Words of wisdom to job seekers

When i graduated from University, i had no idea what the work place will look like. So how did i survived?

Luck i guess, 

So yes, anyway, i work in HR related fields.

I started out as Management Trainee, which is pretty much what we called a "Generalist"

Generalist is as you might expect, is a person who does bits and pieces of every job available in that division. They understand, know the business process from end to end, and are generally able to fill in or slot in on any job that is available.

Being MT was a lot of fun, it was fun because you'll always have some impossible target and unbelievable task handed to you. People will look at you as super-brilliant-full-of-crazy-shit-ideas-and-out-of-this-world-madefaker. In short, people will look at you like a superman.

You will have to grasp things quick, be quick on your feet, have initiative to do this and that, and more importantly, LEARN.

Yes, learn.

That is the hardest thing on being an MT. You had to work, you have to deliver result, BUT you have to balance it out with learning also.

Its like trying to ride a bicycle while playing a playstation i guess. Its easy, once you get the hang of it.

But MT is not the thing i wanted to talk about here, i wanted to talk (or write, whatever) about what to do when you graduated from University.

Yes i know some of you ladies are just looking to get married as soon as you graduated and becomes a mother, and i think thats a fair choice. Its life, people get to do whatever they want.

But what if you want to work somewhere? or even become an entrepreneur? where here are some of the advice that i can give you.

1. Know what you want to do

Sounds simple, but not as easy as its sound. Do you want to be a lecturer? do you want to work in corporate environment? do you want to be consultant and travel around 24/7? do you want to be someone else's wife and just stay at home? or do you want to work in oil and gas or mining company in some remote places?

The possibility are endless. And frankly, this is where some people are afraid. They afraid of choosing, and ended up delaying skripsi for as long as they can.

You do know that there is a special hell reserved for this kind of people, right?

2. The Further Studies "bait"

Ahh, the further studies. The bread and butter of all the fresh grad kids. Everybody think its cool to go overseas (on scholarship or daddy's money) for 2 years, doing master degree, snap some cool pics for facebook, and even getting laid by some local, BUT, there is one thing to remember.

Further studies (S2, Master, whatever) is good IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE A LECTURER.

I cant stress that enough.

If you are going for further studies for 2 years and then looking for work, you gonna have a hard time. Why? because company will treat you as fresh graduate.

Well probably you gonna receive salary a bit (just a bit) higher than S1 fresh grad, but position wise, you are a newbie.

Same as fresh grad.

You've lost the crucial 2 years that would easily enough get you to the much more comfortable middle level.

And please, forget about the salary.

3. The salary

Wow, whats that? yes i did tell you to forget about the salary. But things to consider when you want to work are, of course how much you gonna get paid.

First of all, you have to remember that you wont be manager the first time you work. Forgo about fantasy, this is reality.

Second, if you want to strike big on your first job, go for oil or mining. They compensate a lot, because, well its fuckin oil and mining, and because you will most likely be moved to some remote places. They pay you a lot to compensate on that.

Some local companies also paid pretty well, compared to foreign company. Why is that? because sometimes the system on local companies are "owner" based, which means the owner can do whatever the hell he/she wants. This usually translates to higher salary, not so clear career path, and your ass can be fired at any second.

Just remember this mantra, never look at basic salary only. Consider the variable pay, all the benefits (hospital, reimbursement, etc), career progression, work life balance, and the stress level.

Certainly nobody likes to be paid 20 Mio per month but at the risk of having heart attack at age of 40, right?

4. Where you'll work

This is especially important if you live in Jakarta where distance of 10-15 km need to be travelled for 3 hours in traffic jam. Consider the place, plan out where you'll live, where you'll go on the weekend, is the transportation safe, etc.

And if you are placed in remote area, what will you do with your loved one. How you gonna survive, etc.

5. Know the company culture

All of the company of course demands performance. But, cultures are different. There are some where people are not so attached and much informal. There are some who treats each other as family but can still be formal. And no matter how much you tried to hide it, company will hire someone who blends in well with their culture. Not just performance, after all.


to be continued

That madness

Recently, a friend of mine moved away.

Away as in resigning from the company. Being in HR for quite a while now, i learned a thing or two about resignation. You only gonna missed about 10% of them :p

But that's not the reason why i wrote this post.

