He choose to have a lot of commitment by buying an expensive car (Honda City). Or else, he would have less commitment and perhaps he could even take an entry level programing job for a while ( a few months to a year). Now, he has no choice.

How you choose to spend your time and money determine how much freedom you have..

Dreamer

Spot on man.


The only change is change itself, yet many resist change. In this situation, a radical change is needed. Sell the car and get a second hand motor.

I still dont understand WTF has it gotta do with the car? Buy already, use la, sell and make a loss, risk your life on a motorbike and get stuck in the rain, WTF for?

Cool it, dude. People are only giving their own opinions. You can't judge which is right or wrong.

This thread is about seeking for advice / suggestions / ways to solve a problem. You are definitely bound to get answers from both sides of the scale.

At the end of the day, your friend would have to make his own decision. He's an adult, and sometimes he needs to think for himself on whats best for the situation.

I'm sure no one here meant any malice or intentional spitefulness here.

Cheers

Cause he can only get rid of the car, we cannot advice him to get rid of his family, we have to face the truth, HE LOST HIS JOB, what is his main priority ? His car, or his family ? We are advising to reduce his burden, to make his life easier. This is his story : His sampan does not look nice, so he screwed a hole in his sampan, water is comming in(he is at this stage), the sampan is about to sink, its his choice to throw his gold into the sea or go diving with them(with his family). Without the gold(pride, or his car), he reduce the speed of sinking, he has more time to look for another boat(where he might able to get back those gold).
I hope you can calm down before further writing.

This post has been edited by narf03: Aug 5 2006, 06:41 PM

Pennywise,

I am NOT suggesting that he get rid of his car. I am just telling you that he is not very matured and commited to his dream.

Dreamer

I am begining to sense flame balls building and soon enough, it will reach critical mass.

Seems like this discussion has slanted towards the motive of buying a car. Is it because it is a Honda City that causes him to receive massive criticism? If it were an Iswara or other local car, would he still receive the same level of hammering here?

I do agree, that choosing a rather expensive car is a little over the limit. But that is done, so no point crying over spilt milk. He has instalments to settle, no job at the moment, and pondering over which job to choose: Something he is familiar with, with higher salary range, or to choose a dream job of programming, which might not get him as much as the earlier one.

People, focus!

I think he should see what is the best offer that comes along. Now he needs a job, he should grab anything that comes along. People need money to survive and if his last offer was 4k+, I don't see why he can't take that job first.

Once he got the job, he should be able to start planning his next move. Personally, I don't believe too much on paper qualifications other than having a degree. I'm speaking from both a programmer and support engineer and I did switch between both these type of jobs without it affecting my pay negatively.

You never know that after you get into a company by doing support job, opportunity may open in programming/development departments where he would be able to transfer departments to gain better experience in doing development. With his experience in support, he can try to get into big companies as a support engineer and then later, try to change to the area of his interest if possible. If this is not possible with his current company, at least he can slowly take his time to find a programming job whereby he don't have to start with a fresh grads pay.

Now is not a good time to be choosy I guess. For me, I have a lot of bills to pay, so I can't afford to be choosy when I am jobless.

Aiyorrr... I think everyone has their own dreams wat. Though it may be a little immature and rush action to purchase the City but what done is done man.

He didnt lose the job la. The job lose him. It was not worth it for him to stay any further in that Cinapek Company.

Dreamer101,
I think you should remember the Cinapek Company thread I posted before right? It's for the same dude la wei! That company was literally abusing him, not just cause they pulled off the shipping software project from him.

I think he made a right move in quitting his job at Cinapek. How can you find any motivation under such circumstances? No point working your donkey off for a company that doesn't know how to appreciate what assets it has.

But your friend didn't plan far enough. From the moment these abuses began, he should have already given some thought about it and started planning his next course of action. I wouldn't quit my job until I have secured a new one.

He literally opened up a void limbo space between quitting and getting a new job. Now that's a lesson he should learn.

Nope, he is surviving just fine doing freelance and insurance. Now, he just wanna plan his next move for either programming or support.

The car may not be the wisest decision he made his entire life but neither did that affect him one bit. Least he did was brought his family down to Singapore for holidays in the City.

I think I leave the rest to Casanova to post.

