Interview No. 2 (part 2)

PROBABLY THE SMALLEST OFFICE I'VE EVER SEEN, well frankly speaking, it's not even an office, or studio, for it to matters.. IT'S A GODDAMN SMALL HDB LIVING ROOM, but renovated so now it can house a couple of personal computers, A COUPLE, as in, between more than 1 but less than 5..

Back to matters on hand, so the guy who let me in started talking with a middle-aged lady who was sitting at the back of the room, like a boss.. Then he told me to sit on a desk with a black MacBook, while starting to print some applications form, a couple pages, for me to fill.. Well, I left most of them blank coz the Working Experiences section itself was the couple extra pages, so I only filled the 1st page which was personal info and stuffs.. Then I returned the papers and told them that I have no working experience whatsoever, and in my defense I did put it down in my resume and cover letter.. They. Looked. Confused.. Fuck.

After awhile they told me to proceed with the small test they promised earlier, how fun.. There was this pdf file with questions in it, awfully similar to how my tutors would gave out assignments back in my university days (the format, not whatever questions it contained).. So tell me, did any of you ever sit down for an exam, skim through the problems and think "Fuck, I'm dead"? That's what more or less was happening to me.. I opened the file, saw all the questions, and just like that, I gave up.. I believed the guy saw my expression, coz then he said "It's an open-book test, so you can search whatever you need on the Internet", how thoughtful of you, monkey guy..

The test was to make a touch-controlled spaceship for iOS platform in an hour, by using Xcode.. Yep, you heard it right. XCODE. OBJECTIVE-C. I couldn't even code C++ properly, what the hell was I supposed to do with Xcode.. And the questions were increasing in stupidifficulty.. First they wanted a spaceship (or a triangle), then they wanted it to face the the direction of the finger tap, then move to that direction of the finger tap, then move smoothly from current location calculating facing degree to the new one, then it can shoot, there's enemy coming randomly, well basically they were testing me to make a game..

I did try my best, you know.. I did some researches online.. I even checked the history of the browser (apparently someone other than me came earlier for the same test).. It was just downright impossible.. I didn't even manage to create the goddamn triangle, let alone the spaceship (plus points if it was shaped like one).. So after struggling for 45 minutes, I decided not to waste my (and their) time anymore, and told them I gave up, that I couldn't do anything at all.. So they asked me if I wanted to withdraw my application, and I said yes..

And then there was the walk of shame, out of the monkey studio (damn I hate them).. I immediately called my girlfriend and all my friends, telling them about my 2nd so-called interview, and get the hell out from there..

So much for the 2nd huh..

Interview No. 2 (part 1)

So after the 1st interview, I kept sending resume after resume to lots of different companies, but all of which are to no avail.. Maybe end of the year was not the right time to look for a job? Or maybe I was out of luck? Either way, it gave me a lot of free time to do whatever I wanted to, not that I can do much in the first place anyway.. So I just enjoyed my life while not giving up on the job hunting, going out with my unemployed friends and had fun, a lot :)

Almost two weeks after the Razer Terence incident (with his iPad), Siu dropped me a message, letting me know that there was a job opportunity as Game Programmer.. I was out at that moment, but when I got back to my MBP I immediately sent out my resume to the email mentioned in the message, pretty sure it was Dec 6 that day.. I didn't have high hope for this one, because there was no detail whatsoever about the hiring company..

A few days later, on Dec 9, I got a call from some guy in the morning.. He said something about my resume and application, and I went "Which company are you again? And when did I sent you my resume?", in my defense I was half asleep and I had like dozens of resumes and applications out there.. I managed to grasp a bit of what he said (still half asleep), and later that day he dropped me an email saying that he was from Personae Studios, which I never heard of before in my life.. But apparently I did send them my resume and application as Game Programmer, so I guess this must be the company my friend Siu told me about a couple of days before.. Moreover they "invited" me to come for a short test of my C++ game programming ability, which I can proudly said that I sucked at it :) And it was on OS X platform, my stingy university's lesson were all done with Windows, I mean WTF with that!? I know that my programming sucked in the first place, but they wanted me to do it with a different OS, was there even a slightest bit of chance for me to get this one done? Well I kinda had 3 days to learn about programming in OS X because the test and interview was set on the 13th, but still it was fairly difficult for me to study seriously with all the laziness floating around the room :)

More importantly, I didn't forget to do a background research on said Personae Studios.. It looked quite promising, as they were "the largest iPhone game developer in Singapore, and the first within the country to enter the iPhone Developer program.", yeah right.. And then they said that "Of the 11 applications we have launched, two have achieved rankings within the "top 25" in various markets. We are also proud to have developed Singapore's first universal iPad game." Wow, FIRST universal iPad game, doesn't that sound cool and everything? Well those bullshits got me just nice, and I actually download some of their (free) apps and study C++ for the little time I had before the test and interview day..

