Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by infin

How do Shopee goods from China clear customs?

infin — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 16:06:39 +0800

Hello - wondering if there are any Shopee sellers here who can give some insights on the process of customs clearance for goods from China.

Feeling some pain importing my own stuff separately but I don't see that happening when ordering through Shopee. Do the Shopee prices already include customs duty? I doubt it, since the prices still seem so cheap, especialy for goods that are definitely dutiable - ie high value audio gear, etc.

Speaker Cabinet Builders

infin — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:46:00 +0800

Does anyone have recommendations for local custom speaker cabinet builders? The last relevant posts were from 7 years ago...

Right now am trying aliexpress but they are very slow/not so helpful. No responses from shopee custom cabinet sellers. Also trying my luck with local wood working services but no hits yet.

I already have a design but don't have the space or tools to DIY my own speaker cabinets.

Cafes with Hifi in KL/PJ

infin — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 16:01:57 +0800

Hey guys,

I remember seeing a post on FB a while back showing a cafe with high end McIntosh amp/preamp/source and big speakers but can't seem to find it to get the name of the place. Does anyone know of it? If not I'd be interested in any cafe that has a good/expensive hifi stereo system, like those cafes in Japan where the focus is on listening to the music.

I know that there's O'Lagenda but that is more Hifi retail plus cafe.

Sold!

infin — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 11:49:59 +0800

1.
Item(s): Onkyo A-9010 Integrated Amplifier - SOLD
Package includes: Onkyo A-9010 Integrated Amplifier
Price: RM888
Warranty: Nil, bought from Style Laser Audio
Dealing method: COD
Location: Damansara Perdana, The Curve, 1 Utama, TTDI
Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---
Item(s) conditions: 8/10, perfect working condition
Picture: Coming
Reason for sale: Clearing out unused items

2.
Item(s):YS-Audio AM-80 Integrated Amplifier - 135 Watts - SOLD
Package includes: YS-Audio AM-80 Integrated Amplifier - 135 Watts
Price: RM888
Warranty: Nil, imported direct from China
Dealing method: COD
Location: Damansara Perdana, The Curve, 1 Utama, TTDI
Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---
Item(s) conditions: 9/10, perfect working condition
Picture: Coming
Reason for sale: Clearing out unused items

WTS Elac Debut B6 / Elac Uni-fi UB5

infin — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 11:42:02 +0800

1.
Item(s): Sold - Andrew Jones designed budget audiophile/hi-fi 5.1 home theater speakers - Pioneer
Package includes:
Pioneer SP-FS52 Floorstanders
Pioneer SP-BS22 Bookshelf Speakers
Pioneer CS22 Centre Speaker
Pioneer SW-8MK2 Powered Subwoofer
Price: Reserved - RM1188
Warranty: Nil, bought from Harvey Norman Ikano
Dealing method: COD only
Location: Damansara Perdana
Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---
Item(s) conditions: 8/10 cosmetics, perfect working order
Picture: Coming
Reason for sale: Clearing unused items

2.
Item(s): Elac Debut B6 Bookshelf Speakers - Andrew Jones Designed
Package includes: Pair of bookshelf/standmount speakers
Price: RM1188
Warranty: Nil, bought from Acoustique Systems, Amcorp Mall
Dealing method: COD preferred,
Location: Damansara Perdana
Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---
Item(s) conditions: 7/10 has some nice scratches, comes with box, perfect working order
Picture: Coming
Reason for sale: Clearing out unused items

3.
Item(s): Elac Uni-fi UB5 Bookshelf Speakers - Andrew Jones Designed
Package includes: Pair of bookshelf/standmount speakers
Price: RM2388
Warranty: Nil, Imported direct from Amazon US
Dealing method: COD preferred,
Location: Damansara Perdana
Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---
Item(s) conditions: 9/10 cosmetics, comes with box, perfect working order
Picture: Coming
Reason for sale: Clearing out unused items

WTS FLC Technology FLC8S IEM

infin — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 11:26:44 +0800

Hi folks - I am clearing out my unused used audio items to make way for more! Check out my other posts too. I am the original first owner of all these items.

