2024 so far..

 Alhamdulillah all is good, not super great not super bad, just good. 

Though I do feel a little bit frustrated I got my period on the last 10 nights of Ramadhan (managed to at least pray full taraweeh on night of 21st but then have to endure 2 days of painful stomach cramp. But sickness washes away our sins hopefully.

Pray to God I can reach next year Ramadhan.

This year is also the year where my career is doing good and my boss have high hopes for me, feels weird people have expectation on you but I actually AM at that age where people starts looking up to you and expects u to lead the way and deliver. 

Funny how life is, you've been wondering what to do for years since you're graduating, hoping somebody can give you advice on what to do, what path to take in life, and when there's nobody to guide you, you just wing it and see what's work,  and one day u just cant wait for advice anymore cos you're freakin 37, But you still have so many unresolved questions!

So again, I'm torn between having to work well at my job and maintaining my climbing life. I know a huge chunk of the earth population will say why would you still want to climb(play) at this age? Focus on your work.

But climbing makes me happy, it is my identity, what I'm good at and the most important thing, it keeps me healthy going forward later in life. 

And Im not letting go of my work this time as it is the perfect job i have been looking for a long time. 

Now its just the matter of ME managing my time and attention. 

I can do this. 

I've been living my life without having any guidance/people to seek advice for the rest of my life, so what difference it makes now? I'll just press on as I always do. InsyaAllah.

Selective coordination for breakers and fuses

In simple words, coordination or selectivity is 'how we design which breaker to trip first if fault occurs without disturbing unrelated breaker upstream/downstream'.

I've learned this in Power System Analysis last time but that's on substation scale.

Here in smaller scale, we decide for selectivity of breakers/fuse in swithcboards/MCCs.

Time-current characteristic for breaker

If the two curves overlaps it shows that both breakers do not coordinate for fault current greater than the crossing point.

Time-current characteristic for Fuse

Load side have to be more sensitive so that when fault occurs at downstream, the load side breaker will trip first.

Methods of selective coordination

Interlocking may be apply so that if fault occurs at any of the level, the breakers on the other level wont trip.

But now I wonder, what if the upstream is a breaker and the downstream is the fuse. and the fuse is much high rating than the breaker?

How can I determine the coordination?

Full slide show can be viewed at the link below.

Source :

http://www.ascouniversity.com/apu_components/e_learning_006/index.html

Locked rotor current vs Starting current

Locked Rotor Current
1. The current taken from the line when a rotor is at
a standstill at rated voltage and frequency.
It is the line current when starting the motor direct

2. Current drawn by the motor when the motor locked (stopped) but full voltage is applied to the motor terminal.

Starting Current
Current drawn by the motor at the time of motor starting period.

In DOL starting, the full voltage is applied on motor terminal with the rotor stopped.
For the first few seconds, the rotor is almost stopped and it is similar to the case of locked rotor condition, so the starting current drawn by the motor is the same as the locked rotor current.

In other starting method, star delta/soft start, lower voltage is applied to the motor terminal hence the starting current is less than the locked rotor current.

In other words, they are more or less the same value, but starting current only occurs during start up. Locked rotor current occurs at any time the power is applied and the motor cannot spin, i.e a load jammed.

*will update later

Source:
http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/43929/Locked-Rotor-Current-vs-Starting-Current

Story about money

After 2 years working as an Engineer, 2 years of throwing away my money to shopping malls and God knows where, I finally decided to think about the future and do something worthwhile with my money.

The first year I've always said to myself, 

'Argh I don't want to save anything yet. I just want to spend my money buying all the things I never got to buy or do things/go places that I never got to do/go during my study years.'

By second year I already started thinking about houses. How do I buy a house? Or do I buy a car first? So I start googling how do I buy houses. Then I figure out that buying houses needs a lot of cash. And to have cash you need to have savings. I think, ok maybe I can start saving now. And do more research about property hunting and everything.

(Mostly all those info I get from Blog Ariff.)

From there I don't only learn about property, but also other means of investment. Everything that leads towards achieving financial independence.

So from there I did a lot of research on my own, reading books, going to seminars or exhibitions and by now I already stopped shopping mindlessly, and create some saving/investment portfolios.

