About Me
Get to know me before anything else.
First Encounter
My childhood memories were playing in the mud, bathing in the river, spinning tops, and participating in other cool activities that were popular among kids in the 90s.
Born and raised in Ipoh, Perak. I am the second child out of five siblings.
Back in '95/'96, my father bought a computer from Megamate, pre-installed with Windows NT (if I'm not mistaken). A few of my older brother's friends came to our house to teach us how to install a game called DOOM. It was installed using a floppy disk in MS-DOS. That was my very first memory of using a computer.
Going Deep
Fast forward to 2007. While waiting for my STPM results, I got a job at a computer shop while accompanying my friend to buy his computer equipment. Started working as a Sales Representative at Sniper Technology. Selling laptops, custom PCs, and computer accessories was my forte for approximately three months. After that, I transferred to a technical team. In the Technical Team, I was tasked with assembling PCs, troubleshooting hardware issues, performing repairs, and handling product warranty exchanges. If the company participates in any events such as PC Fair, I will be responsible for training the part-time salesperson on the products.
While working, I'm also running a freelance laptop and PC upgrade and repair. I am also working on freelance website design with a few friends.
The Uncertainty
In October 2009, due to a family request, I applied for a government position and was hired by Pejabat Tanah Dan Galian as a contract staff. I was then posted to Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah Slim River, Perak and placed under the Technical Unit. The Technical Unit here is a Surveyor Team, and they are not part of the IT department. I was tasked with the land acquisition for the PLUS Highway from Slim River to Tanjong Malim. My day-to-day job is as a typical government servant in the outskirts. It involves having breakfast from 8:30 am until 10 am, preparing for work by searching through the never-ending pile of unapproved land documents, and having lunch from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm. Continue searching for endless unapproved land documents. If any are found, proceed to visit the landowner (if they are still alive) or visit the land. Enjoy a high tea from 4:30 pm until late. That routine is on repeat until January 2010.
One fine morning in January 2010, I arrived at the office to find a letter terminating my contract on my desk. Not only me, but all contract staff in the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian (PTG) across the country. This termination happened after the government denounced the budget a few days earlier.
After PTG, I went to work on everything to get my foot back on track. One of the things I wanted to learn is electrical engineering. And as a practical person, hands-on learning is the way to go. Hired by SCK Electrical Control, my main responsibility was to assist the wireman in wiring installations and troubleshooting electrical issues. Along the way, I ventured into the business world and started my own small businesses in the F&B and IT services industries.
In early 2012, I migrated from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur in search of new opportunities. I spent all my savings on a business venture, only to fail miserably. I've had a few jobs here and there, but none of them have been a good fit. Until I'm hired by Milliken & Craig, a startup collection agency. Start working as a debt collector. After 4 months, I was transferred to the IT department.
Dive Deeper
2012 kick-started my journey into the corporate world. Working in a startup company, everything falls under the realm of IT. I was tasked with improving company growth. As a one-man show with a near-zero budget, I cannot do everything at once. I implement policies to enhance the efficiency of call center operations and increase the company's revenue. As a result, our team grew from 20 to 50 people. From hard phone to softphone, physical line to VoIP, router to firewall, unmanaged to managed switches, and so on. Within three years, the company expanded to Penang, Johor, Bangkok, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam. The IT Department has been renamed as the Special Projects Department, which now consist of three groups: Operations, Investigation, and Special Collection. I was tasked with overseeing Operations, Investigations, and Special Collections, reporting directly to the Head of Department (HOD) and the Country Head. This time, the IT budget was so large that we could purchase anything we desired for R&D.
Somewhere in 2016, our headquarters decided to sell the company to Stena Group, one of the Swedish giants. Under new management, the company changed its direction to become a FinTech company, and I was tasked with IT infrastructure upgrades. Now that the IT budget is even bigger, I am upgrading everything. After multiple rebranding efforts, the company is now known as Collectius CMS.
Early in 2017, I joined STAR CRM to gain new knowledge and skills. STAR CRM is a SME company that specializes in CRM software and call center solutions, with backing from Oracle. I've been hired to revamp the infrastructure, and my roles here include being a Sysadmin, DBA, and providing IT Support (both internal and external). Focusing on infrastructure, the company prefers open-source software over paid software. The motivation behind this choice is not cost savings, but the opportunity to support and strengthen the developer community. In the infrastructure revamp plan, I start with the backup procedure, local network setup, OS migration from Windows to Linux, and on-premise to cloud. This is the busiest, most stressful, and most fun company that I have ever worked with. Each and every person here is very intelligent and professional. I learn so much from this company. This company also provides the highest salary, bonus, and benefits package.
Early in 2020, I received a better offer from one of the biggest media companies in Malaysia. Resign from STAR CRM end of Jan 2020 to take a time off and schedule to start working on middle of March 2020.
Then, luck runs out and COVID happened...
Post Conspiracy
When COVID-19 hit, everything came to a halt and I was unemployed for a few months. As the situation improved, I received several offers and chose to join a startup called FNSValue because of their blockchain technology, a Korean tech company. I was the first staff hired for the Malaysia office, with responsibilities that included building the Engineering Team, localizing the product for Malaysian and international markets, leading technical pre-sales, and managing partnerships.
After three long years, the company has experienced significant growth, and my last role at FNSVALUE involved being a tech lead in Product Development Team on R&D and projects implementations.
Current Position
After FNSValue, I decided to move on to the new advanture - eLearning. Currently with Nixfon as Technical Consultant.