PEng route 3

The very last night after Ramadhan, I remember I was feeling very down after Tarawikh prayer with my two girls. I didn't fully utilize my Ramadhan this year, that was for sure. Was checking my Whatsapp when I received the good news.

Alhamdulillah :)

A few days after, BEM called me to convey the news and letter came a few weeks afterwards. Ramadhan gift, thank you ya Allah. Alhamdulillah.

Anyhow, I applied my PEng via Route 3 BEM (Route for a Professional Engineer from an overseas Regulatory Body). I have obtained my Chartered Engineer, CEng. which is a Professional Engineer from IET UK in 2016, hence after consulted with Ir. Shamil, a PEng consultant in our department, he suggested me to go through Route 3.

My Chartered Engineer journey was Alhamdulillah a smooth one. After registering with IET, filled in the Chartered Engineer form online here https://www.theiet.org/membership/profreg/ceng/. Waited for a year for the interview and managed to get my CEng a couple of weeks after. The interview was not as technical as I thought, but more on leadership, management, ethics and risk which were quite scary for me. But I learned a lotttt throughout the process especially on risk management.

I knew I should have gone for my PEng right after that, but I was lacking of knowledge and confidence. Ir. Shamil and my then HoD were very supportive and guided me all the way. Basically, the conversion process was very simple.

I extracted this from BEM's website: http://www.bem.org.my/documents/20181/43352/PEnotes.pdf

(i) The applicant need not sit and passed the Professional Assessment Examination or be corporate member of IEM.
(ii) Applicant shall submit to BEM a certified latest Professional Engineer Certificate issued by a Regulatory Body of other country.
(iii) The professional engineers status shall be check that it is equivalent to BEM’s professional engineer qualifications eligibility.
(iv) The applicant is not entitle to be registered as a Professional Engineer if at any time prior to his
registration there exist any facts or circumstances which would have entitled the Disciplinary Committee to cancel his registration pursuant to section 15 of the Registration of Engineers Act 1967 (Revised 2015).
(v) Summary of practical experience not less than 3 years using company letterhead certified by a PE in same branch of engineering at which the applicant did his practical experience
and;
(vi) has complied with the requirements as determined by the Board.

Basically, what I needed was:
1. My CEng certificate
2. BEM application form Route 3
3. A letter from my University on my teaching experience
4. A letter from industry (in my case TNB) on the consultation work I have done with them (accumulative of 3 years).

It's that simple.

Try it guys!

Leaving Aisha..

Work has been demanding lately. Apart from teaching and research, I am also heavily involved with consultancy.

Recently, I had to go to Bersia, leaving the girls for a night.

Aisha was just 18 months at that time, still breastfeeding and it broke my heart so badly leaving both of them crying inconsolably.

But, I just have to. I have been asking for too many exemptions before.

You know, that time when I naively thought a lecturer's job is just to teach, that time seems too funny now, yet I am not laughing.

Oh life..

Why are you not replying his email?

So, I've received quite a number of emails of strangers wanting to collaborate with me.

Those times when I was innocent and carefree, I accepted them all happily. I'm glad because I've learned a lot.

Nowadays, I chose those surrounding me very carefully. Because as you mature, you know what you can tolerate and cannot. And my standards of ok is quite high; hence I know who can tolerate me and cannot. Two ways there.

Previously, I love the challenges of moulding something raw. Nowadays, my schedule became hectic and I realized moulding something with no disciplines and proper attitude consume more energy than moulding something with less technical background. I prefer to channel my energy somewhere worthwhile.

"Why are you not replying his email?" Somebody I respected asked me that question when I was in a workshop just now. An institution wanted to collaborate with us, and I haven't replied them yet.

"I need time to think about it," I answered sheepishly.

"You don't look too keen!" He accused me. But I guess I'm pretty transparent.

"I just need time, Sir," I laughed.

Then he said something that I feel the need to share in my blog instantly.

"Are you reluctant to reply his email?" He asked and I nodded.

"Then it reflects your heart. Your heart already tells you the decision."

Relate back to blink.

What your heart tells you. Your instinct is more powerful than your brain.

As I publish this post, my mind already looking for words to reply the stranger's email.

And it shall begin with..

