Few days ago, I posted a comment in Low Yat forum. A person with around 3 years of working experience as an IT programmer was asking about the salary range for someone at his level. Should it be around 3k-4k or 4.5k or more? The question received quite a number of mixed responses.

My reply was 3k to 4k but some of the readers were saying 4k to maybe 5k.

I said that’s possible, if we were still in 2008.

Many of them do not believe me but this is what I’ve found out based on my own job hunting experiences, from my friends who are also looking around, and from people in the recruitment agencies.

The average salary has indeed fallen in 2009, as compared to 2008. Companies are more reserved now and they prefer to keep their cash than to splash it out to hire talented people. So don’t expect that you still can get good salary unless the said company is very desperate for people (I know few companies who are quite desperate) or you are a very rare talent.

Also, expect more competitions this year. According to a friend of mine who is working as a HR of an IT firm, a similar job opening has only 3 to 5 job applicants in 2008…..but in 2009, it went up to 10 or more job applicants. That’s quite a significant increase, and is not a very positive sign for job hunters.

If you still don’t believe me, then try to do some research yourselves. I have no reason to lie to you anyway.

Last but not least, one word of advice. Appreciate your job. Stop complaining about no pay increment or no bonus. There are a lot of people getting retrenched and also a lot of people who are forced to go on extended unpaid leave. Those people need jobs a lot more than you do. If you still think you can come in late to office, going out for extended lunch breaks, playing games in office or even watching Youtube in office…….then I have nothing more to say except for “Good luck”.

p/s… there are still some companies who have increments/bonuses but the amount has dropped significantly. 2009 is not the same as 2008. This is something people should understand.

p/s… this article is purely based on my own findings. It is not supported by a formal survey (like those done by JobStreet). So don’t come flaming me if my findings are wrong.

Today, my company informed my team that a change is needed. The management folks intend to move us from one department to another department – from Java technology to Microsoft technology. This is because there’s no project in the pipeline for the Java team but there are few big projects for the Microsoft team. Thus the management team asked us if we are willing to switch over.

This kind of situation is pretty n

Anyone wants to change to this job?

ormal nowadays since most companies no longer hire you for a specific skill ONLY. They want you to be as flexible as possible or in other words, provide as much value as possible to the company. So if you are willing to switch and remain flexible, the management team aka bosses can be sure that they can rely on you whenever there’s a shortage of headcount in other projects. This way, the company can reduce the expenses needed to hire someone new – and of course, get the most out of the people they’ve hired.

But let’s forget about the company for now…let’s talk about the individuals. What kind of answer do you think you will give, if you were in such a situation? Is it a good or bad thing if you are in such a situation?

Well, just like everything else, there are pros and cons. In my opinion, asking you to change department is much better than a salary cut or a retrenchment. Also, you get to learn something new (most of the case, trainings will be provided) and this new skill might become more valuable than your previous skills.

But that’s just how I think. At the end of the day, it really depends on what you want to achieve from the current job. Here are few factors to consider.

• Do you love your current company and are planning to stay longer in the company?
• Will there be a pay cut if you switch? If yes, how significant is it?
• Will trainings be provided?
• Are there any other projects in the pipeline for your current role?
• Can you find a better job out there?
• What’s your goal and objectives for doing whatever you are doing now? Start your own business? Be a consultant?
• Do you prefer to be a specialist (harder to find job but with higher pay) or a generalist (easier to find job but with lower pay)?
• If you choose not to switch and prefer to sit idling around….is your boss okay with that?

In fact, there are a lot to consider but all of the questions drill down to 2 main things – will your financial condition get affected and what is your plan for the future?

For example, people like myself would not mind switching since what I want to learn is the domain knowledge/operation and not just the technical side of things. I am the type of people who don’t like to get tied down or limited by a single thing. It’s just too risky that way….and too boring. Furthermore, my ultimate dream is to start my own business which does not really require me to know that specific skill. Because…well…an entrepreneur (a poor one especially) has to know EVERYTHING, not just a singe skill.

But enough about myself. What about you? If you were in such a situation, will you be willing to change? Do you mind letting go the years of experience you’ve obtained previously?

p/s… most bosses love employees who are worth more than they have been hired for. For example, it would be better if an employee knows multiple skills since the bosses can easily place him/her in any project to “fill in the gap”. Such employee is a valuable asset to the company (and they are not as expensive as the specialist).

Many years ago, consumers don’t have much option because we only have that limited choices when it comes to product. For example, when I wanted to buy a new mobile phone for myself, I only know 2 so-called ‘better’ brands – Nokia and Motorola (before the merger of Sony and Ericsson). And for those brands, there will only be 1 to 5 models at one time.

