Changing job again to end my 2019

Ending my job again on the last day of 2019. Building maintenance contractor. I like the job, hate my colleague. Plus points from this job is I really learnt a lot from the contractor side rather than on the client.

Nowadays, client ask "I need your help on this job. Please give me a quote" and sent similar messages to few other contractor for price comparison. DIE LA. How can this trade survive? Contractor undercut prices just to get jobs. Clients squeezing cheapest quote due to reduce in maintenance budget.

A person I dislike once told me, there is no quality in cheap products. This is so true in this trade.

Well, it is over now. Gone were the days of people calling me every now and then.

2020 is a new challenge as I am switching trade. Yes, switching trade at age 34. Guess this is what people call it the mid life crisis.

A summary of jobs I have tried since I left my job to rediscover myself in 2017.

• Electrical apprentice
• Foodpanda delivery
• Uber driver
• Uber Eats
• Warehouse worker
• Condominium defects customer service officer
• Interior Designer
• Building maintenance contractor

Traits that I found out from these jobs

• Prefer working alone
• Result based
• like to brainstorm solutions to problems
• dislike doing things that is unnecessary/ time wasting even when instructed by manager
• prefer being a worker
• love free time
• love waking up late
• love sleeping late

These bring me to my next job of being a service technician.

WPLN Assessment Test dated January 2018

I had written similar post on my experience on taking the WPLN assessment last year January 2018 but had lost the post as I stopped my service with wordpress and move to blogspot this year. This post is to highlight my experience when I went for the assessment so as to help all of you be mentally prepared.

There are five assessment to take for the WPLN assessment. They are Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing and Numeracy. After arriving at the centre, you will be sent to a room for a short briefing. Most of the test are MCQ - Multiple Choice Questions except for speaking and writing.

Please remember to wait for the "BEEP" sound before you proceed to answer any questions. Make use of the paper provided and use repeat so you have more time to double check and calm yourself during the assessment. Be prepared that it is quite noisy as people are talking here and there because they are attempting the Speaking test.

Reading
I cannot remember this part of the assessment.

Listening
This part is more of a listen and answer type of questions. Nothing much to advise. A trick is to repeat the questions so you have more time to double check on your answers.

Speaking
My killer section. This part is break up into 2 parts. First part is where a picture is shown to you and you start to explain what you see. A trick I learnt in primary school is to start explaining from top left and continue in an clockwise direction. Part 2 where they ask you to debate on a question. This is a good time to write down important details that you want to talk on the pieces of paper provided before attempting. Be sure to check on the volume and do a mike test so you can hear yourself clearly if not all will be in vain.

Writing
Straight forward composition type assessment. Take note of spacing and have paragraphs for easier marking for the assessor.

Numeracy
This is actually quite daunting. Question such as fraction, time, conversion and division came out. Be sure to study them if you forgotten about it.

Hope it helps.

March 2019 Report

This is my first post since I stopped my wordpress website. As least it is free here for a lazy blogger like me. Sadded by the lost of many post especially the WPLN Assessment test. I will do one at a later stage to help people who are planning to take it likely for property agent or as a grab driver.

My last tryout of job is being an interior design. Having full commission in the interior design trade is very taxing to my family. Although, I managed to signed 3 projects since my commencement in October 2018 which is considered very lucky for a newcomer, money are coming in slow. So after averaging all the months taken to finish the project, pay wise is more or less the same as my previous jobs but working hours are much more flexible. It is something that you have to invest time and effort to have referral business for this trade in order to succeed.

However, I am missing out on benefits such as paid leave, medical leave, childcare leave, cpf contribution from company which helps in paying for the HDB. Without those benefits, you have to plan very carefully on how you spend the commission received.

So I am back again to the 9 to 5 job. After about 2 years of running away from the 9 to 5 working life, I am contented. The jobs, the experience I received throughout the years are fulfilling. In the end if you have a family, it is more responsible to bring bread to the table.

I appreciate the support from my wife to allow me to run amok for these 2 years. I will continue to find my purpose in life but this time on the sideline, after my working hours. I guess this should be the right way for a family man to proceed.

