Change of Employment

 Again ? Haha.

This time, I am thinking of making a move. As I write this, I am waiting for formal contract to sign. 

First reason is probably fatigue at current place. Product is still good, but I think this is only a small factor. There are not much scope for movements - either vertical or lateral. I am not trying to be a manager either, so it is more the expansion of scope for me, which means I get to meet different people and travel more. Well, once this pandemic has fizzled that is.

Pay is only slightly higher than my current job, but has higher stable base wage. So a little more security, I think. And higher level of stock-grants, which has a higher potential returns. 

This whole thing came about out of the blue when a recruiter contacted me. Started exploring and felt the new company's trajectory and plans are pretty good. The company has the same CEO since being listed, and revenues and share price have been growing steadily. They are more engineering driven than marketing driven, which is to my liking. The interview process was quite lengthy and goes all the way up to senior management.

So I hope to get the formals signed before the end of this month and start the new job after my notice period. 

What an interesting way to end 2021, where the year would be remembered for the pandemic and gloom.

Exciting Employment Times

So I started a draft of this blog back in 2016. Now that I am back, it would go something like this :

Mid 2014 - I joined a listed US company.

Mid 2016 - My company is acquired.

Late 2017 - My company is acquired again.

End 2017 - My company is acquired again.

Early 2019 - My company is acquired... again. *sigh*

What an interesting journey. Haha. 4 acquisitions in 4 years.

Oh well, good thing is, I received a lump sum due to early grant of stock options. Now everything looks stable and hopefully no more acquisitions or spin-offs. Welcome to the life in the fast lane.

How does that impact me, you might ask. 

So throughout the journey, I have gone through excitement, worry, dread, resistance, acceptance and now a little bored and hoping to find a new or exciting opportunity.

Initally excited as this is my first taste of being acquired. Going though all the process, the management talks that it will lead to wider opportunities for the company. Meeting new colleagues, etc.

Then the reality that after every acquisition, there is always redundancies. Wasn't too bad at first because my position is strong, internally. 

As a few more acquisitions flow through, it becomes a revolving door. Not that I don't like the changes, but it is coming before we settle down. And I am sure it has impacted some of my customers' perception and apprehension.

Then as more red-tapes creep in, adjusting to new processes, restrictions, corporate policies, it becomes a little frustrating. 

"I have been doing things this way all the time and it fits us well. Why change ?"
"We have more autonomy before." etc. You get the idea.

Finally, it is now about 2 years after the final acquisition, and a few reshuffling that doesn't affect me much, I am comfortable yet restless. Things are becoming boring. I am no longer enjoying my work as much. COVID and lockdowns are not helping. 

Oh well, I think this sums up this stretch of my life. I think I am coming back here more often, as I go through mid-life crisis and trying to adapt. I think I have more topics and subjects that I think I can share my opinion on. (read : I am now an older guy stubborn guy)

Let's see how it goes this time.

Updates - Mid 2013 - 5 years on...

I guess I owe all of you some updates over the last 3 years.

 Work 

Work has been largely the same. Some restructuring in the company, some retrenchments,some people leaving. But largely business as usual.

My territory has changed and it is a shame I am not going to Perth anymore. However, I get to travel to Brisbane and New Zealand now. Hope to be able to enjoy that.

Still been able to travel around regional areas in NSW and ACT. Visiting sleepy country towns and all. Always is nice to drive around a bit and get out of the office.

Also been trying to do side-lines... See how it goes.


Life

I have bought my own 3 bedroom townhouse, in a nice suburban complex. Nice and friendly neighbours with lots of get-together and parties.

More friends and more events and things to do on the weekends - Birthday parties, catch up sessions, etc.

Haven't been going to the beach a lot in the last year. Been staying home more. Not sure why, maybe just being lazy.



Car

Sold my old car (Ford Focus) and bought a new one (Hyundai ix35) about 3 years ago. I think my previous LS experience took place when I already have my new car.

Haven't done any 4WD or much off road with it though.

I am now sitting in the service centre while my car is being serviced. Doing my work, enjoying free coffee and blogging.. It is a Friday after all..



To Do List

In the short future, looking at getting a better paid job. Getting an investment property. Though in no particular order. Maybe also starting a little side business of some sort.

But I guess, most of the plans is to build a financially secure future and get to enjoy life a little more.

Maybe pick up more sporting activities.

My Work in Australia

My work is in a technical consultant role. It involves traveling around more than half the time meeting customers and all. I also work closely with the sales team, a little like my previous job role in Singapore.

Though I am not involved personally in office politics at the moment (and I hope not ever), I still do hear quite a lot. Friction within the sales team (fighting for accounts, etc), between departments (Product vs Sales), and also office affairs.

Let me talk about the friction within the sales team- its not uncommon in any organization. Everyone fights to earn commissions. Teamwork can only be seen when one person goes on leave and another sales person help out with the account even though she/he is not getting a commission.

Management also plays a part. If the manager doesn't make it clear who owns what accounts, or how accounts should be split, you will have overlaps. The sales team is divided mainly by industries, or so-called verticals. Everyone has a job to develop new customers from within the industry assigned to them.

What happens when a customer can belong to multiple industries ? How then ? Or the dealer (who belongs to one of the sales) happens to get a deal that is in a different industry (which belongs to another sales) ?

If the sales person is tasked to develop a new market segment, what about his/her old accounts that he has taken time to develop ?

