Well, time to talk about my work..
I wasnt given anything too relevant to my job title. Instead was just shown around the lab and left myself to rot there. I thought why not I spend this time usefully rather than facebooking and twittering ?
I picked up a Perl reference book and started perl-ing my way in. This was my first time learning a programming language myself, without any guidance.
I was also tasked to write a programme to automatically plot graphs using data from excel. Some literature reviews later, I copied and modified several excel macros to do just that. Some help were offered at some forums which I am grateful because without them, the macro wouldnt be possible. It was written in VB where I had just 3 months of experience, 4 years back. Dont they consider my programming background before giving my such a task ?
It wasnt an easy one too. At least for me.
The data ranges were dynamically expanding. I initially had to come up with some counting algorithm to detect the data ranges. Okay fine. Then he wanted some enhancements to the program. It will allow the user to select the data ranges that are to be plotted. See ? thats where the dynamically counting algorithm becomes redundant. If the data range is to be user-selected, then whats the point of counting the data ranges ? I left this aside for the time being.
Im given another task that uses perl. I had to mount a drive inside UNIX. Wow.... Big headache... It has to be completed next Friday. Wish me luck.....
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Further surgery of my XPS M1330 and HP Mini
Due to the extra RAM that I had, I feel the need for it to have a 64-bit operating system.
Delaying no more, I quickly formatted it to Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Not much hassle since I have been doing this myself and for my friends a few times already. Actually it was good timing for a format too since I have planned to format it once I completed my FYP.
Installing the OS wasnt too bad. Installing the bloody updates is. The whole process could take a whole night even on my 1Mbps connection which i believe is average for any home user. The thing is, this causes my hard drive to spin like crazy and create tremendous amount of heat on my palmrest. I could literally vapourize a drop of water on the palmrest, aluminium in nature. Ive done it before.
Going further, I thought hey, since this is my main laptop, why not I swap the HP Mini's 7200rpm drive here ? Cool.. I did just that and another fresh installation of W7U x64 there. Installing the drivers and updates took another night. Damm, such a time waster.
When all is done, my XPS feels spanking new, boot times was somewhere below the 1 minute mark, around 50 seconds. Reboot times was slightly around 90 seconds. Further tweaks to the registry made that possible.
My HP Mini was not too bad too, today I formatted Ubuntu 10.10 Marverick Meerkat for it. Also after installing various updates it felt great. And provided me another platform to enjoy other than Windows.
Delaying no more, I quickly formatted it to Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Not much hassle since I have been doing this myself and for my friends a few times already. Actually it was good timing for a format too since I have planned to format it once I completed my FYP.
Installing the OS wasnt too bad. Installing the bloody updates is. The whole process could take a whole night even on my 1Mbps connection which i believe is average for any home user. The thing is, this causes my hard drive to spin like crazy and create tremendous amount of heat on my palmrest. I could literally vapourize a drop of water on the palmrest, aluminium in nature. Ive done it before.
Going further, I thought hey, since this is my main laptop, why not I swap the HP Mini's 7200rpm drive here ? Cool.. I did just that and another fresh installation of W7U x64 there. Installing the drivers and updates took another night. Damm, such a time waster.
When all is done, my XPS feels spanking new, boot times was somewhere below the 1 minute mark, around 50 seconds. Reboot times was slightly around 90 seconds. Further tweaks to the registry made that possible.
My HP Mini was not too bad too, today I formatted Ubuntu 10.10 Marverick Meerkat for it. Also after installing various updates it felt great. And provided me another platform to enjoy other than Windows.
Overhauling my XPS M1330
Few days into working, I had gotten into contact with a friend of mine, SS and she had given me what remains of her dead XPS M1330. Pretty much everything less the hard drive and a battery.
Initially I asked for her keyboard only due to mine was malfunctioning in the B and N keys. Well nothing to lose anyway to have the extra parts.
