Interviewing - Part 2

I had to get early to get to work before 9am this morning to interview another applicant for my current role. For the record, morning meetings and early morning interviews should just be banned. Nothing that requires my brain to be fully functional should be scheduled before my 10am coffee break.

But in this case, I had no choice in the matter, my manager wanted to see this guy as soon as possible (I only have 4 more days in my current role), and if he was the right guy, we would get him in straight away so I can start my 'Handover' process. Apparently the last guy I recommended didn't go too well with upper management. The feedback I got was that he "Wasn't mature enough.. and didn't seem to be as technically competent". (see. The 4th guy in interviewing)

Mature enough ?! I find that actually quite funny. I asked my manager if he thought I was mature when they decided to hire me... and if I was anymore mature now ?

Mature is probably the last word I would associate with myself. And being the youngest member of my current team has nothing to do with it. I mean the last two sickies I pulled were so that I could make a Raid with my guild in Warcraft. How mature is that ?!

Techical competence... I couldn't really argue with that, I knew he wasn't that strong technically, but he atleast did better than the others I interviewed. And I believe he could learn. After all, if you knew everything when coming into a job, you wouldn't end up staying long and would just leave after a short while, because you would be bored.

I don't know if lack of coffee had anything to do with my patience levels with the guy I interviewed today. But I pretty much lost it after question 1. I asked him what are some of the different types of RAIDs that exist and what are the differences between some of these. He told me there were many. So I asked him to name some or even one. After about 2 minutes of silence, he told me RAIDo, RAID1, RAID5.

Great !! (Or so I thought, atleast we got someone here that can name atleast 3 different types of RAID !).

However, when I asked him what was the differences between them, and in what circumstances would each be best used for, and he took another 2 minutes of silence and told me something that didn't make much sense at all. So if you could imagine the whole interview (we told him it would be a technical interview), everytime I asked a question, it would be followed by atleast 2-3 minutes of silence, which was sometimes accompanied by some "uh.." or "umm.." which seemed to make the interview drag on for eternity.

I mean if you were told it was going to be a technical interview, shouldn't you atleast try to prepare a bit ?

The part that really pisses me off is that the guy is a contractor. Which means, the company is hiring him at about $800 a day.

Fook... I don't get $800 a day.

I'm half minded to quit my new job if they still can't find anyone after 3 months and offer my services back to my current company as a contractor. $800 a day ~~~~~ *sigh

That Dreaded Letter

Finally got the letter I've been dreading about for a year now.

What dreaded letter you ask ?! ....... No.. its not a letter saying I've been fired. People don't do that over here. Its Australia. We can go sue their butts off if they do something like that. And I would probably get enough compensation to ensure I wont ever need to find a job again.

Its a letter from my real estate agent. Advising us that they will come and do their routine inspection this Tuesday. Tomorrow.

Its Tomorrow !!!

Well, we actually got the letter three days ago. (We aren't really that diligent when it comes to checking our mailbox).

No prizes for guessing what I would be doing tonight. The state of the apartment, to put it in better words, is a Pigsty. Well its not dirty. It just isn't very tidy.

I'll need to vacuum the apartment, wash bathroom, mop kitchen and generally just tidy and re-organise everything. Everything is just everwhere at the moment. Thinking about it gives me a headache.

I'm lucky that I actually went to wash the toilet last week. Atleast thats one thing I don't have to clean by tomorrow afternoon.

And Bunny ? (see the cute white blob on my flickr) .. I'm pretty sure that although my rental lease agreement specified no dogs and cats, I doubt my Agent would be very happy to find a rabbit sharing the premises.

Now to find a temporary home for Bunny ... any volunteers ?!

In the Hotel room

Last night MC flew in for an overnight stay again. As is customary, everytime MC flies in with the SQ crew, our highschool bunch in Sydney will try to go out and have a quick get together.

I was probably the first one to get off work, so I went to met up with MC at her hotel room and tried to decide where to go and have dinner while waiting for the rest to arrive. MC suggested that if everyone was too tired, we could just order from the restaurant downstairs. I didn't mind, afterall I still haven't managed to try out the restaurant ever since Hilton reopened in Sydney. She threw me the menu from her room and asked me to flip through it while we waited for everyone else.

And I saw this....

