Tuesday, October 31, 2006

I got my first piece of actual work today. And also started on some online training courses, which doesn't look too useful at first since I've already read the material over the past week.

I'm supposed to write a report for one of BG's clients (I'll start referring to the company as BG). Sounds pretty simple, considering that the request is a 2 liner email with 4 criterias that don't total more than 29 words I think. Unfortunately that not the case. The short email just means theres less information to work with... and its going to take time to elicit the requirements from the client.

Worse still is that I have to understand the structure of their universe (the Business Object term for the structure of the data), which seems to be horribly designed and unnecessarily complicated. And in order to do the report... its a must to do be able to make sense of the universe. And I gotta give an estimate on the time I'll need to finish this and BG will quote that to the client o_O I really dislike having to estimate the time it takes to do something, especially since I barely know shit about the product in the first place.

Ah well...at least its something worthwhile doing. Maybe I'll just quote something like 10 working days and see if I can get away with that :)

Saturday, October 28, 2006

theres actually a recent news article that talks about the space I work in now (i.e. Business Intelligence).

probably gives a better picture of what I will be doing future than my previous post. k, back to WoW.

*edit*

oh yeah. was supposed to post up some pics of my office. so here:

the front desk. Meeting rooms are to the left, and the offices are...

... to the right...

... and just behind the partition is my current desk


Not much else actually. The view we get is pretty standard I suppose. We'r next to the QVB, but can't really see much else cuz we'r only on the 10th floor.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

what I do

some people have been asking, so I guess I should clarify what exactly my new job is. My title is a Junior Consultant, as the picture I took of my contract says. I work for a small & young (~ 1 1/2 years) company that specialises in Business Objects. Its a relatively new company, but doing very well as evident from the recent employment of 3 new staff (me included).

Business Objects is both a company and a product. Business Objects, the company, creates and markets business intelligence software (i.e. Business Objects, the product). That gist of business intelligence software is that it gathers, processes and analyzes data to enable businesses make better decisions.

My role would be to eventually be to implement and/or support Business Objects solutions. Right now, I'm basically just in the office reading up the documentation, reference books, course notes and getting familiar with the application. I'm pretty much left to my own, since most of the consultants are with the clients. I think I would have some real work to do next week though. I sat in on a client briefing yesterday, and I might do doing some of their reports.

I think thats pretty much it. Next post...pictures of my office!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

shopping

I actually did some shopping over the weekend in preparation for my new job. I got myself 2 new suits, 2 shirts, 2 ties and a pair of cufflinks. About $850 in total. Ouch. I'm not a 100% happy with the purchases too. The suits are alright for a start, they have a nice tailored fit without any adjustments needed. And if I get fatter, the pants can be adjusted to have some extra slack :) I'm not sure about the sleeves though. It seems like a good length when my arms are on my sides, but feels kinda short if I extend my arms. Not sure how it should be though.

The shirts that I bought had french cuffs too! Very snazzy looking.


The one of the left is a french cuff, and I think the other one is an angle cut barrel cuff. Didn't know how to put them on at first because the cuffs were poking out of my coat when I tried on my suit as well. So I thought I might be wearing them incorrectly. Turns out I was right in the first place. Its just that the 1st shirt I tried it on with was a 'full cut', meaning wider body and cuffs, so its a little larger. I just had to put on the jacket carefully so that the cuffs stay inside the sleeves. No biggie, although that took me like over an hour to figure out o_O

Monday, October 23, 2006

first day

today was the first day on my new job. have to say its not very exciting. Not a lot I can do at this stage apart from reading and tinkering around with Business Objects, and read some more. Most of the work today was actually just setting up 2 computers with the company's default installation. Pretty simple affair apart from a few licensing issues. Almost everything automated... I really should learn how to set that up. Just click one icon and bam! All the applications that you would need to use is installed and configured.

I think my initial week or so would be pretty much what I've done today. Read, do some practice, read, ask questions and read some more. Quite a lot of stuff to cover, but at a first glance through the material, it doesn't appear that that I'll have a problem with it.

Its a pretty casual environment I suppose. I won't need to wear a suit and tie to work, which is a bit of a pity. Well, not at this stage anyway, since I'm still just doing training in the office. What I'm doing probably not as exciting as the other graduate, since I'm just stuck in the office while she is already working onsite with one of our clients. But it won't be long till I'm doing that too, so no worries!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

new job title



After more than 6 months without an official permanent job, I finally get the role that I have been after. Now I just have to get through the 3 months probation, and after that the company will be stuck with me. Bwahahahaha! My life as a consultant starts Monday 23rd October 2006. Woohoo!

Sunday, October 15, 2006

employed again!

