EPTI recently graduated since April as a Mechatronics Engineer. I took a month of respite and then started searching for jobs like any fresh graduate does. I found a few, sent my applications but got nothing further until last month.
I got called in on Monday for an interview. I went through it fine but it ended up being something that I didn't want to be in and thus rejected the offer. A second interview came in for Wednesday and so I prepped up and set off early in the morning.
It was to be at 11.00 AM. I set off at 9.30 in consideration of traffic and that I have not been there before. I consulted the Google map beforehand and generally knew of most of the way.
By the luck of such misfortune, I made a wrong turn. Its a along story in itself but in short I got myself lost for a long time. I called the place and asked for help. It was 10.00AM then. They gave some tips which I followed. I ended up down more unfamiliar terrain. (I had no mobile GPS of sorts and only a picture of a map to rely on)
I eventually got lost long enough until I know I wouldn't make it. I was really considering then, should I keep trying or should I just let them know I can't make it? I hated to be late and was very critical of myself. I eventually reached the place at 11.30AM. I was worried like fark. However they did the interview. The first one and then the test which was heavily assorted with IT side terms that I had pitiful amount of experience. I did what I could and then it was the interview with the boss. The boss got impressed enough that they wanted me without a second interview despite me being late as hell and being very honest of my lack of knowledge in server side IT. I was surprised but I was happy. That however was just the start of the story.
The next week, I started off. It was hectic workload. By the stroke of luck, I entered the company during a project deadline week. I needed to help out as much as possible to get major work done and a design review document completed and sent. It was long hours from 7 - 8 AM down until 10PM and possibly even later. We worked 7 days straight (Sunday included) in the office to get these things done.
During those long hours, I pondered at times in my mind. Am I going to live a life like this for years to come? There were times where I felt as though I should just screw this and hand in the letter. Yet something told me. It's just the start. You can't feel the job in just one week. Wait a bit more and it'll ease out. With these two weighing on my balance of sanity, I continued working.
I persevered long and persevered hard. Skipping meals sometimes, coming home exhausted and waking up exhausted. No time to relax or recover excepting meals. I had been prepared for long hours during internship but this had taken it to a whole another level. My friends were telling me, wtf comments and sad life kind of stuff. Some even asked me to go to the workers union lol. Yet I knew my seniors were working even harder than me with even later hours into the night. Feeling competitive and empathetic, I persevered.
I persevered and reached the second week of my first career. The document was yet to be done done and sent. We worked until that Wednesday before its done. We've finally done it. The workload plummet to a different level. Throughout that phase, I thought this is just the beginning. More things were done at a more relaxed pace and I finished the second week with much more relief.
Today in the third week, they had something for me. The boss called me into the meeting room. In the room also was the HR manager. I was like What's going on? Have I done something wrong?
The boss then told me. "We heard about your commitments and heard some good feedback. We would like to have you in the company." . My probation that was to last at least a month with excellent performance, more if not as good was over. I've done mine in three weeks. I was surprised really but once I returned to my cubicle, I felt extremely motivated. There may be no OT pay for us engineers but rewards come in different ways.
Now it's late 11.23PM and I need to sleep for a meeting tomorrow in the morning. There is one thing I know for sure. Twice in the span of a month, I had doubts on my decisions. But now as I secure my career and future, I knew that I had stayed to the right choice.