Lasagne - classic - lots of meat and tomatoes -- $30.00
-served with leaf salad and bread

Nasi Goreng
Vegetable fried rice with fried egg and chicken satay -- $34.00

Lasagne for $30 ?!?! More importantly ... $34 for a Nasi Goreng !?

"I think we should go out and find some place to eat... I don't think we should eat at a place which sells Nasi Goreng for $34"

Fooked if I'm going to pay $34 for a Nasi Goreng

Ok, I know its the norm for Hotels to charge ridiculous prices for their food, but $34 for what is essentially just Fried Rice ?! Does traditional Nasi Goreng even come with Chicken Satay ?!

We ended up getting take away from a Ramen noodle place downstairs instead and bringing it back up to the hotel room. Which turned out quite nice, as we could all just lounge around on the king size hotel bed, as we updated each other about our current endeavors, our current bf's long and shortcomings and generally just talked about anything else under the sky.

If only I didn't have to work the next day, I would have raided her mini bar and switched to a much more 'interesting' cable channel.

Well.. what do you expect when you put a bunch of highschool girls together ?!

6 more days

Just realised I have 6 more days left at my current job before I move to my new company. Funny thing is that I no longer feel excited about leaving here anymore. At first when I finally got past the 4th interview, I was ecstatic. Over-the-moon type happy, and could not believe I had finally landed a job which I didn't completely believe I was qualified for. Yet now, when its time to leave, I'm not that sure I want to leave anymore. I guess its because I know I will severely miss everyone here.

On another note, I met up with my cousin for lunch yesterday. As a lunch session with my cousin would not be complete without a subsequent shopping session, we hit the Pitt Street mall after finishing off our salad. (Yes, I had a salad. Wednesday is 'healthy' day for me). I'm not a shopaholic, I would much rather spend my weekends playing Warcraft than go out with the girls for some retail therapy. But somehow, out of the limited amount of times I've gone shopping with my cousin, I always manage to return with something. This time was no different. I got a new shirt for work, and a skirt.

Yep, my first skirt purchase for this year.

At first I was reluctant. I know that the last skirt I had brought, I had only really worn it once. And I really didn't want to spend $139 on a skirt that I would wear only once a year. When I told my cousin this, she replied that she had seen me buy a $300 pair of jeans, so why not a $139 skirt !?

Since my cousin is an Accountant, I gave my reply in accounting logic terms:

"$300 for a pair of jeans which I'll wear for about 300 days of the year, which equates to $1 a day, but $139 for a skirt which I may only wear for one or two times a year ? .. the maths don't much up..."

"Well.. I think you look good in it"

I don't know about any of the other girls out there, but when someone says this to me when I'm trying on something, I usually end up buying it. I'm a sucker for lines like these. After a quick call to Pete, I was sold. He seemed even more excited than me that I was deciding to buy a skirt.

The only thing he didn't know yet was that it was a 'Balloon skirt' (Yep, the dreaded balloon skirt... but I think it looked ok when I was wearing it). Anyway, its a design that he absolutely loathes. And I can't say this little piece of information didn't add to the deciding factor.

During my gym session last night (I do try to make the most out of my Healthy Wednesday), I had a good look at my legs while doing my stretching exercise to cool down. I guess I would have to do something about them to be able to confidently wear that skirt out. Well put it this way, I never thought it was bad enough for me to do anything about it. But doubt I will get away with it if I'm going to be wearing a skirt.

So.. a question for the girls... Shave ? or Wax ?!

Another day

Its been a rather unproductive day in the office. Actually looking back, I think I've been more productive during the last two weeks compared to the past 6 months.

I've managed to zoom through my last few projects on my To-Do list at record speed.

Since I've been able to use my "Its-going-to-be-my-last-week" excuse to full potential, I've been able to get my hands on resources I would normally have wait a couple of months for. Its amazing what you can achieve when people stop ignoring you and actually go out of their way to help you.

My manager has decided to take the whole week off, and with no one else in the office willing to pass me any work, it leaves me with absolutely nothing to do. Since I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs anyway I decided to go back to doodle on my Artrage.

Here is my latest...