Little time indeed, and then Dec 13 arrived.. My interview was scheduled at 1 p.m., much later than my first (failed) interview, but I'm still excited nevertheless.. I have always wanted to be a game tester, obviously so that I could play all the new games I wanted to, but for now game programmer is the earliest step.. So off I go to the appointed location, well I was told to check their website for directions beforehand, at Block 212, Hougang Street 21, #03-349 & #04-349.. Now first thing first, I'm not a Singaporean.. I have no idea whatsoever where Hougang was, or what it looked like.. But I assumed that Personae Studios was a big (since it took 2 levels) and prestigious (well, they were the 1st for every crap) "company".. I never even once thought that the word "Studios" used meant that they were small and, well, crappy.. Now, back to the adventure, I can't recall exactly but I'm pretty sure I went there by bus.. I alighted at some unfamiliar part of Singapore that I've never been to before in my whole 3 years of study.. And guess what? IT'S HDB APARTMENTS EVERYWHERE..

Funny, huh? I longed for some big stories buildings full of workers and different companies, but instead I was given HDB apartments full of old people chatting here and there, sipping their coffee while listening to some old Chinese songs, I mean, really old.. Well the sight of it kinda discouraged me at that time, but I thought, a job is a job, and as long as they paid for it, why not? Besides, I was already there, and no harm in just continuing, right? Right? WRONG!

I arrived much earlier than expected, a little bit more than 12 I guess.. I thought of lazing around before going to the appointed place, but apparently it was very difficult to find the said units.. Even thought it was the right block, they were separated into 2 different smaller blocks, and none of them had elevators.. So I went up and down and here and there for quiet some time before I actually arrived at said place *panting*, they didn't even have the word "Personae Studios" written anywhere, only the image of the stupid mime-clown logo and other name I can't remember, obviously coz it's not important now.. 12.30 p.m., and I wait.. I saw a couple of guys wearing Monkey Sailor T-shirt (apparently it's one of their so-called game) going back and forth the 2 HDB units, and it was around 12.50 that I decided to knock on #04-349's door (written on #03-349's door: Guests please proceed to level 4 or something like that).. A guy came answering the door, I told him "Hi, I come for the interview", and he let me in to..

(continued to part 2 since it's too long and some of you might be bored to death if you decided to finish a post before going to bed)

Interview No. 1

After my FYP (Final Year Project) presentation, I need to wait a couple of months for the result to come out.. So in the meantime, the best thing to do is to wait patiently, while having lots of fun with my friends :D Well, not really, actually I need to go look for a job ASAP.. But meh..

On our free time, me and my friends decided to go to USS (Universal Studio Singapore) to enjoy our freedom for a short while.. After a day full of fun and stuffs, we sat down with a pack of sweet caramel popcorn, and start talking about the future.. Two of us (Siu and Pandi) have started their journey on job hunting, a couple of interviews here and there, actually Siu has been accepted by a small company (it's really small, but we'll go into more details about this company in the near future posts), and was waiting for his work pass.. The rest (including me) haven't done anything yet, but the thought that some of us have started made us want to do the same..

Due to a strange and unfortunate event, one of us need to go back to our homecountry for a while, but he did great and even got a job for a couple of months to fill his spare time.. Another one decided to continue his study, approaching the Master degree in Australia, but this was not until a couple of months from now.. Left with not much choices, me and my girlfriend started to look for jobs online, here and there and everywhere.. Well I was looking for a job, she was doing I-don't-know-what-foreign-exchange kinda thing.. Every now and then I sent a couple of applications to various companies, most of which was looking for people to work on multimedia or game department.. Once I found a position as a hardware developer by a well-known company (Razer) and sent in an application, just for fun, but that's not what they were thinking..

They took me in seriously! Or they were in need of people, so Ms. Chua drop me an email telling me that my number is not reachable (well I was back in my homecountry atm), and they wanted to interview me! Woot! First interview, scored! I was really excited, because it was a big company, and I knew that it was a good start for me at my job hunting.. So I got down there, in a tidy shirt and pant, for my first interview on Nov 19, at 10 a.m..

