Sunday, May 27, 2012

RIP Charles

Dear Charles

How is it there? It was a shock to all of us when we got the news that you had left us. We didn't really talk much, but I'll remember you for several things: that we played poker together, we did the business case competition and that you were always talking about tomorrow and getting a job and hoping for the best.

You would have turned a year older next week, and graduated in a month's time too. And for sure, I know you would have gotten the job that you were looking for. I wish I had gone to the Great Leap Brewery if anything, just to say hi one last time to you.

We're all very much in a state of shock now, but I guess life will go on, life HAS to go on. You will live in our memories as our class representative. And in mine as the guy who carried a Crumpler bag everywhere.

Where ever you are, I hope you are doing well. Flop your monster hands my friend and take it down.


Bye

ChampionFishball

Friday, May 11, 2012

Moving on

Now that the thesis defense is complete, and most of the administrative work has been done, everybody is getting ready to move on with life - be it to their new jobs in Beijing (not that many international students were able to get a good job) or to another country (especially to their home countries). But before that, a fair number of my classmates have decided to go on holidays, just to travel while they can afford the time before reality kicks in.

As for myself, I've opted to stay in Beijing as long as possible before I move on to start my new job with a start-up out of China. Unfortunately, I don't really want say much more about where I'm heading or what exactly I'll be doing except it's to do with online business development.

Truth be told, when I first heard about the job, it wasn't on the top of my list. While the business development factor was there, I wasn't sure about whether I wanted to join the online community. But after much discussion and thought, I do realize that I would like to be involved with the online space in some way or another - if not coding (which I can't do) then definitely with business development and such. The future continues to be moving towards online as it has for the past 20 years, and I feel that this is really an opportunity for me to be involved with the online space once again.

Like most of my classmates that have found jobs now, I found out about the job through a good friend who then recommended me for it. I am beginning to doubt the effectiveness of finding a job through websites (advertisements - be it Ushi, Linkedin or otherwise), the career development center and recruitment events. While there are some people who have been successful in doing so, a good number of people fail at securing a job through those channels. I would say that, another effective way is to do an internship, then parlay that into a full time offer when you graduate. Searching for a job that's advertised publicly is like a crap shoot.

Do I have much more to say? I don't really think so. The past 2 years have been an intense roller coaster ride, more in terms about learning about China, the language and the relationships I've had. Academicaly, Tsinghua University's MBA program is not significantly worse than that of other universities.

In terms of opportunities, China will be facing economic difficulties over the next 6 months onwards, hopefully, there will not be another economic crisis or the world as a whole will suffer. People will lose jobs regardless of where they are and families will suffer. If you're planning to come to the China party now, it's getting late, but for those who are willing to put it on the line, immerse themselves and go the extra mile, it's still a party worth attending. But don't come here with a sense of entitlement, because you're going to be sorely disappointed if that's the way.

In the end, I guess the question is, was it worth it? And the answer to me, is yes it was.


To those who followed my life for two years, thank you. I appreciate you.

To those who asked me questions, thank you. I hope you found what you were looking for.

To those who were my friends, thank you. I hope I was good enough a friend to you too.

To Beijing and China that were my home for two years, thank you. I couldn't have asked more for a home.

I would list down the people that I would like to thank, who have made my life memorable for the past two years, but that's just too long a list. If you ever happen to read this blog, and think you know who I am, I hope you had just a good a time as I did and think of me kindly.


Will I continue to blog after this? Most probably so. But very likely on another blog that I'll link to this. I seem to enjoy blogging quite a bit :)

Good night and good bye!!


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Aggey - I'll find you my way

Download

Flo Rida - Whistle (DJ Shamoon)

Re-Con - Calling

Hixxy, Dave Castellano and Fat Steve - Falling from the sky

Things I learnt

Over the past two years, I did learn a quite a bit - though mainly non-academic, and some, perhaps not really meaningful. But as I sit here and reflect on what I did over the past 2 years, I thought I would jot some things down. As I am likely to leave Beijing, and China to pursue my career, I feel a tinge of sadness, after all, Beijing has been a very enjoyable place to stay.


1. Forget that you're a foreigner - A lot of foreigners come here with a mindset that they are foreign and thus, should be treated in a "special" manner by the locals, or sometimes, they think that they are superior to the Chinese as China is still very much a developing country. If anything, that mindset would prevent you from truly being able to assimilate and adapt to the culture. It can be as simple as trying new food, or making friends, where you expect people to say/act in a certain way. That doesn't really work - come here with no expectations of how people will treat you.

