Month 2 Schedule

Many people track their money, few keep track of their time. But considering how my time is currently worth $50 an hour (and infinity to me).

8am Getup & hygiene time

8:10am
Eat.

8:20am
Run around the place to get the blood pumping.

9am
Shower
Eat some more.

9:30am
The great Office rush.
Watch sitcom Orange is the New Black, watch reactions from people around me.

10:30am
In the office, refreshed and ready to conquer.

10:45am
Boss comes in, asks how I'm doing.

*You know, it's amazing how where you work can make such a great difference on efficiency. I am far more efficient at the office than at home, so I try to do my blog-writing at the office, after office hours.

11:00am
Watering break.

11:30am
Managers comes in with their problems of the day.

12:30pm
I solve those problems and get back to what I'm supposed to do.

1:00pm
Oh, lunch in an hour! Let's rush this hard stuff so I can finish before lunch...

1:30pm
Tummy so hungry!
People start telling each other to drop what they're doing to go for lunch.

1:45pm
Almost finished with what I wanted to do. I plan for the afternoon.

2pm
LunchTime! We walk past each restaurant debating whether to go in. If more than 2 people agree, everyone else piles in and sits down.

2:30pm
Finished with lunch. We wait for the slow eater, discuss the latest app.

3:00pm
People start getting sleepy and slump on desks. I continue to code on.

4:00pm
Oh no! Day is dying away! Work harder work harder work harder!

6:00pm
Wrap it up....

6:30pm
WRAP IT UP!

7pm
Everybody starts thinking about going home.

7:30pm
People start going.

8pm
Everybody is gone, except for the workaholics.

9pm
Workaholics have gone home. I have gone home.

9:45pm
Late night supper.

10:30pm
Late night sports.

11pm
Feel like sleeping, feel like reading, feel like there's still so much to do...

11:30pm
Decided to blog.

12pm
Getting tired... why is there so little time...

12:30am
Book time!

01:00am
Start dreaming.

0700am
Dreams I can remember.



More on that later...

What I learnt in my First Month of Paid work

My first month here has been awesome. I wouldn't have said this back at HKUST, but I can say that I have learnt a lot more about software engineering here than I did in school.

1. Failure is awesome.

I am glad to be in a team that does not worry about failure. We take project delays in stride, with a few laughs and chew it down with a meeting or two. We take things as they are - there's no shame in being inexperienced, or to make a mistake. The only sin here is dishonesty with a bad attitude.

2. OT is a good thing.

I don't know about other lines of work, but here, overtime is happy time.

People here don't OT alone. The grey images of workers in cubicles slaving away at spreadsheets and documents may be true in some IBM office next door, but when we OT, it's always the whole team. And that makes it a positive experience.

I OT-ed quite a lot during the first month here, but when you...

3. See the Big Picture

you start to realize you're not always going to OT like that. Someday in the distant future, I'll have other priorities and developing software might never be the same again. So I'm just going to do whatever I can here and then move on when it's time.

When the coding gets tough, I zoom out to get some perspective. I go off to the meetings. Help the project managers. Estimate development time for future projects...

4. Estimations are almost always wrong...

because we think it's hard and proceed to take the easy way out. We should really break down the tasks into familiar, hands-on steps, but instead most people like to say "a month" or "two months".

After a few of those answers, common sense took over for me and I decided to do the estimations for them... the effort which I too underestimated...

5. Nothing is ever easy.

If you want to make something awesome, it's always going to take more effort and ingenuity than expected.

The myth of easy success may exist in other areas, but software engineering is not one of them. One can make it a lot easier and smoother but hard focused work is always a requirement.

6. Effort is easy to forget

Something that took months to do can be forgotten within just a few years.

Take my FYP for example. I spent 8 months on it, particularly the last 4 months. I only just submitted it in May, but by now (August) the endless testing and re-evaluation now seems trivial in comparison to corporate projects.

7. Never underestimate your own influence.

In my experience, people behave differently when they are with different people. You may soften your voice and cheer up a little when talking to girls you find attractive. That's influence on not just the behavioral level but right down to biology.

 Based on past experience, recent observations and all those other states that persist in a mind, the tone of a conversation is often set before it even begins. I made a point of asking lots and lots of questions right at the start, and that seems to have put me in a kind of curious-fresh-graduate category. And that really gives you the opportunity to not only adapt to the environment, but through skillful questions, change the workplace culture. It's something the colleagues secretly desire.

