Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Business or Engineering

Was discussing with my parents last night, and I finally relent. Although I want to become an engineer with an engineering degree, my parents opposed the idea. They (or rather my mom) think that engineering careers should be left for the males. Yes yes, I can sense alot of you resenting it. Tell that to my mom. She always wanted me to study business. Think I've disappointed her many times. When choosing poly in 1999, I chose TP. The course? IT/ICP (Info Tech / Internet Computing). I was very interested in the internet computing. Mom wanted me to do Business (Logistic/Business) or FA (Finance and Accounting). I got into IT. After 2 years, I was kicked out cause, well, maybe I'm just not cut out for the programming language of the IT world. (And my prog still sucks till now)

I took Diploma in IT in 2001 from Informatics. Sucky school lah. I literally just paid them to give me the diploma. Haha. Didn't learn much. LoL. The lecturers actually gave the class the answers before the test and the questions asked was the exact same piece as the "notes" our lecturers gave us. LoL. But I grad and mom didn't want me to go for the grad ceremony, saying that it's waste of money (have to rent the robe) and mine is only diploma, no need waste time. (Hurting hor?)

Come 2002. I applied for IT/ICP at TP again, as well as IT from NP. Mom almost wanted to disown me. LoL. Anyway, both poly decided that I wasn't good enough for their IT, so both threw me to engineering. TP being ETCM (Electronics/Telecommunications/Computer/Microelectronics) and NP being EE (Electrical/Electronic Engineering). I chose back TP as it was only 15min away from my house. Can sleep later. =P I was aiming for Computer engineering, cause it still have something to do with IT. After discussing with the engineers of our family (my uncle, his wife and my cousin), I opted for Microelectronics, which TP was the only poly in Singapore to offer this course. We are very specialised. We deal with wafers, semiconductors, chips and such. I learnt to design IC chips, to literally tear them apart to find out what's wrong, and to program them. Heck, my FYP was to create a resistor from scratch! (Not really from scratch lah, the previous previous previous batch was doing the same project. We just continue the project and I amended the pattern on the chips to maximise the current..or was it voltage? Can't remember)

Learning about engineering, I found it fun. I always scored A to distinction (full marks even!) for my labs. But my theory always pulled me down. When I grad, I wanted to work in semiconductor industry. Not that there's many choices. There's only lilke 40+ semiconductor company then. But I was rejected cause my knowledge on electronics was too little. Hello! I know about wafer production leh...not how to draw transistor or measure capacitor wor. Ask me to design transistor or capacitor still can. LoL.

After working for almost 2 years, I'm ready to hit the books again. Just last month, I went to Hui & Kuah to apply for an overseas uni. Mom and dad finally relented and allowed me to pursue my interest in engineering. I applied for Uni of Adelaide and Uni of SA. I was hoping I could get in. But with my age..I am actually looking for something that I can finish in 2 years. No use study 4 years and nobody wana employ me just because I've hit the big 3-0. Anyway if Aust study 4 years, I would have accepted UniSIM for Bsc in Electronics. Right?

Back to the story. I was thinking to myself. Apparently SOMEONE up there doesn't want me to study engineering. Since I was a little interested in HR, I've decided to find out more. Ah Beng (Yaowei) is studying HR from PSB. I checked it out and found out that his course is 3 years. Too long. So I searched somemore and saw the RMIT from SIM, offers Bsc in Management, but since I am not a diploma grad from business, it will take 3 years (full time) or 2.5 years (4part time). I showed my mom and told her PSB might be better, cause full time is only 2 years. And PSB, being part of our government body, should be offering courses that our government actually recognise. The whole course (Bsc in Marketing and Management) will take 2 years, and is a full time course. My dad is going to support me again. So paiseh dad. Told my mom to tahan for another 2 years, but she seemed unwilling. She told me to get the money from dad and not her. *Sad*

Told this news to Eugene over msn just now and he said that business might be a better choice for me. His reason being that my mind and twist fast, just like him. LoL. Thanks Gene. Anyway...engineering will still be my choice...if given the chance. Too bad. Think this shall be the last time ba. I have roughly made up my mind. IR, wait for me ok? After I finish my degree...must hire me as HR wor! Haha.

1 comment:

Xosé Manuel Carreira said...

I am civil engineer and I am quite satisfied. Of course, being an engineer involves a lot of work, but I knew this before getting enroled and I am passionate about structures, water, computing, local development and such. The funny thing is that I am studying also a part time degree in IT engineering. Good Luck