Faiz. Penutur bahasa rojak profesional. Used to be an introvert, but now slowly becoming an ambivert.

『東アジア研究』の学生・卒業生としてやっとくべきこと、知っとくべきこと。

OK, post ni sambungan daripada Part One yang maha panjang dimana aku cerita tentang life update aku selepas bergelar alumni Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur. Post ni basically aku nak mention pasal what you should know and do as a student or graduate of East Asian Studies. It's still gonna be a long post so uhhh bear with me haha.


"WTH is East Asian Studies?" (for students, graduates)

Up until now, aku masih lagi dihantui reaction or soalan macam ni kemana sahaja aku pergi. Memang ramai sangat unaware of this course, but I have found a way to kinda shorten the explanation. Kalau dulu, aku biasanya akan explain macam ni,

"Saya belajar politik, budaya, sejarah, dan bahasa."

And usually the reaction aku dapat was either so-so, or macam diorang kinda interested but still tak boleh nak faham. Then aku kena lah explain lagi detail. Sangat time and energy consuming ya. Mungkin masa 1st Year aku macam eager untuk explain, tapi dah sampai ke waktu kerja pun aku nak kena always do the same thing, dia jadi repetitive and boring.

So, to quote what some of my lecturers liked to say back then during the class,

"We, as International Relations students..."

Which is true. East Asian Studies ni similar je macam apa International Relations or IR student belajar. TETAPI, IR ni meluas. Dia cover various region whereas EAS ni specialised on a specific region, and ada extra sikit; third language. Belajar dia sama je, politik, sejarah, budaya, dasar kerajaan etc., cuma kita ni extra sikit ada bahasa ketiga.

So, nowadays I will usually just explain as,

"I am studying/I studied International Relations/Pengajian Antarabangsa but specialising towards East Asian region."

And most of the time orang akan faham. If ada yang masih blur juga, just mention 'politik dan dasar kerajaan'. Sebab according to MQA pun, kita punya pengajian ni termasuk dalam kategori Sains Politik. So yeah, feel free to jawab macam ni and for graduates, if you answer macam ni waktu job hunting, I'm sure the interviewer won't be as confused.

(Update as of Nov 2022: Apparently, MQA dah update the category to "sociology and cultural studies" so just answer "pengajian budaya" instead lol)


"Don't only rely on your lecturers/teachers!" (for students)

OK, to rephrase the title above, what I'm trying to say is jangan limitkan your exposure towards East Asian Studies ni hanya melalui pembelajaran dalam kelas je. The lecturers/teachers can only cover so much. Rajinkan tengok videos on YouTube yang boleh bagi kau more exposure (or at least develop sikit lah our knowledge) towards what's happening or what happened in the East Asian region.

However, jangan kau sesuka hati je nak gunakan videos from YouTube channels as your main reference untuk assignment/thesis pula eh. Semua tu only for exposures je. I'm gonna list down some YouTube channels that I've watched or I found to be useful, but do note that some of the YouTube channels punya contents ni agak meluas and doesn't exclusively cover EAS je. I'll label them as EAS, or G. EAS if content dia leaning towards East Asia, and G for General (kena dig deeper for EAS related contents in this channel).

Also, by watching videos like these juga lah aku boleh kinda initiate a conversation with the lecturers or help me to generate ideas for my assignment, or even thesis ideas. Other than those, I also watch TedTalk, Vox, Vice, AJ+ to know more about social issues. Kalau sebelum ni aku memang malas nak kisah pasal politik and isu sosial, now I'm paying more attention to it. Dah nama belajar sains politik kan...


Bahasa (for students, graduates)

Bagi aku, benda ni lah yang paling penting sekali kalau belajar Pengajian Asia Timur. Ni lah benda yang kau kena do as best as you can untuk make sure bahasa tu at least capai tahap kompeten. Penting ya sebab dah habis belajar nanti, baru lah bahasa kau pelajari tu jadi marketable, dan applicable bila nak kerja (or even in life lah secara amnya).

As of my batch, kelas bahasa aku cuma dua kali seminggu. Satu kelas 2 jam, so dalam satu minggu jumlah kelas bahasa cuma 4 jam. Yakin ke kalau belajar bahasa satu minggu 4 jam kemudian bila graduate boleh guna untuk kerja? Sejujurnya, pada pendapat aku, that is way way too lacking. So, even if tak ada kelas bahasa pun, rajinkan lah tengok YouTube, tengok anime, drama, dengar lagu in the language that you're learning. Little by little you'll be able to understand more. Language immersion is important.

In my case yang belajar Japanese ni, some of the ways aku belajar new vocab is by knowing kanji compound, or 熟語 (jukugo). Contohnya aku pernah belajar kanji 石 (ishi); kata nama yang bermaksud batu, dan 落ちる (ochiru); kata kerja yang bermaksud jatuh. So dua kanji ni bila gabung, dia jadi 落石(rakuseki); bermaksud runtuhan batu. So kalau waktu tu aku tengah belajar kanji macam 石, aku akan cuba cari few more words yang melekat dengan kanji tu. Contoh lain macam:

  1. 宝 (takara; kata nama; khazanah) + 石 (ishi; kata nama; batu) = 宝石 (houseki; kata nama; permata)

So yeah, jukugo ni sangat membantu especially bila membaca in Japanese. Even if aku tak tahu sebutan or bacaan dia macam mana, tapi bila aku tengok gabungan kanji tu, I kinda can guess the meaning. Ini lah yang aku buat masa ambil exam N3 dulu. Masa jawab reading section, of course aku tak faham 100% the essay, but I was able to pass it by guessing the kanji. Masa menjawab tu tak panjang, so what I did was skim the essay, guess the meaning, then jawab soalan. Anyway, bila dah learn new words tu, try to find a way on how to apply it in daily life. The more you use, the more you're familiar with it and tak senang lupa.

