a fair judgment on my whole Scinece com education and experience. Most of my experience in the course was quite bad after taking a majoring that not many of my 1st year friends took. Mostly i was studying on my own initiative and during practical i was basically coming up with all the projects myself and implementing it by myself because i was the only one in that organization the was knowledgeable in programming. But no matter how bad those times were i am quite thankful now because i know why those things were happening to me. Those experiences really trained me to have an independent mind and view of things. also it trained me not to wait for help to come, but more to make the initiative to do things, qualities that are very useful in journalism. So everything DOES happen for a reason... Anyway, I have already set my expectations for this traineeship to practice IT in a better and conducive environment and come up with my final decision whether i want to continue with IT or move on to Journalism, or any other field for that matter. In a nutshell, the environment here is very good to learn and practice IT, but despite that i still don have interest to continue in this field. However im happy that i went through the whole experience and got to learn IT because im feeling that i will be very very useful in the future.
So coming back to the big story, having known that i don't want to be in the IT field, i was presented with a tough choice. On one hand, my CEO was offering an opportunity that has a big potential to manifest into a very stable career with a good pay and lotsa traveling, On the other hand is an "alternative" career that does not promise a good pay or even success, but its what i really want to do and im sure i can't live in peace without having a shot at it. Or to put it simple :
TIM Consult -> Stable, possibility of good income, get good experience, may get all the chicks, and i think its QUITE (but not so) interesting. but i have no passion for it.
Journalism -> The road least traveled, no promise of high income, Have a lot of passion for it, but If i am good at it, there are more possibilities to travel around and write articles or make documentaries etc. IF im become good enough. But most important get the fulfillment of doing what I always wanted.
Well, being a crazy person that i am, im more likely to choose Journalism. After all we should live our dreams rather than live dreaming, no?
But Im opened to suggestions and comments. What do you think? is it a wise choice or not? Please give some suggestions:-).....and please don't give politically correct comments,just speak your heart out:-) Your comments are appreciated to the highest level.....
Tchuss
P/S : i haven't told my story even to my parents...the must think im crazy and irrational...So i rather prove to them first...talk later...hehe :-)
I seldom see my CEO in the office as he is always away on client meetings and marketing trips. His name is Björn Klippel. He's a well spoken man, very friendly and always address us with "gentlemen" every time we meet. Well, i had a (not so) short chat with him last evening after working hours, and, boy was i glad that we had the conversation. I can say it was the most significant conversation of my trainee ship since i started 4 months ago. In our conversation, Mr Klippel shared with us his vision of the company and his strategy towards that goal. As a quick recap, our company, TIM Consult is a consulting company that specializes in logistics and transportation. We consult our customers in how their logistics should be managed and also about the transportation of products from factory to warehouse to regional distribution centres and so on and so fourth. Our company has a big customer base all over the world and lately they have been busy expanding their market in Asia especially in China. However, from the feedback from the customers in china, they think it would be better if they were to support them in a more long term period. This will eventually mean opening a regional office in China. But, being a very internationally experienced businessman, Mr. Klippel knows that without the support of a local person that knows the local market very well, its almost impossible to open a regional office in a country. Getting good workforce is very hard. Blindly hiring local people would not do much good either as they wouldn't know how things work in a German company, particularly TIM Consult. So the best strategy was to hire Trainees from other countries train them in Germany for a year or two on the working culture of the company and, with a senior consultant, migrate to the foreign country and try to setup a regional office that could benefit the customers as well as the company. From this situation we can see how much a (soon to be) multinational company knows the value of their employees.They know, its the employees that make their world go round. Unlike a 'certain' GLC in Malaysia I mentioned about in my blog some time ago, where they treat their operational staff as if they were 'kuli's.
Anyway, that is why my company has a close relationship with AIESEC, because AIESECs potential to offer international trainees from all over the world. Potential -> thats what a company need to be able to see in employees or to be employees before it can get anywhere. So regarding the topic of our conversation, Mr Klippel made a passive job offer to us trainees to fill the post of that "international" relations officer (if i may) cum trainee consult. What i mean by passive is, it was not a job straight forward job offer, but more to telling us that there is an opportunity that we can work out together, if we were interested. Mr Klippel wanted to give us an option at the same time giving us the opportunity to explore our potential.
