I want to tell

I want to tell how amazing God has been to me this past month. I remember praying during the course of my job application that the Lord close all doors that He would not want me to get into. He kept to His word while I lamented why replies did not come. My other friends who graduated with me have mostly found work by then and they were still receiving replies from companies which added more pressure to me and got me thinking why mine have been so silent.

One day while I was browsing through the newspaper, I came across this one company which is involved in the field I had wanted to be in. A thought came to my mind. It would be good if I could join this company. I was not sure if it was the ad that was impressive enough or it was the Spirit that was warming my heart. Keeping this to heart, I looked through the page. To my dismay, it's minimum requirements were having at least 10 years experience in the field. I decided to write in to this company anyway because I have nothing to lose. Not having much expectations, I left the matter as it is while continuing to write in to other major players of the field to try out. One replied and I was estatic. However, I would need to go through a few stages before being employed.

Two weeks later, someone from the first company finally called me up. By then, I had forgotten and remembered little of the company profile. I dug into my pile of waste papers in my room and finally found the newspaper cutting. "Oh, so..this was THAT company." I went for an interview and a rather senior engineer interviewed me. No, it wasnt much of an interview. It was more of him telling me about the company while I listened. Roughly half an hour later, the interview ended and I went home with little hope because I knew little of the company and the intevriew was simple and wasnt srutinising. I remember asking him if I would have the chance to go to sites and work and his reply was that they usually prefer keeping the ladies in the office. It seemed almost like he's not interested. I thought, " Oh well, I've been through this."

However, the next day, he called me up and offered me a job! I went, " What?" Oh..a job. Another person called some days laters and said they would send me my copy of the contracts and terms of employment. I hadnt decided to take the job up. Some thought I was pushing it too hard and should just be thankful being offered one when the economy isnt doing very well.

I did, days later. But it was also the day that I finally received a reply from the bigger company inviting me to the second round of interview.

I asked the Lord, " What now?" I finally took up the job and went into work knowing little and having little expectations. It wasnt an impressive day. My direct boss wasnt around and my colleagues werent the friendliest lot. I thought, " This is depressive" Slowly, things became better and by the second week, I had a job assignment down in Johor. It was flooding at that time but I was in the eastern side of Johor which was not affected.

My first challenge was finding ways to break the ice with my colleagues. They are not my batch but all seasoned engineers and to top that up, they are all men! That was quite a challenge. They were totally above me, above my thoughts. My week in Johor was spent by listening a lot and I actually found enjoyment in that! I was surprised myself.

I had always wanted to do process work. But this company doesnt. My boss made that clear on my first week. I told the Lord, " I know you know better Lord and You have put me here for a reason and I'm eager to discover that reason" I did pray too that I would be able to blend into the group. I did eventually but with other colleagues. And they have been very kind to me. And what's better was, they were willing to teach me so much. One taught me so much bout process and shared with me about his work. Another helped me searched the office looking for some documents I needed and yet many others being friendly to me. Our conversations have been most interesting.

But God certainly knows better. My boss came to me last week and told me I might have the opportunity to do process work after all. I was surprised. God have indeed been good. But good stories are never short of doubts and discouragments and dillemmas. Although I'm in one right now, I trust that it will turn out well and that God is again teaching me new things.

One thing that I learnt, if God meant something for you, it will come easy, provided that you obey. At least mine did. I'm getting more convinced that this is the place that God wants me to be.

And I'm excited to explore more

Finally

Finally, a blog update. Been so long since I last updated. Finally, an opportunity here in the office. Havent been extremely busy but not free entirely either of which I'm enjoying the privellege of being in this position. Got held back by my senior, thus missing out the opp to go Damansara Kim for lunch. Sigh..anyway, a good thing came out of it. I'm blogging!

I've started work, since last Dec. Been fine here in the office and after being blur and super blur for the past 3 weeks, I'm beginning to get a bigger and better picture of what I was supposed to do. But even if you attempt to ask me what my job scopes and responsibilities are, I might not be able to give you the best of answers. Anyway, I had the opportunity to go down to Johor for a HAZOP meeting which was cool. It was a normal mundane meeting but for some reasons I find so much excitement in it. Haha..And I now finally understand why people say engineering is the field for men. No matter how strong or independent or capable you think you are, it's always not the case in the real world. Talking about being smacked hard right on the face by reality. I'm not the only lady in the office, but I certainly am in the project I'm currently in. Imagine going for meetings with 12 men and being the only lady, it's intimidating. And worse still, going on a job assignment, being the only lady again and into safety meetings with other companies and being the only lady again. The worse was probably, I'm also the youngest, fresh grad, like fresh juice out of the squeezer. Oh no..not even through the blades yet.

My boss always make a remark on how young I am. My bigger boss too. And my colleagues too. They went, "Irene, you are very young" (Oh they cant remember Oyling) Haha...And you walked round the office, smiling and trying to be at your best behaviour and friendly. I grew tired of it very quickly. Haha..

A phone call just came in and I lost my train of thoughts. Erm...oh well, I shall blog again they decide to return to me.