2. Carry a pack of tissue with you - you really never know when you will use this. I would go into details, but let's not get too graphic or disgusting.

3. Looks and money get the girls - if you're planning to get laid, and get laid a lot, you had better either have the cash to flash or have muscles. Do take time to spend in the gym and eat sensibly, of the people I've noticed, if you're of Chinese heritage and you're tall and have muscles, it is much much easier for you to get some. There are some things that you'll never be able to change (black/blond hair, blue/black eyes, etc) but you can change whether you're in shape or not. In fact, if you're a Causasian and you're in good shape, you'll get it on even more.

However, Chinese girls are not necessarily whores. They're not all willing to jump into bed with you. Do respect them, if you want a quick lay, look for one willing to give you a quick lay, if she's not interested, move on. Don't assume that she wants to get freaky with you just because.... (I think this is applicable anywhere in the world)

4. Make good local friends - get to know a local friend, at least one very well. He/She will give you an opportunity to really explore Beijing from their perspective. As I've said before, the foreigner's Beijing and the local's Beijing can differ vastly. Also, it's an excellent way to pick up the language, if you have language partners, try to avoid sleeping with them - that messes things up and skews the relationship.

5. There's only so much clubbing that you can do - your money is better spent on traveling around Beijing and the rest of China. If anything, at least hit the major cities (including the tourist places). After a while, stumbling back at 4am after two bottles of Grey Goose gets pretty boring.

6. Don't whine about China - if you're frustrated and you feel yourself beginning to hate China, go somewhere else. Don't stay in China and be frustrated and tell people you hate it but you don't want to leave, that just doesn't make sense. Yes, admittedly China can be frustrating, but be adaptable and move along with the program.

7. Get a smart phone - whether an iPhone or Android, get one, nothing less (I don't know about Windows Mobile though, but most applications here are for either of the former operating systems). They have them really cheap here (RMB1,000 for a Xiaomi) so pick one up if you don't have one. If you don't have a smart phone, you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities to connect and communicate with people here.


MBA Program

Don't expect anything, don't expect anything out of the academics, and don't expect anything for your career. Do your research and build your own networks. People you meet will tend to assume two things about you;

1. That you can speak Chinese
2. That you understand how to business in China

And the only way you're going to be able to do both of that is to immerse yourself thoroughly in China and experience it and work hard.



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Sy & Technikore - Where were you

Friday, May 4, 2012

What now?

What now is exactly on my mind. If you come to Tsinghua SEM, you'll finished writing your thesis somewhere end-April, polish it up and it's due by the second week of May. Other than that, you don't really have much to do aside from looking for jobs. But if you start looking for jobs now, it's a little bit too late - most of the decent jobs have been pretty much taken and you are stuck looking for jobs that trickle through the Career Development Center (CDC).

If you're not too picky, a good place to start is on LinkedIn. Start applying for jobs through LinkedIn, I know classmates who seem to have had a pretty good hit rate on that; at least they're getting called for the first round interviews. But of course, some of the jobs seem pretty mediocre. I would seriously advise you to start looking for jobs sometime in August of your second year - at least prepare your cover letters and resumes and start networking. You can never start too early on that.

The other option is to look at NON-MBA jobs, such as jobs with IBM, P&G, and all the larger companies. You won't be able to join their specialized MBA programs/management programs, but you'll at least have some job of sorts. You won't earn a lot and you may not have the similar opportunities you would have had if you were on their programs. But that's a solid option to have.

So, what else is there to do? Well, you could explore Beijing especially if you like to take photos. Slightly before this time, it's a good 2 weeks of spring, where the weather is cool and not too hot, so go to places like 798, Nanlouguxiang or even Tianjin. Go with a partner, preferably one of the opposite sex, it's a lot more fun that way.

If you want to go to gym, there are 2 gyms located in Wudaokou, one at TUS Park and one at Lotus Center (I think it's Nirvana). Nirvana is the most expensive one and not as nice as the one at TUS Park. I think there's another gym at Wenjin International Hotel, but I'm not too sure about that. Choose TUS Park's gym at B1, it's pretty cheap and good. If you have decided to stay in Liudaokou, there's a Chinese gym at Jinma Dasha, where the Starbucks is. It's not too pricey and gets the job done.