When my friend moved away, one of the reason she said was that because she was tired and wanted to take a break. The other reason was because she couldnt find a boyfriend.

No, seriously.

Jokingly, she asked me how i managed to find my, practically, fiancee, so quick and how did i managed to sum up the courage and just know that she is the one is such short period of time?

Its actually a pretty good question this. It has been asked on many occasion, both to me and my lady, endless of time.

The answer, as usual, is not that simple.

You see, as i have wrote before, we have actually known each other for about 3 years now, right when i joined Nestle

What you didnt know was, there was something when we first met.

Sorry, something when we saw each other.

Back when i didnt know who she was, back when i was only able to look at her through the glass door, and when i accidentally called her to arrange an interview. I  simply didnt know who she was.

There i was, talking to my future wife and i didnt even know it was her. It was like some sort of episode from our fav show, How I Met Your Mother.

At that time i thought it was a crush, at that time she thought it was just a crush too. We were both in a relationship at that time. A long relationship. I was only in about 2 or 3 years relationship, she was in about 3 or 4 years.

We didn't like the idea of cheating. So it was a case of struggling to hide each others feeling when we managed to catch a glimpse of each other, or even a small chat. We were trying to just bury the feeling deep, hoping it was just a silly crush, it'll die down.

Cmon, you must have experienced it too havent you? That attractive person you met that made your head blank and your heart beating fast? that, usually lasts 5 seconds on me. Then i forget the person.

This, lasted 2 years.
 
Regardless on how we felt to each other, we just couldnt see any way of us could be together. We thought,

"Hey, we are in a relationship already. A long one. So this person that im with now must be the right person for me"

Which is why we didnt have any courage or will to fight with the feeling. We succumb to reality. Nothing fancy. Nothing fancy.

I remembered, i asked this one question to God.

"Dear God, in parallel universe, i hope there is a version of me and her, that will be together. Together from the start. To look each other in the eye and say that i love you everyday. Everyday for the rest of our life, until we get old. Together keeping each other warm and happy. Together being the piece that was missing from each other....together ever after"

I was hoping that i could see that version of Iqbal, and i could say to him.

"You fuckin lucky bastard"

and then i closed the door again. Closed my feeling. When one moment came.....

I was away for about 6 or 7 months from Jakarta, and i received news from her that she's planning on getting married. Later i found out that it was same case as me, "Just following the flow". Thinking whoever we were together at that moment were the right one for us.

I remembered at that time i looked up the sky, i thought i have seen the sign. This is the sign that i shouldnt do anything silly. This is the sign to move on. So i followed on her footstep, and starting to planning on getting married myself.

It was as if we looked at each other, smiled bitterly and walked a separate way. Secretly still trying find way to hold hands togeher.

At that time, a new single from Muse came. It was, Madness.

At that time, it was like a thunder just struck me. Basically the lyrics goes:

"I cant get this memories out of my mind, like some kind of madness is started to evolve"
"I tried so hard to let you go, but some kind of madness, swallowing me whole"

Thats Muse. The no 1 band that i worship in my life. Thats Matt Bellamy there, talking to me. Giving a bloody life advice. Then he drops me a question.

"Now, i need to know is this real love? or is it just madness, keeping us afloat"

F* Me.

then after the solo guitar,

Now, i have finally seen the end. And im, not expecting you to care. That i have finally seen the light. And i have finally realised....

I need your love

I just totally lost it there. The sound of Bellamy dramatic build up just got me.

Why? why at this moment? Why i asked?

The answer came a bit later. Later when i broke up with that person whom in How I Met Your Mother, would be called, the bitch. Like seriously, who would want to marry their brother? or their sister? brother and sister love (you know, those silly thing 5th graders do) is pretty much disgusting. Why would you be attracted to your sister? or brother? And then do.....that.....thing....emm....Yuck.

Aside, when she gave me the news of the broke up, i stopped. Thinking about everything. All this sign. All this madness.Then i pretty much said, just go.

Just damn go

The lesson here is, even though you tried so much to suppress your feeling to someone, even though you still try to d the right thing and not to cheat, even though you even planning on marrying them,

You just cant hide your feeling to God

He'll listen to your deepest desire, to what you really wanted. And when you sincerely want it, he will make the universe help you get it.