"Dear Sir, I'm honoured  to receive your email but I regret to inform you that.."

"You must have done something right"

I woke up all emotional yesterday, one of my good friend, Kak Husna was about to have her PhD viva that morning and I could not be there with her because I was one of the panels for the internship program's interview held by my parent company.

The turnover of the interview was very poor, 2 out of 9 students came. When asked why, one of the candidates said the email went to her "Junk mail" and defended those who did not come.

"But you are here," one of the panels, Mr. O pointed out.

"I am lucky because I happened to check my junk mail last night," she said innocently.

Then, Mr. O said something that hits me really hard..

"The fact that you are here today must mean you have done something right."

...

At noon, I received a message from my friend saying she passed her viva, and I was super ready to go out and celebrate with the girls.

In the car, on the way to Alamanda, we talked about how it is all rezeki from the Almighty. Once, a researcher received the best FRGS project and so many recognition, but nearly failed for her PhD viva. Us, with funny PhD projects, Alhamdulillah had such easy viva, the irony.

"It is unpredictable, all these," Kak Husna said.

Well Dr. Husna, the fact that you are here today, doing minor correction for your PhD thesis must mean you have done something right.

That simple sentence somehow has a powerful comforting effect towards me.

You must have done something right..

How Allah swt is fair.

Anniversary and my first boss

I had to work on my anniversary, how fun? It was quite fun actually because I had training on Beaglebone. Geek stuff, so boring.

Colleague  sent this 9gag material to us during our training in ITMS; the IT lab

Love had to go to Puspakom and JPJ. Oh.. we sold our Punto and bought a new Iriz with 522 plate number (May 22nd; the anniversary, so cheesy the husband, my kind of cheesy).

Later in the evening, we went for a simple anniversary celebration at Secret Recipe, IOI city mall.

Guess who we met?

My ex first boss. Back when I was done with my SPM and had a 6 months part time job at Nando's Maluri.

Back when Love came all the way with taxi to Nando's and waited patiently for my lunch time to spend time with me.

"Have you tried making small talks with the customer," I remember once this boss asked me. I was not the best at making small talks.

"What for?" I asked naively.

"Sometimes it's not the food that they are paying for. It's the service."

Years down the road I couldn't agree more.

Later on.. we became close. He helped me to get my driving license. He would occasionally pay for my family's dinner and Love's lunch at Nando's.

Those family I worked with in Nando's.. they don't necessarily need to earn handsomely to have such fun life. I learned a lot from them.

"So, I have to call you doctor now?" my boss asked me.

"Don't you dare!" I laughed.

"13 years down the road, you're already a doctor," he said, grabbing the receipt waiter sent to us, insisting to pay, so typical of him.

13 years already?? I was shocked.

I don't remember much all those deep, meaningful conversations he taught me, I wish I do.

But the feeling a mentor left me still lingers. The feeling of being so loved is so strong that it makes me believe I can do anything in the world. Just like how he praised me in monthly meeting for making customers felt comfortable in the restaurant for my small talks. My biggest achievement at that time looked so silly now.

I wonder if I can ever left my students with that kind of feeling later on in their life.

Meeting one of the men I respected most in life during our anniversary has got to serve as a reminder for us, Alhamdulillah.

Happy things from work

Let the pictures do the talking :)

Alhamdulillah. All praise is to the Almighty. Alhamdulillah.

Preparing for every stage of your life

So I had a brunch with my colleagues just now when my ex-boss came and joined us. He was about to retire next month, I had high respect towards him when I was a student, even higher when he was my boss.

We had just a normal conversation at the beginning, but in the end, some of the things he said became the things I would remember for life.

"Women matured at the age of 27," he provoked. We laughed. I did not deny it, perhaps because some part of me feel like I'm a lot calmer nowadays, a lot at peace with everything.

"And really become a mother at the age of 36," he said.

"THIRTY SIX??" I asked and laughed.

"Yup. Parents nowadays do things heartlessly, lack of time management. When they feed their child, they do it heartlessly without passion and love in their heart. That is good enough as long as they're not looking at their phone or something.

Why is that so, because they're not prepared to have a child at the first place. Not physically, not mentally, not financially.

I prepared for every stage in my life. For me to retire, I prepare myself financially, physically even mentally for about a year ago."