I was just playing around with colours.. and somehow it turned out like this. Right...Off to do another one.. :)

Interviewing

After spending 2 weeks being an interviewee trying to secure my new job, I have been spending the past week being the interviewer trying to find the right person to fill my current position.

I don't know which is worse. Being the interviewee and being grilled non-stop by the interviewers in the room. Or being the interviewer and having to put up with the interviewees. I mean its great if you have good candidates, but not if you have to put up with idiots.

I've interviewed 4 prospective people for my current position already. Some of which look really good on paper (their resumes). And I mean really good. One of the guys I interviewed had his MCSE, CCNA and has 10 years experience contracting in the industry. I seriously thought he was over qualified for the role. But since my manager has this thing about interviewing people who are willing to work at a much lower salary, I agree to do the interview. (see: Why should I hire you?)

Personally, I would probably never agree to an interview with a guy who is over qualified and is willing to work at a much lower rate than the industry standard. I mean, doesn't that just spell the word... W R O N G... to you ?! The second word that comes to mind would be 'Desperate'. Either way, something is obviously wrong. I mean if you are that qualified and why would you still want to be applying for such junior roles which pay at a much lower salary rate ... ?!

As expected, the 10-year-experience-guy was totally crap. He couldn't answer any of my technical questions. (and they weren't that technical either... e.g. the difference between RAID 0 and RAID 5... any reasonable Systems Engineer should be able to comfortably answer that). But he couldn't. The only 'standard' answer he gave me was, "You know, I've worked at very big companies before, and I know the answer, but I just can't say it at the moment." or "Sorry, I wont be able to answer that properly unless I'm in front of the server".

To which I said.. "The role requires a great deal of troubleshooting remotely over the phone, so how would you handle situations like that ?"

He's answer ? = *silence**

The second guy I interviewed wasn't much better. His only answer to any situation was to reboot the server.

Which is probably a valid point in any server environment with a Windows system running on it. But wouldn't you atleast look at the event logs or maybe check out what is wrong first ?! Nothing. And when I asked him that we have strict SLAs to conform to, which does not allow for much outages during the day, to which he would have to do something to try to keep the system running until he can reboot the server. And so with this situation I asked him what would he do in this case... and his reply was ? Nothing.

By the end of the 3rd interview, I was ready to knock myself unconscious against the wall and then proceed to throw myself out the 43rd floor of my building.

The forth guy was interesting. He's hobby is snowboarding and he has worked as a bartender before. Is a cool, bright, easy going and willing to learn type of guy. Technically, he is probably borderline. He couldn't answer half of my list of questions, but atleast he tried. I could tell that Friday night drinking sessions would not be boring with him around.

Well... when in doubt go with the one who is going to be fun to have around and will be an active member of the after-work-Friday-night-drinking-session gang.

Vegemite

We're happy little Vegemites
As bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our Vegemite
For breakfast, lunch, and tea.
Our mother says we're growing
stronger every single week.
Because we love our Vegemite.
We all adore our Vegemite.
It puts a rose in every cheek!

Vegemite. The Great Aussie Icon.... Has now been banned in the US. And as this newpaper reports, "To the point of searching Australians for jars of the spread when they enter the country".

Isn't that a bit..errm.. silly ?! I mean I know Vegemite is something either you love or hate, but why would anyone want to ban it ? According to the report, it turns out it is due to a technicality. (I don't understand either...read the article to find out more).

As a kid I used to hate vegemite. Well, I disliked anything that didn't taste like it was super-saturated in sugar syrup. But I too have gradually learn to enjoy my vegemite & butter on toast.

Too bad the people in the U.S. won't know what they are missing out on anymore.

My Comfy Purple Crocs

Having spent a week in heels, I decided to wear my comfy shoes to work today. The newest blister on my little toe definitely helped with this decision. I got my purple Crocs two weeks ago, and I must say that these are the lightest, comfiest shoes I have worn for a long time. I have worn them everywhere... almost everywhere.

I luv my Crocs !!!

Although after today I realised there is a slight drawback with wearing my Crocs to work - even on a casual Friday. From my walk to the train station, the whole train trip (peak hour traffic), the walk to my office, into my building to the lift to my floor, I felt that everyone I walked passed would look atleast once at my feet. Actually, I didn't feel it. I saw it. Everyone that was in a visual vicinity of where I was, was staring at my feet.