I arrived half an hour earlier from the appointed time, and after deciding not to look too eager, I took a stroll while wasting some more time.. The building is kinda far from my current residence, need to take some buses and trains, but all is well if I were accepted.. 15 minutes prior to 10 a.m., I decided to walk through the glass door and tell the receptionist that I was here for the interview (go me!) I waited for a while, met Ms. Chua, then she left me with someone that looked like your average Chinese guy.. Surprisingly, he spoke good (normal) English, not Singlish, and what even more surprising, he SAID that he is the creator of Razer Naga.. THE Razer Naga.. So, Behold Ladies and Gentlemen, for in front of me stood a guy who redefine the usage of mouse for online gaming, Mr Terence Tang, the creator of Razer Naga (or so he SAID)..

Well, with such a guy in front of me, there was no way for me to actually concentrate on the interview no? (and he gave me his Razer-jagged business card too lol) Anyway, it was my first interview, and I majored in Multimedia and Game Development, definitely not cut out for developing hardware.. Then I kinda failed his small test (riding bicycle up a set of stairs), but nevertheless, I insisted on continuing to the second part of the interview, which is.. Research Simulation. The main subject is PS3 controller, and the time given is one week.. I finished it and sent it over in exactly one week, by Nov 26.. Well the first couple of days was spent for playing games and lazing aroud, so it's all good and fair, but that was what I thought that day.. I still have his email to me..

Hi William

Thank you for your prompt response. I will review your work and get back to you soon.

Cheers

Terence

Sent from my iPad

..but almost 3 months from then, still nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada. So how late can a "soon" be anyway? Or, or maybe he lost his iPad somewhere somehow, so he has no idea how to check and reply his emails now? Or maybe, I don't know, he's some kind of a forgetful jerk or something? Only the time can tells..

Well that's all for Interview No.1, be sure to stay tune for more ;)

Busy time ATM!

With all the tricycle animation + Triceratops bones growing, musical game development and FYP (Final Year Project) RPG on the making, this will be one of the busiest term ever XD! My BSS friends might even have harder time, but hey this is the final and the last anyway :D

Sanji, GOT!

Apparently there is this new One Piece movie-anime titled Strong World (http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/One_Piece_Film:_Strong_World) released by the end of 2009.. As usual, with the release of new anime or manga or anything in Japan, they will be accompanied by a bunch of different merchandises.. And of course, my favorite merchandise is the Gachapon! It's this machine that will suck your coins in and let go of a plastic egg ball thingy, which have toys or other things inside, excuse my confusing definition but i'm pretty sure each and every one of you must have at least tried your luck on one of those before, so i believe no further explanation is needed :)..

So anyway about the Gachapon (or Gacha for short) again, me and my friends found a couple of them in Takashimaya yesterday, and two of them feature the all-new Strong World version of the One Piece character figures.. I've been a fan of Sanji (http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Sanji), not for a specific reason, he's just funny to the core lol.. Anyway I've been hoping to get his figure but for no luck, my first try end up with Roronoa (Zoro), not that i'm a big fan of him or what.. But that's the try for the day, coz my lack of $1 coins..

The next day, or today, is the last class before the holiday (or study) week, yay! So after class we went back there, me still hoping to get Sanji, but end up with Nami --".. A bit down while we were strolling around the Orchard Road, we end up at Plaza Singapore, there we found another one of the same Gacha machine (while searching for presents for my friend's friends).. And apparently, this scary lady at the counter happened to have lots of $1 coins with her, just in case for things like this I guess.. I traded a $10 bill, too many I know, gave 3 of them to my dutt and let her try for a Keroro Gunso Gacha, which gave her the Keroro itself, but not the want she wanted, so maybe next time :).. Me, I'm not giving up til I get what I want, or til i stumbled upon the duckling lol.. 1st try, I got a Tony Tony (Chopper), not so bad, but not what I truly want.. Scraping through my pocket for the last chance I have, I let my dutt to do the honour and at last the Gacha let out the Sanji I want, yeah! I guess that's thanks to the luck my dutt gave me :D..

Conclusion: Today was fun :D

The results are out!

Last term's subjects result are out! At least I managed to slip by and escape from the F, ha! Thanks to the stupid tutor, well not that it's completely his fault in the first place.. Nah forget about last term.. Anyway..

For the main event today, CONGRATULATIONS for Erwin bro and Vero sis for the.. err.. engagement? lol hope the two of you have a great relationship, we'll all be waiting for the formal invitation :)

Welcome 2010!

Happy New Year everyone! Well, it's already new year here in Singapore (GMT +8).. Hope everything will be better this year, keep praying, working and staying alive lol..

EDIT: Happy Birthday to my friends Anastasia (Jan 1st 1989), Adi and Yolanda (both Jan 2nd 1989)..

Happy Anniversary to me and my beloved (Jan 2nd 2008) *kiss*..

In Memory of my deceased grandpa, we all love you so much, please rest well, may God be with you (Jan 2nd 2000)..