Disgusted and burnt out.

I don't really want to blog about this. It's been 7 freaking months. I've been trying hard not to but I can't stand it anymore. The thing is, my current company sucks big time. Not as worse as the Singaporean company that I've joined before but enough to make me feel sick about it.

There's no real structure. The whole thing is a total disarray. Requirements come in really late. Estimations were done at managers' whim. developers were forced to work super overtime just to meet the impossible deadline and the worse thing is, I'm already burnt out.

Asshole managers. I seriously disgusted by an email written by one of the managers. Come on, It was not their business opening time yet, the deadline is just a few hours late and he already shot an email claiming that we already losing client's trust and we are perceived as being bad. Total bullshit. Disgusting. You're the one who over promised the client. You never consult us about the task estimation and you just stamp your own date and what the F, we're the one to be blamed? F you!

Useless team leads adds salt to the pain. You know that it is impossible to meet the crazy deadline and yet you just say yes to everything but the burden was placed all on the developers. You yourself hardly code and you call yourself an architect? F you! When things go wrong and the damnation is imminent, you start to frantically blame your developers and force them to work atrocious hours. Again, F you!

I'm already on holiday, yet you tried to called (good thing I've blocked your number earlier) me demanding I submit the codes and when you can't reach me, you spammed with sms' threatening that this will not look good on my performance review? For F's sake I've told you I'm going on holiday on these dates ages ago. Why the F did you assign me the task? F you!

Highly Political. Highly Preposterous. Highly Painful.

I bet Bill and Dave are crying in their graves right now. So much of preserving those so called values.

My take on HPME and SLIM

so today, I finished one of six course of HP's so called software development methodology which is SLIM. The whole training course reeks of waterfall methodology. Always talking about processes and tools and how those tools helped them to save time and budget. In my opinion and observation, those metrics that they used are so shallow and there are a lot of possibilities on how they could arrive to the conclusion.

Which makes me wonder did they never read those books written by those famous and successful software developers? for example, The Mythical Man Month which explains extensively on why we should not add more people to an already late project.

They mentioned I the training course that when they implemented SLIM, the numbers of defects went significantly down. But as I observed from the slides, that was in the last phase which could easily mean that logically most of the other requirements have already been met successfully so why would they need to change the source code further? And regarding the so called work life balance can be easily achieved if the whole organization implements agile and lean methodology at the first place. Agile and lean protects the developers from unnecessary problems and allows them to focus more on developing the product.

On a side story, a senior colleague warned me that I'm under serious scrutiny as the manager often saw that I'm on facebook 'all' the time. Did they never heard of focus and time management techniques such as the pomodoro technique? I guess that comes naturally when you stay too long in a traditional waterfall management.

Conclusion: waterfall is evil and should be ceased from practice. Adopt the Agile Methodology today!

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Well, whatever.

This new company that I serve is seriously messed up. Too many things that I'm not satisfied with to list here. I mean come on! It's been nearly a month since I worked here but I still don't have access to too many stuff that I should already have access to. The active id for example. Why the heck do I need to request access for it twice? And about the claim for my employment buy out process, why the heck does it says that I haven't keyed in my bank account details yet when I already keyed it in 2 days ago? Why do those people in india have to key in my bank account to another system? This is so inefficient and stupid.

You tell your employees that you value them but these things that you're doing really contradicts to what you just said. I really don't get why a lots of people wants to work here.

This place is so overrated.

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The grass aren't always greener on the other side..

It has been a week since I've joined this new organization. There's a lot of things that I am not satisfied with how they do things. They definitely could have done it better judging from the fact that they have the time to surf the net for non job related purposes. I only received my ID after a week of doing nothing. They gave me the laptop since the first day, but in order to activate the laptop, I need to have my ID and I've been carrying the machine around for a week without being able to use it. Talk about inefficiency.

I got cheated by the HR too. They mentioned that the Annual Leave is 15 days. But they never mention that there is about a week of forced leave during the end of the year for business closing because of Christmas. I don't celebrate Christmas and I do not need 1 week of holiday for it. Talk about being honest.

