Showing Posts From

Personal growth

Podcast reflections 2

Podcast reflections 2

Audiobooks are a great way to absorb information on the go and that's the same with podcast. Normally I will listen to podcast when I am actively doing something else but I want to keep my mind occupied. Sometimes when I learn something interesting on the podcast I want to tell the world about it because I think they are valuable to you as well. Strength in situations that you can do nothing aboutFrom: Joe Rogan Experience #1193 Josh Dubin & Bruce Bryan Josh Dubin is from the innocence project which seeks to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and advocates for criminal justice reform, which needless to say is an incredibly meaningful job. Josh is joined on the podcast by Bruce Bryan who is a black man who was exonerated in 2023 with the help of the innocence project after spending 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Yes you read that right. A murder he did not commit.I cannot imagine the frustration this man goes through, day in, day out. Thinking about his family, how unfair everything was and what injustice was done to him. He must have felt hopeless, helpless, and angry at the world. He must have wondered if he would ever see the light of day again, or if anyone would ever believe his innocence. But yet he stayed mentally strong and did not succumb to despair, violence, or self-harm. He used his time in prison to educate himself, help others, and advocate for his cause. He maintained his faith, his dignity, and his optimism. He never gave up on his quest for justice, freedom, and redemption."Prison is a cold environment and its up to you to find your own heat ... maintain a sense of humanity, you can either do two things, you could become bitter or you can become better. I chose the later. ..." — Bruce BryanI really liked his use of the coldness in the prison as a metaphor as a sense of hope and positivity, that he had to find his own heat, meaning his own source of motivation and strength, to survive and thrive. He did not let his circumstances change him for the worse, but rather used them as an opportunity to grow and improve. He could have sunk low thinking how the world has turned their backs on him but he chose not to do that - to be bitter but to be better. He goes on to say:Because one of the things I did early in my incarceration was to made a conscious decision to not serve time but to have time serve me, I made up my mind that if you were going to have me incarcerate for a crime that I did not commit, then I was going to take this time and use this cell as if it was an office, the school building as if it was an university, any chance I had to self reflect and engage in introspection ... — Bruce BryanBecause the external situation that he is in does not change no matter how he feels inside, he decided that he will take advantage of the situation and turn in it into one that is as positive as it could. And that my friends is just 100% respect.We can either choose to focus on the darkness or on the light Stay positive folks.

Life is too short to run on automatic

Life is too short to run on automatic

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. — Mark TwainIt is important to realise that we are here for a limited number of time and sometimes it is easy to forget that work is not the sole reason for our existence. How many of us have put off items after items in our bucket list or new year resolutions, telling ourselves that we have another year to do them? Maybe it is toTry an open-mic in a comedy show Write a book Live in another country for a year Speak another language Develop a mobile appOften times we think we are not good enough and do not even attempt to start them. More often than not its really the hustle and bustle of everyday life and then time passes by so fast. Before you know it, we look back and think to ourselves : what was I doing all this time? Dig out your old childhood dreams or reach out for a pen and paper and jot down what are the things you have always wanted to do and start working on it because life is too short to waste. Let's start cracking!

Podcast reflections 1

Podcast reflections 1

Audiobooks are a great way to absorb information on the go and that's the same with podcast. Normally I will listen to podcast when I am running but I want to keep my mind occupied when I am doing something routine like chores. Sometimes when I learn something interesting on the podcast I want to tell the world about it because I think they are valuable to you as well. On Finding partners From: Joe Rogan Experience #1905 Derek, More plates more dates In the context of practicing martial arts, Joe mentioned about "Iron sharpens Iron" and I think that is particularly valuable when we want to be good at our craft. When we spar, we want to spar with people that are better than ourselves so we are able to progress, see our flaws and learn from a more experienced partner. What use is there to spar with someone who is not as strong or not as nimble other than to boost our own ego into thinking that we are stronger or we are better? There is also a good link talking about it as well. Being a non religious person, I was unaware that the phrase has its roots in Christianity. Beyond the religious subtext, I think there are valuable principles the website points out like accountability, mutual benefit but ultimately I think this is about relationship because all of that cannot happen without a mutual understanding of each others goal. In the case of MMA its about being a better martial artist. And then comes the willingness or even the desire to want to engage with this other individual for practice, to expose one's own weakness through practice or sparring to be better. Partners? What about friends? The word partner seem to be a very loaded word. It implies something beyond just the mere concept of friendship. It seems to suggest a mark of dedication, of commitment to one another for the pursuit of a common even mutual goal. I personally find it really difficult to make friends more so when I am adult. When you are children it does not take much to find commonality, often just being in the same school, the same class, the same cca will be being common ground to be acquaintances and eventually friends. Looking back, the friendships I had when people who I met during my schooling years have very little to no common interest. Mentors or Partners? Partners also bears the connotation of being in the same level, of the same rank or status even. In my experience it is a lot easier to find mentors than partners with the same mindset. This is especially so in the working environment where a mentor can be a senior colleague or simply your supervisor but it does not necessarily have to be a formal agreement between the two. Simply a relationship where the mentor guides one to develop professionally and points out resources where one can improve on is good enough. How about dead people? Often times it is also worthwhile to note that books are generally very good resource to fall back on if one is unable to find partners or mentors. Books are written by subject matter experts in a sense and although they cannot inspect you individually they do offer their expertise 24/7. Furthermore books that are old does not mean they are bad. For example Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence people is a good book for anyone who wants to, well, have more friends, is written by an author in the 19th century but it does not make it a bad book. Although I would admit if the topic is on something that changes rapidly like technology it would behoove the reader to find something more recent. However even then one can still find books that are less current but still very relevant like design patterns , written almost 30 years ago, in tech time that's about as old as you get. Summary Finding a partner is invaluable to one's goals and growth but that role can be filled by a distant mentor as well if not then by a book. Learning opportunities are aplenty when you look for them.