Item(s): FLC Technology FLC8S IEM, blue

Package includes: IEM, Case, Cable

Price: RM788

Dealing method: COD, Bank-in & postage possible

Location: The Curve, 1 Utama, TTDI

Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---

Item(s) conditions: 8.5/10

Picture: Coming

Reason for sale: Clearing out unused audio stuff

Edit: Updated model number

WTS Audeze LCD 2F 2016 / Oppo PM-3

infin — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 11:22:26 +0800

Hi folks - I am clearing out my unused used audio items to make way for more! Check out my other posts too. I am the original first owner of all these items.

1.
Item(s): 
Oppo PM-3 Magneplanar On-ear Headphones, used

Package includes: Headphones, Case, Cable

Price: RM1088

Dealing method: COD, bank-in & postage possible

Location: The Curve, 1 Utama, TTDI

Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---

Item(s) condition: 9/10, used for a little while but mostly unused in case

Picture: Coming

Reason for sale: Clearing out spare items

2.
Item(s): 
Audeze LCD 2F 2016 Magneplanar Full-sized Over-ear Headphones, used

Package includes: Headphones, Case, Cables

Price: RM2888

Dealing method: COD, bank-in & postage possible

Location: The Curve, 1 Utama, TTDI

Contact method/details: PM or email exsomnis@gmail.com
---

Item(s) condition: 8.5/10

Picture: Coming

Reason for sale: Clearing out unused items

Edit: Added LCD2 pics

Where do you audition headphones?

infin — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:23:53 +0800

Hey guys.

I've been taking the lazy way out and buying stuff before I audition them. As a result, I have a hit and miss pairing of DT880 and an E17 - plus I have a Go-DAP X and DBA02 MKII on the way.

Before I cause further damage, I fully intend to take a listen to my next set of headphones. Are there any other places besides Jaben that I can go to to audition some nice headphones? I'm interested only in Senn/Beyer/Hifiman/Audeze.

KL public indoor location

infin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:52:07 +0800

hey guys, I'll be doing an outdoors photoshoot next weekend but if the haze still continues it will be an epic fail.

So plan B is to bring my models indoors at a public place. Any good ideas for indoor locations in KL? Must be photo friendly and have not many people around...

The benefit of job hopping in IT

infin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:04:26 +0800

Job Hopping
Definition: Resigning from your current role/job and moving to another role/job in another company to increase your paid salary within a short time frame of less than 2 years. This may also happen within the same company but may produce a lesser salary increase than moving to a different company.

When I first started out in my career in technical IT 12 years ago, I was told that jumping to different companies every 1-2 years doesn't look good on the resume. It turns out that it was a lie. I've observed ex-colleagues rise meteorically while I languished at one company for 7 years. But I digress, I was living in my comfort zone back then.

The truth is, IT recruitment agencies these days rarely consider job hopping to be an issue and will recommend anyone to the employers - as long as the resume matches their criteria in terms of skills and experience (put aside the fact that the majority of resumes out there are pure fluff). Believe me when I say that these recruitment analysts are not very choosy when they have deadlines to meet. This is especially true if you have less than 10 years of experience and are not being considered for a senior management role. Even if your record is questioned by the interviewers, if you handle the interview well, it would be a non-issue anyway.

Why is this important? Moving to a new job in a new company will automatically increase your salary - provided you choose wisely. Do this regularly enough and you will be able to actually beat inflation. Company loyalty is over-rated - it is a means by which the company ties you down to the minimum possible wage. When you leave, they'll just find someone else. It's how things work. The world does not revolve around you.

For the sake of argument, let's say that you have the opportunity to move to a new company every year, and receive a 20% increase each time. For this assumption we ignore bonuses and allowances (which are another means to entice and pay you minimal wages).