Choosing a contractor or an interior designer for renovation

This is my answer to the question above. I would choose an interior designer for a very simple reason. I want to see the 3D drawings to ensure what I am paying to do is catered for. Lets start by answering some common questions.

1. Contractor are cheaper than interior designer? Not really true. Contractor are using sub-contractors to do the renovation, interior designer are also using sub-contractor to do the job. Contractor are cheaper as they provide less work. Interior designer will normally need to prepare and provide the illustration (3D drawings) so for you to visualize the final home. This is one "cost" that owner did not factor in. So better to take a look how the final product will turn out first than to regret later. Choosing a contractor means risking to renovate what you think it will turn out as normally they do not provide the illustration of the final product.
2. Choosing the lowest quote is a great deal? It will never be an apple to apple comparison due to the simple fact that they are using different group of sub-contractor to do the job. Workmanship, rates of the worker are all different so how to compare?
3. I know what I want to do so I choose a contractor? Without any drawings, how can we be so sure about the final outcome. It is a risk I would not take.
4. Going directly to sub-contractor is the cheapest? Not really true again. You are not buying a product but a service. As sub-contractors are now working directly with owners, communication of design and ideas become part of their job. So of course they are going to charge you for the time as compared to a contractor or interior designer asking the sub-contractor to just proceed with the work.
5. Why most quotation from ID firms are higher? This is due to the contractor is being a one man company. Meaning whatever profit margin they have is 100% to their pocket. They may not have a proper record of your renovation works which may face some problem if you need to trace back certain information. Designers shared their profit margin with the company as the company need to cover the cost for marketing, advertising, accounts, rental of showroom etc. They should have a proper documentation of renovation works done thus am providing warranty for the works.
6. I have chosen an interior designer so they should propose ideas for my home? ID and contractor to me are someone that execute owner's ideas and designs. My friend chose an ID firm with this mindset only to rejects their 3D drawings so many times that they finally understand they have to give their personal opinion and liking so the ID can work based on their preference. Kudos to the ID for the patience.
7. Ever see people sticking tapes all over their new BTO flats during the defects liability period. Remember one thing, our house is done by human not machines. Understand this point to make handing over a breeze. House not clean enough is not a defect.

A simple guideline for renovation. Choose someone you can trust to do the job and an experienced company in the trade to support the person you trust.

Sadly, that was not the case for my renovation as I chose a referral from my friend to do my renovation. Preferred another ID but he is unable to take up the job due to our tight schedule. This referral designer is not able to produce a carpentry based on a real design (not 3D drawings) given to him and did not even change the 3D drawings despite tell him what to amend. Just keeping rushing to commence and always saying should save cost here and there by not doing first and do later. I prefer an ID that help us to understand cost rather than an ID that tell you to "save" cost by not doing first.

These are some experiences I would like to share after I did my own renovation and been in the property management line for years. Hope this helps owners with their renovation.

September 2018 Report

After many months missing in action, it is time that I wrote an update. So, I quit my job again. LOL. I left around August 2018. Despite the higher pay, I cannot fit in the office environment. A warning to people that are planning to find out what they really want to do in life after working for years in the salaried environment. If you have been out in the gig environment for a while, it is hard to go back to a "proper" job of 9-6 and it can be detrimental to your family finances.

How about the property path that I had planned? Well, I finished the course and went for the exam and was fairly confident about Paper 2 but the results turned out badly. I failed both paper 1 and paper 2. The thing with the property agent exam is that we do not know what questions we do wrong. It will be relearning the whole syllables again and hope your understanding is of the exam standard.

During the exam, there was this one question that derailed me from this path. It was something like how to invest in property if you do not have enough capital. Answer? REITs because they are required to distribute at least 90 percent of their taxable income to their shareholders annually. That made me reconsider my decision due to the time and money needed if I am going to choose property agent as my career. As a new property agent, I have learnt that we will need to spend money in property portals to advertise property for owners and advertisement to market our service. You will also need to go for courses to clock your requirement so you can renew you licence. All these requires money. Time and money is a luxury that I do not have to do the job. If I have the money, I might as well invest in REITs to do the job for me.

