Working Life

My first job after graduation is really in Johor Bahru, rather than in Singapore. My first month back was spent just lazing around, after which I felt so bored that I simply had to get a job. One trait about engineering interviews, which is evident in all the interviews I went, is the written tests. My first interview, I flunked badly - especially when most of the questions are related to material that I studied 1st year of college. There were no jobs in Kluang, because it's just one small town, so that means I had find jobs elsewhere in the country. Funny, but I did not even consider Singapore at that point of time.

Orca Design

At my 8th interview (come to think of it, I had offers from all the interviews I went, except for the first one), I had a pretty good impression of the company, called Orca Design. Well, another fact was that I know I aced the test. The company was a start-up company by a group of engineers who decided to form a company that serves as design consultants to the manufacturing community. Their philosophy was pretty simple, that they would take over the development stage of the product from initial concept, and see the project all the way until production. If required, they will provide a few months' support, after which the project is accomplished. I joined the company.

The first few weeks were spent learning CAD software on a SGI machine, that's the honeymoon period that most people go through when they are new to the job. After the initial stage, then the hours started to become longer as I began to take on projects on my own. Some of the project were even with multinational companies such as Motorola, designing pagers, and Whirlpool, on air-conditioners.

I would say, this is an excellent place to start off as an engineer as I learnt so much in so little a time.

The Vineyard

Another thing that prompted me to continue staying, is the church. Coming back from the States and armed with the experiences I have acquired from 'Crusade, I was eager to contribute to God's work here. Hence I started church-hopping, i.e. going from church to church to see which ones are suitable. Frankly, I had no big agenda but that the church is a Bible-believing one, and that it had a worship team. The first church that I visited was the Vineyard, which I continued to attend for the rest of my stay in JB.

The church was great, especially the congregation who were very much into the worship. Not too often when I visited the church that I find the entire church lifting their voices, and loud voices filling the auditorium. I thoroughly enjoyed the worship, and decided that the place could be very well be a starting-point for me. Later I attended the cell-group, turned out that the band-leader lives near my place. When we started talking, I indicated that I have some experience in playing the guitar. The next thing I knew, I was invited to come for the worship practice.

I can't seem to recall what happened that Friday, the time they usually held their practices but I guess I played something that they liked. A month later, I was asked to join the team which consists of Ah Pow on drums, Gabby on piano, Michael on bass, myself on the electric guitar and Soon Wah/David leading the worship. Sometimes, Vincent or Gabby would take over on the drums, and Gabby woudl sing as well. It was a great combination, I thought, and although it's frowned upon by some, we would give each other high-fives after the service on Sundays for a job well-done.

One more thing, I put on a lot of weight during my stint in the church. These guys, I would say, enjoy eating a lot. Joining the team also means that we join some other church activities as well, so my week are basically as follows:

  • Mon - free
  • Tue - prayer service
  • Wed - free
  • Thu - oikos (cell-group)
  • Fri - worship practice
  • Sat - free
  • Sun - service + youth fellowship

Just imagine that for every one of those activities, we would be ending it with supper. And since the food was good, it was so difficult to resist. Especially on Friday night when most of us do not work the next day, we would go for a movie, and then supper or vice versa. I must it's entirely my fault that exercise was not a prominent thing in my life, so I developed a tummy which until today, I am trying to be rid of...thanks to the fellowship group :-)

combined church service

Probably the time when I grew the most as a musician was during the time when the churches in JB decided to come together for a youth rally. It was the 2nd combined service, the 1st one was the year that I joined the church. Apparently, the team is already established. Soon Wah is one of the worship leaders, while Gabby one of the vocalists. After playing some time for the Vineyard, Soon Wah suggested that I try out for the guitarist spot, which I did. It was pretty nerve-racking the 1st day, especially when I was unfamiliar with most of the songs. Even the ones that I know, they are in a different key and a lot more "weird" chords like D/F#, Bsus4, or Ebadd2 - stuff that later I learnt was pretty standard stuff, some jazz chords are even weirder. The practice was on Monday nights for 3 months and all the musicians had to prepare a solo...probably the 1st time I was forced to do one - I was mainly a rhythmn guitarist at that time. As the practice went on, I myself find that I was improving as a guitarist and able to do a lot more to help build up the tempo. What can I say? It was a great learning experience, and I did enjoy myself even during the actual rally. To God be the glory.