You just need to have faith

So, i broke up. And accidentally, i suddenly had to came alone to family day like 2 days later. Well i had one seat, and those seat are now vacant.

And there i saw her. Smiling. As beautiful as she always been. Like how i always see her through that glass door. She was singing, to some band she doesnt really like at first.

She was singing to Naif.

Which is like, the 2nd band i worship after Muse.

Dear God, how many signs are you gonna give me now eh? *fist bump*

Then comes the reality.

I tell you what folks, there is nothing much gloomier than thinking that the love of your life is getting away from you. That the love of your life is gonna married someone else. That you suddenly realised that you are maybe too late.

That you could have done this....

Done that...

But no, Iqbal Satrio Nindito, you are late.

But then again, faith.

Have faith in God's plan. Have faith. You know he will give you the best.

The next moment, if i can be a movie director for a second, goes a bit like this:

"Imagine a scene, where someone interrupts a wedding, spectacularly. Goes on to give the most romantic speech ever about how he love the bride. And that he wished them success. But the bride then goes on to run and live happily ever after with that asshole who interrupts the wedding"

But thats movie. There was no wedding. Let alone the one that i interrupt in real life (im not that crazy, yet). There was no romantic speech from me (its me, seriously. Romantic?), but i am an asshole. So yeah.

*yes, im doing this because if i wrote how we finally got together, i will need 10 blogpost for it. The movie illustration is just, well, illustration*

And here we are now. Planing our own wedding (coming very soon). Amidst of all our crazy works.

Are we wrong? dont know

All we know is, we still have a chance. To make everything right. To start again.  

We know each other pasts. We know each other. We think in a same crazy manners. My families love her families. Her families love my families. We all got along so well together. And here we are.

If i can just close this with one or two things, its that,

Marriage is a serious thing. Dont ever ever ever get married just because of situation. We ended up together, because we didnt want any other feeling disturb us when we got married. We want it to be pure. Pure of someone that you married.

Marry the right person. At the right time.

Its easy to say, its hard, it makes you questions things a lot, but as you can see from this blogpost,

Its all worth it :)

p.s: if you getting married, but still deeply thinking of someone else, take my word and go for it. If you love the first one, why would you fell for the second one? :p

The traitor

Allright,

As you might have heard recently i have actually made one of the most controversial move in my live, something that nobody thought i would do.

Well actually it’s the 2nd controversial move, but let’s not get into that now :p

Surprise surprise, i am now fully using Android.

Yes.

Android.

That green monster which i have labeled in the past as "ugly, boring, slow, fugly, alay, stupid, horrendous, makes me wanna puke" and so on. I can never run out of bad thing to say about them.

Which is natural, because naturally i grew up around the windows environment, hack things around in the windows mobile era, thus makes me a windows fanboy.

So what happen then that suddenly i found myself "sleeping with the enemies" and

being genuinely branded as traitors? read on....

1. The Community

You see, back then when Android comes out, i was still using the old trusty Windows Mobile. I think i had a device codenamed "Kovsky" which was essentially an Xperia X1, and "Rhodium" which is essentially HTC Touch Pro 2. Back then i can see that Android had potential.

It was free, it was open, it was a new interface, it essentially got everyone (both normal users and developers) excited and licking their lips at the prospect that this might be the new holy grail of windows mobile.

Believe it or not, so was i.

But then happened the thing that always happens when something touted as "new and potential niche" become well known.

It blew up.

It’s like gangnam style, harlem shake, or that stupid caesar dance. You see it, you thought it was fun for the first 10 minutes, then you just got sick and wanna puke every time some other people start doing it over and 

over again. You basically just begging to say to people that okay, you've get the idea and now shut up.

That what got me to the point of really annoyed with Android. Its users back then were proclaiming that they are so powerful, oh so good, oh we are the best, we tinker with our device and flash ROMS like we are hackers. Which just simply annoys me to no end.

Excuse me, we in Windows Mobile community has done the same thing you did, like 5 years ago. It’s not new, unless the only phone history you know starts with Android era.

Back then, i was also part of the notoriously genius XDA Developers. Well they were genius, im just a reader and member, really. It’s practically forum where people talks about their WinMo device, creates custom ROM, port app between brand, and basically just creating anything they want from scratch. So you can sort of understand when some new punk comes and starting to proclaim all that.