And how to argue that with someone that achieves so much in life. That not only successful in career, but leaving the life I dream, travelling around the world with her wife non stop now.

*Insaf mode*

Alhamdulillah another gold for ITEX :)

It has been super hectic for me these past few weeks. Hubs and friends have been pushing me to slow down.

I'm trying.

I know I need to try harder.

Am working on that too.

Anyways, involved in some conferences on April. Then, Unirex; an exhibition organized by my university where I sent 4 entries this year.

Then, to ITEX 2014. The 4th ITEX I participated, the third time I presented. With all 3 golds Alhamdulillah. Last year I was in Goldcoast and we won silver.

I must have been blessed.

If you wanna do something that would take up your time, might as well you make sure you'd get the benefit out of it.

Now I'm going back and forth to National Instruments (NI) for a new project. Gonna be busy for another 3 months; meaning the whole third trimester as the project is due on August.

I need to slow down.

I know.

I need to try harder.

I know.

Sigh.

A proud supervisor

Sometimes in your life, you got so blessed to have some potential students knocked on your door and you know you wouldn't want to miss that opportunity.

Doing research is very different than the classroom environment. For research, you need to think outside the box, you need to be brave to explore things on your own, the kind for me that is suitable either for real geek or real rebellion.

Very rare species in the world.

That is why I'm so happy when one of my FYP students won 2 awards in the FYP award this semester!!

One with the students and the co sv

Special award and software based winner

To top it all, both these students obtained A for their FYP :) Alhamdulillah.

To shape a winner is a much happier thing than to be a winner yourself.  Now I understand the true meaning of giving.. I feel so contented.

To Emran and Awis.. thank you ♥

Currently busy with..

Wish me luck!! *nervous*

Chiba, then we say goodbye.

While I had my training in Chiba (which was an hour away from Tokyo), my loved ones had fun in Asakusa. Asakusa is a historical place with a big temple and a street to buy souvenirs, somewhat like jonker.

Back from Asakusa, our nightmare began. Khaira had a bad food poisoning, causing her to throw up for more than 10 times that day. Lucky we had a friend who stayed for a few months already in Japan. He gave us a list of some hospitals and english speaking clinics that opened the next morning. Khaira didn't sleep well that night.

The next day, she vomited only once but developed a fever and colic since he refused to eat the whole day.

Anyhow.. all we could think of was to go home at that time. I'm glad we're home now. Both love and mil developed a fever and diarrhea as well :(

Still, we had fun. Especially in chiba castle..

The view of sunrise from our hotel room right before we left for the airport.

It's just good to be home :)

Fun in Tokyo

That Saturday, I moved from Tsukuba to Akihabara alone. Tsukuba and Akihabara are two different prefactures (in Malaysia, we have states, Japan divides the area by prefactures). Tsukuba is in Ibaraki prefacture, and Akihabara is in Tokyo prefacture, an hour away by train.

Love arrived at 11 pm and MIL around 11.30 pm. So I picked them up at Haneda airport alone. Gamble je naik train, first time had to switch from one train to the other. Alhamdulillah.. I survived the complicated Japan train.

View in Haneda airport, Christmas spirit is on

We managed to catch the last train at 1210 am to Apa hotel, Akihabara. Otherwise it would cost us around 8000 yen (rm250) by taxi. The hotel price in Tokyo over the weekend hikes up to 2.5 times than usual. Crazy.

That Sunday morning, we went to Odaiba. Had lunch with our cousin which happened to be there for a 3 month training as well..

Odaiba is an island filled with shopping malls and other attractions like legoland, madame tussauds, park, etc.

After lunch, we strolled along the beach, overlooking the rainbow bridge. They called it rainbow bridge because at night, the lights change the bridge to rainbow colours :)

There's a replica of the statue of liberty here.

And a real size Gundam that moves during show time.

With Lil Ezra,  imagine if we have 2 kids! 

That night we shopped around Akihabara,  got the feel of the worst earthquake during our stay (not so bad, Alhamdulillah), packed up because the next day, I'm leaving to Chiba prefacture for work.

My last day in Tsukuba :)

Hye everyoneeee *wave*

I'm in Japan currently. Been here since Tuesday.  Alone. No Ks.

