2008 Wrap-up

"What do you want to accomplish in the new company?"

"I want to improve my writing skill, especially in English."

***

What do you know; this year actually brings a wonderful turn to me. After battling with my conscience, assuring and re-assuring myself that it had been a good decision to move to a new company and start everything almost from zero by being a management trainee at my age, finally I make peace with it. After a 'horrible' first semester, followed by another three months of not much excitement, I am able to conclude this year with fantastic feeling.

To come to think of it, 2008 has been quite a dynamic year. I started it with almost everything new: I got a new job and also a new life as somebody’s wife. And then there’s the job rotation period which offered its ups and downs – many of the latter, in fact. Having finished the rotation, I went through the on-the-job training period which should have last in six months, but was abruptly over in three and a half months before I was moved to another division.

That is before I "asked to be moved" to another division, to be precise. Now, this is the part I never thought could and would happen. After the job rotation was over, I really believed that I would be stuck doing marketing-related assignments forever for as long as I work for the company. I felt helpless back then, thinking that although my background study & working experience was in no way relevant with the job I was doing, I had no other choice but embracing it as best as I could and restraining myself from complaining.

It was begun when my fellow trainee tried to influence me to propose for a transfer to her division – the Research Division. She said that it would be great to have another fellow trainee to accompany her in the division which she considered 'unfriendly'. The situation was indeed favorable as there were enough vacancies in the division to allow for another person to join.

I did not take her words seriously back then. Firstly, I believed that getting rather hostile welcome from the people in your new working place was something unusual, so I wouldn’t move just for the sake of getting her out of her so-called trouble (was I mean for reasoning like that?). Secondly, I feared that it would only be a sign of my incompetence if I asked for a transfer to another division before I fully finished my on-the-job training period.

But something happened which changed my mind. After that, I knew however hard I worked, I would never really fit in that division unless I changed into someone else; someone not me. So I sent an e-mail to the head of the Research Division, proposing for a position.

To cut the long story short, here I am now, ending the year as an Equity Analyst instead of a Marketing one. I must say it has been Allah’s big plan for me, to get me into the winding road before reaching this position, so that I would really be able to realize that my true potential lies in becoming an analyst – something which I have taken for granted all this time – and be most grateful to Him.
What makes me more grateful is the 'bonus' that comes with the new position: I get to work in a division which requires me to write and it is done in English. It means that the conversation I had with my ex-boss last year is coming true!

And, you may call me shallow, silly, or anything, but finally, after good long six years of my career, now I get to work directly with an expatriate. A Western one. I’m talking about my boss, the head of the Research Division. He’s a British. Swell! I have long wanted to get a taste of working with an expatriate so that I could learn the working ethics of a foreigner. The thing is I have been working for local companies all this time so there was not much chance available for me to do that. I am actually working for a local company now – a state-owned enterprise, in fact – but if Allah is willing, even the most unthinkable happens.

Another bonus: As much as I hated it, this year I got the chance to travel to two different cities – one in the Western part of Indonesia, the other one in the East – because my works required me to. You see, I do not like traveling if it requires me to stay for a night or two (or more) and consequently pack my clothes. Still, I had to do it and I should thank Allah for that for the fact that it was barely a year that I had been working for the company.*

I hope all these would lead to something bigger and better in the coming year(s). Hopefully.



*Many times I wonder whether I really deserve these 'luxuries'.