Not sure if it was the bright purple colour, or was it that they have never seen a Croc before, but it wasn't really a nice feeling. I think after today I will think twice before showing up to work in my Crocs.

And there is one really important factor I had forgotten to consider :

That is if the bouncers will allow me into the bars\clubs for afterwork drinks tonight while wearing these... ?!

Forgetful We

Those who know me personally, will know that I have a really bad short term memory. When I mean bad, I mean amnesia type bad. I have a tendency to leave things in a place, then 5 minutes later forgot I had left it there. As a result, I have lost jackets, bags, phones (lots of mobile phones), keys, security passes and wallets.

(notice how every item is written in plural form)

And before anyone makes the suggestion that it is because I've killed off too much braincells by my constant consumption of alcohol. Then you're wrong. I have always been this forgetful. My grandma always used to say I would loose my head if it wasn't attached to my neck.

To get through this little shortcoming of mine, I depend quite heavily on my other half to remember to pick up these loose bits and pieces. The handbag or phone I always leave behind, a spare set of keys when I forget to take mine.. the usual stuff. Only I realise this doesn't always work out. Not when my current other half is just about as forgetful as me.

Take this morning for example, Pete wakes up, gets ready to go to work, leaves, then suddenly comes back and wakes me up asking me where his wallet is. He goes to work a whole hour earlier than me, so I normally get an extra hour sleep. I get out of bed, ask him how it is possible for him to get home last night without his security pass - which is in his wallet. Thus meaning it has to be somewhere at home. We turn the whole room upside down. Rummage through the living room and his sports bag but still no wallet. I take out my wallet and pass him $50 so he can survive through the day, tell him he is late and we'll look for it later tonight while I crawl back into bed.

I wake up, realise I'm 30 mins late, get change, grab my bag and leave.

Only to realise I don't have my wallet in my bag, and no keys either as I had left them on the coffee table. (or so I hope).

I still have my coin pouch though. But realise I'm about $1 dollar short for even a single train ticket to the City. I call Pete up and tells him what happened, we both laugh at each other for a while, then realise we have no means of getting back into our building, let alone into our apartment.

Luckily for us, we have a housemate who is nothing like us. Without her, I don't know how we would survive.

Oh... and thank you so much to the nice guy at the train station who gave me $1. Thank you !!!!

Sugar Hit

October is Good Food Month in Sydney, which means that for $15 you can go to any participating Hotel and try out their dessert plate accompanied with a glass of dessert wine.

Last week we went to the Sofitel Wentworth which had the 'Chocolate Assiette' on offer.

Chocolate assiette - a delicious tasting plate consisting of white chocolate crème brulee, Valrhona bitter chocolate parfait and praline and a berry & milk chocolate terrine, with Brown Brothers Botrytis Reisling

Sounds good ?

Well... It looks good too... :p~

Mid Autumn Festival

Last week was Mid Autumn Festival, and if it wasn't for Mrs Ang reminding me about it, I would have forgotten the whole thing all together. Since I have resigned from my current job, I have been kept as busy as humanly possible, or so thats what my manager thinks. (emphasis on 'humanly').

I feel like they are trying to get their last dollar worth out of me... (by working me to death thus making me worthless to my next company). I am serious, I spent the last weekend working for 11 hours straight completing an upgrade of the SAN. I guess that alone proves my point.

I think this is the first time I didn't attend any Mid Autumn Festival dinners or celebrations in relation to this chinese custom. I missed out on two planned dinners and gatherings. One with Mrs Ang (sorry!) and another with my WoW group (sorry!). Normally I'll try to keep to my chinese roots and celebrate these festivals with friends and family. But I guess this time, work got the better of me.

Two more weeks to go, and 1 more exam then I should be more free. (I think).

SINsational

While blog surfing in the office today - yes.. a Saturday - I came across this: SINsational

Its a little survey of sins by which you total up the amount next to the sin you have committed.