5 lessons I have learnt after switching my career

5 lessons I have learnt after switching my career

When I started on my journey to switch my career, many things seemed possible but many other things felt impossible at the same time. I was nervous, I was uncertain, I was terrified. But hopeful still. Hopeful that I will get a job that satisfies me in ways that my previous career could not. I realise that I am in a privileged position to switch my career because I want to and not because I have to, so these may not directly apply to everybody. But having made the switch, these are lessons that I have learnt. 1. Having a (sufficient) emergency fund is incredibly importantYes. Having an emergency fund is absolutely crucial and is something that I neglected when making the switch. While having an emergency fund is essential, you also need to calculate the amount that you need on your quest to upgrade yourself to get a job in your new career. I remember being greedy for some additional interest in the CPF and transferring funds from OA to SA periodically , leaving behind too little to pay for my mortgage when I left my job. I eventually have to resort to dipping into savings to pay for it, further reducing my savings. This also means that any future plans needs to be stopped, like going on vacations, buying gifts on festive seasons, etc. Unless you have planned for them and saved enough. Building up a substantial emergency fund also allows one enough buffer time to get the job that you want. Other wise it is really tempting to get a job that you do not really like simply because you have to make ends meet. And this is if everything works out according to plan… 2. Have a PACE plan for your goalsYour plans may not turn out exactly the way you wanted it to be. I remember that when I was younger I wanted to be a games designer simply because I like games and … that was that. I simply assumed that having the desire and a naïve thought would lead me down that path without doing any research and making plans. As you would have guessed, I did not become a games designer. Fortunately I had a more thought out plan for my career switch. As I was aiming for a career in AI I scoped for a way to enter into that industry with either a course, or getting a masters or getting a job straight (with some projects under my belt). This means being prepared and knowing the deadlines of applications and knowing which one had priority over the other. And if one does not work out, you can go onto the other one. This is similar to the PACE planning method which I think is used by the army. It stands forPrimary : Your main way to make the switch. Alternate : Less desirable than your primary way in case your first plan fails. Contingency: Same logic but for alternate. Emergency: This will get you the switch but is the last resort because it is undesirable. For example it could be getting an internship because the pay is very low.Once you have gotten the job, expect things to get harder… 3.Always be humble in your dealingsDepending on how you made the switch, you may or may not start out from the bottom. But I think it is still wise to be humble no matter your station in life or your position in the company. Typically, as it is with me, mid career switchers will be older than their peers who are in the same role. Knowing that I have more working experience I tend to be more arrogant and less keen on hearing their opinions. This is especially so if they are treading on familiar grounds that you have been through before. Having this mindset is very detrimental to growth in general and does not reflect well on oneself. We have seen in the news lately of people with terrible and apalling behavior being displayed on public like this and this. Although this is drastically radical example but I think it stems from a similar attitude of thinking that you know better, so you deserve more respect and others less so. You will be surprised that there are other people that are more experienced or more knowledgeable than you even though they have less accomplishments in life or are a lot younger. I recall my ex boss saying that everyone has something to offer from their lives because everyone has varying interest and focus on their lives, everyone has value in teaching someone else something that they do not know. Which brings us to the next point… 4.Be eager to learn (within your craft and beyond)Life long learning should not be just a slogan for NTUC or the government but it should be something that we constantly practice. Being in a new industry often means that you have very little exposure to what each role in the industry actually does. More so if you are a mid career switcher and have been entrenched in some other unrelated industry for more than a decade of your life. Learning other stuff, especially the auxiliary fields would help one to broaden your horizon as well as to identify other interest. And who knows it may come into good use later on. When I was in my course learning about AI and machine learning, I met a good mentor who introduced to us many core programming concepts which I am still grasping now. I discovered that I am more interested in building applications rather than applied research with led me to choosing software developer as a career path. Learning helps you identify other interest that could be more appealing. In the now famous commencement address by Steve Jobs, he spoke of learning calligraphy earlier on which defined the now classical fonts that Mac machines uses. If anything, learning enhances the flavor of life that we live on.While I was in the course I also learnt about MLOps especially about Kubernetes. I was so intrigued about the subject that I just wanted to learn as much as I can about it, eventually culminating in a certification for it – CKA. Part of the mystic is the name. I mean kubernetes? Which I learnt stands for the helmsman or the pilot in greek (cool factor +1). This also helped in my understanding in software concepts like the microservice architecture and many other associated concepts. 5.Put things into perspective when facing hardshipsSometimes we need to remember why are we switching careers to begin with. Is it because of money? Is it because of boredom? Is it because of a lack of career progression? This I believe will set up a good frame of mind when looking for the next career. Knowing what is your priority. If you wanted an exciting career, then you should not really be looking for a big pay bump in your new career. It will come in time. Finding jobs can also be very frustrating. I remember getting into an argument with my wife because I simply did not have any response from prospective employers on that day. Sometimes we need to remember that we can be grateful for many other things like being healthy, having all four working limbs, being able to walk, having friends and family, not being in constant risk of death and injury as we go about our day. It is widely known that paying gratitude and counting one’s blessings confers many benefits including happiness and contentment. Some people do it by writing a journal, others practice mediation or praying. It is up to you but I think it is very important to remember that we have many things to be grateful for to be alive. Thanks for Reading Those are the lessons that I have learnt directly or indirectly when I was switching my career. Thanks for reading!