I know our parents already thought us to save since we're in primary school but actually the key is your own consciousness. Normally people, specifically me, I will follow orders/advice with reasoning. Like why they don't let us smoke, why they don't let us do drugs, why can't you do this do that, everything must have a valid reason. Not just plain don't. Normally if I don't see a valid reason, I won't follow the advice until I realize the reason on my own.

So when my parents ask me to save money during that time, I don't see the point. 

Only now I see the point. Haha

But I don't regret the money I spent when I look in my closet full of clothes and car boot full of shoes.

I think its totally just.

From teenager until my uni years, I don't get to spent as freely as my peer did, I don't get a motorcycle/car, a handphone, branded clothing or even a Converse. (I did manage to get my first Converse by doing some modelling job last time) Plus studying in a private uni with all the rich and stylish kids doesn't make it any easier.

So during my working years, I totally befriend the nearest shopping mall and spent every dollar I have buying stuffs I want. I don't even give a penny to my parents on the first year.True story.

Like every temporary interest, it will gradually decline and the way I look at clothing boutique has change now. I no longer have the desire to go inside everytime I go to malls. I started giving to my parents.

And get serious in saving. Macam dah bertaubat lah kiranya ni.=P

Now I already have savings in fixed deposit account, Tabung Haji, ASB, unit trust, insurance saving, (still considering on PRS though) and on the process to buy my first house.(Pray for me!)

Car? not now. Not until few other years maybe. I will stick to my Kancil as long as it can serve me.

So I advice youngsters, I wont advice you to start saving, instead I want to advice you to find the 'kesedaran' to start saving early. 

Imagine if you save from young age, maybe by the time you finish uni, in your very first job you can straight away buy your first house already.

But people my age or even older, there's always time to start saving. Better late then never right guys?
There's a lot of books and even seminars on investment matter. Plus its a Google era, everything's on the internet now. Nak tak nak je kan.:)

What do I do

If I haven't mentioned earlier I'm currently doing design for Low Voltage Switchboard. 

So basically, we got general spec and requirement from customer and their single line diagram, like this one. 

And from there, I will translate into how big the panel would be.

 

And after approve, we will come out with the schematic diagram and general arrangement drawing and our own single line diagram incorporating any deviation that have been agreed beforehand with the customers.

So from here we realize the drawing and give them to the production side for assembly and wiring.

This is one of the panel that are almost done in the factory.

But in between the drawings and the panel to look like this, there are but*load of stuffs needed to be done, tested, redo etc etc etc.

So yah. It was great.heh.

That's basically what I do. Still a lot to learn. 

But I admit its really interesting I mean if you really into this field of work. So ya, till next post :)

Of Interviews - Engineeing Fresh Grads

I haven't been to a lot of interviews. I've been to 4. But not all very fruitful in terms of interview tips. But there's something that I think worth sharing.

The 1st was an interview for an internship placement. Nothing much to tell just standard procedure.

The 2nd interview was with the first company I work with right after internship.
The boss (the Malaysian branch manager) who interviewed me did ask some technical question based on my internship experience but I figured out he just want to see how I response to questions. So basically, communication skills.
So I got the job, and as I can see the company doesn't need someone experienced at all, he just need someone who can get a sale and do the documentation needed and all the technical side will be done by engineers in their Singapore HQ. So I left the job after 6 month to pursue other job that could give me some satisfaction and an opportunity to grow.

My 3rd interview is for my current company.
This time the Design Manager straight away ask for simple technical questions, basically things I've learned in my uni years. But nerves got to me and I answered it with no confidence whatsoever (Turns out my answer was right though). He also asked me to explain about my FYP.
I got the job. Which I believe it's more cause of luck and I thank God for that ever since.

My 4th interview is just a few days after I start working for that company (the 3rd interview). So I went anyway mainly because it's a big Swiss Electrical company and I just want to have the experience. But the post I went for is not actually the post I want. It is for Sales Engineer post, the post I left at the S'porean company. So I ended up talking a lot about designing and what I want to do after 5 years is more designing. I did get the HR person's attention but I lost the Sales Manager at the 'Why do you want this post' talk.

So in short,

1.Just be yourself. Well, your better self at least.
2.On top of knowing what the company do, you also have to know what YOU want to do. This will give the clear picture to the interviewer of the direction you're heading.
3.Do not afraid to say you don't know/not sure of something, nobody knows everything.