You start out with RM2000.

Year 1 - RM2000 / month | Annual Gross Salary (AGS) - RM24000
Year 2 - RM2400 / month | AGS - RM28800
Year 3 - RM2880 / month | AGS - RM34560
Year 4 - RM3456 / month | AGS - RM41472
Year 5 - RM4147 / month | AGS - RM49764
Year 6 - RM4976 / month | AGS - RM59712
Year 7 - RM5972 / month | AGS - RM71664
Year 8 - RM7166 / month | AGS - RM85992
Year 9 - RM8599 / month | AGS - RM103188
Year 10 - RM10320 / month | AGS - RM123840

Job Hopper Total Gross Salary earned over 10 years - RM 598992

This is just an example to show you what you would miss out on if you didn't hop jobs. And by the way, 20% jumps are conservative. If you're undervalued according to the employer's HR compensation policy, you may even get a big jump. For example, with the compa ratio system, they would have to give you at least 0.8 or 80% of the average salary for the position and grade level. This is determined by HR based on their own survey of the job market - or by consensus with an IT human resources workgroup for Malaysia, which involves principle and major IT vendors. They decide what the median/expected salary is for different roles based on job salary survey data and then individually pick a percentile for their company to adhere to.

If you're lucky, the company you're joining pegs their salaries on a much higher percentile of the salary market or they have their own proprietary system. These can be niche companies that focus on niche services - high salaries because of the uncommon technical skills required.

Now, let's say that you stayed at the same role/company for 5 years then switched to a new role/company. This is what it might look like, assuming that you get an annual increment of 5% and haven't worked on your self promotional skills but have at least a payscale increase. 5% annual increment is very optimistic these days, even at an MNC:

Year 1 - RM2000 / month AGS - RM24000
Year 2 - RM2100 / month | AGS - RM25200
Year 3 - RM2835 / month (promoted to Senior additional 30%) | AGS - RM34020
Year 5 - RM2976 / month | AGS - RM35712
Year 6 - RM3571 / month (changed job/company 20%) | AGS - RM42852
Year 7 - RM3749 / month | AGS - RM44988
Year 8 - RM4686 / month (promoted to next level additional 20%) | AGS - RM56232
Year 9 - RM4920 / month | AGS - RM59040
Year 10 - RM5166 / month | AGS - RM61992

Non-Job Hopper Total Gross Salary earned over 10 years - RM 384036

RM 598992 vs RM 384036. If you could earn an extra RM200,000 just by job hopping, why WOULDN'T you do it?

After 10 years you can reasonably expect your technical IT salary to be at least RM10K per month. And here's the thing: it really is a salary that is given by IT vendors, MNCs and other companies with large IT infrastructures today. In fact, at 10 years this is more like 10K - 15K a month, depending on the company and you. People do eventually achieve these salaries without job hopping every year but by the time that they do, job hoppers have already zoomed past by them and earned more.

There isn't room for everybody in this range but it is something that you can work towards. The first thing to do is join an IT vendor at the first opportunity, the bigger the better. MNC IT vendors are the first choice but if that isn't possible, go to a large local IT vendor, preferably public listed.

Once you've gotten your foot in the door, you'll find that from then on it is very easy for you to move from IT company to IT company. Recruiters and employers love seeing all the well known companies that you've worked for since this gives your resume a lot of credibility and boosts your chances at getting the new job. Sadly, they would rather hire the so so Wintel engineer who has worked for big MNCs, rather than hire the hacker genius who worked for a local startup that they've never heard of. But now you know that MNCs/big companies are good for the resume!!