Other than that, beranikan diri to make a lot of friends from the country that you specialise in. When you're surrounded by them, kau ada chance nak speak with the native and learn/improve the language from native's perspective. Aku still ingat, some of the classes from my department ada juga buka untuk international student, so among them ada lah Japanese/Mainland Chinese/Korean students yang ambil. Masa first attend kelas, bila aku dapat detect je ada pelajar Jepun, aku terus say hi and try to talk to them in Japanese, then be friends with them. Which later benefitted me masa exchange program kat Kanazawa University, sebab I've already known some of them masa kat UM. Diorang ni lah yang later tolong guide aku macam mana nak survive hidup di Kanazawa haha.

Anyway, my point is, bahasa ketiga tu sangat penting. Bila habis study, skill ni memang high demand. Keep learning and improving the language as much as you can. Take Japanese for example, even if kau dah obtain JLPT N3 sekalipun, jangan anggap that's enough and you should be fine to use it for work. JLPT N3, in my opinion, is the level that is the gate to even more advanced Japanese. Dah ada N3, you'll be prepared to jump into Business/Academic Level Japanese. If passed JLPT N3, aim N2, then N1. If dah pass N1, bagus, kau dah beat the final boss and now boleh beat the hidden boss pula which is BJT. Dah pass BJT, and still tak puas juga, haa boleh ambil Kanji Kentei which is meant for native Japanese and is extremely difficult. Yang penting, teruskan improve your language skill lah.

From my observation, and also my experience of job hunting, memang bersepah companies out there yang boleh offer gaji RM3,000 above to fresh graduate if they know Japanese/Korean/Mandarin.


Outbound/Student Exchange Program (for students)

Outbound program ni memang bukan benda asing lah sebagai pelajar EAS. OK for this part, aku nak cerita certain things to consider, to know when it comes to joining outbound program. Part ni doesn’t apply to every student ya. I do acknowledge that outbound program ni macam privileged sikit. By that I mean affordability lah in terms of financial (mental and fizikal pun of course penting juga). Aku faham, tak semua orang mampu nak spend duit belajar/pergi overseas. Tapi, if you ever have the chance, and yakin boleh afford, join lah. If I'm not mistaken, back in 2020, before situasi pandemik jadi teruk, Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur pernah dapat award kot. Award untuk jabatan yang paling banyak hantar pelajar pergi outbound program. Jadinya jabatan memang highly encourage the students untuk at least merasa pergi negara Asia Timur.

Outbound program ni dia ada banyak jenis. Some of them are; homestay program (about <1 month), summer program (about <1 month), international conference (about 2 weeks), or student exchange program (either 1 or 2 semesters). OK, how about the cost? UM memang akan bagi elaun, or ada juga ditanggung oleh jabatan or organisation daripada negara sana. Biasiswa pun ada ditawarkan juga macam JASSO (Japan), POSCO (Korea) tapi daripada China aku tak pasti... Jadinya tak ada lah pelajar tu kena bear the cost 100% on their own masa kat sana (tengok what kind of program juga lah). Yang penting kalau nak beli barang persediaan sebelum ke sana ke, duit shopping ke, haa tu memang kena pakai duit sendiri.

Anyway, pelajar EAS di UM ni mostly banyak pergi student exchange program untuk 1 semester. Usually pergi masa 2nd Year lah. Ada juga yang lucky dapat offer untuk pergi 2 semester. Bila cakap pasal student exchange program ni pula, you have to know that kalau kau join, kau akan habis belajar lambat. Tapi tak lah bermakna kau habis belajar lambat tu sebab kena extend as if kau fail then repeat paper, no. Dia macam kau dianggap ambil 'gap year' lah gittchew. Okay, few of the reasons kenapa habis belajar lambat adalah sebab tak semua course kau belajar kat sana boleh transfer credit di UM. Also, bila kau balik ke sini kau juga akan terlepas untuk daftar subjek yang hanya available on certain semester; which is the semester while you were away tu lah. Haha pening tak? OK macam ni lah:

  • Contoh 1: Kau pergi exchange masa 2nd Year 1st Sem, then balik ke UM 2nd Year 2nd Sem. Masa study abroad tu kau ambil subjek Tamadun Yunani (Greek) contohnya. Then bila balik UM, kau nak transfer kredit subjek tu dengan subjek kat jabatan. For sure tak lepas, sebab silabus EAS mana ada cover pasal Greek punya tamadun. Dah tak match kat situ so tak dapat lah nak 'skip' some of the courses di jabatan. BUT, subjek yang kau belajar kat sana tu still boleh minta transfer kredit untuk dia reflect dekat transkrip akademik. Nanti kat transkrip akademik akan tunjuk lah semester tu kau pergi mana, belajar subjek apa, dapat gred apa.
  • Contoh 2: Sama juga, pergi exchange masa 2nd Year 1st Sem, then balik ke UM 2nd Year 2nd Sem. Then kau nak daftar subjek Metodologi Kajian contohnya. Tapi tak boleh sebab subjek tu cuma available masa 1st Semester sahaja. So kau kena lah tunggu buka tahun akademik baru, daftar masa 3rd Year 1st Semester.

Haa things like this lah yang kau kena consider bila nak pergi student exchange program. If kau taknak pergi sebab tak mampu financially, it's okay. Tapi if kau taknak pergi sebab fikir nanti habis belajar lambat, then memang rugi lah. UM ni majlis konvokesyen dia setahun sekali dan biasa buat dalam bulan Oktober. So, kalau pelajar EAS yang tak pergi student exchange program, semester akhir dia akan habis dalam bulan Februari. Lepas tu tunggu majlis konvokesyen bulan Oktober. Ada gap 8 bulan di situ. Kalau pelajar EAS yang pergi student exchange program 1 semester pula, dia akan habis belajar lambat 1 semester, dalam bulan Julai. So takde kesan pun dan masih sempat nak konvo bulan Oktober.