All these are probably common in many sales structure. Managing the team well is the job of the manager and I probably have to say in this case, the manager isn't doing a very good job. Worse if she/he is seen to practice favoritism and hides like an ostrich, not solving problems that are brought to her/his attention.

Blatant backstabbing and spreading false accusations about colleagues to management is something that I dislike very much. One person's off my friend-list now.

And what about the problem between product team and sales team ? The sales team wants more information and sell anything that is easy to sell. The product team withholds information from the sales team, because sales team is stupid and cannot be trusted with precious information. Knowledge is king and holding on to information is asserting authority, I guess.

Office affairs ? Haha, I didn't see anything. But a couple is seen coming to office together, etc. Girl's single and available. Boy's having family problems, not sure of his actual marital status.

So there you have it. Nothing as juicy as my previous work environment, but it's getting there...

Hello...

Hi, its me.. :) Long time no see eh ?

Let's see what's new in my life...

Been getting lots of stuff (big and small) for my new house.. so spending lots of moolah..

I have done my first body checkup here. The usual - fasted the night before, went early to see the doctor, had 4 viles of my blood drawn for testing. All these for free.. Well, not exactly free, just paid for, 100%, by MediCare.

Work has been pretty good. Kept me busy, supporting different sales people. Travelling around different states as well. Just been to Melbourne and back few weeks ago.

Even though its busy with lots of projects and reports to complete, I never once felt "stressed". Maybe it helps that I spend 60-70% of my time away from the office and have more time to myself and more time to rest.

Financially, ok. No money to dabble in stock here for now or anything else. But getting along just fine. Wait till I save enough dough. Going to get myself a tax accountant/adviser to try to minimize my taxes. No details here of course, but it will probably be a well-spent $150 (or around there.)

Ford launched their new 2009 Mondeo, Titanium version (with all the gizmos like voice activated air-con and stereo, bluetooth to phone, auto-everything-from-headlights-to-wipers, heated leather seats, adaptive cruise control with collision avoidance/warning, 2.3L engine with 6-speed auto gears, 18" sports alloy wheels, etc) starting out from $41k. Probably will be changing my car to a new and bigger one, maybe in the next financial year.

Socially, getting to know a couple of friends outside work, and on ok terms with my neighbours. Not so much partying. Dinners with colleagues, drinks with ex-colleagues, etc. Increasing slowly and steadily.

Didn't see much things on the roads to comment about. Not much road rage, or weird drivers, etc.. So yeah, a bit boring at the moment and thus nothing much to blog about. I am sure I am not going to make this into a "Dear Diary" thing.

Till the next post..

Enjoyable Weekend

Last Friday morning, I had to fly to Gold Coast for work. So I had to wake up real early in the morning (like 4am), take budget flight to Gold Coast.

The work portion wasn't that tough, and I even enjoyed my dinners. Especially on Saturday night where we were the only group of people who were allowed to enter DreamWorld.

Yeah, our dinner was held there. They had the tiger show, and opened a ride just for us. After we had our fun, the sit-down dinner began. It was basically fantastic, to be walking around DreamWorld alone, at night, AND to be taking rides on the Tower of Terror for 2 consecutive times without getting out of the seats. See if you can do that at normal time ! Ha ! Some of my dinner companions rode the ride 10 times !

Anyway, we were there for dinner and drinks and chatted until almost 12 mid-night before we left and went back to the hotel bar for more drinks and chat...



In the face of the MC Ad :

Return Air Ticket from Sydney to Gold Coast - $220
Return Taxi Fares from both Airports - $390
Screaming "ONE MORE TIME !" while being strapped to a roller-coaster, AND GETTING IT - PRICELESS !

Lawn Bowling

Had my first experience on Friday afternoon.

Went out with sales to meet customers. Instead of yachting (which was supposed to be the plan until something happened to the yacht) it was changed to an afternoon at a local bowling club.

Probably like golf, except everyone can hang around and interact more, as compared to just 4 per flight at golf.

Was my first time and it was quite fun with all the guys and the gals. In the blazing sun for the whole afternoon, had BBQ lunch and beer while bowling and yet not getting wet under the armpits and sweaty all over is definitely a nice feeling.

Hope that I can go yachting the next round.

2 Weeks and More

Ok, I missed my 2nd weekend update, so I will give a longer one today.

First of all, I am still staying in the motel. Will be until next weekend, then it is the big move.

I have started working, 3rd day at work today. As I am not really a 'newbie', I guess I am not exactly entitled to my honeymoon period. :)

So taking up things pretty quickly and will be out to face-the-world next week : By conducting a training session.

Things in this office is pretty systematic. At least I would say the new staff orientation and admin work is pretty thorough. I came in my first day with my desk ready with stationery, my phone has been programmed and my name shows on it. Internal phone list has been updated with my mobile and everything. Brand new 17" monitor laptop is all installed and ready to be used.

Getting my bank accounts and all admin work finalized. Now I just lack a credit card.

Have been to Bondi Beach and a smaller Dee Why Beach the last 2 weekends. Been raining recently, so was just there for a while to soak in the mild sun (hidden behind clouds), enjoy the sea breeze and eating seafood basket (how apt).

Not sure what I will be doing this coming weekend. If it rains, I may spend more time shopping for furniture in the malls. Next weekend, is definitely the big move. And I am looking forward to it.

Blogging in office now, so not much photographs to add. I will be putting photos of my new place once I move it.

In the mean time, it is down to work...