A closure

After close to two months worth of agony, I finally received a solid confirmation of an offer. This has been a bumpy ride, hitting some problems I have never thought of. I suppose in this tough economy, there are many more factors to consider than simply hiring someone.

Moving onto my next stage of waiting-game, instead of checking my email relentlessly, I need to wait by the mail box to wait for an actual offer letter arrive. It should be here within days. The company's HR processing time turned out to be pretty fast and the people reasonable. As of this morning, I had to do my first counter-offer negotiation (seriously, am I out of my mind?). It wasn't that the original offer wasn't great, it was. But the responsibilities expected of my new position just doesn't warrant such a pay. I didn't want to be greedy, especially considering the high unemployment rate in this country currently. So I wrote back and asked them to reconsider my qualification and expressed my sincere belief that I deserve to get a bit pay bump.

I remember how I regretted about accepting a position too fast back in 2007. It was my first full-time job after all. But after two something years, I learned to screen my position better, and to really wait for the right one that suits my interest and personality. Excitement is great, but once it cools down, I need to really think about the career development. I think this pans out alright,....I am doing alright

The Place Where Snow Falls

From a distance
the rain became a sheer of snow
its gracious rhythm set a tone.

Each drop fit to play a part
I, the lover
On its significance, its formation and disappearance
Drew two souls inside this blanket of whiteness
This, a symmetrical aggression,
silently dipped on the face of Earth.

-Christy

The Terrible Surrender

Sometimes we forget
this world can be lost
Without your smile
the sky then cried for the cloud,
where was the brave soul?

Sometimes I can't remember
the endless snow is here
Might it the forever lonesome be
the words then scramble for feeling,
where is the sacred tear?

-Christy

Before and After

Original Living Room with TV sitting on top of the fire place.

Issue: TV is too high and not ergonomic to watch TV when sitting on the couch.












Solution: Move TV to next to the fireplace. Re-arrange couch to face TV. Piano needs to be moved to dining room with this new arrangement.

Happy Halloween

Outsourced?

Just the other day, there was a campaign commercial telling me why I shouldn't vote for a particular candidate- an apparent fear of job outsourcing to places like China. I am never big on Americanism, given I, like most consumers, buy just anything that's cheaper. For an advertisement such as this one, I wasn't swayed just yet.

Going global suddenly became a black curse among job seekers, regardless of how well multinational companies, like IBM, Microsoft, or Apple, are doing. Rest assure that these companies continue to employ many on the American land. They simply figured out a way to cut back in places that they aren't efficient at. You may think I am writing in favor of globalism, I am not. I am simply writing to rationalize my emotions. Back in 2000, when I was a junior in high school, everyone wanted to be a computer science major, including myself. After the dot-com bust, computer science wasn't cool anymore. Emerged from a business background, I developed a deep appreciation for delicate business processes. But over the years, I held a post in technology field and kept my business background as a backup. With a combination of these two, I have become a master of efficiency, with Internet technology as my tool and business intuition as my logic.

True, in the recent years there has been an exponential increase in technology and many jobs are diminishing. American companies have access to high quality labor at a low cost and better technologies; when efficiency is gained, jobs are sometimes impacted. A new resentment soon rises towards globalization and the dollar value return on a technology job rises to new skepticism. Politicians have raced to accelerate this fear and voters are encouraged to act on it.

But let's get a bit creative here. When a dollar is invested aboard, the margin of profit increases and the salary for the American workers becomes more generous. We take this salary to purchase goods- actually affording more goods made aboard, benefiting from the already low-cost structure there.

I am not worried but I recognize the pressures placed on technology jobs. Even so, technology workers aren't the only ones susceptible to the outsourcing trend. I emphasize on the concept of efficiency. When a company realizes how to do more for less, any one in any field is affected. For example, the primary function of my old job was to create a more efficient production line. And reducing headcount by far yields to high cost-avoidance. Then there are ways to reduce headcount- eliminating processes, combining processes, or introducing technology. These jobs are vanishing, not outsourced, not replaced with foreign workers. Whether this process improvement yields more productivity is irrelevant, the company in the end saves money to achieve at least the same result. Increased productivity does not necessarily mean higher profit for company- as you may learn from the theory of constraint, you're just producing waste.

Some people propose that a better education in science and technology will help America regain its competitiveness. I do not think this as a smart solution. As more students are studying science here, so are the students aboard, and education out there is just as good as over here. And producing talents excessively without parallel demand gives inventory and it is costly to maintain it (I am reluctant to call it waste, but it might as well in manufacturing's term). The work ahead involves equipping one with more than one skill and often considering both hard(technical) and soft(creative) skill. I see my business background as my emotional side- this is part of me that gives me creativity, expanding my perspectives; next my technical skill as my rational side- allowing me to judge the worthiness of my perspectives.

Now, revealing the true intention of this post. I hesitated to make one decision recently because of the term "outsourced". The position I applied for was to be outsourced to a global company for budget reason. I debated if I should partake in the outsourcing nature, but eventually I accepted it. It is for the greater of these two companies, and myself of course. If you look at globalization as a whole, the free flow of knowledge across regions should icon the free flow of goods worldwide. I am happy with the decision I made and truly embrace it.

Boeing Job Hunt Timeline

I even have time to plot this timeline chart... I know I am being impatient since this is a big company. But we all know the agony of a waiting game.

I am only doing this to see if my wait is justified and how silly I am to be waiting by the phone and email, that 425 area code telephone call. I don't really know the complete process of hiring and I am trying really hard to recollect my past experience. And times like this, your brain just seems to be blank.

I am guessing it will take longer than one month this time.