Am I in the wrong profession

Haven't been able to update this blog that often as would have liked to.

Anyway, quite recetly I had an opportunity to talk to a guy working for an IT firm around here. I was shocked when I found out how much they were earning. The amazing part was not how much they earned but they did so when most of them don't even have a degree. Here I am, having spent a large part of my life in various educational institutions as a student and as an academic with short stints in the corporate sector and non-governmental sector. And what do I expect to get after all this - a place as a lowly paid lecturer in a University.

Even here in the UK, the starting pay for a lecturer is only around £3000 (it varies from University to University and I am taking the higher end). That may seem a lot but considering that in order to have a chance of getting into a University you must have a good bachelor's degree, followed by a Master's degree (not necessary in some cases) and ultimately topped by a PhD. And that's not all - you need to have some teaching experience and some publications, preferably in top ranking academic journals.

I have done most of that and so far I have spent around 9 years studying in various Universities after I left secondary school. I am not even calculating the money I have invested in my education. And I find myself asking this question - For what?

I guess the answer is right in front of me. A thirst for knowledge and books plus the fact that I love sharing what little I know with everyone willing to listen and read (or forced) what I have to say and found out. I guess that's what drives me to blog as well.

What about you? Do you love what you do or do you find yourself question whether you made the right choice?

Malaysian bloggers in Coventry

I am not alone. The list of Malaysian bloggers in Coventry grows higher every day. Some of them like the blogger who goes just by here initial "D" have been blogging for a while but anonymously. She blogs at Pause to reflect.

Some of the bloggers have moved away from Coventry while others like Rosydi are on an extented hiatus to concentrate on their research work.

One of the most prolific bloggers has got to be Ahrasis who started blogging recently and has not one but four blogs:
Forex Profiteer
Daily Digest
Automobile As Easy As 123 and
Malaysia's Politics

His wife has also started her own blog - "Mama Fahim"

The newest to join the blogosphere is Fauzan, our Tech Expert. He was responsible for maintaining the Malaysian Coventry Society site (which is under maintenance at the moment) and he's the guy everyone goes to whenever they have some problems with their gadget, etc. His blog is called "Living in United Kingdom", filled with a number of useful tips.

Several others have shown interest but are concerned about their privacy (solved by blogging anonymously), don't know what to write about (anything under the sun and the moon) or too busy with their research. Blogging is not everyone's cup of tea but it can be a really rewarding and fulfilling experience for some.

Hopefully there should be enough of us to have our own Blogger's meet.

SEO Coventry

SEO is such a big thing right now and everyone is talking about it. For those who are not aware, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is one of the key web marketing activities and is defined as:

the process of editing and organizing the content on a webpage or across a website to increase its potential relevance to specific keywords on specific search engines and importantly ensuring that external links to the site are correctly titled and in abundance. Source: Wikipedia.

Anyway, I was wondering whether there are any good companies specialised in SEO in Coventry and was quite surprised to find that in fact, there are none here in Coventry, apart from the National B2B Centre based at the University of Warwick. A search on Google for the search terms "SEO Coventry" also revealed that the companies in the top 5 results are based in Birmingham, London or elsewhere.

At a conference I recently attended, I was talking to some guys and they revealed that they did most of the SEO work in-house but their efforts were not effective and they have to consult some "SEO experts" from time to time, often at a huge cost. I was surprised at the amount that they were paying some of these so called experts.

Definitely puts some ideas into my head. I see a lot of opportunities for a Coventry based company or SEO Expert.

Hanlon’s Razor

This is my thought for the day:

You might want to ponder over it.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

or

Never attribute to conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.

My hybrid tea roses

Really nice colours



You can understand why Roses are my favourite flowers.


Join

Do visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Malaysian owned British companies

Malaysians are taking over the UK. I guess that might be a little bit of an exaggeration really but you might be surprised to learn the number of high profile companies which are actually owned by Malaysians/ Malaysian companies or in which they have a large share. Given below is a list of the companies:

1. Group Lotus Plc - Automobile / Sports cars / Engineering
Owned by Proton Holdings Berhad

2. Star Energy - Energy / Petroleum
Owned by Petronas

3. Wessex Water - Utilities / Water
Owned by YTL Corp

4. Laura Ashley Holdings Plc - Retail
Owned by Malayan United Industries (MUI) group

5. Jimmy Choo Ltd - Retail/ Shoes
Malaysian born Jimmy Choo owns 50% share

I am sure there are more but that's all I can think of for now.

Selamat Hari Raya 2008

This is the third time we are celebrating Hari Raya here in the UK. However, it's going to be a strange one this time. It's not a holiday which means that my kids will be going to school. My wife has an appointment with her supervisor as well.

This means that we won't be having an open house tomorrow. However, that won't stop us from visiting some of our friends' houses. Looking forward to eating some good home cooked Malaysian food.

Wishing everyone

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri
Maaf Zahir Batin