I'm not trying to devalue the importance of technical expertise. Technical expertise is critical and has taken me to where I am now. It gives you leverage and allows you to demand to be compensated. Excel in technical expertise and management will be forced to recognise you. If they don't, move on and use that leverage to get 50% instead of just 20% at the next job. (Companies are not obligated to give you a compa ratio of 0.8, there's usually some room to negotiate a higher offer)

It may turn out that you like the company that you work for and want to stay a while. That's fine. If you're lucky, you may have a good boss who looks out for you and gives you raises and promotions without you having to ask for them. I have to admit that that's why I spent 7 years at one company. However, if that doesn't happen to you, don't expect your boss to change their behaviour. They won't. What you can and should do is change roles. Look for another position within the company. A lateral move should give you a higher pay grade, according to HR practices. It may not be much improvement but that's on top of your annual increment. If there is no such thing in your company, then you really need to move on anyway.

If you feel that you are undervalued but want to stay at the company, be bold. Approach your boss and voice your concerns. If this doesn't work, flirt with another company and get an offer from them. Tell your boss about this, say that you are considering it but would rather stay, if the company can match it. If management recognises your worth, they will compensate you. Otherwise, you really need to leave anyway. ***Do not try this more than once at the same company, for obvious reasons. =)

It pays to specialise in several things and not just one. The companies that you will end up supporting use a huge variety of different tech. That way, when an opportunity for a specific technology comes up at a good company, you have it covered. For example, if you're an AD specialist you should branch out into things like Exchange and SCOM, which are interdependent with AD. If you're a programmer, you should already know how to adapt to any programming language on demand - if you know C then take an effort to know C++, C# and Java. If you're a PHP person, also be an ASP.net person and vice versa. If you know mySQL, get to know Oracle and SQL as well. And so on and so forth.

The most important thing is to learn how to adapt. The cliche about how things always change in IT is real. If you are committed to adapt, change and learn for your whole career, you will go very far. To make the job-hopping strategy work and maximise the number of good opportunities that you can pick up - be flexible. Allow your role to change. For example, if you thought of yourself as a systems engineer, break free. You have the same fundamentals needed to be a consultant, an architect, a systems implementer, a service delivery manager, a project manager, team lead, the list goes on. Do you really think all those consultants out there are worthy of being called consultants? We don't call them 'con-men' for no reason

Throughout my career I have been a computer technician, systems engineer, technical team lead, technical trainer, manager, technical account manager and freelance IT guy. I regret not venturing into consultancy and project management as there are a good number of opportunities in those fields - but who knows, I may still try it out. My core has always been technical and it is the basis on which I get my confidence from. I am sure that aptitude is vital but sometimes you just have to believe in yourself and be willing to take a risk in adapting to new roles.

I hope you too can earn a 5 figure salary - it's not impossible and it is definitely something you can strive for in IT. Even though we may be jealous of the businessmen, lawyers, architects, petroleum engineers, specialist doctors, SAP guys, etc, etc.