If you like pool, there are several pool centers (I didn't know that they were pretty hard to find until I tried looking for them). The first one is around the corner from Ten Year Cafe. Walk from Ten Years Cafe towards Wudaokou in the small alley and on your left will be a hotel, the road will also split left at the hotel. Just walk down the left road until you come to a large building (it's literally 1 minute from the hotel, so it isn't that far). That's the first place, the second place is at thw Wudaokou Hotel (I think that's what it's called), where the cinema is (opposite Hualian). Next to the ICBC ATM's is the entrance, just go down to B1 again - this one is pretty nice, decent tables and cues, except it's way pricey, I think it's about RMB50 per hour. If you want to play 4-ball or Korean pool, there's one on the left side of the cinema called Dama Billards in the little alley (you have to enter a staircase and walk up 3 flights of stairs).

Alternatively, if you fancy playing computer games, just go to B1 of Huaqing, at the entrance next to the McDonald's in Wudaokou.

Come to think about it, there really isn't much to do in Wudakou.... you can always go to Propaganda/Solutions to pick up girls/boys. Any night will be a good night, just don't get drunk there, the dodgy alcohol they serve will make you sick, literally.

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Jaime said

"Thanks! I already read that book, it was really fun and interesting. Actually IB was not my first choice either. But, right now the construction industry situation is not that good, and I have experienced myself how architects are exploited for a misserable pay, so I thought that if I had to work that much I would better be payed well. Appart from these, I believe working in IB would be very challenging and would help me learn about how business are done. Sadly I don't really know how to break in... "


Hi Jaime... (thanks for being such a consistent reader, we should have coffee one day :) )

Well, truth be told, most jobs are somewhat horrible. To be honest though, I have rarely, if never, heard about architects going into investment banking. By and large, most non-finance people who go into finance tend to be engineers, physics, science etc. I may be wrong, but investment banking usually doesn't focus on hiring architects. If I'm not wrong, you once mentioned you're a PhD? I think it might be easier for you to transition into consulting instead of investment banking.

I know that you would like to be compensated as much as possible for your work done, we all do :) not that I'm trying to discourage you from going into investment banking, but you should consider other options and widen your focus a little bit.

1. The higher paying jobs are front office - sales, business development, client management - and not operational jobs. You need to keep this in mind when applying for jobs, while operations is a critical part of any business' success, operational people not only do not get paid that well, but also tend to have less recognition and career opportunities. Good operations people are hard to find, but employers tend to think that they are easily replaceable (perhaps when compared to a star busines developer/sales person etc)

2. Money can be made in any job, especially in niched industries - commodities, specialized manufacturing - you make more money when you're specialized in something and not just a generalist. However, having said that, it's interesting to note that the specialist that becomes a generalist makes even MORE money because they have technical skill (which is valuable) and are able to work across different roles (which is important), allowing them to transition to senior management.

3. Challenge has to be met by passion. If you want a challenging job, you need to be passionate about it, or you will never be able to take the stress, the challenges or even the hours that you need to put into it. While money is a strong motivator and people work for years in finance, most people in investment banking tend to move out after a couple of years, some go back to school, or go into a specialized finance job (PE/VF/HF is they're very good). Unless you're passionate about making money for the sake of money, you will be hard pressed to survive in any environment just because you want to make money.

To clarify, there is a difference between making money and making money for the sake of money. One wants to make money for material gain, the other just loves to make money for the fun of it.

4. The best way to learn how business is done is by doing a business, or working in a business where you are involved with the business. Not by doing an MBA or by working in an investment bank or by being a consultant. While you do learn about business in those three mentioned ways, you will only be able to see very focused areas, or have a very shallow exposure to actual business.

I would suggest (I might be wrong here), but if you wanted to learn about business, this is the route that you might consider doing. Given that you don't have a background in business, and you do need to learn the basics, consider the following.

i) Work in a commercial bank with their commercial loans department. Here, you will learn about the cash flow of the business and what goes in and out, more importantly you will have the opportunity to speak with 100s of CEOs and Finance managers about their financial requirements.

ii) I'm sure you've done this, but start reading blogs on entrepreneurship and business. There are plenty of them, do a quick search and subscribe to them. They will offer insight into different parts of business, sometimes, a very in-depth view as well.

iii) Do a business :)

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Clazzi - Love & Hate (Korean)

I'm told it sounds very 80's... but I think it's very nice.

On that note, you should watch the original Korean version of "My Sassy Girl".

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