Another point that I'm going to make is that LUCK plays like 40% of the role in getting your job.

The important key is you just have to be confident to communicate with the interviewer. Nobody expect a fresh grad to know everything. Most SME company just want to hire someone who can get the job done. As long as you have Engineering degree and a good attitude, they will take you because they know you will learn stuffs during the job itself.

HR people will look at your confidence- the way you present yourself, the way you talk and the way you answer questions. Basically how well you can communicate with them.

But the Engineering manager will question your knowledge and interest on the job you wish to apply for.
So be prepared for technical questions if interviewing for bigger companies.

For Engineering almost always they will ask you basic questions like
'Explain V=IR in your own understanding'
'Explain Kirchoff's current/voltage law?'
'How do I calculate the current for a given motor rating and Voltage supply in a three phase system'
Simple right? They won't ask you to derive Maxwell equation or anything there. Well if you're interviewing for a lecturer post you might be. I don't know. Hehe
But then again control your nerve. When you're nerves you can't even answer what's 100 divide by 10.

This is generally speaking based on my limited experienced only. And for fresh graduates. I believe experienced people will need to prove more technically but that's another story.

So if you've done your part well, you will already feel satisfied with yourself regardless you get the job or not.
The experience can be used for the next interview so Good Luck.

Happy Malaysia Day!

Here's my Malaysia Day themed outfit.

Hehe, actually xperasan pun until my roomie pointed out.

Blue MNG shirt.

Pink skinny pants, forgot where I bought it.

Yellow clutch from Kitschen

Oh and my favourite Forever 21 necklace.

So, I went to watch Grown Ups 2. Hillarous I kid you not. Go watch it.
What else to say, work is good, social life's a bit boring.
To sum it up, everything is dull and repetitive.
Trying to find a way out of this vortex before I woke up and realize i'm almost 50 years old. T_T
So, till next time!

wordless wednesday

women and sense of direction

Here's a funny story. Well, at least for me its funny.

Yesterday after badminton, I stopped at this Petronas on my way home to withdraw some cash and refill the gas. Then I meant to find Yamato Transport in Subang. Cos earlier at the office I got a call from this courier person says he cannot go pass my apartment guard house. So I gotta go and self collect the parcel. The address he gave was quite vague, can't even make sense of it in the map. So I stayed at the Petronas for a while to find other route. This Petronas is the one beside Maju Homes above usj heights exit(if you came from shah alam hicom).

So as it happens, the map showed me that the place is very near from the Petronas. But the route is misleading. So I went straight ahead to the toll pay 1.60, go to LDP reroute, pass IOI, Tesco and everything, go to Elite straight, then headed to Summit, go to persiaran kewajipan until USJ19 mall. Then after few calls, I found the place behind the mall.

Well that was easy.
So I googled my way back home. The map showed me left, and straight ahead, I found Maju Home..and the Petronas I was at the first time. *ultimate facepalm*

Get it? Get it?

The Petronas I was at is actually already USJ. I should just turn right at the Petronas and just 3 minutes up straight is Yamato transport.
Instead I went in full circle to get there.
I just laughed at my stupidity.

But at least now I finally get the idea around shah alam puchong and usj area.

And reading maps requires practice. So don't conclude the phrase 'women can't read map' to be true just yet okay.
I'll get my way around in some time. Just wait few more months. Hehehe..

Routine

This June, I've officially gained one year working experience dan sudah officially jadi permanent staff at my current company.

Tapi life da jadi makin rutin dan sedikit dull. Apa orang bekerja buat for fun eh?

Wordless Wednesday

Of training and stuffs

On Saturday and Sunday I have this BOFA & CPR training at the office. Safety stuffs.
So on Saturday, they did this basic health check for each person.

Last time I checked my weight is on June 2012.
About 6 months ago, prolly before I started working, or maybe just started working.

So, they ask us to write down our age and height, and the magic weight scale will read our weight, BMI, body fat, metabolic rate and everything else in between.

Last time I check the machine calculated my height as well, but this time I can't remember what my height was so I put 163cm. Apparently it was 164cm but nevermind, just 1cm different.

My previous weight was 51.2kg and BMI is around 19.
And my current weight is 53.4kg and BMI is 20.10. And my metabolic age is 4 years younger than my actual age. hehe.