Investing in myself is always a good investment. So after removing the property path, I started to think of what I have been doing so far in my property management career that is of benefit to the next path. Might as well do something I have knowledge of rather than venturing into the unknown.

Maintenance Coordinator - assisting customer with issues of the property they are leasing.

Property Officer - getting quotation to renovate and ensure units can be handed over based on customer's requirement in the agreement

Defects Coordinator - Spotting of defects and assist customer in rectifying the mentioned defects during the defects liability period.

Skills learned

Paperwork - checked
Coordination - checked
On standby for issues - checked

So what did I come out with? Being an Interior Designer.

March 2018 Report

One month had passed since I went back to a working life. My working attitude have really changed since. Not an ambitious guy who wanted to climb as fast as possible, not a guy that looked forward to the increment, not a guy that expect people to meet my working standards but certainly a happier guy.

Its only the first month of the job and I wanted to quit. HAHA. However, I cannot afford to do so now due to firstly my Uber rental car and secondly a family trip this year. With the Grab-Uber merger, Uber is now history. This is like a blessing for me as I never considered driving for Grab. Not so much to some Uber drivers that are now forced to job Grab. While news of Ryde and Go-Jek coming in as new competitor of Grab, it will need some time for them to stablise the private hire market.

Moving on to April, my real estate salesman course are starting. The real estate path. Back to my school days again this month. Working and studying night class are really tiring. Gonna give myself a pat for completing the Diploma course and will do the same for this course. Looking forward to clear the exam and receive my Agent Licence soon.

February 2018 Report

February is a great month for me. I started driving with Uber and got a rental car. I also exceeded my target income after I left my job last year. But all these comes at a price.

I had to start driving after I send Mini T to school, stop to fetch Mini T and continue driving after Mini T went to bed. I also had to work weekends and public holidays. Chinese Lunar New Year is one of them and working on a public holiday despite having high surge all day long sucks. I now do understand why most would rather just have a stable job. Well, at least I cleared my doubts and had tried what I wanted to after I left.

So I applied for a stable job again. Expenses increased by a lot as I still have to settle my car rental till end of contract which has 5 more months to go. This is very poor planning on my side. But I probably gonna get my own car after that as it is really convenient for a family.

So what is next? Having a stable job means I can now write my blog at 8pm instead of 1am. LOL. I can still have the time to plan and work on my next path. The property path which is going to start on April. That is my next plan. Till then, nothing exciting I think.

This 10 months had really given me a much clearer direction in life. Having the courage to try out things and taking the first step. I am blessed to have a wife who allowed me to go crazy these few months. Hopefully the property path can better blend into my life.

Uber Driving Guide

Driving for Uber had been really fun and exciting during this period of time. It bring me to many different places that I had knew existed despite being a Singaporean. However, I just do not like the job enough to be a full time driver. Haiz.

Have you ever felt that the job doesn't suit and you wanted to quit after working for few days? That is how I felt after the first week. It is a great job for those who loves driving. I have friends who can drive for 10 to 12 hours and still not tired.

Since I had decided to stop driving full-time, I wanted to make a driving guide for all new Uber drivers using my one month experience. LOL.

Uber Driving Guide

Basically, just minus off $100 per day for rental and petrol to get your earnings. There are two peak periods to push your earnings as a driver.

8am to 2pm. You can start at 9am if you do not like the traffic jams and 5pm to 12pm.

If you can work within this 2 peak periods, you are looking at around $250 - $300 per day or more on a lucky day.

Take note

*Events happening at Stadium or Expo (concerts, IT Fairs etc.)
*Lower vomit rate for night driving - Tanjong Pagar areas
*Remember which route to exit if you are travelling along KPE, there will not be any signal inside.
*There may be times where GPS hangs around CBD areas due to tall buildings.