I was actually only going to cut out her keyboard and replace it to my XPS. But her white display panel was absolutely gorgeous and stunning. I decided to steal that too. It was a quite troublesome process for a first timer like me when all my guidance come from the form of a PDF file from the Dell Self-Service Manual.
Okay so, done with the white display panel. I further explored in to find a 2GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM module sitting there with a big sign "TAKE ME". And so I stole that too. To complement my memory which I only had 3GB that comes from the initial 1GB and an extra purchase of 2GB. Now I had 4GB of RAMS , thanks to SS.
What more that can be salvaged ?
I further took the Dell Wireless Draft-N WLAN card too. And put it in my HP mini. The HP Mini only had a G module which provides only 2 or 3 bars at corners of my house. Replacing it with that gives me full 5 bars. The trade off is that I had to remove the HP's module because it only had 1 mini PCIe bay, I lost bluetooth function in the HP Mini too as its WLAN card is integrated with a bluetooth module. But who cares. I prefer Wireless-N over bluetooth. Again, thanks SS !
Initially I asked for her keyboard only due to mine was malfunctioning in the B and N keys. Well nothing to lose anyway to have the extra parts.
I was actually only going to cut out her keyboard and replace it to my XPS. But her white display panel was absolutely gorgeous and stunning. I decided to steal that too. It was a quite troublesome process for a first timer like me when all my guidance come from the form of a PDF file from the Dell Self-Service Manual.
Okay so, done with the white display panel. I further explored in to find a 2GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM module sitting there with a big sign "TAKE ME". And so I stole that too. To complement my memory which I only had 3GB that comes from the initial 1GB and an extra purchase of 2GB. Now I had 4GB of RAMS , thanks to SS.
What more that can be salvaged ?
I further took the Dell Wireless Draft-N WLAN card too. And put it in my HP mini. The HP Mini only had a G module which provides only 2 or 3 bars at corners of my house. Replacing it with that gives me full 5 bars. The trade off is that I had to remove the HP's module because it only had 1 mini PCIe bay, I lost bluetooth function in the HP Mini too as its WLAN card is integrated with a bluetooth module. But who cares. I prefer Wireless-N over bluetooth. Again, thanks SS !
Meeting friends in my workplace
Among part of my introduction package, I was brought to meet a HR admin fella.
She gave me my printout regarding my company email password and also told to register my car number plate in the database.
It is then I saw my friend, Vic also working here. What a surpirse. I returned to my pc and ping'ed him through the office communicator and he too was shocked. He came back for the internship training and thought he was all alone here. Turns out there are more friends working here than he imagined.
Most of the day involve chatting with all my diploma friends and also Vic. What a relaxing workplace. Company I has a very relaxing working culture.. No uniforms, flexible timing, they take good care of their employees.
She gave me my printout regarding my company email password and also told to register my car number plate in the database.
It is then I saw my friend, Vic also working here. What a surpirse. I returned to my pc and ping'ed him through the office communicator and he too was shocked. He came back for the internship training and thought he was all alone here. Turns out there are more friends working here than he imagined.
Most of the day involve chatting with all my diploma friends and also Vic. What a relaxing workplace. Company I has a very relaxing working culture.. No uniforms, flexible timing, they take good care of their employees.
My first day of professional employment
Should be exciting.. Hmm..
As I recall 2 weeks ago..
My first day was not so exciting and happening. My buddy was to receive me in the morning when I arrive at the lobby. I called him several times. All of which couldnt get through. Only then I knew he was in the lab where reception was dead poor.
He had arranged for my pass for the lab. It was ultra tight security. I call it the airport. Anybody and anything exiting the lab has to go through an xray scanner like those at the airport and a metal detector for personnel. Such tight security. It was justifiable. Considering what they are doing inside the lab which Im not allowed to disclose here. Still it was troublesome. If the metal detector goes off for any reason at all you're subjected to a full body scan via a handheld device and if it sounds then you'd have to find out what makes it sound.