XDA at the time was also famous for featuring only phone that uses Windows Mobile, made by HTC. My old Xperia X1 was featured because it was actually made by HTC.

No android device or from other maker than HTC are allowed. 

Well we ported android to be usable in windows mobile, but essentially, only windows mobile phone is allowed to be discussed and featured there. Its an exclusive club, no way in hell android or iOS devices coming around to XDA. Although XDA finally opens up to allow some other devices non HTC to come, but still no Android.

2. The slowness

Around the boom of Android, one of thing thing that i hate was the device. It was practically everywhere, and everywhere i look it was shit. The device was slow, it kills app every now and then, ran out of memory, looks genuinely crap on small screen, it freezes, it lags,

it lags,

it lags,

it lags,

and it slows down to a point where it’s almost unusable.

But thats not all why i hate android

3. The icon

One of the reason why i largely ignored Android was because of the icon. That mini little icon that looks like sweet candy. Sweet candy that is too sweet and gives me headache. Too much grid icon on android gives me the headache. It looks the same all around. iPhone, symbian, android, for god sake they are all grid !

4. The Phone design

Let’s admit it, android predominantly occupied by samsung. It’s just the fact. And guess what? Samsung is pretty much the same all around. That silly, round galaxy shape. Whether it’s the most expensive, or the cheapest one there is, they all look the same.

Not to mention they made out of....plastic.

Fuckin plastic.

It feels like 1995 all over again.

Plus, Samsung just feels like it’s....cheap. Sure, you can use air gesture and wave your hand around in the air like an idiot without touching your phone, but it doesn't hide the fact that your galaxy feels cheap.

Or maybe Samsung dont want people to hold their cheap plastic, that’s why they created air gesture.

No wonder im always in love with HTC. They build phone like a tank, with sexiness as much as Natalie

Portman's thigh and legs. And HTC dont use plastic.

But guess what?

I bought an Xperia. Sony Xperia Ultra.

It has 2.2 Ghz Quad Core Snapdragon 800 processor and 2 Gb of RAM. It’s much much faster than HTC One and Galaxy S4 in their crappy Snapdragon 600.

It has 6,4 full HD screen with triluminous display and XReality engine usually found on high end Sony TV.

It is only 5.5 mm thick. For comparison, your blue 2B pencil is 6 mm thick. Its thinner than pencil. It is super sexy.

It is water and dust proof. I can throw it into swimming pool, and it will still survives the day.

So, the community? XDA seems to get better now. They open themselves up to device non HTC and to other OS including iOS and Android.

The device? Its so quick, no lags at all.

The icon? i did a workaround by reducing the cluttering icon

The phone? it is sexy and very well built.

So, i am on Android now. XDA made peace with other OS, and so was i. But hell no to iOS.

Stay tune for my Xperia Ultra review on my next post.

Sit back, read, and learn

Howdy folks?

Again, it has always been a while since i wrote anything substantial on this blog. The ideas are flowing, seems that i couldn't just find the time to sit down and write it all down. Curse you youtube.

Anyway, big week coming up for me. At the end of this week i'll be going to the ladies house, along with my family also. You guessed it, chitty chatta for what would be the biggest day of our life. Big moment, i am excited, and definitely pumped :)

A lot of you might say that this might be so sudden, like who am i marrying again? Lots of you probably think this is just stranger whom i just met for a month or two and then decided to get married because the sake of it.

No mate.

If you're a woman, you might be tempted to get married with some old, cash strapped, random fat bloke you just met because you think nobody else will marry you, but im not a woman now am i?

Nor am i being pushed by time. I am not pushed by peers and parents either.

Its just me, who chose the best woman a man could only think of. A woman who inches away from being married by another person, not me.

Yet there she is, trusting me with all her believe :)

What more can you ask as a man really? a woman who truly and fully trust you. And love you as well. A woman who smiles and it felt like a warm sunshine.

 I'll just say that, i am the luckiest man in the world.

Now for a brief history, me and her has actually been friend for quite a long time now. This is maybe our 3rd year that we know each other. Along the way she's one of the few lady friend that i actually got along with just fine. Mind you, my male friends are usually the crazy idiotic type like me.