They promised me that the job will be as interesting and as challenging and the work environment would be as exciting as what I had in my previous company. But just after a week of being here, I don't feel excited at all, I found out that the job doesn't really need my deep technical skills and I heard from one of the colleagues that there will be no real programming task as the framework that they are using are already catering for that via the use of templates and what we are going to do are just plumbing. I really wonder why do they really need people with my knowledge around. Now this is just boring.

They told me that the organization have their own version of development lifecycle which is a mixture of Waterfall and Agile methodologies. I seriously went 'WTF?'. Those two cant even mix together as both are of different ideologies and different focus. Fine, they are derived and incorporated from Agile but seriously, you can't just say that you are using Agile. Adopting from Agile doesn't make it an Agile! and just by a glance I can tell that they are going against all four points of The Agile Manifesto. So, tell me, how can you say that you can call it Agile when you are going against the manifesto itself? Now, this is getting annoying.

Well, now, all I could say is I wished I never did all of this. I miss all the things that I enjoyed previously. I miss working with people that are smarter than me.

Well, lesson learned: no matter how big and prestigious is the organization, all of it are just talk unless they can really prove it. I guess the much more fatter pay doesn't really guarantee happiness at work. Well, I'm going to give it a chance and challenge myself whether I can change the mindset of at least my designated team. It's hard to work with people that doesn't share the same passion on software development.

What is wrong with university students nowadays?

Seriously, aren't you at least feel even the slightest shame when you post to forums asking freelancers to do your assignments or even worst your Final year project?

If you can't even be honest and professional about your current job (being a student that is) then just quit your studies. Don't waste your parents money or burden yourself with study loans.

I don't know about what others think but personally, do not ever ask me to do your projects/assignments no matter how much you offer. You know what? assholes like you guys are the cause for the deterioration of a university's image and make other honest people lives harder after graduation.

Seriously, I hope you guys just end up as pathetic as this one spammer that never fails to spam my comments with his stupid pathetic chinese porn site.

Silver linings..

This is my 1st post in 2010.

Nothing much happening except for the increasing level of stress and frustration. Job related especially. A hell lot of things happening currently that made me feel this way. I really hate changes or introduction of new stuffs that is required to be in the delivery of the product at the last minute. They should know that it is a very bad practice to do so as it causes unrest among those whose work depends on each other.

Another issue is if you are the one that worked on that particular task that introduced a new problem. You should be the one responsible to fix it. You are not supposed to pass your own mess to another and then keep on asking the person to settle it as soon as possible. Especially if the thing that you call working piece of code can be classified as not just spaghetti, but with shitballs too. Yeah you claim that it has all that nice pluggable features yada yada blah blah blah so on and so forth but does it ever crossed your mind that the thing should be simple and just get the job done? Have you ever heard of the principle of YAGNI?(You Ain't Gonna Need It). It's pointless to OVER ENGINEER something that could be done with just something simple. Be pragmatic about it please.

Anyway, rantings aside, I've decided I should leave soon. Sent my details to a friend and hope that his company will get back to me ASAP. They're working on web and enterprise applications development for a well known organization which sounds very interesting (Of course as my interest area is in the web and enterprise applications). Just hope that they wont suddenly start developing desktop applications as this is the thing that drives me crazy everyday. The most appealing part is that the work hours is super flexible. I just need to be at the office or site if there is a meeting or getting new task or delivering completed task. That way, I can work from anywhere I want. All these while I imagined myself working at my own pace and at any place that I wanted to. Starbucks?Coffeebean? McD? or just anywhere with an internet connection and a conducive environment. Mobile office for the win! As long as I can deliver, they promised they wont bother. Who needs Annual Leaves that way? Sounds really cool. But he mentioned that the other benefits that the company offer are sucky especially on the health and hospitalization coverage.

