Corporate Battlefield

Today, I want to talk about working. I’ve been at it for almost two years now, and on the 3rd of January, it’ll officially be my two-year anniversary in corporate life. With this short experience, I can confidently say I prefer studying over working.

No matter how tough studying gets, I can always push through. Whether it’s a presentation or a test, it’s straightforward and transparent (seriously, mark my words on this). But working? That’s a whole different game. It’s so much more complicated—you have to apply what you’ve learned, solve problems, deal with all kinds of people, and somehow make sure you’re not getting backstabbed.

It’s basically a survival game. You need good strategies to ensure you don’t get kicked out because, otherwise, it’s game over for you.

For me, it’s always the people that are the hardest to deal with. Solving problems? That’s easy. It’s the humans who make things complicated. Everyone has their own concerns, and when arguments happen, people naturally try to protect themselves. It’s just human instinct—you can’t always guarantee that people will tell the truth.

I used to think that being transparent was the right way to go, but someone once told me not to be too transparent because others might use that against you. That really stuck with me. In my mind, problem-solving has always been about finding the root cause and coming up with a solution. But when I came to Singapore, I learned something very different: covering up mistakes or pushing the blame onto someone else.

Honestly, that’s been so frustrating for me. It’s not the way I want to handle things. I’ve even seriously thought about quitting, but I know I need to wait—either until I get my PR or until I save enough money to leave this place. 

The only person I’ll probably miss is my supervisor, LS. He’s such a good person and mentor—he really does his job and focuses on solving problems instead of pushing them away. But that’s life, right? You meet good people, and then there are bad ones too.

I’ve learned to cherish the time I have with good people and take as much as I can from their guidance. As for the bad ones? Well, I learn from them too—mainly how not to be like them.

I’ve always believed that integrity is a must in engineering. Without it, you can’t go far with your product—or with anything, really.

my dinner...