But before anyone gets excited and start to speculate what my reaction is, i have tell you guys my part of the story first. So keep my story above in mind while i tell you my side of the story. To start off, i must rewind back to before my traineeship here. Why did i go for this traineeship? what was my goal and expectations settings? My goal and expectation settings were mostly influenced by the confusion of the last few years of my Uni life, which was partly caused by joining AIESEC itself. Don't get me wrong, this is a good type of confusion, the type that is life changing.
For those who don't know me, I studied Computer science when i was in UTM. It was a typical case of just taking whatever course i got from UPU application. It wasn't my first choice but i thought its better than nothing. The first few years were OK, i could handle most of the Computer science subjects due to my analytical mind. I didn't really think of what i really like so much, i thought studying is just something we all have to go through even though we don't like it. To make a long story short, the internationalism that i was exposed to in AIESEC presented me with many types of people, people that do what they do because of passion and sheer interest.Thats when i began to question myself and what i wanted to do in life. Life must be more than studying (the course that can make money), get a job, get married and live a kindda mundane life. Life should have a more meaningful meaning rather than just living for livings sake. You know what I mean? Even animals have purposes in life, cattle to provide food and milk for people, we get eggs and meat from chickens, and so on and so forth. What is my purpose in life. As i come from a quite religious family, there is a verse in the Quran that says God created man and jin so that they worship and perform "ibadah" to him. Here ibadah does not just mean praying only. For me the meaning of "Ibadah" is anything good that has a good result and done in a good way with good intentions. So having understood that, it was just a matter of what i can do to contribute to the advancement and welfare of the society. In which area do i want to contribute my efforts. To cut the story even shorter, i soon found out that my field of interest is Journalism. And the interest is very deep. Coming from a family of educators i like to share my thoughts experience with people so that they can learn from them and hopefully teach others too. I think starting my AIESEC XP at a time that the words "Agents of Change" and "Paying it Forward" were the theme of AIESEC (or at least @inUTM) really influenced my thinking and choices. I think Journalist are in a position to educate the masses about issues that affect them.
However, i didnt think i gave a fair judgment on my whole Scinece com education and experience. Most of my experience in the course was quite bad after taking a majoring that not many of my 1st year friends took. Mostly i was studying on my own initiative and during practical i was basically coming up with all the projects myself and implementing it by myself because i was the only one in that organization the was knowledgeable in programming. But no matter how bad those times were i am quite thankful now because i know why those things were happening to me. Those experiences really trained me to have an independent mind and view of things. also it trained me not to wait for help to come, but more to make the initiative to do things, qualities that are very useful in journalism. So everything DOES happen for a reason... Anyway, I have already set my expectations for this traineeship to practice IT in a better and conducive environment and come up with my final decision whether i want to continue with IT or move on to Journalism, or any other field for that matter. In a nutshell, the environment here is very good to learn and practice IT, but despite that i still don have interest to continue in this field. However im happy that i went through the whole experience and got to learn IT because im feeling that i will be very very useful in the future.
So coming back to the big story, having known that i don't want to be in the IT field, i was presented with a tough choice. On one hand, my CEO was offering an opportunity that has a big potential to manifest into a very stable career with a good pay and lotsa traveling, On the other hand is an "alternative" career that does not promise a good pay or even success, but its what i really want to do and im sure i can't live in peace without having a shot at it. Or to put it simple :
TIM Consult -> Stable, possibility of good income, get good experience, may get all the chicks, and i think its QUITE (but not so) interesting. but i have no passion for it.
Journalism -> The road least traveled, no promise of high income, Have a lot of passion for it, but If i am good at it, there are more possibilities to travel around and write articles or make documentaries etc. IF im become good enough. But most important get the fulfillment of doing what I always wanted.
Well, being a crazy person that i am, im more likely to choose Journalism. After all we should live our dreams rather than live dreaming, no?
But Im opened to suggestions and comments. What do you think? is it a wise choice or not? Please give some suggestions:-).....and please don't give politically correct comments,just speak your heart out:-) Your comments are appreciated to the highest level.....
Tchuss
P/S : i haven't told my story even to my parents...the must think im crazy and irrational...So i rather prove to them first...talk later...hehe :-)
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