Top Tips:
1. Don't believe or think that you owe the company anything. They owe you for your time, effort and dedication. Of course, you must provide these first - prove your worth, show your value. But do not think that it is your duty to make the owners rich while you toil away and earn peanuts. Even if you enjoy your job, that doesn't justify you not earning the extra money you could be earning. If you really didn't care about the money, you wouldn't be reading this. And trust me when I say this: In the end it's all about the money.
2. Moving jobs and companies is commonplace. It is expected by companies. The company will not miss you. Colleagues and co-workers might miss you but they don't pay you any money. And besides, you can keep in touch with them on Facebook and make new friends in the next company.
3. MNCs actually encourage you to switch jobs within the company. This is to give you a method for career progression. However, you need to plan and work it out yourself. It won't be handed to you on a plate. Let your boss know about your plans immediately to avoid problems later on. This will actually look good on you because it shows that you have ambition, drive and a career map. These are not bad things.
4. Do not burn bridges when leaving a company. You will need your boss as a work reference later on. You may even end up going back to the company - this happens and it's not frowned upon. In fact, it's a good way to improve your compensation and work for a company that you like. Move out, then move back in again sometime later.
5. Do not expect to be recognised for your work by default. Most times you will need to inform your management of what you have achieved. Keep track of your achievements throughout the working year so that you can bring them up during your annual review. Sometimes this is pointless, as allocations would have already been made for pay raises and promotions. In that case, make sure that management is aware of it long beforehand.
6. Be proactive about your compensation concerns. In other words, do something about it. Complaining to colleagues does not make a difference and therefore doesn't count.
7. By the time you get to 10 years working experience, you should already know what you want to do in the next 10 years. I can't say much for that stage because I'm not there yet. But suffice to say, after 12 long years of working my butt off for someone else, I dream of working for myself. In the meantime, I enjoy what I do and get paid for it. But it's never enough and that should be your attitude, really.
8. Don't be afraid of learning new things.
9. Don't wait for the company to provide you with training for something you want or they need. Take your own initiative. Think of it as investing into yourself and increasing your value. Also don't depend only on on the job training. Get your professional qualifications done - they will help your strategy.
10. You deserve to be compensated for efforts beyond and above the call of duty, no matter how much you're earning. Management doesn't really think about how much you're already getting. In fact, they should be invested in ensuring that you succeed because it reflects well on them. If it doesn't seem like they care much about you, it's time to change job role.
11. If you can't learn how to be chummy with your boss, then learn how to be diplomatic and tactful. It's the next best thing. Of course, it always pays to be on your boss's good side - your colleagues don't know and don't have to know what you two talk about in your 1 on 1 meetings.
12. When looking for new jobs, go direct to employers first. Then hook up with recruitment agencies and then go through the job sites.
13. Build your network of friends in the IT industry. Most big IT companies have referral fees paid out to employees - these friends would be more than happy to refer you when jobs open up in their companies - which they will find out about first, before advertised to the public.
14. Whenever you change role/company, update your resume! By keeping your resume up to date, you can respond quicker to head hunters/recruiters. They don't have the time to follow-up with you unless they are desperate. A day's delay and they may have already filled the position with someone else.
15. Never stop looking out for new opportunities. Read those Jobstreet alert emails. Browse through monster.com every once in a while. Don't stop.
16. If a wonderful opportunity has arrived and you have only just joined a new company - it is OK to resign within the probationary period. That period is not just for the employer to evaluate you, it is also for you to evaluate the employer. Do not make it a habit though, there aren't many excuses for leaving a job before 3 or 6 months.
17. If you do job hop, expect a remark or statement on your job hopping. It may or may not happen but be prepared to justify your job hopping - even if it's some lame standard reply like 'I did not see my career progressing there', 'I wanted to seek a new challenge elsewhere' or 'I am ambitious and want to move up the payscale as fast as I can'. Just make sure that it is so convincing that it seems like you believe in it.
18. In interviews, NEVER criticise your previous companies. This makes you look bad.
19. Know your worth, know how much you should expect from a job role. At least get some indications before you commit to a new opportunity. You don't want to be stuck at a below median salary level for any amount of time.
20. Do not automatically accept salary offers, even if you're getting more than you hoped for. Always negotiate for more. Employers usually offer the minimum that they can offer for the position, according to their HR systems. If you have reached the point where they are offering you the position, they are not going to just give it away to someone else if you don't accept the initial offer. It took time, money and effort to get there and they will not want to waste it. And besides, it is common to ask for more. Believe in your worth.
21. Leave your current and past salaries out of your resume.
22. Makre sure you know your stuff!
23. Job hopping increases the likelihood of having to work in bad work environments where one or more SOBs are your direct team-mates. There is nothing you can or should do here. Just ride it out with the knowledge and satisfaction that you'll be out of there like a flash and be most likely earning more than said SOBs in the years to come.

Discuss, add and subtract!

Updated:
1.1 Table value for salary projections
1.2 Additional tips
1.3 Editing