I don't mind that, its just, I've gained 2.2kilos in the last 6 months! That's not good news.
I do feel a little bit heavier around the middle area - tummy and waist.

This is definitely the results from all the nasi I ate during lunch and at one point I had nasi lemak for breakfast for the whole week straight. Kinda freaked me out a little. So mission this month, less nasi intake. Not the amount, just the when.

So more of the training later. Kalau rajin.=P

Engineering Drawing

When I applied for my current job, my superior asked if I have experience in AutoCad. I said no, because somehow, I never learned the software. But I told him, those software are something we can learn. With or without official lessons. Like photoshop. Or something. And he agrees.

So now, actually a huge chunk off my work involves AutoCad.

Baru saya teringat, dulu time sekolah kan saya amik Lukisan Kejuruteraan form 4 n form 5. It's actually what my department have been doing. Mendesign dan melukis lukisan kejuruteraan. Cumanya, sekarang AutoCad dah digunakan secara meluas. Orang dah tak pakai papan dengan sesiku T tu lagi. kot.

And saya tak bernasib baik sebab batch lepas saya baru diorang start ajar AutoCad sekali dalam subject Lukisan Kejuruteraan. Rugi-rugi.

Drawing board conventional

Dulu everytime nak pegi lab LK bawak papan ni mesti rasa cool gila. 

boooo Biology. hahaha.

Rotring drawing board set.

Tapi yang saya punya dulu A4. So takbes sangat pakai.

So bila fikir-fikir balik, punyalah tak relevan dah subject tu. Teknik-teknik melukis tu semua, 2 tahun belajar last-last tak pakai. Mungkin ex-classmate saya yang amik Architecture still pakai kot. Ke Architecture pun dah pakai AutoCad sekarang?

And budak-budak sekolah skarang still belajar pakai papan or totally AutoCad dah semua?

So kesimpulannya disini, pengalaman AutoCad saya dah 1 bulan. Orait lah kan. hahaha. Nasib baiklah draftperson semua baik-baik belaka. Kalau tak berat jugak la.

GA drawing for Battery Box. 

Syaratnya kena selalu buat, baru laju sikit. Macam Maths jugak, kalau selalu buat familiar lah.
Cuma satu je, saya nak PC ! !
Pakai AutoCad kat laptop samalah macam pakai Rotring size A4 tadi. Tak best. Tak puas.

Tapi baru lagikan, so takleh la nak demand, but haritu boss kata saya kena install satu design software, laptop yang ada tak compatible so maybe soon la. Takkan dia nak biar saya buang masa kan. Lagipun malas  betul nak bawak laptop ofis kehulu kehilir. Kena rompak ke apa sape nak bertanggungjawab?

Okey, off for now. happy weekend everybody!

To Master or not to Master

hihi..tapape tittle..

Anyway..lain individu lain perception diorang towards sambung Master.
Dulu mase belaja, saye memang dah tekad tamo sambung blaja da. tamo. tamo.serik da belaja.
Tapi bile da abis degree. Rase macam nak pulak sambung master.

Banyak pendapat yg saye dapat kalau tanye orang pasal master.

1. Parents: Sambung je blaja setinggi yang boleh..
2. Senior: Unless kau nak jadi lecturer, tayah la fikir nak amik Master.
3. Somebody: Engineering ni selalu orang tengok experience, ade Master ke tade tak penting sangat.
4. Schoolmate: Nak amik Master amik,tapi amik part time, sebab kau amik full-time nanti ko rugi     experience kerja.
5. My Ex: Amik la Master, best. Senang je sebenanye. (Oo really..:P)
6. Kawan 1: Kau da ade degree (knowledge)Engineering, buat la MBA pulak. Bole jadi Bos.
7. Kawan 2: Buat ape kau nak sambung Master?

For me, personally saya nak amik Master untuk kepuasan diri. I don't know how to explain. But for now yes, kepuasan diri, I love Electrical Engineering and I wish to see what's more I can learn in this area.

So ya, I will, but soon.
Maybe settle down dulu, I've got a new job, so back to square one, nak biasakan diri dengan new workplace semua dulu, and probably nak cari rumah sewa baru jugak.
So kalau da stabil sikit nanti, akan sambung Master. Target next year.
InsyaAllah.