1. Smoked pot-- $10
2. Got drunk, passed and don't remember the night before-- $20
3. Went skinny dipping-- $5
4. Had sex in a pool-- $20
5. Kissed someone of the same sex-- $10
6. Had sex with someone of the same sex $20
7. Cheated on your g/f or b/f -- $10
8. Cheated on your g/f or b/f with their relative or close friend--$20
9. Done oral-- $5
10. Got oral-- $5
11. Done / Got oral in a car while it was moving --$25
12. Prank called the cops-- $5
13. Stole something-- $10
14. Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars--$20
15. Had sex with someone 10 years older-- $20
16. Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27--$25
17. Cried yourself to sleep-- $5
18. Cried during sex--$20
19. Been in love-- $25
20. Been in love with two people or more at the same time --$50
21. Said you love someone but didn't mean it-- $25
22. Went streaking-- $5
23. Went streaking in broad daylight --$15
24. Been arrested-- $5
25. Spent time in jail --$15
26. Peed in the pool-- $0.50
27. Played spin the bottle-- $5
28. Done something you regret-- $20
29. Had a crush on your best friend--$5
30. Had sex with your best friend --$20
31. Had a crush on someone at work --$5
32. Had sex with someone you work with at work --$25
33. Lied to your mate --$5
34. Lied to your mate about the sex being good --$25

I got a total of $240.50.... just under 1/2 of the max amount possible. Not too bad I guess. But if I had to pass a list like this to get into Heaven. Then I doubt I would be able to make it in.

And before anyone asks....

Yes, I've peed in a pool before. (Hasn't everyone ?!) The toilet is always situated too far away from the pool anyway.

Freezing !

I've just spent the whole morning inside the server room rebuilding one of our old servers.

I guess since I'm leaving this place now, my manager has assigned all the boring tasks to me that no one else wants to do.

There isn't really anything wrong with that. Apart from the fact I have to come into work this weekend, and I have to deal with the one bad aspect of a data center.

Its blarrddyy freezing !

I've got 30 mins left before I have to go back in to kick off the next stage of the installation.

30 mins left to de-frost my butt.....

Where's a bum warmer when you need one ?!?

Subconsciousness

Last night I enjoyed a quiet night at home infront of the telly, eating the previous night's take away as dinner. Pete had crashed out already by 7.30pm. He had not slept for about 2 days in a row trying to finish off his project, so I decided not to bother him at all and just let him sleep his heart content.

In between commercials I went inside the room to check if my AV (alterac valley) queue had come up (the waiting time was 40 mins). That was when Pete stirred in his sleep and said ...

"Dear... umm.. can you shut the baby up ?"

*slightly shocked... wondering what baby he was referring to .. was it his subconsciousness speaking... or was he just having a bad dream ?! **

Then I realised it was coming from the T.V.

Trying hard not to laugh, I told him that it was from the T.V. And added that we should never consider about having kids.

He murmurred that he thought it was the neighbour's (fat chance), and asked why I said we should never have kids.

*Sigh... I thought the answer was obvious already....

"Simple... Because when the baby cries ... every two hours... you will probably just stick a sock down its mouth.... Thats not going to work honey... "

Nope.. definitely not going to work. >.<

Gone !

My new baby has gone ...

Some sick b@stard stole my mobile phone today ~~~~~~~~~ !!!!

Grrrrrrrr...... Can't believe it happened right under my nose as well. Was eating at the food court downstairs at work, and I had put my mobile next to me while I was reading my novel and eating at the same time.

And when I had finished and got up to leave, my mobile was no where to be seen !!!

Argghh ... my new SE K800i ... *sob ***

SO. DAMN. PISSED. OFF ~~ !!!!

Finalised

I've finally handed in my resignation letter and signed the contract for my new job. For now.. I think... I can finally breathe again.

I still have 4 weeks left at my current job, but I already know I will deeply miss everyone here.

After my manager announced my resignation, my Inbox was bombarded with emails from my colleagues. The head of Trading even asked my manager that if it was about money, then maybe Trading can do something about keeping me here.

But its not about the money. The new job I am taking on, is one which I hope would help me path the way to achieving my goals. Or to put it simply, what I would want to be doing in the next 5 years.

And for me, 5 years is my set target timeframe at the moment. Because if I'm not 'successful' (in my terms) in the next 5 years then I might as well stop trying and just settle down with a husband and start popping out the kids.

Anyway, it is nice to know that I have made a difference in my current company.

And the 'popping out the kids' scenario... lets hope it doesn't come to that.

Melbourne Trip : Chocolate Heaven....

