The awkward moment of posing in front of the camera.

Staffordshire University- Memoirs from Stafford (Part 3)

 

Me with my mom on graduation day.

Yoon Hwee, my Indonesian friend.

Me eating with my aunt.

Return to Singapore
On the 7th August 1999, I attended my graduation ceremony at Mandarin Hotel, Singapore. Back in England, the University organised a congregation there on the 15th July, but I didn't wait around for it. I figured if I returned faster than everybody else I can start looking for a job earlier, and maybe I have a better chance in finding one before the rest gets back and saturate the job market.

At first I thought it was a good idea, but I it really makes little difference. Whether you land a job or not depends on how you portray yourself during interviews, and how good you are at writing resumes.

Anyway, in Singapore all university graduates, whether from local or overseas universities, will have problems in looking for a job if they didn't have any previous employment histories. Employers here are very choosy. Even for me, I have worked for three years before flying off to England (with someone else's money, he he), and yet I still have problems landing a job. The fact that Singapore is just recovering from a recession does not make it any easier.

Well, at least Singapore IS recovering, thank God.

My Congregation
The one thing I like about the congregation is that I get to see some of my friends. God knows if I will see them again after that day. Time has a way of shifting people apart, and I guess I won't see most of them anymore. So the congregation is something like a farewell party to me.

Notice from the pictures the funny hats and robes we're wearing. I had to go collect the robes from TMC Computer School. My 'hat' is too tight for me, so at the congregation I exchanged it with Gerline, whose 'hat' is too big. That was my first time wearing the outfit. And probably the last, since I had not made any plans to further my studies.

The congregation in England was on the 15th July. Up to that date since our last paper, the other guys were busy touring Europe. Unlike me, they did not make haste to return home. So I get to hear some stories about their journeys on that day. I wished that I had gone with them, but then again I didn't have enough funds left, so I wouldn't be able to go anywhere even if I had stayed in England any longer.

The congregation was a long one. A lot of people made a lot of speeches. Gurjit gets to make a speech because he's the one with the best grades. Can't remember what he said, though. Didn't pay much attention.

Anyway, we didn't actually get our papers that day. For some reasons the Computing School was unable to produce the certs in time for the congregation. Unlike students of the University's Business School and those taking the Higher Diploma courses. They were presented with their certs on that same day. Still, we get to take neat photos, so it's not a total loss. We got our degrees a few months later so, no harm done.

Anyway, the congregation is not for us only. It is also held for the Higher Diploma graduates and the NCC Diploma graduates. It is also combined with the School of Business graduates. I guess that TMC combined the graduation ceremonies of all of us. That way, they don't have to do it more than once, which is logically troublesome and costly. Because of that the number of people scheduled to go up on stage was a hundred over. It was a long and tedious process, but the good thing is that the degree graduates gets to go up first. So while the rest was lining up, we get to sit down faster than the rest.

When the last person was finally called to go up on stage, we gave the most thunderous cheers and claps for her, in appreciation for her academic acomplishments as well as the good deed that she was doing. Hopefully she appreciate it.

After the presentation ceremony, all the guests are invited to go to the next hall for refreshments. We were asked to stay behind for a short photo session. It took some time for the photographers to organise the whole lot of us just to take our pictures. I guess some of the guys are anxious to get to the other hall, for they behave somewhat agitated. They were somewhat 'cynical' (I hope that's the right word to use) towards the photographers.

Some of the professors and lectures present.

Another eating scenario, the guy on the left is Gujit.

Eating Session
The photo-taking session was finally over, much to the relief of the photographers. We sped to the other hall for our refreshments. Our anxiety subsided as we observed that there are still lots of food left on the tables. Yes, they actually save some for us. We later realised that our 'refreshments' are not as much refreshments as it is a buffet dinner. Thus, our anxiety turned into joy as we DIG IN.

Anyway, most events like this congregation are superseeded with some refreshments. I suspect if they don't provide the food nobody would come. The food for this ceremony was prepared by the staff of Mandarin Hotel, and they are of exquisite taste. I help myself to several servings until I'm stuffed. I guess I really celebrate that day.

That's Alex on my left.

Me with Edi, Gerline and Selvan.

Another Photo-Taking Session
TMC had prepared an official photographer for us for to take our photographs and develop it into a portrait. If I'm not mistaken it was 'Raffles Studio'. Anyway, they took photos of me, of which one example can be found at the bottom of this page. And yes, I read all those books in the background from cover to cover, ha! ha! ha!

The gentleman in red is the big boss of TMC. Can't remember his name,though.

Cherrol, Sebastian, David (that smiling guy in the background), and Gerline..

Going Home...
After that eventful photo-taking session, it was time to go home. We had to return our robes to the counter set up at the exit of the ballroom. The robes will be shipped back to England to return to the company that rent it to us. I said all my goodbyes and left. I wanted to say more but I guess I was never good at goodbyes.

Anyway, lately I heard some news about some of my friends. Joshua got a job in the helpdesk department in Synergy. Jamali is in AMP, if I'm not mistaken. Selvan found employment in one of the islands off the shores of Singapore. Kelvin set up his own company, ZDnet. Ron is with ACER as a sales engineer. Oh yes, and Simon had got himself a new kid. His wife gave birth, either early this year, or late last year.

Me? I'm with Mendaki, an organisation set up as a self-help group dedicated to improving the quality of life for the malays in Singapore. Actually, I'm a contract programmer. I joined them on 22nd October 1999. Although I'm under contract, it seems that they still need me to be around, so I won't switch jobs anytime soon.

Azlan b. Abu Hassan,
BSc (Hon) Computing Science,
Second Class, 1st Division
Staffordshire University, England.

(I did it. I made it to the top. Despite everything.)