Pennywise,

"Neither did that affect him a bit"

How would you know?? Did he pay off the car?? The best that you can say is you think it does not affect him. I think a Honda City is around 80K. You say that he is 26. Let's say he started working in 18 = working for 26 -18 = 8 years. Let's assume that he saves 50% of his income ~ 20K a year. Total = 20K X 8 = 160K. He spent half of his life savings in a car ( 80K ). This is assuming that he did not take a car loan. He did that as a reward for himself?? This is very reckless!!! Make sure you never loan any money to him..

<< No choice right? Car is never an asset but sometimes, people just have that need. I look at it at a different perspective, the car is the reward, a motivation, a drive.>>

Those are your statements. I was surprised that you do not think it is reckless.

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Aug 6 2006, 08:20 AM

It was never about the car. I sense desperation from your previos post which made me assume he has no other sources of income after losing his job. Bearing in mind he has commitment. Since you have clarified that he has other income then ignore my post.

Threadstarter:
I think the way you phrased your friend's story puts him in bad light.
- you make it seems he resign when his project was cancel by the new boss. (cannot adapt to company direction)
- you make him seem that he cannot prioritize his spending (so many post on Honda City, guys this is Jobs and Career lah...)
When I read the initial post I also feel that sure kena flame one...

But back to the question, Programming or Support? I myself also in this situation before, still in same job but changed from programming to support gradually. Generally, Support is continuous. Your role becomes a co-ordinator and less hardcore work. Your hours must be flexible. Just ask your friend, is he willing to wipe the slate clean and start off as a Prorgammer, or continue and try to leverage his current knowledge and use it to his advantage when getting new jobs?

Not many ppl can have a job that is also their interest. Not when your survival depends on it. Work to survive. Got spare, indulge in interest. I wouldn't go and waste my experience in support just to pursue programming, an area where many firms prefer fresh grads .

Come on, man. You pass over a 4K offer, I read also get annoyed. Tons of forummers here get paid peanuts for tough jobs. But we all grit our teeth and continue.

This post has been edited by vey99: Aug 7 2006, 12:39 PM

Lol... threadstarter kena tiao again... Wait, I sms him to ask him read. Hahahaha...

I did not mean that. I just highlight why the comments were rather negative by the bros. We all cari makan susah. In a way, the bros are helping out to see where the gap is, that's all.

Maybe I highlighted the wrong facts in my first post but I look at things differently than you do. The fact that my friend is capable of buying his own car, not being look down by others, not being discriminate, sacrifice for his siblings and go out to work make me respect me, make all of us friends respect him.

I know he should not have turned down the RM4k job. Sure he has his reasons, I do not doubt his maturity. Anyway, this topic isnt started about money or how he survive. It's about which path he should take from now on.

Money wise, I believe he is much more capable and richer (in savings) than all of my friends. Though he has many responsibilities, he carry them out flawlessly and hardly ever he spends on unnecessary items (except maybe the car which some of you think so).

The reason he probably couldnt take the job is because he didnt want to be an irresponsible person, going in for the money, quitting and leaving when he finds something better. As he always say "boh steady..." and he man his words.

True, now is not the time to be jobless. Sure all of us has bills to pay but I know him as someone who is not immature about all this, who never calculate or plan before he takes the next step. He just probably see it differently than all of us.

Sorry the discussion slanted towards the motive of buying a car. Apparently his father is making some money now so he can slack off a bit and do what he wants to. It's not about putting food on the table like it was before.

Be fair, how others have enjoyed their youth, he sacrificed it. Now, if he wanna slack off, not even his parents can say anything about it. IMHO, he is a good son, a great brother and a fantastic friend.

Well Casanova, what can I say? Seems pretty clear that you are obviously a great friend to him too. Just that both you and Pennywise may act rather protective towards your friend, especially when people here in LYN give comments, you both seem rather quick to defend his actions.

We're not here to throw hammers at anyone. As again, this thread is about opinions, so it's only fair that what other commented are based on their individual thoughts.

I'd like to repeat once again, no one meant any personal attacks here. Let's all be open to both compliments and criticisms likewise.

Cheers

life is hard, especially when u working for someone, but i really curious why ur fren don't try to look for others job before he quit his job, i know that u were saying that the company is abusing...but for sake of his family or even for himself ... looking for jobs while you having a job in hand, u will more valuable compare to looking for jobs while you are jobless.

Indeed, we are all curious too, but what has happened has happened, and no point lamenting over spilt milk.