Time	Average earnings per hour	Remarks
	Weekday
0400 - 0600	$20	Airport
0600 - 1100	$20 - $30	Stay around neighbourhood
1100 - 1400	$15	Clock for incentive trips at CBD
1400 - 1700	$10 - $15	Not much booking
1700 - 2300	$20 - $25	Town area
2300 - 0300	$20 - $25	Town area
0300 - 0400		Usually no booking
	Saturday
0900 - 1700	$20 - $25	Stay around neighbourhood
1700 - 1900	$20 - $25	Not much booking
2100 - 0300	$25 - $30	Town area
	Sunday
0900 - 2300	$20

Navigation Apps

Google Maps - Most flexible as you can see all your routes along the trip and choose the fastest or the shortest route to the destination. Dropping passenger at the correct side of the road. Waze have this issue of dropping off the passenger at the opposite side of the road. However, starting of the navigation may posed some issue as I had to repeatedly press the "Start" before navigation starts.

Waze - Recommended for night driving (we drive faster during the night) as it shows the speed traps location. Fast access to start navigation but every turns are very delayed so for routes that have to turn left and then turn right immediately will give you heart attacks.

Uber Nav - Fastest access to directions as you will not have to open another map apps to navigate. Does not show you the which exit number to take at the expressway which I do not like. Easiest for Uberpool trips. Take note that riders are supposed to go to the pickup or drop off location at the side of the roads to facilitate easier continuation of trips shown at the Uber app. But this is not the case thus you will sometimes not find the rider along the side of the road but instead at their block.

How to get 5* trips easily?

1. Greet all your riders - Hello, Bye bye. It is that easy. I don't initiate conversation to my riders as talking when driving can be quite distracting.
2. Do not miss your turn - If riders knew their routes, too bad for you. Apologise after the trip may get you better ratings 3* - 4* 
3. Accommodate your riders request - Remember that you are now in a customer service line. Just follow their request on routes they chose. Uber will make all the fare adjustment accordingly. 
4. Just accept the damn $0.10 cash fare - I read that drivers that say no to the fares due to pride or ego and even show their blackface to the riders. WTH!!! This is your money. Take it as they may have discount code. Uber will top up fares to minimum of $5. 
5. Ask for help if you need it and always confirm their drop off location - there will be riders that put their drop off location at A and want to stop at B. 

I give my riders 5*.

I hope that my guide can help all new drivers on the road. Lastly, drive safe.

Last Day of Year 2017

2017 is the year of change for me. Quit my job of 5 years, completed my 3 years part-time diploma, working on ad hoc jobs and making life changing plans for 2018. I get why most people would rather find a 9 to 5 job and work until they retire. It is the safest route they can go after completing their degree/ master as will not be wasted as per our friends and family.

November and December are my best months and it is in a 9 to 5 environment. While it contradict with what I had planned, practicality still plays a part. Having enough money to feed my family is my priority.

Thank you my wife for allowing me to do all these experimentation to get ready for 2018.

This is the year to impress the most important person, myself.

Passing my PDVL Test First Time

It was 1 week before the exam when I told my wife that I am going to start preparing for the test but...

Ended up flipping the pages just 1 day before the test date. I did some research online earlier and found out most people mentioned paper 2 was the killer in this exam. Information from the book and course notes given were too much to take in for 1 night. I ran through the Learning checklist in Section 1.1 and going through the chapters once but just lazily remembering the answers from the mock paper.

Passing criteria
Paper 1 is 80% you need to get at least 40/50 to pass
Paper 2 is 86% you need to get at least 43/50 to pass

My test starts at 4pm. I woke up early around 8am to study a bit more for my test. Not really focusing on the studying. Random flipping of pages of the thick book, mainly focusing on Section 2.4 memorising the demerit points. Had my lunch and made my way to STA. News of train breaking down were quite often during this period so I left my home early. I reached STA around 3.15pm, went straight up to level 4. I sat down along the corridors and started reading and memorising the demerit points again. Heart was pounding as time draws closer to 4pm.