However, yang pergi student exchange program untuk 2 semester, kena konvo the next year. Meaning dia tak konvo dengan batch dia, tapi dengan batch junior. I know some akan fikir macam,

"Ala tak seronok lah camtu sebab tak dapat konvo satu geng dengan batchmate."

Kes aku macam ni lah, aku convo dengan junior but due to pandemic, the convo wasn't even meriah to begin with lol... so tak lah rasa 'isolated' sangat? Anyway, do take note sistem aku mention kat atas ni dia applicable to my time lah, who knows if it will change ke lepas ni kan. So my advice is, if you ever come across with the decision of choosing whether nak pergi student exchange program for 2 semesters ke or graduate on time/early, please choose the former.

Seriously there's a lot that you can learn from studying abroad. You will be able to gain, earn a lot of experience (and money as well if kau tahu caranya). In my case, I did kerja part-time kat Kanazawa, and gaji kerja tu aku simpan banyak banyak then bila balik sini aku siap mampu bayar untuk the whole braces punya treatment. Lepas tu from pengalaman kerja part-time kat Jepun tu juga lah membolehkan aku untuk pergi ke Jepun lagi; Okinawa, for an International Student Internship program (though ada additional reason lagi for this actually. Sebab kat Kanazawa aku memang fully immersed with the language, aku mampu untuk pass JLPT N3).

Takpe lah if habis belajar lambat sekalipun, janji pengalaman yang kau dapat, skills that you develop while studying abroad tu can be used for your career in the future. If habis belajar on time/awal sekalipun tapi lack a lot of experiences, susah juga nak job hunting nanti. Always pentingkan self-development rather than simple thing such as 'nak konvo dengan geng'. Ye, it might sound selfish or even narcissistic, but that's the reality. I know it's fun to graduate together with your batchmates, but you have to know that after graduation, everyone will go on their separate ways. So in this case I feel like the 'happiness' tu only last for a short period of time. Padahal going for a student exchange program can benefit you in the long-run.


Skills and Career Planning before Graduating (for students)

Yang ni lebih kepada benda yang you should do bila dah jadi final year student. Masa freshman, it’s totally fine to enjoy without having to think thoroughly pasal nak kerja apa lepas graduate. But bila dah sampai Final Year ni lah you should start figuring out what kind of career path you want to take. If masuk degree je lagi kau dah tahu, of course lagi bagus. Masa first few years tu, be active. Join macam macam, so that ada lah some soft skills yang you can develop.

Also, buat lah LinkedIn account dari 1st Semester lagi. Kat situ lah kau boleh tunjuk your character development. Rajin kan networking through there. If you joined any extracurricular activities, post lah kat situ on what you've done and learned. Nak lagi power, post in your third language kalau mampu. Buat macam ni TEN TIMES better daripada kau post dekat Facebook or Instagram. Bukannya bila nak job hunting, waktu tu lah baru nak buka LinkedIn account. Kalau start awal, senang nak spark some interest from recruiter regarding your character development posts.

Masa Final Year pula, rajinkan tengok job posting, job descriptions. Research what kind of skills yang tengah trending, and in-demand so that you can prepare/develop in advance. Course ni Aliran Sastera so not many technical/hard skills we can learn from it. Nak tak nak, kena belajar sendiri. Sebagai contoh, akan ada company list requirement macam,

"Fresh graduates are encouraged to apply. Advance skill in Microsoft Excel is preferred."

So, boleh mula dah mahirkan diri dengan Microsoft Excel ke, Adobe ke etc. Kalau ada language requirement, be it English or other foreign languages, asah that skill. Lagi satu, later bila dah graduate and mula job hunting, kau akan rajin kena buat online assessment. Certain company akan suruh kau buat macam macam online assessment untuk test kau punya IQ, and filter out candidates with potential. Aku sendiri lost count entah berapa online assessment aku dah buat masa job hunting. So, familiarise yourself awal awal with IQ test. Banyakkan practice. Later bila dah job hunting betul betul, it will be easier for you.

Also, belajar juga macam mana nak cantik dan kemaskan resume, macam mana nak karang cover letter etc. Lepas tu, belajar the right way to send e-mail, and how to respond. Kalau resume cantik, tapi adab masa communicate through e-mail tu out, tak guna ya. Recruiter/Employer akan turn off. Lastly, do research interview tips, or tengok those on YouTube ke. Lagi bagus, do a mock interview dengan kawan kawan. Tapi mock interview ni boleh buat masa semester sebelum nak internship kot. So no rush in that.


Employer’s Perception (for graduates, or students soon to graduate)

Okay benda ni aku nak cakap berdasarkan pengalaman aku sendiri. Situasi ni aku mula experience masa cari internship placement. If you managed to reach interview stage, akan ada probability yang kau kena hadap employer yang sangat sangat kerek. In my case, ada this one HR memang curious sungguh lah dengan my academic background. After aku dah explain to them what I studied, their reaction was,

"Oh, I would say your academic background is not relevant at all with the position."

Aku boleh faham lagi if waktu aku apply tu memang apply sembarangan je, without looking at the job description at all. But masa aku apply tu, they clearly ada mention,

"Bachelor’s Degree in other disciplines are also welcomed."

Needless to say, I was extremely pissed. Sebab if you think my course is 'not relevant', then why even bother to process my application in the first place? After going through a few interview stages from your end, then sampai ke HR tiba tiba nak kata tak relevant pula. HR punya reaction pun macam nak tak nak je to get to know me. Dia macam question aku kenapa aku nak sangat study this course. In the end, the whole application process was a waste of time.

This is the red flag that you need to pay attention to lah. If waktu interview dia merendahkan our academic background, jangan rasa down. Instead, be glad that you can already filter out mana company yang ignorant. If they're not interested, move on and jangan tengok dah company tu. If they don't have some respect dekat kau waktu interview, what makes you think that they're gonna respect you when you're hired by them nanti? That's the first sign of company with toxic environment lah I would say.


