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!