At 3.50pm, people queuing outside the test venue where I had my buffet. I followed suit and waited while an instructor wearing Grab shirt said "those first time taking PDVL test, please queue here". I thought since I am taking the PDVL test, it should not really matter if I signed up via Uber or Grab. Followed his instruction and waited patiently and boy was I so wrong. The instructor told me Uber test venue was at the other end of the corridor just outside the staircase. I really hated this kind minor hiccup on test days. I only have myself to blame for that. Hurried over to the test venue sat down in the room. Uber test venue was smaller as compared to Grab but I liked it as it was not as intimidating and open.

Acceptable attire:
Top: Collar shirt or collar t-shirt
Bottom: Long pants
Feet: Driving shoe (flat heel and cover the feet)

Please remember to wear the proper attire when taking the test. They have strict dress code to adhere. Some people were not allowed to take the test as they were not in proper attire. It is really time consuming to book another test date seeing that now it takes 1 month after I finished my course on November 2017 as compared when people only takes 1 week after their course in July.

Paper 1
Please read the following as per the instructor:

1. Section 1.1 - Service Quality, Health and Safety


2. Driving in Singapore from Mighty Minds aka the thick book

As I did not really focused on paper 1, I expected the paper to be easy. Man, I could not be more wrong.

Here are questions to take note

• What are Triglycerides?


• What is high blood pressure? (Tricky)


• What is BMI?


• Bus Lane operating hours


• What is Domestic terrorism?


• Minimum age requirement for private hire car drivers


• LTA or ISD Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTC) contact no.


• When should a PHC be inspected? (important - came out for both my paper 1 and 2)

Paper 2
Please read the following as per the instructor:

1. Section 2.1 - Rules and Regulations (PSV)


2. Section 2.3 - Rules and Regulations (PHC)


3. Section 2.4 - Rules and Regulations (Chauffeured Private Hire Car and Taxi Vocational Licence Demerit Points System)

Tips? Remember all the offences in Section 2.4. Period.

As I studied at the last minute, I focus more on the offences with demerit points. Those I cannot remember are most likely fine only. LOL.

• Decals related offences - Fine and demerit points


• Take note Section 2.4 Part 1 S/N. 30/31/32

Most of the questions will ask you an offence and give you options such as fine only? fine and demerit points? Demerit points only? suspension? If you did not take some effort to study the offences, it will be hard to even guess.

How I took my test?
I finished both my papers around 30mins. I read each question carefully before answering each of them. Mark those question that you are not confidence enough and review them later. I did not double check all the answers again as I do not want to confuse myself more. Count the no. of questions that been marked for reviewed and it should be lesser than 10 questions in paper 1 and 7 questions in paper 2. End the test with confidence and see your results. I barely passed my paper 1 but it gave me the confidence boost I needed to focus on paper 2 using the free time I have.

Waiting for the green letter to come but as per my instructor, it will take up to 2 months.

Booking for a re-test will now take 1 to 2 months as compared to last time when you can do the re-test within the day. However, you can call STA and request for an earlier date re-test.

Hope this will give you the extra boost needed to study for the test.

Good luck to all of you taking the test.

Attending the PDVL Training (UBER)

I registered for Uber fastlane online. Registration is simple with step by step procedure to show your progress. So after clearing the medical check up, (Please remember to bring your specs if you are short-sighted, if not, you will have to come down again for the checkup) Uber called me up to book a schedule for the PDVL Training. The booking was taken up so fast I need to change my earliest date twice as it was full while speaking to the operator.

The PDVL training course is held at Singapore Taxi Academy (STA) at Uber Herencia Level 1 (#01-14 46 Kim Yam Rd). I took public transport and alighted at Clark Quay MRT (exit B) walking 15-20mins to reach the location as shown using google map.

While there is a open space carpark, I believed the parking fee will be rather high since you will be parking there until 6pm.

I was informed to reach by 8.45am to submit the necessary document to UBER. Bring along the following documents as they are required by the STA:

• Driver’s Licence
• NRIC
• Physical proof of English Proficiency
• Approval letter from the LTA
• Medical Report

They do have strict dress code to adhere. Please follow the proper attire or you may not be able to attend the class.

Acceptable attire:
Top: Collar shirt or collar t-shirt
Bottom: Long pants
Feet: Driving shoe (flat heel and cover the feet)

Inside the materials, there is a time table for the day with test date allocated to us. You will have to rebook the test date if you are not able to go on that day.