Hewlett-Packard

There comes a time, I guess, that one has to seriously consider his future in terms of his financial standing and how he is able to supprt a family with the cash that comes in each month-end. I probably lived a good life - I was renting a room with a pastor, owned a car, pay my tithes, eating well...but ultimately, I would need to own a house. When I started looking, then reality started to kick in. The houses in JB cost a minimum of RM200,000 and that is for a house that is quite a distance away from work. That comes up to nearly RM1500 per month for the next 20 or more years. I'd also pay more for gasoline to drive to work plus maintenance for the car. If a family were to come into the picture, then more cash. And this is a conservative estimate. So, I guessed I do not have a choice but to look for one either with higher pay or less expenses. Then HP came into the picture.


my colleagues at PLAM-IISAO

The job requirements are similar to what I am currently doing, and the pay is quite similar but in Sing dollars, i.e. almost double. A car is not required due to the excellent infrastructure, and after some calculations, it seems to be the better choice. Even better, I found out that the company provided transportation to work - all we need to do is to wait for the bus at 7:30am. I took up the offer.

The company was great, and my colleagues, the most fun. One obvious difference between that and the former firm is the level of partnerships, of teamwork. And this is evident not only in the event of line support, but also in the stuff outside of work, i.e. hosting our counterparts from the US. Whenever there was a problem, it seems as if the entire team would come together for a meeting to discuss the solution and this includes those with responsibilities that is not related to the problem at all. Everybody seems to want to contribute - it is, after all, a team. We also do many things together such as bowling, and especially eating. Once every few months, we would go out together for lunch at our own expenses just to build up on our working relationships (managers not invited, of course).

Faith Community Baptist Church

When I left the Vineyard, Pastor Tay actually gave me his blessings and adviced me to go look for a few churches before settling down on one. In my mind I was already thinking of FCBC (I attended their "Come Celebrate Christmas" performance at the Indoor Stadium a few years ago and was very impressed; besides, I have a good friend from Kluang - Victor Wong who was trained as a pastor there), but Pastor Tay recommended City Harvest.

So my first visit to a church in Singapore is to City Harvest, walking distance from Paya Lebar MRT. My first impression was that the church is super enthusisatic, and the majority are youths...kinda make me feel a little old (I'm only 25, thank you). It almost feels like we have to rush in and there are usually not enough seats for everyone; so very different from other churches I've been. The worship is really hyper, too and I thought Pastor Kong Hee is among the best preachers I've heard (in fact, I like him more than FCBC's Pastor Lawrence Khong as a preacher). Well, it's only the 1st church I've visited and I really don't wanna make any decisions yet. The following weeks, I visited a few other churches but none that left so much of an impression as City Harvest.

My last church was FCBC, and it was great. The worship was really good, and I sorta felt at home with the congregation...some sort like a warm feeling. What's more, I met a real good friend that I have not seen for years just at the entrance, Han Young. Prior to entering university way back in 1991, Han Young, Meng Keen, Raymond and I went for a backpacking trip all over Malaysia. We stopped at many places from Kluang all the way up to Penang, and went through quite a bit together. Well, I met Han Young again in church. He also invited me to his cell-group, a Music cell. And from then on, basically, I was with FCBC.

the Cell-group

As I have mentioned, FCBC operates in such a way that the cell is the church. There is, of course, no way that we can expect to know that many people if we just attned the services. And in a sense, we might even feel intimadated at the sheer number of the congregation. The cell-group actually brings us back to earth. Mine was no different, in fact, it turned out to be one of the best experiences I have had that I stayed on until today.

Initially, my cell-leader was Gregory. This man is one super-dude who is so humble that somehow, everybody thinks he will make a fantastic husband to one lucky lady out there that he never gets any peace from the members. Frankly, there's no fault with him - he's a great friend and companion to have, perhaps scoring a 9 on a "niceness" scale of 1-10 (10 being really, really, really nice), outgoing, etc. He gets teased quite a lot, too, especially on his future bride that everyone is trying to matchmake him with. Well, it turned out that he was asked to become a Cell-supervisor and then Adeline took over.

The biggest problem with the cell is time. It seems that Friday, the day that we have it, is never enough for us. So much to talk about, and so many jokes to tell. It's quite an achievement when we actually do finish the cell at 11:00pm. Of course, there's always supper which makes it even later. Favourite food is Teochew Porridge, which somehow tastes better at night - don't know why. A favourite activity is badminton on Sat afternoon, which is great because it's probably the one time that we actually go exercise as a cell, then usually followed by dinner and perhaps movie (again!).

Ah, the good life...

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most recent update: July 9, 1999
Copyright Ng Wei Kwan 1999 all rights reserved
Romans 8:28