My first ever real job, was a sales assistant. It was a part-time job after O-levels. Did it for 6 months and never looked back.
My first full-time job was a web designer in a company on the outskirts of the Chinatown area. This happened after NS, and in my old blog, I had a rant about how NS totally screw up one’s perception of self-value. I had no idea how much I should get paid, and at that time, I wasn’t the master of search engines that I am now. Going from a measly several hundred dollars a month to slightly over S$1k was a lot to me then. I cringe at the memory of receiving 2 months’ pay by mistake, and exclaiming to the office that I was worried because it was a lot of money to me. How naive, that young man.
I found out that the boss of the company was reading my blog then, while I was working there, and it didn’t really bother me. Hell, he might be reading this now – which I doubt, since it has been decades – and I still wouldn’t be bothered. I thought it was funny then – him reading my blog, but I have since found out what kind of person he was, and I am glad I left the company after only about 7 months.
He had decided to pay me my monthly salary without CPF, and I didn’t know any better then. It was not until I had joined my next full-time job that I did something about it.
During my degree studies, and in fact even during my diploma studies, I did a bunch of creative-type freelance jobs. Most notably, during my degree studies, I freelanced for a blogger-friend when he was first starting out but now has since done very well with his company! When we parted ways, he called me his first ever employee, and I have fond memories of working together. We haven’t communicated in decades, but I would love to meet up with him again, just to catch up and see where he’s at now.
After completing my degree, I became an IT trainer and met a bunch of good people. That was a job I really enjoyed. The pay wasn’t great, but I took the job anyway because I was initially trying to decide if I wanted to be an MOE teacher. I thought being an IT trainer would help solidify the decision.
This was when a colleague of mine advised to report my previous boss at the web designer job to the IRAS for failure to pay my CPF. I initially rejected the idea, stating that it has been years since I left. He told me that it didn’t matter, the IRAS will still chase after the company. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try, and so I e-mailed IRAS with as much detail as I could recall. A few months passed, and I had received about $6k in CPF monies after the investigation.
I also enjoyed training the students, even though, looking back, there were so many things I didn’t do very well. I had a lot of fun however. I remember coming back to work even though I was not well, and had an MC, just because I wanted to be there. Which nobody should do.
PSA: If you are unwell, don’t go to work, because you are likely to infect the people around you, and you also become a liability to the company. I am a firm believer and follower of the statement prior now.
I was in that job for about 3 years. The pay remained terrible and then the company stated they couldn’t increase my pay anymore, so it was time to leave. I had lamented I wanted to leave for quite some time before this to another colleague. She got annoyed one day and said, “Then leave lah. You keep saying you want to leave.” I hadn’t realised I said it so often that it became so annoying.
I received a call one day during work from a recruiter for an Instructional Designer job. I had no idea what the job entailed, and the recruiter was not very clear either. I thought I would give it a try anyway, and so I did.
2 interviews and a military screening later, I was told they were offering me the position. This job would see me through the next 9 years.
I’ll blog about that next time. 🙂