News flash! got a message in Facebook from my ex-supervisor during my industrial training at Celcom. He got one position for a System Analyst. We chatted a bit a few hours ago and he explained the responsibilities of the position. The person who holds the post shall be involved in the design of the system but NOT involved in the actual development? From the way it sounds, it's more like being a Product Owner to me. That would be cool. And he said that my expected remuneration is quite okay. The downside is, from past experience, commuting to work is horrible and work time is not that flexible. And I hope that if I ever offered the position and decided to take it, will it ever have something to do with coding? If not, that I might miss the joy of code writing.

Kinda confused on these two places. Don't really know what I want now. But anyhow, I'm grateful and happy. It's true then that reward came to those who persevere and patient.

In the depths of despair

Sometimes when I'm alone, I stare back into my chaotic past. In silence, I reminisce the options that I had, wondering if I had chosen the other, would I be better than the way I am right now.

Some friends told me that I am lucky, and how they are envious of my accomplishments that I am able to change from what I was.

In truth, they don't really know of what I've been through; the anger, the grief, the feeling of incapable of anything, the utter disappointment.

Not that I'm ungrateful for what I have now, It's just that knowing that something that you wanted most, is like trying to grasp the heavens, a futile attempt.

And this void inside me, is growing into an abyss.

Maybe it was meant to be that way..

Resentment

I hate it when people assigns me something that I'm not familiar with and expects that I can deliver it really fast like I'm super genius brainiac but later gives me the "please hit me both in the face and on the groin" look when I told them that I can't deliver it on their pre-set schedule.

What the F??!! I've never done anything like it before so please understand and don't assign me tasks that I'm not proficient in if you really want it to be done on your pre-set timeline. I'm still learning the whole new shit anyway so for the love of God, gimme some room to breath or please just pass it to someone who really know that shit.


God I hate it when people start to push me around.

Why?

I really wonder. Is it too hard to be a software developer? Is this kind of job only suited for geniuses? No, I'm not boasting here. I'm actually sad.

My current company is having walk-in interviews each month since its establishment here in Malaysia. We have openings for more than 40 Java Developers, 10 Senior Java Developers and 15 QA Engineers. So far, it is only dominated by the Chinese people. I'm not being a racist here. The company is not even owned by Chinese. It's a British company and the main interviewer is an Australian guy.

Just that I wonder what happened to all those from my race especially my friends that boasted a lot when they got in the Software Engineer or Information Systems Engineering faculties?

Last time I remember, you guys boasted a lot and even criticized students from other faculties for not being able to be in the popular stream. Today, in the industry, where the hell are you guys hiding? Tech Support?? Call centers? WTH???!! You guys are putting all your knowledge to waste. Might as well exchange faculties with me back there.

And there I was, extending my studies for 2 years just because I didn't get my dream faculty. You guys laughed, kept on making fun of me by asking when will I graduate and boasting that by the time I graduate, you guys will have digits in your paychecks and will be in the managerial level.

Who's having the last laugh now?Seems like I'm in a far more better position currently doing things that I enjoy and love. Damn I hate those people.

Resigning..again!

As per title, I resigned again. Why shouldn't I? I got a far more better offer than what I'm having here in the current company. But wait, before you start to think that I'm only attracted to the salary package, no, that's not the reason why.

Frankly, here's why:

1. I'm sick of being overloaded with work.
2. I'm sick of being coerced in to do overtimes.
3. I'm sick of being overloaded with more work in spite of the overtime.
4. I'm sick of being assigned assignments with ridiculous deadlines.
5. I'm sick of being forced to work when I'm already at my limits for the day.
6. I' sick of being unable to enjoy myself while I'm doing my job.
7. I'm sick of the feeling of starting to hate my job because of all the above.

for 1 to 4, the reasons are pretty much straight forward.

The reason for #5 is, for me, developing a software is a work of art. Actually, there are many ways to design a code for something and seriously for me, the design should be elegant, not just at the architecture, but by the structures of the code itself. That way, it'll be easier and less work to refactor (if there is any reasons at all to refactor it). To be creative, you can't push yourself too much, creativity can't be forced.

#6, I love designing and developing software. But pushing it when I'm at my limits is seriously causing it to be not fun anymore.

#7, For me, this is not just a job. It is my chosen career path and this is the best thing that I can do (other than playing computer games, how I wish Malaysia have lots of game developing companies so that I can sign up as a playtester LOL).