Speaking of desire, everyone in the team will have hopes, wants and expectations. They might not even know it until you fulfill their unconscious dreams - Supply CAN create its own demand, which is all the better, since it costs you the least to be yourself.



Next week, I experience the office phenomenon known as The New Guy.

Past Statuses.

HKUST is going to have a Parents' Day?

Never try to get the UI perfect while the functionality is incomplete.

Just a Recap........

"I don't know what I want until I see it..."

Wow, so many PMs

My laptop fan is dead. Running very slowly!

First steps in programming Nao Robot.

Best Brainstormed Idea Ever!

Stressed? Bored? Tired? F***ed Up?

Then this is for you.

Kinect coloring game!

Inspired by Boredom.

Why I don't need a grad trip

1. Desire for long term entertainment and purpose

One trip is too short. I would just start thinking when it was going to end and then I would be back where I was.
This indicates underlying issue of not having found a goal in some field, particularly career. I want to figure that out first.

However, if I did find the prefect career match, I would not be procrastinating or resting. I would directly run at it until I got there and satisfied. It would be both work and play.

Personally, I can be a very in-the-moment person, but years of studying and working under deadlines has driven me towards being goal-oriented. I have realized that both being in the moment and on a schedule are really one and the same. That means I don't have to unwind as long as what I do is immensely engaging.

2. The Carrot & The Stick
The carrot and the stick limits people within a system, or culture. It's not good or bad, it just limits human potential. If the trip is deliberately a carrot, I don't want it.


3. Purpose
What is it about a graduation that makes it a purpose?

I usually like trips centered around a main objective. Like studying a course, or climbing a beautiful mountain, or seeing Alaska. But just going out and being a consumer isn't a valid reason to me. I could go to nearby Shenzhen for a day and that would fit the bill too.

Granted, we need to unwind sometimes. I like traveling. It opens me up to new perspectives, new people, new things and let's me experience just how great the world is. The "I know what's happening in Alaska at the moment feeling of connectedness.

4. Finance
And then there is money. To me, a graduation trip signifies that I have achieved a kind of independence.That I have not raised nor can spare the appropriate funds for the trip means that I am not  yet independent nor taking responsibility for the trip.

Having exhausted all arguments, I conclude that I simply don't feel like it.

So where do I want to go?

I'd like to go climb some mountains or explore some area. After mount kinabalu, I no longer felt satisfied with just sightseeing or the regular touristy stuff.Something taking tremendous effort was necessary to feel rewarding

Re: Diarrhea Diaries

I read this while reading. 

You're supposed to drink 2L everyday, diarrhea or not.

I've never had diarrhea last more than 4 days. The worst I had was in YangShuo. I had swallowed LiJiang water with all the garbage in it and then ate bad meat. At least for food was excellent the night before my diarrhea started.

My stomach started to cramp during a afternoon hike. By the time I was pound tent-pegs into the ground, my stomach was cramping every few minutes. No diarrhea.

When dinner was served, I had no appetite. Wearing shorts in the freezing cold, I went to bed early and cried to sleep. Still no diarrhea.

It wasn't long before I awoke. My guts felt normal and I wanted to eat. But dinner was done and even the marshmallows were gone, digesting in the stomachs of people sound asleep.

I sat up for a while, listening to the sound of cicadas and river flowing. Everyone was sound asleep and snoring. My guts started to twist again and despite the hunger, water gurgled inside me, followed by cramps.

I decided to go and try. The hole in the ground wasn't the best toilet, but it was good enough for now. The air being so cold, it didn't really stink at all. The latrine was dug pretty deep and actually already quite filled. I had to take care not to slip in getting up.

Diarrhea was actually enjoyable after the cramping. I had to go to toilets everywhere - from hole-in-the-grounds to your standard Mainland Chinese dirty squat-toilet. It was tough squatting properly with cramps - I found it easiest to pad the sides of the squat-toilet with toilet paper and sit down on it. 

Later, I found out that the others got antibiotics. As I realized, antibiotics are simply unnecessary and sometimes ineffective. All you need is lots of water and a good appetite, and then the body will eject what it does not need.

After 3 days, my appetite returned and all problems had ceased. The experience injected me with greater respect for my body and made me indifferent to bodily malfunctions - if anything, I have come to enjoy illnesses. The twisting of the guts, the gurgling of digestive matter, the satisfaction of offloading waste and the thump of shit freefalling into the water below. The feeling was all strangely healing and exquisite, part of the human experience in the infinitesimally short moments we are alive. 

Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.