Monday, April 20, 2009

Fire Fighting

I have learned that from my previous interview experience, most interviewer like to ask about your strength and weakness, why I should hire you...bla bla bla... and the most universal answer for engineering field is something to do 'solution provider', analytical and critical thinking laa... For people that never think about this answer, don't worry, it is inherent in you.

Everything, we think about should I wear this or that, eat this or that, spend money on this or that, spend a little or a lot and so on... this is the choices that we make every day. In engineering, when you say you are a solution provider, you simply put this thing into a more systematic manner, which excludes your personal emotion and preferences. In engineering, we do not say whether I like it or I don't like it, all based on data and experiment outcome, that's why people claims that engineer is very dull and boring. No doubt!

Currently is the fire fighting time. I do that for now and for the past 2 weeks, and no solution yet. Sometimes, it is very demotivating when things go against our favour. I have been busy like hell, yet I'm still need to write something here which take away the paid time, but I simply have to do it. Apart from fire fighting in workplace, the fire seems never go away from our daily life, too. You have issue A,B,C in week 1, issue C, D, A in week 2, and issue F, A, B in week 3. Old issue keep repeating while the new issues keep coming in, is this healthy in engineering and manufacturing line?

Here comes a nice quote my by boss "When problem occurs, not because of the theory is wrong, it is because we do not understand the whole thing well enough, or we missed something." Don't you think that this apply to our daily life as well? Ironically, many things in this world keep happening whether you like it or not, even you hate it. It is not just down to one person. Sadly, when a problem occurs, you have to solve it. When it burns, it turns into fire fighting.

A few questions to ponder. Is solution provider needed only when there is a fire? What is the requirements or criteria for a fire fighter? What is the flammable things in the line?

^^

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