I'll be joining a new company really soon. I was again, offered immediately on the spot. The interview took place in a hotel next to KLCC. No, I'm not applying to be a hotel employee. It was a walk-in interview so there was a lot of people trying their luck (including me) and I'm one of those lucky people who got offered.

It was an interesting experience, really. I thought I was late as the schedule should be at 10am but thanks to KL's traffic, leaving as early as 9 didn't help much either. Arrived there, climbed the escalator to the 2nd level and getting confused finding the venue of the room as at that time nearly all the suites there are having some kind of function. Managed to find the room after a quick sweep on the level and I was greeted by a lady who asked me if I am to attend the interview and I just said yes. She asked me to fill in my contact in some kind of guest book and after that, she handed me a set of questions, much of it are fairly easy (for me) and I was given 20minutes to answer those questions which I did in about 15 minutes.

Later, she asked me to fill in my current occupation details and after waiting quite a while, an Englishman came looking for me (heard he mentioned my name,the lady there pointed to me and he seems quite surprised and said with a deep British accent "that fine gentleman over there?" ). He introduced himself as the Operations Director for the company and told me that the guy who will interview me later reports to him and that if I really can impress that guy, I'll definitely get the job. He also told me that the reason that he came looking for me was because of the results of the test I took before was way above the average marks and I finished it in a short time. LOL. He was really impressed and the only obstacle left is for me to impress the interviewer, who actually is the Director of the Software R&D department. Kind of a bit weird as I've already impressed the interviewer's boss LOL.

I later then learned that the company is considered a huge company with worldwide operations. Those who're in the banking business (especially credit division) would've heard of this company. And, I've also learned that the office that I'll be working in is really extraordinary and I really mean that (that guy showed me the actual pictures of the office interior).

About the interview, yeah this one is quite tough. The guy who interviewed me really dived in depth on the technical side of the job. I can say I was lucky to impress that guy (lucky that I've also read a lot on software architectures too). For the salary, I didn't asked much. Only an increment of RM200 to compensate my fuel consumption to commute to the office. But the guy who was looking for me earlier, he didn't agree. At first I thought that this is bad news. But instead, it was great news. He gave me a whopping increment and on top of that, I'll be getting travel allowances. The total is far more than what I've imagine I could ever get. I was speechless. I went back home, a super excited extremely happy guy.

And oh,working hours is 9.00am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Health and dental coverage for me and my family (yeah, you read that right. family included!). 15 days annual leave, 18 days sick leave and 5 days study leave. Monthly recreational activities and lots more. What else could I ask for?

So that's all about my latest adventures, greatest thanks to almighty God, for all His blessings onto me.

Stupid govt!

By the time I wrote this, the price of crude oil per barrel is USD 82.65!
it's already been a week for the price to be below USD90 per barrel.
WTH is those idiot ministers in the govt thinking?Please drop the local fuel price!!

Damned idiots!

a peek into my personality.

I've been doing some personality test available on the net lately. Took a lot of test on this and that but the ones that really fits me are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Carl Gustav's Jung tests.

all the tests results in me being an INTP.INTP stands for:

Introverted
iNtuitive
Thinking
Perceiving

According to Carl Gustav Jung, my personality can be classified as:

Dominant : introverted thinking
Auxiliary : extroverted intuition
Tertiary : introverted sensing
Inferior : extroverted feeling

based on the result description of my profile, no wonder I am the best person to do technical and R&D stuffs for my career. It suits me very well and i do very well in it.

I do recall some people told me that I am miserable. I LOLed hard on that. What's wrong with preferring to be alone and close only with people that I choose to be close to? I am much more happy that way and to me, you are the one who is miserable for not being able to get my attention. I don't need to get the whole world if I can get satisfaction just from tiny fraction of it and to me, that is what I call being independent and free. You guys are just too stupid and ignorant to realize how precious that is to me. That is the ultimate answer why I don't really need people like you and to me, you people are the ones who are miserable and pathetic anal-retentive attention whores.

