Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by normaldude

Interviewer's club

normaldude — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:01:45 +0800

was wondering if there's any regular interviewers here in LYN. objective is to discuss how to pick best candidate for jobs and common turn offs of candidate.

i have a number of personal observations
1) Top scorer in a technical test might not be the best candidate
2) Person that has good results are sometimes overrated
3) Some people are just bad at interviews, but able to perform well in the actual work
4) People like to list a lot of skills/abilities on the resume, but know very little about it when pressed further
5) And there are those that will outright lie and say anything to get the job

a couple of my major turn offs
1) Salary/benefits discussion on the first interview
2) Not researching more about the company
3) Coming late for interview
4) Does not display any interest in the role
5) Lack of confidence

anyone has other experiences they would like to share from an interviewer point of view?

Breaking the 10k mark as a software engineer

normaldude — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:09:58 +0800

Hi all,

I'm currently holding a good job writing software for a respectable MNC. I was recently called up by a very well connected head hunter looking to recruit for another MNC.

Now, I've put on my resume that I am looking for around 120k per annum which comes up to around 10k per month. She said the client's max budget for software engineer was 9k/month. I was getting a bit annoyed at people calling me up for interviews and tell me at the end that they think I am a bit expensive or that my salary is on the high side, when I stated it clearly on my resume.

I then asked her back, what was the highest salary she got for placing a software engineer, and she said it was 14k/month. I'm quite convinced this is very few and far between and I'm quite convinced it is quite difficult to break the 10k/month mark being a software engineer in most companies.

I'm sure there's some kind of a ceiling pay limit to each role in every company and I might be quite close to it already. Is it time for me to forget about being a software engineer and try to pursue a different role? I'm in my late 20s only and my manager says there's still plenty of time for me to continue on as a software engineer until I get sick and tired of it.

Interesting office situation

normaldude — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 11:05:02 +0800

I'm stuck in a very interesting position.

I report to a manager which reports to a director. I was summoned to the office one fine day when my manager was not around. The director had a casual chat with me and ask me if there are any problems and such. I did mention that there are few issues.

He then questioned me why I didn't go to my manager regarding these issues. I did mention that it's not very urgent/important and the last time I went to my manager on these issues, he just gave me some suggestion which ultimately still leads to me solving these problems. The director shares the same view as me that the manager should help his subordinates to resolve non-technical issues, as he can't provide any technical help.

The manager is relatively quite new, but is reponsible for my salary increment. It is actually the director which hired this manager to manage me and my deparment. I was asked to give my manager a list of problems and report to the director in 2 weeks regarding what my manager have done to resolve it.

I've also heard rumors that I may be promoted and I am wondering if this is some kind of test. Any request for promotion/increment have to be approved by the director. The director have personally picked me to do this as we had a good relationship from prior work experience in other areas.

Although my manager have control over my department, the director is able to override any decision made by the manager.

Am I playing with fire here? Should I do what the director ask me to do to sort of 'set up' my manager? Or should I play down the issue saying it is not very important/urgent. It's like biting the hands that feed you or biting the hand that feeds the hand that feeds you

Need housing loan advice

normaldude — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 23:18:21 +0800

Hi all,

First, let me first say that I am not able to find a suitable forum category to post this topic. Please move it to the appropriate place if there is one.

I have recently booked a new double storey link house in Putra Heights costing around 350k. Currently, there are 2 banks which are willing to offer me the 90% loan which are RHB and Public Bank. The S&P will be under 2 names. Mine and my girlfriend (which we will marry soon). The problem is that RHB does not offer a withdraw facility if I make extra repayments. Public Bank on the other hand, does offer such facility but requires both me and my gf name on the loan agreement as well. This complicates situation as she is still a student graduating in 1 month, and having a 2k housing loan on her name would probably she would never be able to buy a car until she earns 4-5k.

Since my repayment period is quite long (35 years RHB and 40 years PB), able to make extra payments can reduce the loan duration as both these loans are daily rest (like most of the others). However, not having a withdraw facility means that I will not be able to withdraw the extra money should an emergency happen.

RHB is the panel bank for my housing project whereas Public Bank is not. I'm not too sure what are the negative implications of having a non-panel bank as my end financier. The developer advise me to get a panel bank but I'm open to the bank that can give me the best offer.

Anyone have advise which bank I should go for? What would you do if you were in my shoes? Thanks

How did you get hired?

normaldude — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:53:39 +0800

I've always wondered how effective is Jobstreet in getting people jobs. I did manage to get my job from jobstreet but I heard that the chances are really low. The job I applied for had 300 applicants and some other jobs have much more (by thousands). A lot of people told me that the chance to get even an interview call from the jobs that you applied via jobstreet is very low. Is this true?

Would like you all to share if you have any experience you wish to share. Thanks.