But just for self-reminder, Ustaz subject Islamic studies dulu pernah pesan,

"Korang semua ni da habis bertahun-tahun belajar kat sekolah, belajar Engineering, belajar Medic. belajar IT, lepas habis degree esok, cari ilmu agama pulak. mana yang dah lupa, cari dan ingat balik. Sebab itu yang perlu diutamakan.."

InsyaAllah Ustaz, InsyaAllah..=)

Week update

Harini roomate ajak pegi karoke..I'm not a karoke person. Tapi disebabkan si roomate tengah bersedih. So teman la kejap. Janji die happy.:P

Sambil tu saya pun menghappykan diri jugak.:P

Bought this orange top, suka design kat belakang tu sebenarnye.:P

and some accessories.

Mood lifters.(^_^)

What I wear:

White shirt: Forever 21
sling/clutch: MNG

pink skinny, turquoise wedges, accessories: flea market :P

 Lepas tu pukul sebelas heret rumet pegi mamak tengok bola.

Anyway nothing much on first week kerja. Main-main dengan AutoCad for the first time.

Lebihnya packing barang untuk pindah bangunan baru di Shah Alam. Itu saja.

Last-last pegi Shah Alam balik kan. 

And last-last semua baju kerja yang beria-ria beli tu semua tak pakai.T_T

So lepas ni jadi minah kilang la kot. Haha.

Look forward to next week.

Okay ngantuk.Tido timee.

Daa~

Decisions

Minggu-minggu terakhir, ni bosan pulak, tak de ape nak buat sangat. My life update. Selepas 6 bulan bekerja di sebuah company vendor, saya tender resignation on 19/11/2012. I've got an offer from another company, Electrical related and I'm going to do design this time. No more sales stuffs, proposal stuffs, quotation stuffs. That's the MAIN reason why I looked out for another job. I want a job that is more towards the technical stuffs than the commercial side of it.

I thank God for the opportunity and hopefully everything will be okay in the future. Saya tak suka lompat-lompat. Kalau boleh nak settle down at one place.

SO, tadi pagi saya half day sebab pegi amik offer letter dekat company tu. Siap sesat jugak sikit. Hehe. Kita panggil company yang ni as company A.

Beberapa minggu lepas, sebelum saya diterima pegi company A, saya dapat call (basically phone interview atau pre-interview call, or whatever they're calling it nowadays) from a big company in electrical.  Lets call it THE company.

Pretty much my dream company ever since I started working in engineering field.

So memang tekejut habisla, nervous and superexcited sume at the same time.

The interview went fr an hour. And they mentioned if this interview went well, I'll got another interview at their office soon.

So, nak dijadikan cerita, pagi tadi tengah saya mamai dan berlengah-lengah nak pergi mandi. Saya dapat call dari THE company. Dorang suh datang interview hari Jumaat ni. Saya pun berfikir-fikir. Jumaat da last day. Takkan nak amik half day lagi. Da la arini da amik half day.

Takpe la, saya pegi amik offer letter dari company A dulu ape apehal.

Mase amik offer letter, tengok job scope. Memang sengih sorang-sorang. Bukan senyum tengok gaji ek, senyum tengok jobscope.haha. Mesti orang HR tu pelik.

Thing is, everything that are listed on the jobscope, is basically ALL the things I always WANTED to do.

But then, on the way drive balik I got a call from THE company again, saying the interview will be postponed. Asking whether I'm available on next Monday or Tuesday. 3/4 Dec.

Isnin first day kerja kot.T_T..

Saya cakap tak free. Then after an awkward silence, dia cakap decide hari apa free, then reply email dia balik.

So skarang saya pening.

Saya dah dapat kerja yang saya nak. Position yang saya nak dekat company A. Though its not a big company, but I believe I can learn a lot there. 

But then, I got an interview by THE company, an international company that I've been dreaming to work with since at least my final year in MMU. Da la interview on the same day, 3rd Dec. what the hell?

So at the moment I'm still thinking. Apa nak jawab dekat orang THE company tu. Nak pergi ke tak?

Kalau pergi, takkan la kan, baru masuk kerja sehari dua hari da nak amik cuti kan.

Sebab yang hold me back is the fact that I'm interviewing for Sales Engineer post. Which I don't quite like. It's basically the job I'm trying to run away from.

But still, it's THE company.