Siswamail (for graduates)

Jangan pernah stop check SiswaMail selagi tak habis belajar, dah habis belajar pun keep checking until lah UM tutup akaun Siswamail kau. You'll never know what kind of opportunities you'll miss bila tak check. Akaun aku secara rasminya ditutup lepas konvokesyen baru baru ni. Tapi sebenarnya aku masih access je walaupun aku dah habis belajar Februari tahun lepas. Sebabkan aku rajin check Siswamail lah aku dapat tahu news macam job opening for fresh graduate ke, invitation to enroll in some courses ke. Thanks to Siswamail, ada lah aku sempat join Business Japanese course for 1 month in 2020 and 2021, and baru baru ni aku baru je habis Data Engineering course and now I'm a certified Data Engineer. So yeah, do check your Siswamail.


End

Phew I guess that's all I want to spill in this post. 2 tahun tak post so sekali nak post tu kita muntah segala benda haha. I hope this post is somewhat helpful to those yang sudi luangkan masa baca posts yang panjang lebar ni haha. Alright, later in my life if ada interesting event or changes yang worth updating, I shall update it here. I do know that using Blogger is considered outdated now. Ye lah aku dah guna platform ni for more than 10 years kot. Nanti lah aku fikir cara macam mana nak migrate to another platform pula. Google Site ke, WordPress ke. Though WordPress tak gemar sangat, sebab cloud storage dia tak besar (and free) macam Google haha. Oh well, we’ll see. またね！

at Wednesday, March 23, 2022

卒業！🎓

やっと卒業しました。この5年間は大変でしたが、最後まで乗り越えました。それだけではなく、僕はもうマラヤ大学の卒業生になりました。ところで、このブログに投稿したのは2年ぶりなので、アップデートすることがたくさんあります。けっこう長いの投稿を書きたいと思います。

2017年に、『東アジア研究』という専攻について投稿しました。その投稿の中では、マラヤ大学で、僕の学士号に関して、簡単に説明しました。今「この専攻を卒業した後、生活はどうなったの？」と思っている人もいるはずだと思います。それでは、アップデートは。。。

Akhirnya! My journey of getting a Bachelor's Degree has finally ended. The past 5 years were super challenging but hey I survived it. Now I'm officially an alumnus of Universiti Malaya. Okay, aku dah lama tak update kat blog ni, nak dekat 2 tahun dah so memang there's a lot to update. Post akan jadi extremely long, so bear with me.

Back in 2017 dulu, aku pernah post pasal 'Pengajian Asia Timur' atau 'East Asian Studies'. Dalam post tu, I gave a quick explanation lah regarding my Bachelor's Degree in UM. Now, I am sure there are people wondering,

"How's your life now after graduating from this course?"

So here comes the update...

Of Internship, Job-Hunting and Kerjaya

Haha I am sure this is the first thing orang nak korek daripada aku selaku alumni Jabatan Pengajian Asia Timur, Universiti Malaya. Okay kat sini lah aku nak cerita panjang tentang pengalaman aku dalam semua benda ni.

Internship

Alright, kita kena start balik jauhhhhh ke waktu aku tengah praktikum ataupun internship. Sejujurnya, sewaktu mencari internship placement lagi aku dah struggle. Struggle sebab course aku ni not so well-known. Jadinya, banyak company macam tak sure which department and what kind of work/job yang sesuai untuk aku.

OK, selepas bertungkus lumus mencari internship placement, aku akhirnya ditawarkan dua pilihan; sama ada nak internship dekat CBRE (Bangsar South) ataupun di Media Prima Berhad (Bandar Utama Damansara). CBRE tu seingat aku lah, dia macam nak letak aku dekat Operational Department and buat kerja yang related with Japanese Speaker punya task. Media Prima Berhad pula, cuma jadi Admin Assistant.

Nak cerita lagi detail, pada mulanya CBRE reject aku, dia kata dah takde vacancy. Few days lepas kena reject tu baru lah aku dapat offer daripada Media Prima Berhad, and I accepted it. Pastu beberapa hari sebelum aku start intern kat MPB, CBRE call balik. Dia tanya aku, dah jumpa placement ke belum sebab sekarang ada vacancy pula. Haa sudahhhhh, tapi sebab aku tawar hati kena reject, aku cakap "Terima kasih je lah, bye", aagittchew. OK, gurau je, tak tawar hati pun. Cuma intuition aku waktu tu dah strong and leaning more towards MPB.

And I made the right decision. Internship dekat MPB sangat seronok bagi aku. I learned a lot, and paling penting suasana situ sangat casual sebab ye lah company industri hiburan kan. Dapat lah juga aku merasa tengok kerja behind the scenes, jumpa artis (tapi tak bertegur sapa lah huhu), and overall, it was a pleasant experience for me, and I managed to finish the internship dengan jayanya. So, internship kat situ aku ada apply tak benda yang aku dah belajar daripada jurusan aku? Jawapannya tidak. Zero. ちっともないです。Tapi… internship kat MPB ni juga lah yang memberi impak besar… keep on reading if nak tahu.

Job Hunting

OK, bila dah habis internship kena buat apa? Kalau taknak sambung Master, job hunting lah! Haa kat sini lah the real challenge bermula. Internship placement pun dah susah nak cari, ni kan nak cari kerja full-time. Berapa lama aku ambil masa untuk dapatkan tawaran kerja full-time? Enam bulan, dan dua bulan. Haa? Apa kau cakap ni Faiz oi?

Baik lah, kita mulakan dengan jawapan enam bulan dulu. Internship aku mula dari October 2020. Waktu tu aku ada tanya supervisor aku kat situ, kot kot ada tak harapan untuk aku diserap ke MPB. Ye lah, kan best kalau boleh shape my career path bermula daripada MPB. Unfortunately, the chance was extremely low untuk diorang serap. Especially 2020 kan, tahun bermulanya pandemik. MPB pun waktu tu baru je lepas retrench almost 300++ staff. Disebabkan aku tak nampak future aku kat situ, mula dari minggu pertama internship lagi, aku dah start fixing my resume, and my infos dekat job hunting site.