She loves Muse. Which is a big freakin bonus. Im a Muse geek, to met someone else who loves Muse is just like a random occurrences. Our serials are the same as well. Big fans of How I Met Your Mother. She loves men in suits, i love wearing suits since i was a little baby.

Well not  a little baby, but it was a pretty long time ago.

That was just the interest. On personality, basically im the male form of  her and she is the female form of me. That's the easiest way to explain about us. We are both annoying, easily annoyed, have the tendency to be short tempered and stubborn as hell.

We both knows that both of us arent perfect. I came off a 4 years relationship, she came off a 5 years relationship. We both know the bitterness of failed relationship, and the importance of the right person to marry.

Then there we were. Standing tall.

Accepting our past.

Moving on.

Looking into the future.

Accepting whatever each other weaknesses and minus side is.

Thats what you happen when two people are about to get married right? they accept each other as who they are. Accepting each other minus side and filling it to become one true strength. Accepting each other past.

One bond.

To trust each other even before the bond is made. Marriage is not a way to measure or see the trust of the other partner. Both partner need to trust each other before marriage. Thats what people called "pacaran" are doing, right? you have to be really fucking stupid if you get married and then still looking and testing trust of your partner. Just fuckin stupid.

Excuse my language.

And here i am blabbering again. Well, let me just close this post with 3 quotes.

"I have finally seen the light, and i've finally realised. I need your love" - Muse, Madness.

Or,

"Its our last chance, to forgive ourself. And start over again" - Muse, Exogenesis part 3

and lastly, as Justin Timberlake said when he married Jessica Biel,

"It's always nice to marry your best friend"

Definitely not some random person :)

The Mother

You know what is awesome?

When your life takes a similar route like in How I Met Your Mother.

The up and tumble. The hopelessly in love. The one where dreams come true after a very unlikely and dire situation.

The Ted route.

But hey Ted, we found the Mother :)

All it takes is just a bit more time until the grand finale. Yes i do mean that grand finale (whaddup!)

Its gonna be legen.....wait for it.....

The reflection

 *click the and play vid first before reading, much better :)*

Aren't you somethin' to admire, cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror

And I can't help but notice, you reflect in this heart of mine

If you ever feel alone and the glare makes me hard to find

Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side

Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul

I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go

Just put your hand on the glass, I'll be tryin' to pull you through

You just gotta be strong

Cause I don't wanna lose you now

I'm lookin' right at the other half of me

The vacancy that sat in my heart

Is a space that now you hold

Show me how to fight for now

And I'll tell you baby, it was easy

Comin' back into you once I figured it out

You were right here all along

It's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me

I couldn't get any bigger

With anyone else beside of me

And now it's clear as this promise

That we're making two reflections into one

Cause it's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

Aren't you somethin', an original, cause it doesn't seem merely assembled

And I can't help but stare cause I see truth somewhere in your eyes

I can't ever change without you, you reflect me, I love that about you

And if I could, I would look at us all the time

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow's a mystery

I can see you lookin' back at me

Keep your eyes on me

Baby, keep your eyes on me

You are you are the love of my life

Baby you're the inspiration for this precious song

And I just wanna see your face light up since you put me on

So now I say goodbye to the old me, it's already gone

And I can't wait wait wait wait wait to get you home

Just to let you know, you are

You are you are the love of my life

Girl you're my reflection, all I see is you

My reflection, in everything I do

You're my reflection and all I see is you

My reflection, in everything I do

You are you are the love of my life

The Last Page (part 1)

Okay, so i'll try to make this post as short as i can, purely because i cant stand typing on touch screen.

Do you know that time when something miraculous happens to you and you just couldn't even believe it?

Like something, that really really impossible to happen?

I guess dear God and the universe does works in their mysterious way. A way, that looks strange and odd to everyone, but is actually the best way that could ever happen to you.

And when i said the best thing that could ever happen to you, i really do mean the best

Out of the all best

I do have the blogpost that details our story, but i'll release that when the special day comes. As part 2.

I never been able to exaggerate anything, but if i really wanted to write the whole story, it would actually be an epic novel

Yes, some of you might have read my draft, i know. Shuushh :P

But the point is, you know it would takes a miracle for you to finally found the one. And God, this is a miracle indeed

Kid, this is finally, how i met your mother :)