Well.. Next to my office or work location. Just a simple desk. Nothing at all. I was shown around and brought to go through the badging process. This pretty much makes me busy till lunch time. I followed them out for a simple lunch which I was getting acquainted to the engineers there.
The last event of the day was me getting my pc. No laptop.. Boo. Just a HP desktop and 19inch monitor. Squarish one somemore. Well. I guess when my job functions increase I should get a laptop then.
The finale of my job hunting
Well i thought it was the end. I accepted the offer from A.
My last choice has yet to come....
Company I called. I thought.. Stop with all these. Im just gonna stick with A.
They asked me what was my expected salary to which I quoted a MYR2500.
Who knows.. Who knows..
They called back to offer MYR3000. OMG....
Didnt too me long to reply back.. It was a winner.. Highest offer among all. And its company I.
But my sufferings dont end here. I was told my tentative start date was also @ Dec 1st.
Their offer letter too ages. Only then I know, the manager was at US and so the delay in approving my offer letter. Whats more, my start date was delayed a week due to the public holiday on the next Tuesday. I had to attend the orientation before getting started and the orientation was held only on every Tuesday.
Well.. nevertheless.. I had to endure all these and wait for my time to come.
My last choice has yet to come....
Company I called. I thought.. Stop with all these. Im just gonna stick with A.
They asked me what was my expected salary to which I quoted a MYR2500.
Who knows.. Who knows..
They called back to offer MYR3000. OMG....
Didnt too me long to reply back.. It was a winner.. Highest offer among all. And its company I.
But my sufferings dont end here. I was told my tentative start date was also @ Dec 1st.
Their offer letter too ages. Only then I know, the manager was at US and so the delay in approving my offer letter. Whats more, my start date was delayed a week due to the public holiday on the next Tuesday. I had to attend the orientation before getting started and the orientation was held only on every Tuesday.
Well.. nevertheless.. I had to endure all these and wait for my time to come.
What happens next... It's VERY complicated
I had a job @ company M. Yay...
This is when the chaos starts. Company B called to offer a permanent position @ more or less the same salary. The thing is, I needed to take a test, some personality test which their HR is terribly slow to expedite. In the meantime , Company M is requesting an urgent reply to their offer as they need engineers on board the next week. At last I chose Company M.
Even more chaos..
Company A called. They are offering a Test Engineer @ MYR2500 and starting work @ Dec 1st. I rejected because of the small difference and I wanted to start working immediately after wasting so much time. Fine. End of story.
They called back later ! Counter offering with MYR2700. What the hell.
At first I thought it was a Software Engineer, because that was the initial job title that I applied and interviewed for. And most importantly Im bad with software programming. Turns out, I didnt get that job, but another interviewer who was present at that time hired me for Test Engineer.
Well, this made my choice easier. I rejected M and chose A.
This is when the chaos starts. Company B called to offer a permanent position @ more or less the same salary. The thing is, I needed to take a test, some personality test which their HR is terribly slow to expedite. In the meantime , Company M is requesting an urgent reply to their offer as they need engineers on board the next week. At last I chose Company M.
Even more chaos..
Company A called. They are offering a Test Engineer @ MYR2500 and starting work @ Dec 1st. I rejected because of the small difference and I wanted to start working immediately after wasting so much time. Fine. End of story.
They called back later ! Counter offering with MYR2700. What the hell.
At first I thought it was a Software Engineer, because that was the initial job title that I applied and interviewed for. And most importantly Im bad with software programming. Turns out, I didnt get that job, but another interviewer who was present at that time hired me for Test Engineer.
Well, this made my choice easier. I rejected M and chose A.
My experience with interviews
A little backtrack and flashback here...
As stated few posts before, I had almost 0 luck in all my company interviews. That is, until i returned from the convocation trip.