Lepas tu, baru je dua minggu masuk MPB, kes Covid-19 naik mendadak. MPB terpaksa kurangkan bilangan staff yang boleh kerja kat office dan mula dari minggu ketiga aku dah kena Work From Home, sampai lah habis internship. Sejak minggu ketiga tu lah aku mula pulun apply kerja betul betul. Aku anggap apply kerja ni macam kerja office 9-5. Kalau aku fefeeling extra, aku akan send application on certain days. If possible, aku cuba avoid submit application on Monday morning, and Friday from around 4PM. Yang penting, if malas macam mana sekali pun, paling kurang satu hari tu apply 10 jobs.

I've filled countless job applications, done countless online assessments, and been to some interviews. Maxis, BASF, CIMB, HSBC, Accenture, Protégé KWSP, even Embassy of Japan; these are among the companies/organisations that I've been to their interview. Well, yang worth mentioning lah (excluding company lain yang mengarut mengarut tu). Aku ada juga interview dengan Japanese cosmetic company kat Fukuoka sebab aku applied kat ACF 2021. Semua interview aku waktu tu secara virtual, which was kinda relieving actually. Jimat masa and duit untuk aku commute.

Among the companies yang offer aku kerja before aku habis internship lagi were, CIMB (Financial Consultant), Accenture (Digital Data Reviewer Japanese Speaker), Protégé KWSP (i-Sinar Associate). CIMB aku tolak sebab bila dah fikir betul betul, tak minat pula. Accenture aku reject sebab working hours dia yang termasuk kerja during weekends, and from midnight to the next morning; which I think is super unhealthy. Tapi gaji diorang offer agak tinggi juga, tapi tu lah I prioritise my health first. Protégé KWSP pula offer sebulan sebelum aku tamat internship kat MPB. I did contact them, ask if boleh postpone sikit tak and sampai ke sudah tak reply. It was weird sebab masa interview, I clearly mentioned that I was still doing internship and they acknowledged that, but... mehh whatevs maybe ada miscommunication from their end kot.

Still, aku masih belum jumpa kerja yang look promising for me. Then, dah February 2021. Internship aku officially ended on 5th February. Dan aku masih lagi menganggur, shit. Makin gelabah lah aku nak cari kerja. Kalau sebelum ni kat LinkedIn bila ada orang nak ajak networking, aku macam sedikit picky. Tapi, sebabkan aku masih tak jumpa kerja juga, aku sendiri yang aggressively send networking invititation kat semua orang. Semua jenis recruiters yang aku rasa nampak legit, aku send invitation. I didn't care sebab aku memang taknak tanam anggur lama lama.

Sehingga lah dah nak hujung bulan February, ada satu Japanese recruiter ni; K-san, dia approach aku dekat LinkedIn. K-san approached aku in Japanese dan daripada situ lah aku berbalas mesej dengan dia, which lead to him interviewing me for few times before dia recommend aku to apply to this one particular company, which I refer it as PR. It's a video game development company.

Anyway, up until that time, I've concluded that kalau mana mana companies yang aku pergi interview, in Japanese, if I failed after that, it's because of my shitty Japanese. Japanese aku level sembang kedai kopi. When it comes to using Business Japanese, aku sangat lemah. Japanese aku masih lagi level N3 by that time, which is okay enough untuk daily/casual conversation but definitely lacking when it comes to business or academic environment/setting.

So, after interview dengan K-san, aku memang had zero expectation yang PR akan consider application aku. Aku pun sambung apply kerja as usual. Waktu tu aku dapat tahu yang Petronas ada vacancy untuk Protégé and so I applied. Then masih continue job hunting yang makin lama makin memenatkan.

Days passed by, K-san contact aku balik. Dia kata PR nak interview dengan aku. So I went for the interview, twice. First interview dengan Malaysian staff (plus the company's president), and second interview dengan Japanese staff. The process took weeks and akhirnya by mid-March… aku ditawarkan dua kerja daripada dua company; Petronas dan PR. It didn't take me long to decide to go with PR instead. The way I did the comparison during that time was like this.
Haa gittchew, ni lah among the points aku consider waktu tu. Paling penting sekali, PR offer aku salary yang jauh lebih tinggi, benefits pun jauh lebih banyak daripada Petronas… so I couldn't say no to that. Then, by the final week of March 2021, aku menghembus nafas lega, dan ucap Alhamdulillah sebab proses job hunting aku tamat juga akhirnya.

Mula mula tadi aku ada sebut berapa lama tempoh aku ambil untuk dapatkan kerja full-time, kan? Haa enam bulan kalau kira dari October 2020 – March 2021. Dua bulan kalau kira dari tamat internship; February 2021 – March 2021. Aku consider diri aku ni lucky lah sebab menganggur selama dua bulan je. Dua bulan tu pun was just nice for me, sebab rasa macam… it was a well-deserved rest after habis belajar.

Kerjaya

Bye bye university, hello adulting.
OK, if you care to wonder lah kan, agaknya kerja aku buat apa je? To tell you the truth, kerja aku mostly langsung tak related with apa aku belajar kat universiti. Kerja aku sekarang ni dalam management field, in a video game development industry. Masa aku join the company back in April 2021, I had to learn everything from zero. I wasn't familiar with the industry at all so aku kena belajar the workflow, or we usually refer to it as 'pipeline'. So aku kena belajar game development punya pipeline dia macam mana, what software they use, art tu style macam mana; realistic ke, stylised ke and many more. Dekat workplace pula, I am mostly surrounded by digital artists, animators, 3D modellers etc.