So read up before calling miserable on someone you don't really know.

http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html
http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/intp.htm
http://similarminds.com/jung/intp.html
http://www.intp.org/intprofile.html

Career advancement

It's been a year working at Patimas. After a lot of thoughts and consideration, I've decided it is time to leave.

My colleagues asked me why. Well, there's a lot of reasons why. But my primary concern is not about the money.The pay is considered low if compared to what other people with my title but I guess it's quite okay for my lifestyle. The thing is, I don't really get what I wanted here. I seek experience and knowledge and Patimas did not really satisfy me. Yeah I know that I've been doing high tech stuffs and all but the thing is the knowledge I gained is just a small percentage of the effort I gave not to mention that most of the time I was clueless and lost and don't really have anyone to ask for opinion and ideas thanks to the staff shortage (cost cutting policies?).

My close colleagues, although they're friendly and fun, are not really initiated on improving themselves. They're actually quite good, but the thing is they lack the initiative on improving their knowledge and most of the time give reasons on this and that when asked to learn new stuffs. This is the thing that frustrates me the most. But still, they're good and friendly people.

All of these are stagnating me. I need a fresh environment where I can meet other tech enthusiasts and share knowledge on those cool bleeding edge stuffs. The only thing that really kept me going on is my own drive and the occasional motivational words from my boss. (sorry to disappoint you boss, but I really can't stand this anymore)

Thankfully, God lighted my way and I've already signed up with an IT company from Singapore and guess what? I was offered the position of Senior Technical Consultant. I guess my attempts to avoid self-obsolete really pays off. Talking about pay, The offer I got was quite luxurious too. Hopefully, the experience will be luxurious as the pay itself and the best thing is, the company's Director (she's the one who interviewed me) was so enthusiastic in taking me in that she offered me on the spot during the interview and the more surprising thing is that she did not even try to bargain with me about my expected salary.

Well, I have no more work pending for Patimas so I have all the time I need to study the latest software frameworks and technologies to get myself a firm ground on the things required for my new job. (Spring and Hibernate, how I long to get myself in a project based on these 2 technologies. and not to forget the fresh new framework Struts 2.0. Uber coolness!)

Oh I just can't wait for 3rd October.

=)

huru-hara

Hari ni adalah hari yg paling huru hara aku pernah rasa. dengan puasa lagi. Kerja modify hard coded text dalam report jadi labels tu adalah satu kerja yg menekan jiwa. why didn't they ask those data entry staffs to do it rather than asking me to carry out that silly job? Why didn't they thought of supporting i18n at the first place when they were developing the application? We claim to be servicing international companies and yet this is like it is the first time an i18n project is carried out?duhh..

Thank God they have the berbuka puasa event today. The tentative is quite ridiculous (karaoke after berbuka puasa? what the heck??) but I'm in for the food anyway and again thank God that the food was really good.

I received my business name cards today. but again, as the title, huru hara..why? okay,they got my name and my title right. But since when did I have a new mobile number?Is the company going to give me a new phone line?and heck, since when did I have a direct line?I rather not have a phone line at my desk. From my past experience, it will only serve as distraction during work..urgh..this is so messed up..

Importance of software documentation

I believe that in regard to this matter, are mostly ignored by software developers in Malaysia.
At the moment, I am to assist the rest of the Java developers team that are working on the eQuity Online internationalization (i18n) project. The thing that really bothers me and nearly made me scream out of anguish is the serious lack of code documentation and also of the quite poor design.

Although the system works fine and marvelously as one of our directors commented during a meeting I attended 2 weeks ago, I found that the code underneath was poorly written and poorly documented. And now we're going to modify it to support i18n and I am pulling my hairs and trying to figure out what each functions do and what's not.

For the love of God, at least put some sensible comment on the codes on what it do and at least provide the Javadoc. It can be auto-generated for God's sake! As if the mixture of scriptlets, html and javascript is not enough to add up the 'coolness' of the codes.

It's more than just spaghetti codes. It is a ball of mud!

So you guy out there whose works have anything to do with software development, do put some thought on this matter!