Here are some of my much promised pictures from Melbourne. I was only down in Melbourne for 1 day. I stayed the night and left the next afternoon as I had to get back in time for work the next day.

not sure which building it is, but i was staying opposite it, on Spencer st.

The main reason why I flew down there was to meet up with my drinking buddy from Perth. He was in Melbourne to attend a friend's wedding, and came up with a proposition to lure me to Melbourne on the promise of a good night out and free drinks. And before anyone thinks of anything naughty, we did nothing of the sort - well.. other than drink to our hearts content.

I haven't been back to Melbourne since setting foot in Sydney. The only thing I really remember is the weird weather. But since it was spring, and Sydney was hitting 34°, I decided to pack light, and bring only one spare top and shorts I can sleep in for the night.

Melbourne had a high of 14° that day. By night time I was freezing my butt off.

one of the many shopping centre's in melbourne, i think this was at the GPO, all these bird cages actually had real live Canaries in them. Which I found a bit disturbing, I'm sure they were properly fed and such, but it just didn't feel right using live animals as decor

And I had already picked up a jumper while shopping at Melbourne Central. And even though I had been stuffing myself with Chocolate throughout the day didn't seem to help either.

Talking about chocolate.....

my lunch @ Max Brenner.. oh and i had a thick hot chocolate to go with it as well.

I only just managed to finish the waffles by myself. And after finishing the hot chocolate, I felt like going back to the hotel to sleep it off. Bad thing was that when I glanced around at the other tables next to me, I could see a table of 3 sharing the same waffle I had by myself. Felt like such a pig.

An hour later, my drinking buddy and our other friends called me to let me know the reception was finished, and that they would be heading over to Koko Black for drinks. Koko Black, turned out to be another Chocolate Bar \ Cafe.

More Chocolate.

3/4 of the tasting plate @ Koko Black - I already started eating b4 I remembered to take a photo

I shared the tasting plate with my friend which included another hot chocolate. I wasn't disappointed though, the hot chocolate was very good, but because it was so rich (and I was already up to my neck in chocolate), I only manage to finish half of it.

the hot chocolate @ Koko Black

I was so completely stuffed with chocolate that I managed to skip dinner, and still felt quite full when I went out for drinks that night.

*Sigh... looking at that hot chocolate now... *drool... anyone want to drive down to Melbourne with me ?!

Grilled

I've just come back from my last interview. It lasted over an hour.

I feel like I've just had my brain taken out and grilled for an hour, X-Rayed and put back inside.

I've already made up my mind that this is the job I want. Although I wont really be getting a pay increase (unlike the other two).. I would have a chance to work with real technical guru guys.

Now all I have to do is wait for the magic phone call.... (Fingers X)

-----------------------------

Update : I got the job.. :)

Dockers Game

I actually did the draft for this post ages ago. The Dockers game was on the 22nd of September. And now it's October and even the AFL Grand Final is over already. But I've been really busy ever since. I'm trying to change jobs at the moment, and juggling attending interviews with my current job and getting my uni work done wasn't as easy as I thought. I've already been through 3 interviews from just one company, yet they still want another one. I swear if they don't just hire me after this one, I'm just going to give up and choose someone else.

But since I've already downloaded the photos from my phone, I might as well just post it.

Oh...For those who may have watched the Fox Sports channel (and ended up seeing last years game instead), the Eagles won by 1 point. Apparently only the free-to-air channels had exclusive rights to the Grand Final broadcast, so the people who had Fox Sports, somehow ended up watching a replay of last years game instead.

Anyway, here are some photos taken with my SE K800i at Telstra Stadium on the night of the Sydney Swans Vs Fremantle Dockers game.

we were sitting right behind the goals. premium firing-line seats.
I spent half the time trying to avoid having the football torpedoed at my head

the game wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. without the commentators, this is what I saw majority of the time. at these times, I just focused on that little screen on the right hand side

With an attendance of about 50,000 people, lets just say the vast majority of them were Sydney Swan supporters. We were literally flooded by a sea of red. The reception wasn't any better when the dockers lost and we were stuck with the crowd on the way back home in a train. Actually, I can't really imagine what it would have been like on the way back if the Dockers had won.

I couldn't resist not taking this shot. So cute !!