Kerja aku ni basically in an entertainment/creative industry; involving management, oursourcing, and communication between the clients and the artists. I am more on the support team. OK lah aku explain secara brief sikit lah. My main work tu, it is more to managing a project, ensuring pipeline tu progress smoothly. Ensure tak ada delay from my side and kena align with client punya deadline and demand. So kat situ I have to do a lot of planning, scheduling and negotiate dengan client if mandays diorang request tu possible ataupun tidak for us. Paling penting sekali, aku ni jadi medium between the clients and the artists. So things like feedback, changes in schedule, problem, client tak puas hati ke, new stuff to work on, we from project management team lah yang have to figure out the solution, then relay it to the other team members.

Now the next thing is, I also deal with Japanese clients. Kat sini lah finally aku boleh guna kan apa yang aku dah belajar kat universiti. Kerja sama je macam kat atas tadi, cuma this time including translating Japanese to English, so that my team can understand apa client nak. Then, whenever Japanese clients bagi art brief, it will be all in Japanese. If nak bagi mentah mentah je kat my team, nanti diorang tak faham pula so tak boleh nak initiate the pipeline. Jadinya, I will help lah to translate the brief to English then bagi kepada team. I'm still improving my Japanese though. As of now, my Japanese colleague is slowly training me to become a live interpreter sebab aku dah start joining weekly call with Japanese client. So, aku kena ambil inisiatif sendiri by learning Business Japanese on my own after habis kerja, so that communication and discussion tu can be better lah. OK, begitu lah some of the work that I've been doing for almost a year now.

So, how on Earth aku boleh dapat kerja ni? Satu, rezeki. Kedua, luck. Ketiga, according to K-san, dia rasa aku ada potential sebab dia nampak aku suitable dengan company ni. To him, aku boleh speak Japanese, and I already have a background working in the entertainment industry (thanks to MPB, and kat sini lah impak besarnya). Keempat, from PR's perspective, diorang amazed with my adaptability masa aku kena campak kat Okinawa, entah kat ceruk mana for a month, haha. My colleague pun ada reveal juga that before this they've been using recruitment companies untuk cari suitable candidate for the position. But only after 2 years, baru diorang jumpa someone yang can match their requirements, which is me lah. I'm very grateful for that. So, considering all of that, maybe sedikit sebanyak lah kot contributed to the points on how I was accepted to work in PR.

What's next after this? Hahaha aku masih lagi connecting the dots and tengah plan sikit sikit, which I think is for me to keep hihi. Demikian lah update untuk cover three main points yang berkait dengan soalan, "Habis belajar ni nak jadi apa?"

Opinion

Bila dah graduate ni I'm finally facing the reality. Here's my personal opinion based on what I've faced and what are some of the things to expect after graduating from this course.

What I've learned from this course is, almost semua tak ada hard skills or technical skills yang kau boleh easily market it to the employers out there. Well… if really nak dig deeper, I definitely can say that I've learned to develop my soft skills lah. To list a few, I've learned how to communicate well, present my ideas clearly, how to give an effective argument, and some of the values that I learned juga boleh diamalkan in real life. Macam nilai Japanese such as 'Jikan wo mamoru' (punctuality) or 'Mottainai' (elak pembaziran). Haa things like that lah. But you see, soft skills ni employers tak boleh nak tengok and judge, selagi dia tak interview kita. Kat situ, dah kurang dah chance untuk give them a first impression.

That's the thing about Aliran Sastera, as compared to STEM. Aliran Sastera ni dia more to theory-based. Kalau macam, civil engineering ke, computer engineering ke, software development ke, these courses pula belajar more to technical/hard skills, which really require them to use it bila dah kerja nanti. Company pun aware of the skills yang taught in that course, so they already know what to expect from the graduates. See below for comparison.
Tell me, if you were to be an employer, looking at these parts on the resume, which one yang akan caught your interest on a first glimpse?

OK ok I know, mesti ada argument,

"Eh, employers nak soft skills juga, bukan hard/technical skills je."

True, tapi yang ni aku cakap perspective untuk first impression, daripada employers kepada junior or entry position sahaja. Kalau kau dah kerja 2-3 tahun tu, memang employers akan expect kau to have all of these above. Dia nak both; technical skills yang dah competent and soft skills yang membolehkan kau to be independent, reliable etc.

For this course, we mostly learn history, politics, dasar kerajaan, language etc. Melainkan kau nak kerja as a journalist ke, researcher ke, diplomat ke, content creator (yang focus on East Asia) ke, then maybe what you've learned from this course can be useful and interesting to the employers in those industries/field. But then, tak semua East Asian Studies graduate is guaranteed to work as what I've mentioned just now, kan? Kat sini lah kena fikir how to apply job secara general and know what skill yang can be seen as valuable and marketable, by just a quick glimpse on the resume.

There's one skill from this course that I'm certain is marketable; the third language. Yes, if you are planning to enroll in this course, please know that the bare minimum you can at least do is ensure bila dah graduate nanti, kebolehan berbahasa tu at least on competent level. Say, if during your Degree years, grade subjek lain kau macam suam suam kuku je, it's okay don't worry about it. Tapi make sure pulun dekat subjek bahasa. By pulun tu jangan lah fikir takat nak lepas exam je. Make sure you learn, understand, and know how to use the language. Sebabnya, once you've graduated, even if pointer tak berapa cantik sekali pun, at least you have one skill yang boleh buat the employer to give a lot of consideration before turning you down. Third language ni lah one of the few hard skills (that I could think of) yang ada from this course. So, make use of it.

Anyway, having graduated in BA East Asian Studies, I can say it's a double-edged sword. Dia boleh buat kau stand out among others, sebab course kau sangat minor and may make the employers interested to know more. Or, since it's a not so well-known course, boleh buat employers anggap kau ni tak laku in the industry/no demand.

