Sometime about 1 1/2 weeks ago

My boss finally increased my salary. How much? Not much but enough for me to spend more on entertainment. Like I said, it's not as much as I like but it certainly increased my entertainment budget (now I can go to the movies more often). However, with the increase in pay it would also mean "trouble ahead". A price to follow the pay. I would expect a tougher job in sense of more work load; since I (the company) pay you more, I would expect your workload to increase. Problem is I don't know how much the workload would be.

Scary? I don't know. I mean I'm a trainer. How much can they load on me till I cannot work? So I'll pick up some new courses that I haven't taught before. That's good for me. Tougher life ahead is not too a daunting thought. What I matter and scared of is, that I would not get time off (I mean my personal time after office hours), and I get screwed for not able to deliver a good job. I mean it's not very possible for anyone to take up a task that you never did before and do a good job out of it if you were not given ample time to prepare.

The other thing that some people may feel sorry for me is my bond. I'm bonded for a period of two years. So it's "my life for my company" for the next two years. The ICP exam is costly and so the bond for two years is to deter the unethical jokers who took the exam, passed and quit the very next day. I won't do that. So I'm bonded now but two years isn't that long. I can endure. I'll be here and so please don't ask me "so where are you working now" for the next two years.

In my line of work, it's common to have a manager that throws a course on your desk and ask you to conduct the training in two days time. You can't say "I won't do it. I haven't have time". The manager would answer you by saying, "You'll have to do it. The customer that is paying your salary demands it in two days time". So you just have to grit your teeth and dive into the arena to face a horde of hungry souls. The hungry souls won't chew you up during your struggle period of trying to stand up BUT they would complain to your boss and that's where the chewing up starts. I don't mind getting chewed up but as long as my boss understood that I gave my best, and this is my first time, then I'm okay.

I've been in those situations before where the boss would stand by me, knowing I did my best. The thing is I've also been those situations where any first time task do-ers would get screwed up. Been there, done that. I'd also hope that I do not have that situation here. It hasn't happen to me yet but I hope that the "YET" doesn't happen.

I cherish my after work hours. I could go to a cyber café and slug it out with my fellow team (team comprises of William and Joel) with computers or anyone. I cherish my moment of going to a café and have a cup of ginger tea or something like that. If I can I’ll find time to read some books as well. So I do cherish my “slowing down the night” after a “rush for the day” time. I missed my pet fish (I’ll write about that next blog). Sigh. So till my back breaks, I’ll be doing the same stuff. Over and out.

Sometime about two weeks ago...

It's been real rewarding after putting in enough effort to make it. I am now a certified Cisco trainer. I've completed the CCSI program and passed. It's very tiring (for me at least) but as I've said earlier, it's real rewarding. A bit of a background on this exam/program.

It's an acronym for Certified Cisco Systems Instructor. You have to achieve a certain level of proficiency in order to qualify to take the exam/program. A minimum qualification is 90.1% score on CCNA but CCNA level isn't good enough but you do not have to be a CCNP certification holder either. So a minimum standard is in between that.

"You must have hands on technical experience in bridging and routing, switching, and/or WAN environments, plus at least a year of technical teaching experience. You must be sponsored by (or yourself become) a Cisco Training Partner. In addition to meeting those conditions, you must attend the course you wish to teach, and then pass the related exam. Afterwards, you must attend and pass a two-day Instructor Certification Process (ICP) at Cisco. Your sponsoring Cisco Training Partner pays the ICP fee."

So what's so tough about the thing? Nothing to some people but to others its a big deal. Getting a diploma isn't a big deal to Masters but it is a big deal to some people. So what's my stand then? It was not a big deal but I am glad that I could achieve it. I am glad I survived that 8-hour (plus 1 hour lunch) exam.

Eight hours I said? Yup. It is an eight hour exam that every candidate must take. Several methods which you can take the exam and I was taking the exam via connecting to U.S. of A. I had to telnet (a fancy word for connecting to a computer network miles away) to a terminal server (the computer that I had to connect to) to take the exam. Then I had to show, proof and configure in front of a proctor (i.e. the bosun) all the requirements given. Nine candidates took the exam, three survived. I came in second. I was dead tired (mentally, emotionally and physically, mentally for the most part) when I came out of the exam hall. Esther had dinner with me to congratulate me and it was nice (of course she’s nice). Unfortunately I was too bushed even to smile properly. It was a problem, for me at least, because of the connection to the U.S. of A. was kinda slow. Frustrating at times but at least I survived. A big sigh but I've made it.

Stay Tuned People!!!

Dear readers,

I know that I've been neglecting in blogging. It's not that I've forgotten but the past month has been....errrm....full. I'm trying to calm myself down from various stuffs so that I can write properly. What really irks me is after I write, posted it and found it to be less-than-satisfactory. My level of satisfaction. To let you know what's coming soon, I'll do a recap on my near-death experience where my car tires blew and my car did a 180-degree turn and.... next blog post. Promise on that one. The other one is a relief on my career and probably a raise. Yippie! I can now afford to eat more after this. My relfections on my friends after so many years will be posted next. Office problems (what else) and other small ones. So stay tuned.

P/S : I've added another blog link. It's a blog that depicts my friend's working life. SP's link.

P/S/S: I've also added the new blog link for Princess Diary. Please have a look.