My first time leaving Khaira made the both of us so miserable. She kept asking mom why I didn't bring her. Sadddd.. it's 2 am now in Japan.  Couldn't sleep cuz I was so excited counting down the time I got to hold her again.

Japan has been fun. It was in between fall and winter now. Temperature ranges between 1 degree to 13 degrees. I survived with only 3 layers; long john, normal clothing and jacket since it wasn't that windy compared to Korea. Long john is a must, it really helps a lot.

I'm here for some trainings actually. At the moment I am in Tsukuba, my training is at Natural Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster (NIED). Basically I'm learning on how the Japanese alert the residents when disaster happens. So we can have a flood and landslide monitoring system in our country as well.

Before you saw the geeky side of me, let me just stop and share with you the pictures..

Day 1.

Arrived at Tsukuba around 9.30 am and straight to NIED.. omgggg so beutiful Subhanallah..

The Japanese technology amazed me, I was speechless looking at their research. So ethical and sincere and hi tech.

I stayed at Toyoko-Inn hotel which was in Kenkyu Gakuen. A station away was Tsukuba station which was filled with shopping malls. Seriously, shopping malls are everywhere here. Had dinner there that night.

Day 2.

Started the training with a presentation on what we have done for flood and landslide monitoring in our country so far.

After training, we took an hour train to Akihabara, Tokyo. This is like Low Yat, since I am here for work, I took the opportunity to survey their technology in gadgets and such. So geek I know.

Slept over at my friend's hotel because I was scared to walk alone to my hotel and also because it became so lonely to a point that I felt like I could break into tears anytime, missing my lil ones..

Day 3.

Woke up really early.. it was so cold.. and we strolled down the park near my friend's hotel before the training.

It was a half day training before we moved to visit Ibaraki University which was an hour and a half away from Tsukuba.

That night, I shopped for a while at one of the malls near Tsukuba station and off to pack my stuff for the morning.

Day 4.

Checked out, left my bag and shop again for some souvenirs in Ijas mall near my hotel.

So hard to find clothes for people back at home, everything is for winter.

Then I left Tsukuba for good and started my lonely journey to Tokyo. See you in my next entry.

Leaving my baby

I'm leaving to Japan tonight for work. Alone. Without my baby.

Even typing that causes a hollow in my heart.

I'll be there for 10 days. Love will come on night of the 4th day with K.

I don't know how I'm gonna survive without her. The first day ever in her almost 26 months life in this world.

But I received a good news yesterday, making the lonely nights in Japan bearable.

Of course I'm dying to share.

But let's wait until I got back from Japan.

Pray for a safe trip for us. In shaa Allah.  Ameen.

In the mean time, I leave you with an idea of how paranoid a mommy can be, leaving her daughter flying alone with the dad.

What PECIPTA 2013 taught me

The whole week last week, I was juggling between my graduation and PECIPTA. PECIPTA stands for Persidangan dan Ekspo Ciptaan IPTA. It was an exhibition to acknowledge the university research that is ready for commercialization.

This year, I was a member for three different project. It was fun. Previously, I was a leader for ITEX and MTE in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Being a member takes my mind off things for a while.

It gave me time to observe the different leadership skills exist, and which one I want to be. I now understand that being a leader doesn't mean you have the power to command people every now and then rudely. My standard on rude is quite high.. Leaving a 'please' in your every request is unacceptable. That taught me that you're gonna be around for the longest time.. better make yourself pleased while we were at it.

I even learned something from this one little girl whom is very dear to me.. she said something like people reacts to you what you reacted to them, or rather what you feel for them.

I learned a lot from the Trump book I read, which for me was a mindblowing and I highly suggest this to all of you. He said your mind controls only 5% of your life.. another 95% is your subconscious mind. So for me.. the first rule of being a leader as I learned in PECIPTA is to really respect every member of your team. The rest in shaa Allah, the way you request something from them will affect your conscious mind.

I also have a habit of isolating myself to the max. My ex student (now a good friend) used to relate me to a malay song that I never heard of before. It sounds something like in a village, there's a really old house with a box under that house. And under the box there's a frog and that's me.