Personally, aku berpendapat yang tiada Bachelor's Degree yang useless kat muka bumi ni. Semuanya berguna dan akan beri ilmu sebab bila kita masuk universiti, kita bukannya hadap buku je. Banyak aktiviti kat universiti tu yang boleh shape kita as a person, given that kau ni aktif dalam macam macam lah. Thanks to studying in this course juga lah, Alhamdulillah I have done and experienced a lot. Boleh kata setiap tahun lah aku pergi Jepun. 2017 pergi nuclear conference di Nagasaki, 2018-2019 student exchange program di Kanazawa, 2020 internship di Okinawa. Semua ni memang sangat worth it for me and sikit pun aku tak rasa ianya membazir sebab with each visit aku belajar banyak benda baru.

If it's not already obvious, y'all can see that I wasn't a student yang jenis hanya pergi kelas, study, balik dorm, study pastu try to excel in exam then graduate. Aku cuba lah untuk be active wherever I could. Because at the end of the day, lepas habis belajar ni kita nak melangkah ke alam pekerjaan. Jadinya, kita kena tahu how to market ourselves with the Degree AND experiences that we've earned back in the university. Okay nak tambah sikit lagi, kadang banyak je employers out there yang tak particular pun bila tengok kita punya academic background, asalkan kita ada bachelor's degree. To them, diorang nak tengok what skills kita ada instead. So yeah kena pandai pandai lah how to make ourselves appear as 'in demand' to the industries. 

Tapi lah kan, sebagai contoh, if aku ni ada anak dan dia minta pendapat aku untuk sambung belajar dalam course ni, I would say,

"If it's really your passion then go for it. If tak ada minat langsung, cari lah course lain yang seiring dengan IR4.0 (or IR5.0?)."

Again, in my personal opinion, aku rasa course ni berbaloi untuk belajar kalau kau ada minat, and you kinda already know what to expect from it; studying politics, culture, history. Atau paling minimum pun kau mampu untuk adapt jadi suka dan sentiasa berminat nak belajar apa yang ada dalam course ni. Ye lah, tak semua orang boleh tahu what to expect from this course kan. Tapi, kalau kau accept the offer untuk study course ni sebab tangkap muat, or sebab just for the sake of sambung Degree dekat UM, you might gonna have a struggle. Halfway you might rasa lost, and nanti rasa completely clueless with what to do after graduating.

The End

Haa begitu lah ceritanya. Seronok tak study course ni? Seronok je and I learned a lot. Tapi mungkin bila aku bandingkan diri aku dengan kawan kawan aku yang mostly belajar STEM, aku rasa macam "Was it worth it belajar dalam Aliran Sastera?". But bila fikir balik, tak semua orang mampu atau minat nak belajar Aliran STEM, and I'm one of those people... so yeah.

Maaf lah ya kalau post ni bunyi dia as if sambung Degree ni semata mata nak kerja je. But hey that's the reality. Kita sambung Degree ni supaya nak ada 'tiket' untuk mudahkan kita shape our career... kan? Okay fineeeeeee, if masa 1st Year nak berjoli, nak hanya focus on studying and have fun, it's still totally okay. Baru masuk universiti kan. But bila dah masuk 2nd or 3rd Year, kena mula gradually fikir life after habis belajar, future career tu nak target/plan macam mana. Ini for those yang nak kerja right after habis Degree lah, specifically kerja bukan dalam bidang akademik. Those yang nak masuk dalam bidang akademik tu lain cerita lah.

Actually banyak je lagi things or advices aku nak mention when it comes to being a student/graduate of this course. But if nak cerita kat sini, this post will be extremely long pula. I rather continue to Part Two. Baik lah, I'm just going to end it here. Dengan ini aku nak akhiri post ni dengan gambar konvokesyen aku baru baru ni. Sepatutnya aku konvo tahun 2021, tapi sebab kan Miss Rona, baru sekarang (March 2022) aku boleh merasa graduate secara rasmi. では、読んでくれてありがとう、babai!




at Monday, March 21, 2022

Sebulan di Okinawa 🌺

ハイサイ！Haisai!
Uwau bersarang betul blog aku ni. Lama gila tak buat new post. Last time post pun masa belajar dekat Kindai. Itu pun post pasal Fall Semester je. Spring Semester, sampai lah dah balik ke Malaysia, sampai lah dah habis lagi satu semester dekat UM, langsung tak update apa apa hahaha. Disebabkan aku bosan diwaktu Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan ni, aku nak cerita pasal Okinawa. Tapi sebelum tu, aku nak update sikit dulu apa jadi sebelum aku pergi Okinawa.

"How was Kindai?"
Pengalaman ryuugaku (studying abroad) yang takkan aku lupakan. I made new friends from all over the world. I learned a lot. Bahasa Jepun aku pun level up mendadak. Sangat lah mendadak sampaikan aku sempat ambil Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) dekat Jepun dan aku lepas untuk level N3 or Intermediate.

"Apa jadi lepas balik Kindai?"
Well… aku kena extend lagi satu tahun sebab thesis. Sebab aku pergi masa final year kan. Sebenarnya boleh je aku buat thesis dekat Jepun tapi dalam pertengahan Fall Semester macam tu aku dah decide yang aku tak nak ryuugaku aku ni terlampau busy sangat, so aku decide untuk sambung buat thesis bila aku balik Malaysia je. Sekarang ni aku tengah final semester di UM dan semester depan akan mula internship lepas tu insyaAllah akan convocation pada Oktober 2021.

Baik lah that was some of the updates lol. Now onto the main part which is:
OKINAWA DE INTANSHIPPU WO SHIMASHITA.

So, macam mana aku boleh dapat offer ni? Last semester, Dr. Nasrudin was contacted by pihak Okinawa and diorang offer internship sebulan kat sana but Bahasa Jepun kena at least level N3. Apparently, as of that time, dalam batch aku, aku sorang je yang dah ada JLPT N3 so aku pun apply lah. Sejujurnya application process dia agak nerve-racking sebab aku kena go through tiga interview. Yang interview aku ada dua company; satu recruitment company sebab diorang ni lah yang bertanggungjawab untuk cari company mana yang sesuai untuk aku kerja. Satu lagi company yang aku kerja tu. OK, bila aku dah submit borang permohonan, selepas berbalas e-mail for few days dengan recruitment company, diorang schedule untuk first interview.