Just a quick update. I got offered the other position I mentioned as well, well.. half of it anyway. Its a consultancy role as well, but the original plan is that I will be placed with Citibank for about a year. The other candidate got the Citibank role, but it seems like I made such a good impression that the consultancy is offering me a job anyway. I don't have a placement yet, so its likely I'll be in the office doing some training and whatnot.

If everything goes well, I'll be receiving the contract on Monday. I already knocked back the other job, so they'd better not backstab me. I feel quite relaxed now that I finally got the job I wanted. Can finally breathe easy...although the hard part might be actually keeping the position. They seem to have pretty high expectations from me. Not too sure if thats a good thing.

Apart from that, nothing much else to report. I've sort of finished up my work at my previous company as well. Completed the things that I could but theres still some work thats leftover. I had a few games of Texas Hold 'em at my manager's place on Friday. Lost $37 even though I did damn well in the early stages of the game. I got all the big chips in the beginning... but lost them all in the end. Aihs.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

buzzy feeling

getting a job offer after so freaking long is really giving me a buzzy feeling inside. feeling quite excited and hyper now. especially since I might have 2 jobs offers on the table! Well... technically 3 if I consider my previous company. And the jobs are straight into consultancy to boot! No mucking around in support or programming to work myself up. Bah to that!

Anyways, the offer I received is for my 2nd choice. I got the 2nd/final interview on Thursday morning, and hopefully I'll be able to make a decision on Friday.... oooo. I don't even feel nervous for the interview. Hahhah. Overconfidence shalt be my downfall. But before that...its back to researching the company, and thinking up of more stuff to talk about during the interview.

my persistence is finally paying off. stocks are good. job is looking good. WoW is good (or bad...depending on your perspective). Next I can finally start on working out! I actually tried starting last week... but then my stomach actually started cramping up halfway o_O Shows how bloody unfit I am now...
gonna sleep soon, but just wanted to make a quick update. My interviews last week went pretty well. I'm on to the 2nd round of interviews for one of the roles, although its the not my preferred choice. The interview will be tomorrow, and I have no idea what it is going to be like. I actually covered a lot of ground during my 1st interview, and don't really have the time to prepare decent questions now. Just have to wing it I guess. Should have schedule for an interview in the afternoon. But then again, I need to go to work in the afternoon.

I'm back at my old company for a bit as well. Need to implement the EFT functions for accounting system that I put in for them, among other things. Haven't even discussed my rates yet. Sheesh. Guess that comes from knowing the bosses too well. Well.. they'r gonna be my work referees, so gotta play nice :) I'm hoping I hear from my other job interview as well. It'll be good to have something to compare against... and also just in case tomorrow's doesn't work out. Its just me and one other candidate... so I've got a good chance depending on my interview performance.

Ermm, theres more stuff I can blog about, but I think I'll just do a quick google for interview questions. Doesn't hurt to be more prepared.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

'tis a good day

not too shabby. I did well on my interview and I'll be placed on the shortlist for the next stage. Now it just depends on whether the project manager thinks my resume is up to scratch. Its an interesting role, doesn't pay $60K p.a. but I'll get there eventually. Its a graduate/entry level role and I'll receive up to 12 months of real on-the-job training. Fingers crossed.

Next, I also have another interview for another entry level role lined up tomorrow. Consultancy as well, don't know much about it yet, but it looks pretty good as well.

Third, I have another role on the books and they just asked for my academic transcript. Thats a junior programming role, so I'm not as keen as the first two I just mentioned.

4th, I was actually offered a role back at my previous company. The other IT guy left, and they want me to take over his role. So I would be doing their IT stuff, as well as materials control/tendering. No more purchasing, which can only be a good thing. I've got 2 weeks to get back to the manager. I'm not that keen on going back especially since it will be my 3rd time, but at least its a backup plan if I want to continue staying in Australia and I don't get the roles I want.

5th, I got myself a WoW account!! Which ermm.. might not turn out to be such a good thing after all. I also pre-ordered the expansion pack, and just had my character transferred over from tho's account. Unfortunately it'll take a few days for that to complete.

And lastly, my shares scored bigtime today :) Its always nice when that happens, even if I don't have plans to realise the gains yet.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

I scored another interview for Thursday. As a Business Objects Consultant. Its an entry level role but 6 months worth of training provided. I have a decent shot at this... since its definitely not a senior role. It'll just depend on how well I do on the interview, and how the other candidates did.

Its a bitch preparing for the interview though. Don't know what to research. I've got a bunch of stuff that I probably need to study as well. Aihs. Technical interviews are more bitchy than behavioural interviews. Can't really bullshit.

I'm still waiting for the "Why are manhole covers round?" question from an interviewer.