And even if I don't wanna take the job, I do want to now my capabilities, pergi interview dengan company besar. I've already passed the phone interview, kinda wanna go all the way and see how far I can go.

I used to think that I will be torn between the question of Money vs Interest.

If that's the question, it'll be no brainer. I'll choose interest. Hands down. Tapi sekarang, that's not an issue.

Now it's the question of Dream company Vs Interest.

So I don't know.

Somebody help!

T_T..

Cool Stuff

Daripada buat Nuclear plant, baiklah banyakkan buat Geothermal Plant kat Malaysia ni.

Whatever the concerns might be, I believe they are way less severe than what Nuclear Plant can cause. Just think about it.

Simple idea of how the plant works. Making use of the lava in the earth core.

Thankfully we will have this in Tawau Sabah, developed by a company that promotes green and renewable energy.

Kudos! (^_^)

New cave

As of 27th February 2012, I am no longer a Cyberjayans.
Err.
Cyberjayese? Cyberians?

..Cybertrons? :D

New place, new housemates, ..new cat.

Since my Siamese cat died after being poisoned by a cruel neighbour 10 years ago, Mom wont let us have any cats, because she doesn't want to experience another cat funeral.

So years without cats has made me unable to tolerate cats.

For me they are some annoying, toe sniffing, furniture scratching, attention seeking, ass showing creature. 

Cute to see, to play with, No thanks.

So anyway, this is my housemates boy kitty.

He's fluffy.

He's been meddling with my 'unpacking project' since I step foot in the house.

Now after 2 days, there's no bags and boxes he never been in and no pillows his butt haven't sat on. 

But somehow I can tolerate with this one even though his fur is all over my clothes..and laptop.

Eh, what was I saying again?

Oh moving to a new house. No reason at all, I just feel like it.(^_^)

Jobs Central 'We Pay You RM500' Campaign

Guess what, I got paid RM500 from Jobs Central!

Macamana?

Simple, last time masa saya nak cari kerja, I search through Jobscentral website, and when I got hired, they pay me RM500. Easy.(^_^)

click for more info

Campaign start dari 1st April - 31st December 2012,
so adik-adik student (cewah adik-adik lah kan sekarang:P) siapa-siapa yang nak cari tempart intern or nak cari kerja, or yang bukan student, and currently looking for another job, register lah dekat Jobscentral.
Sebab every month diorang akan pilih 5 orang yang berjaya dapat kerja through their website and reward them 500 bucks. =P

You get hired, and then you get paid for getting hired.
It's like icing on a cake and sprinkle on ice cream.:P

Macam saya haritu, beberapa minggu after start kerja, saya dapat call and they told me I'm one of the winners. So saya kena pergi ambik check on 1st August dekat office diorang di Seri Kembangan.

But at the end of July they called again cakap check dah ready.
So after kerja terus pergi SK amik check.Yeay.
Plan nak amik gambar check tu. Tapi sebab laju sangat cash kan, terus terlupa.:P:P

So ape lagi, register dekat Jobscentral and apply for job, who knows it might be your lucky day.
Macam saya.=P

For more info and register sila pergi ke jobscentral.com.my

Goodluck!(^_^)

My names. (According to my boss)

Dekat ofis saya selalu guna Nadira je instead of my full name. 

The other staffs called me Dira and mane yang dah rapat panggil Dya macam biasa.

My boss pulak, called me a lot of names. Normally dia akan panggil Nadira atau Dira, tapi kadang-kadang kalau die lupa dia akan reka sesuka hati die.=P

Mula-mula rasa pelik tapi dah lama rase macam klaka pulak.

Here are the list of the names he used when he talks to me, or on the phone, or email.

1.Nadila

-Okey lah. Mungkin sebab previous staff yang saya ganti nama Fadila.

2.Dari

- Haha. Okeylah typo ni. Sebab dalam email.

3.Nodira

- Haha maybe 'o' tu nampak macam 'a' kot:P

4.Nida

- Masa ni bos email dekat semua orang, my kelig siap tanye 

"Eh apehal bos panggil kau Nida" 

Hahaha jangan tanya aku pun tak tau.:P

5.Nordira

-boleh la kasi fancy sikit dari Nodira:P

and the latest one is....

*drumrolls*

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

6. DORA

Hi!

Serupa ke?

(^_^)