Re: [ossig] (Fwd) an email from a malaysian chinese from australia.

[Colin Charles <byte@aeon.com.my>]

On Tue, 2003-10-28 at 11:33, nsh@pop.jaring.my wrote:

> First of all I hope this email does get through all the spam filter and 
> reach you guys. I read the article about a topic of " IT HELP ARE HARD TO 
> FIND IN MALAYSIA" that you guys posted on the mncc.com board (Wed, 4 Dec 
> 2002 00:58:28), ages ago, not sure if you guys still remember it.

it would help if you subscribed to ossig@mncc.com.my :) that makes
things a whole lot easier.

a rather aptly chosen subject line too.

> Anyway I am a computer science student in Monash University Clayton. I did 
> a 
> transfer from Monash Sunway in KL to Melbourne and there is a obvious 
> differently of quality for the lecturer compare to this 2 campuses. I am 
> not 
> sure if thes situation of "hard to find talent in programming field is 
> still 
> happening in the IT industry of Malaysia", but from the different of 
> education system (even though is all under a same universtiy just 
> different 
> campus), is not hard to explain why the talent is hard to find in 
> Malaysia.

hmm. a welcome to monash clayton is in lieu...

> I am not saying in Australia is much better (cause i still hear lecturer 
> and 
> tutor bitching about each other prefering different methods/opinion of 
> teaching), but back in Malaysia, it is real crap. Like what you said, some 
> 
> of the lecturer doesnt even know what is going on in the course is more up 
> 
> to the student to find out for themselves.(we are not talking about local 
> uni, this is the place where our parents pay tons of money to get a good 
> education for their childrens).

are you sure the lecturer(s) don't know what goes on in the class?
that's what subject Feedback Forms are for. and have you talked/seen
your lecturer recently?

as to talking about different methods or opinions, everyone has a right
to his or her own one. its good that you get exposed to many different
teaching styles - remember, no two lecturers are going to be the same.

bitching and whining help create better things. thats how the open
source world gets driven. i don't like something, i create it (or
improve upon it). doh!

lecturer's aren't supposed to spoonfeed you btw. they're meant to point
you on the correct path/course, and you're meant to go on from there.
this is university, not school. which just goes to say the malaysian
education system sucks, imho.

but i will not comment on it as i'm not a product of it. and we always
have this education discussion (like what, four times already?) on these
lists, it just gets old. read:

an opinion on suaramalaysia -
http://www.suaramalaysia.com/archives/000641.html
an opinion by dinesh -
http://www.alphaque.com/article.php?sid=427&mode=thread&order=0

> My experience in Australia is that lecturer(not all of them) are more 
> aware 
> of the current situation going on in the industry and make certain 
> adjustment to the teaching material. Is sad to say that I understand 
> what's 
> going in the I.T field in Australia more than i know what is going on back 
> 
> in my own country. As i was trying to look for some internship program in 
> Malaysia i found none (although i do know that there IBM and SHELL has 
> their 
> own trainning program) but there is no where to be found in their website.

if you're only aiming at an internship, in malaysia they have a tendency
to like to "exploit" interns. rm400/month salaries, work like a full
time wage earner, and probably no transport allowance, is something that
is not unheard of. and no, i blatantly *am not* shooting from the hip,
because i have friends that are interns in malaysia that get paid that
amount at computer related firms!

in comparison to Sun (no, i'm not affiliated), whom pay interns a *full*
regular wage earner salary. well, i'm not sure if the kindness extends
to Sun Malaysia, but i know it applies to australia/europe/usa.

keeping in touch with the "IT Scene" doesn't come with the help of
lecturers, as the onus is on you. read. information is power. get
yourself involved. you meet people. incidentally, the CSSE club organise
linux install days - we've yet to see you at one. participate! you'll be
surprised at how many folk you meet, including microsoft - i know one of
our installers was offered a part time job with them. eek. e-mail me off
list, and again, i'll hook you up next semester - i basically organise
them.

> This bring me to my main reason for me to type this email. What is the 
> situation like in I.T field in Malaysia? I haven't decide if i should go 
> back to Malaysia or stay in Australia and get a P.R (which most of the 
> student prefered to do because it seems like the RIGHT thing to do). Me 
> myself are more interested in networking stuff and i wish to work in 
> company 
> like Maxis or CSA. Is there any internship program available in K.L area? 
> (there should be but i just can't seem to find it).

students get their P.R.'s because of several reasons:
a) they feel they've spent enough hard-earned $$$, so they might as well
get it
b) new opportunities for the future generation (including free
education, and HECS - university loans)
c) new opportunities for work
d) worry of malaysia's politics
e) worry of unfair opportunities due to (d)
f) the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

if you think the IT field in australia is flourishing, you are gravely
mistaken. it's pretty bad, that even the ACS (australian computer
society) has started offering training courses and accredation materials
to unemployed individuals at a discounted price. this is a first for
them!

> p/s: for topics like Micro$oft or Linux or Business I.T student. Well i am 
> 
> okie with both Linux and Windows O.S. (we actually has a subject named 
> Operating System that make the student compare the few operating system 
> for 
> pro n cons.), not like i support or anti anyone of them.(i do hate MAC 
> though)

hmm. Operating Systems doesn't teach you to compare the "pros and cons"
of an OS... they talk about VM subsystems, paging, and more, of each of
the OS. so the working internals are really compared. Charles (the
lecturer for OS) doesn't really give too much thought to how the GUI and
stuff work.

hating the MAC OS blatantly is *ridiculous*. have you ever tried it?
till you've tried it, dabbled with it, and given it a fair comparison to
the other OS'es, don't just say you hate it. OS X is after all Unix
based.

> As for Business I.T student, i agreed with "Windows are turning Business 
> I.T 
> graduate into idiots", i have friends who's doing Business I.T and they 
> are 
> learning ASP.net and Oracle SQL programming, and they think those things 
> are 
> just a waste of time and won't help them much in the real world.Then 
> again, 
> none of us know what's the real world is gonna be like.

Oracle SQL programming is used a lot in the real world. How about
telling your friends to learn SQL programming, and not just oracle's
specific implementation? mysql programmers are wanted, and if your
friends need a job in melbourne, do give me a yell for a hook up.

ASP.net. hmm. 'nuff said. monash is a Mickeysoft partner for Business
Systems and Computing (not computer science...luckily).

well. hmm. i've typed an awful lot. that's my 2 aussie cents to you
(becoming quite a lot, currency wise in ringgit ;) )
-- 
Colin Charles, byte@aeon.com.my
http://www.bytebot.net/


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