Our test date is almost 1 month after the course on December 2017.

Complimentary breakfast and lunch was provided. Breakfast is provided outside the classroom. Roti John for Breakfast and buffet for Lunch located at level 4, all the way to the end of the corridor where people take their test.

Instructor do show us the topics to cover for both paper 1 and 2. While sharing that passing rate for first timer is very low, he emphasised the importance of self study especially for paper 2 Section 2.4.

Wishing the best of luck to all of you!

A Reality Check on Christmas Day

First of all, Merry Christmas 2017.

So after leaving my company on May 2017, I started working random jobs to get back my previous salary.

August
I became a contractor apprentice under my relative straight after leaving my previous job thinking that I should learn a skill. Naively thought that hard work and perseverance will get me equipped with the knowledge needed fast enough to kick off my entrepreneur journey. However, I failed to calculate the capital needed to buy the required equipment and vehicle needed. Failed miserably!!! I am rather lucky though to have my relative showing me the trade these 3 months. Training ended around August.

I went to sign up for foodpanda as a food delivery cyclist/e-scooterist next. The signing up process is rather easy. After the briefing from the chosen HQ on setting up the phones and some rules, we were all sent to have an on job training session with a senior cyclist. Basically following them around with a bicycle, for my case, I had to unlock an oBike to do the job. Instantly regretted it. LOL. Those who had tried cycling using the oBike should understand the amount of effort needed to cycle on these bicycle is not a joke. So me and this other guy follow our senior cyclist around for delivery for the rest of his session to deliver food to hungry customers. A simple and own time own target job. I started to think, hell yeah, this job can sustain my expenses while I plan for my next move. Booked my first shift on a public holiday.

October
Fast forward to October, things were going good with the delivery until I received a message saying that I had drop tier. Foodpanda had this tier system where it allows people with better tier to book their schedule first. Tier 1 being the best. Tier 2 is where all newcomers started off with. Even when I had worked everyday except one weekends (Saturday and Sunday), I dropped to tier 3. Riders who work on friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings shifts are given higher ratings than those who work full weekdays shift. This dropped in tier caused major disruption in the schedule booking. By the time I can went into the app to see the schedule, all shift had been taken.

Seeing this, I went to sign up for ubereats hoping that I can at least compensate some of the down time caused by the shift issue. What prompted me to sign with ubereats is their full flexibility and also trips were calculated based on distance. All I had to do is to go online and wait for the orders to come in for delivery. And so i waited... and waited...

November
My income was not able to sustain my expenses, next step was to go find a job, preferably a sheltered environment as it is also the raining season for Singapore. Stumbled upon an part time warehouse assistance job with many OT and also near my place, I accepted the job and worked for 2 months now. Looking at my November income, irony, it is actually the best month till date since I left my company.

December
One day, my wife asked me what is the difference I am doing now compared to what I am doing in my previous company. I told her that I am paid for OT and I don't have to answer calls after work. Temper is also better. However, all these came at an expense of leaving for work earlier and ending work late. This is not what I had planned when I leave my company. Yes, I worked hard but the hourly pay for this warehouse assistance job is not helping me with my target of providing a better life for my family.

It is time to move to my next plan. Getting the PDVL (had already passed the test) and a property licence.

Leaving the 9 to 5 lifestyle

I quit... Well, it was in May 2017 when I made the decision to leave my comfortable yet not satisfying job, with a sponsored diploma by the company which I am going to receive in November 2017 foreseeing a pay raise in 2018, I tendered my resignation letter to my company of 5 years.

It was hard to leave the comfy life that I had so far provided my family with and quit without a backup plan or job waiting for me. Before making the decision, I asked my wife question such as 'Should I quit?" and complained "His work attitude sucks", "I am very sick of the job", "My temper is getting bad or worse". All these emotions bottling inside of me just had to go somewhere.

This is where I said,

I will quit my job but I promise you that I will minimise the changes to our current lifestyle.

So now it's the last week of December 2017. It is a good time to do a reality check on what had happened so far.