Honestly, that was a slap in the face, one valuable lesson I learned from a student. "Pick a friend who drained you or inspired you," he said. Some people inspired me in a different way.. to others they just drained me..

Anyhow.. I took his advice and Trump's.. so I walked around.. socializing.. passed around my card. But I think I'm gonna do better the second time around.

Although, the ending was the best. The three projects I involved in.. we obtained a silver and 2 bronzes. And other additional bonuses than those I mentioned above is that I never felt any closer to all the true friends I have in my lab. How blessed I am. Alhamdulillah.

Syukran

I'm currently blogging in viva room.

Whatttt?? Another viva?

Yup. But just not mine. I'm attending as observer this time around. So much fun. I shall summarize the questions from the examiners.

Anyhow.. let's talk about my post viva.

I nazar for three things, and Alhamdulillah I managed to cross the first one on 20th Aug which is to belanja my department makan.

It was fun. One of the best caterer I've used so far, Alya Jaya. I super love the service too. I initially booked for another caterer which suddenly cancelled the 4 days before the event. Tuh pon after I called them multiple times to ask if there's any confirmation fees. So as the last minute replacement,  Alya Jaya did a brilliant job!!

One thing I should have taken note next time, beef!! One of my menu is daging salai masak lemak cili padi and boyy 10% of my colleagues are hindu. Sighh..

Enjoy the pics!!

Menu from Alya Jaya

My backbone

Desserts pot luck home made by my friends

ITEX 2013 and Utusan Malaysia

Alhamdulillah, I won silver in ITEX 2013!! :)

 

Funny when we won gold twice previously, it was not in the news.

Was in Goldcoast during ITEX so thank you my Supervisor for presenting on behalf of me :)

Alhamdulillah

Khaira is yet to recover, so at the moment.. worried Mommy mode is on :(

It's a very mild fever actually, right after she received her 18 months old injection. Just a little annoying with the irony - the injection that was supposed to benefit her seems like backfiring a little.

Anyhow, I haven't yet studied the details on the pros and cons of immunizations for babies. So, I just go with the flow. Doakan Khaira is going to be healthy as a horse the soonest possible, Ameen. About a week to Goldcoast, not willing to take any chances.

But what I'm feeling at the moment makes me realized one thing.. I must say I am very thankful that Khaira has been very healthy especially for the past six months; giving me a peace of mind in focusing on my thesis. Alhamdulillah. All praise is to Allah SWT.

To cheer up the day, let me share with you two good news Allah SWT has enlightened me these past few weeks.

1. I have been nominated for MOSTI Anugerah Saintis Muda Negara 2013 by my university. Insya Allah.. if my rezeki, Allah SWT will ease up my path :) He knows best.

2. I have been awarded with the Best Paper Award for one of the conferences I attended recently.

Alhamdulillah.

Truly.. I am blessed.

Panic attack

OMG! OMG!

Thesis is yet to be done, 21 more days to go.

ITEX is coming up, I'm leading one project. A month plus to go.

ICP is due today. Haven't start anything yet.

PRGS? Ohh.. Been pending for three days.

Torray Grant is coming up.

...

Dear Allah, help me.

...
On a brighter note, I'm crossing Number 7 of my Achievements List this year, yay!

The background of my Note!

Ok, I'm back to thesis everybody!

Istikharah..

A couple of weeks ago, I received an offer as a full time researcher in one big company. ‘Company’, rather than ‘University’.. A change of career path altogether.

I always knew since I was a little girl, that teaching comes as a nature to me.

After a while, I fell in love with research. It’s a passion, an addiction. So I took ‘teaching’ as a medium to find my actual passion -> ‘Research’.

But.. this place, where I’ve been since I was 18 held a soft spot in my heart. I have a stable job here, forever grateful with what I’m making at the end of the month, I created my own label here and mostly I have a lot of fun growing up with friends in the research lab of whom I cried and laughed with throughout the hardship of my PhD.

On the other hand, it’s thrilling. To see what you’ve been studying all along is inline with the industry and to actually see the ‘baby’ I’ve been raising all along is worth more than I thought.

But I’m too small for such BIG decision. So, I let Him decides. :)

The last time I had such BIG decision to handle was when Love proposed. And look where I am now. So, I have faith :)