It was a Monday morning, I attended an interview from Company M @ 9 in the morning. I have a habit of arriving early at interviews ( incase I needed more time to find my way , and also not to keep the interviewer waiting ). Okay, moving on, Ive arrived at M at 8.35, a little too early. Well, the interviewer showed up at approx 9.10. Not too bad I guess, I'm then given a short quiz of 5 questions of which I think I was lucky because they were EASY. Like real easy even a diploma student could answer. The interview ended at 9.30. He asked me to prepare to start working the next Monday. Good sign eh ?
Just to share the questions he posed to me :
1. transfer function of NI and I op-amp
2. truth table of NAND and NOR gates
3. Capacitor voltage in DC mode
4. Label the pins of a BJT
1 more Q which I couldnt remember. Well anyway, it was easy enough isnt it ?
The good news was, at 1100Hrs back at my house, they called to offer my a job. The thing is, its a contractual job valued @ MYR2400 and I gladly accepted it.
As stated few posts before, I had almost 0 luck in all my company interviews. That is, until i returned from the convocation trip.
It was a Monday morning, I attended an interview from Company M @ 9 in the morning. I have a habit of arriving early at interviews ( incase I needed more time to find my way , and also not to keep the interviewer waiting ). Okay, moving on, Ive arrived at M at 8.35, a little too early. Well, the interviewer showed up at approx 9.10. Not too bad I guess, I'm then given a short quiz of 5 questions of which I think I was lucky because they were EASY. Like real easy even a diploma student could answer. The interview ended at 9.30. He asked me to prepare to start working the next Monday. Good sign eh ?
Just to share the questions he posed to me :
1. transfer function of NI and I op-amp
2. truth table of NAND and NOR gates
3. Capacitor voltage in DC mode
4. Label the pins of a BJT
1 more Q which I couldnt remember. Well anyway, it was easy enough isnt it ?
The good news was, at 1100Hrs back at my house, they called to offer my a job. The thing is, its a contractual job valued @ MYR2400 and I gladly accepted it.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Cyclone failure....
To contiune where I left off
I think Im gonna make it short on the Genting trip that we had. Nothing exciting other than experiencing a roller coaster failure and rescue operation. It was Cyclone. Around 630pm when the theme park was about to be closed for the day, the antique roller coaster malfunctioned and 3 cars were stuck on the track. Several firemen-suit guys made a rescue operation. Although it wasnt too high up, still it was very frightening and cold for the people. At 630pm outdoor weather at Genting Highlands ?
After about one hour of resuce op. The cars were pushed down along the tracks back to the station with much effort and the people were led down to the platform and not allowed to leave YET. This is where it gets interesting. Several big shot guys with coats came with snacks and drinks for them. Very good customer service eh ? After a while some ladies that looked like their from legal came with some papers which we couldnt see clearly. I suspect it to be some non-disclosure agreement about that incident that they were to sign.
Nothing much to say about Genting anymore....
I think Im gonna make it short on the Genting trip that we had. Nothing exciting other than experiencing a roller coaster failure and rescue operation. It was Cyclone. Around 630pm when the theme park was about to be closed for the day, the antique roller coaster malfunctioned and 3 cars were stuck on the track. Several firemen-suit guys made a rescue operation. Although it wasnt too high up, still it was very frightening and cold for the people. At 630pm outdoor weather at Genting Highlands ?
After about one hour of resuce op. The cars were pushed down along the tracks back to the station with much effort and the people were led down to the platform and not allowed to leave YET. This is where it gets interesting. Several big shot guys with coats came with snacks and drinks for them. Very good customer service eh ? After a while some ladies that looked like their from legal came with some papers which we couldnt see clearly. I suspect it to be some non-disclosure agreement about that incident that they were to sign.
Nothing much to say about Genting anymore....
Im back from a hiatus
I think so ,
after 2 months of not posting anything due to hectic life and laziness..
i think im back for now :)
after 2 months of not posting anything due to hectic life and laziness..
i think im back for now :)
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