First interview session via Skype, aku nervous gila nak mampus lol. And yes the whole interview was in Japanese lah. Habis je interview, aku expect aku tak lepas sebab penggunaan keigo aku agak lemah. Keigo tu basically bahasa hormat lah yang kau gunakan dalam situasi formal. Tak macam English dan Bahasa Melayu, bahasa hormat tu tak berapa ketara sangat beza dia. Bahasa Jepun ni pulak when it comes to keigo, kau kena learn a whole new vocabulary for that. So memang susah, even orang Jepun sendiri pun struggle dengan penggunaan keigo. Apatah lagi aku yang menggunakan Bahasa Jepun ni sebagai bahasa ketiga lol.

Tup tup, aku lepas the interview. Recruitment company kata aku ni ada personaliti yang bagus sebab agak chatty dan ceria waktu interview. So, diorang cadangkan aku untuk buat internship dekat Hiramatsu Ginoza. Diorang rasa aku ni sesuai untuk internship for service and hospitality punya industry. I said yes to that and diorang schedule second interview session dengan aku. Second interview ni basically a practice lah. Diorang tanya soalan yang diorang rasa mungkin ditanya oleh Hiramatsu Ginoza. Saje nak bagi aku bersedia sikit lah just in case. Lebih daripada 10 soalan jugak lah diorang tanya. Habis je second interview tu, rasa penat gila sebab kaw kaw kena bantai soalan bertubi tubi in Japanese huhu.

Then, third interview dengan general manager of Hiramatsu Ginoza, which was rather... short? Aku punya lah prepare possible answers bagai nak rak tapi general manager dia turned out to be someone yang very chill lol. Dia tanya soalan tak banyak sangat pun pastu terus proceed dengan explanation pasal tempat kerja, environment, accommodation etc. Tapi still, aku pening kepala sikit lah time tu sebab dia guna Bahasa Jepun yang level dia agak tinggi. Aku struggle nak faham sikit.

So aku fly ke Okinawa on 11th February melalui transit kat Singapore (sebab tak ada direct flight ke Okinawa lagi time tu). First few days di Okinawa aku menetap di Naha sebab ada macam orientation day lah by the recruitment company. Untuk hari orientasi, recruitment company buat Japanese Business course which aku diajar macam mana nak jawab phone calls, penggunaan keigo, and other business etiquettes mengikut standard orang Jepun. Agak tmi jugak lah haritu but macam macam lah aku belajar. Last day hari orientasi baru lah recruitment company bawak aku ke Ginoza, tempat aku akan stay dan kerja untuk sebulan.

Ginoza ni hmm... kampung sekampung kampungnya. Two hours away from Naha, jauh daripada bandar. Kawasan apartment aku duduk memang tak ada apa except dikelilingi ladang tebu hahaha. Tapi yang seronoknya at least aku dapat satu rumah untuk aku sorang. Rumah yang diorang bagi aku sangat lah luas tapi yang spoilnya adalah most of the time aku memang alone.

Untuk kerja pulak, nasib baik lah staff semua baik. Kadang aku struggle jugak nak faham Bahasa Jepun diorang tapi if aku tak faham certain words, diorang memang tak pernah berat mulut nak explain in easy Japanese. First few days aku asyik sakit kepala hahaha sebab otak kerja keras sangat kot untuk translate. But in the end, improve teroxx jugak lah aku punya Bahasa Jepun. Tak sangka aku boleh survive kat Jepun with no friends, no English. Sejujurnya aku tak rasa kekok pun masa sebulan dekat Okinawa. Tak macam mula mula aku datang Kanazawa. First few weeks was tough sebab aku struggle dengan new environment.

Aku rasa paling untung sebab staff baik dan caring kot. Sebab kan kawasan tempat aku kerja tu memang kampung, waktu malam memang gelap habis. So kalau nak balik sorang sorang waktu malam tu memang bahaya. Dan tak ada public transport ya. Jadi, pergi balik kerja tu memang staff akan hantar. Ada jugak lah staff tanya aku kalau cuti nak pergi jenjalan tak and aku bagitahu lah kat diorang tempat yang aku nak pergi, and they actually bawak aku pergi jenjalan ke tempat aku nak tu. Dekat Okinawa ni kereta sangat penting, if tak ada kereta memang susah nak travel. That’s why ada staff sanggup bawa aku jenjalan. Not only that, the whole trip diorang bayarkan. Sumpah terharu.

So yeah overall it was fun, little bit challenging but semuanya worth it hehe.


13 Januari: Celebrate habisnya hari orientasi dengan staff
recruitment company and other interns.

14 Januari: Lepas habis visit Hiramatsu Ginoza and sempat
jenjalan area Ginoza jap.

20 Januari: Harini lah staff tempat kerja bawak jenjalan. Salah
satu tempatnya ialah Churaumi Aquarium.

2 Februari: Hari Heiwa Gakushu, kiranya macam Peace Study
trip lah. Ini dekat Peace Memorial Park.

2 Februari: Habis pergi Peace Memorial Park, kita pergi
Ryukyu Glass Village.

Nervous tau nak buat gelas sendiri haha time ni
tengah takut terpegang gelas yang tengah panas.

11 Februari: Hari pembentangan tentang pengalaman
internship. Time ni company intern yang lain pun turut hadir.

Dapat lah souvenir (which is gelas yang aku buat masa Heiwa
Gakushu haritu) and sijil tamat internship.

Interns dengan company masing masing.

Bergambar dengan other interns and our pose ni kononnya
nak rawr macam Shisa; an Okinawan mythology.

Dengan staff recruitment company. They were
so nice and I felt like being with a family.

11 Februari: Uwau muka aku masuk dalam Ryukyu Shimpo,
suratkhabar di Okinawa.

at Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)