We don't need new hand-free accessory every few months, do we?

But look at now. Nokia comes out with a new model every 3 months, and there are different ranges of mobile phones – the N series, the E series, the normal 6000s series, etc. If you take into consideration the models from other companies such as LG, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson, there are easily more than 10 models for a particular price range. Consumers are simply spoilt for choice – which, is creating a new market for the reviewers since they are helping people to test our stuff and help consumers make their decisions.

This is not really a bad thing for the consumer. Problem is, with a new model every 3 months, the value of the current model will drop and drop FAST. It’s as if the attention span or life span of the model has becoming shorter, unlike many years ago where there will only be a new model every 6 to 9 months. Buying a N85 soon? Expect the price to drop for at least 30-50% 1 year later.

And with the attention span of products getting shorter, the money spent in the R & D and development of the new models will increase – thus, cutting down the profit margin. To me, this kind of market is becoming a bloody red ocean where competitors are fighting with each other in terms of price and technology. There will never be a big winner in such a situation.

But maybe, just maybe, companies involved in this kind of war should stop and look at what consumers really want. Why do I say this? Well, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other phone companies have been fighting for so many years………but when the newbie Apple came in with their IPhone, they managed to dominate a large chunk of the market share.

Why? Because Apple realizes a few things when it comes to catching the consumers’ heart.

• Consumers don’t need, and most don’t want to change the item to a newer version every 3 months unless it’s free.
• Consumers hate seeing the value of their item drop so much within a short period of time.
• Consumers want items which have longer attention span and not some items which are bought and forgotten within a month’s time.
• Consumers want good quality stuff.

Maybe companies should start realizing the above points and give the consumers something SPECIAL. No point fighting with each other and neglect what the consumers really want. Because in the end, people will just ignore you and your war, and go to the one which gives them the best.

P/S…. i will be away to Bangkok for project deployment (finally!!) from Sunday until Wednesday. Thus, I might not be able to update the blog regularly at that time.

I’m finally back after 1 week of absence (or more?). Hope you guys have enjoyed your Chinese New Year celebration as much as I did. I’ve had a great time except for …erm…losing money in the famous CNY “sports”.

Anyway, I’ve some good n bad news for you all.

The good news first.

• I’m back! Okay, I’ve said that already.
• I’ll resume blogging from Monday onwards.
• The number of RSS subscribers of this blog have achieved 20 mark for the first time! Yeah yeah, I know it’s a small number but it’s quite a record for this blog. If you haven’t subscribe to this blog’s RSS, you can do so HERE.

and the bad news….

• I will not be blogging actively during the next 2 weeks as I’ll still be rushing my project. I was rushing the project during CNY as well. I’ll still try my best to blog as much as possible, but work comes first and the project does need my help (which is actually a good news since I’m not a liability).
• I lost quite most of my “ang pow” money to those “sports” during CNY. LOL. Well, not all of the money anyway…not the big ones. Lesson of the day – Alvin should not be greedy in this “cow” year. =_=

Besides the good and bad news about my life, there are some observations I’ve made during CNY period which I want to share with you all. See, this blog is not all about me.

• The economy is really bad, even in Malaysia. A lot of factories are closing down, and many more are retrenching workers.
  

  More people are getting married this year...even though it's recession period

• In fact, I do believe Malaysia will be very badly hit by recession and the signs will become obvious in May or June 2009.
• Crime rate is going up because those foreigners are the first to be retrenched. And when they’re desperate, where can they turn to?
• Dengue cases are on the rise in Malaysia. So kill all the mosquitoes you see and check if your house have any stagnant water. Do it weekly or 3 times a week, if possible.
• A lot of people are getting married this year! Be prepared for lots of red bombs.
• I expect to see a lot of sales and promotions as businesses try to improve consumer spending. So if you are looking to buy some stuff, try to be patient and choose only the best deals. Sales will not be something rare this year.
• Besides sales & promotions, I also expect to see more options for consumers since businesses will be competing with each others to get the bigger piece of the market – price war…technology war…etc.
• The food & beverages business is affected by the recession as well. More people are eating @ home, and they are switching to vege n chicken diet…less seafood. My father’s friend who sells fresh seafood complained to us the other day that business is really becoming from bad to worse.
• Cosmetics business is going to get more popular…since I noticed that more young girls in my hometown (which is quite a small place) are using make-ups nowadays, as compared to few years ago.

Hmm can’t think of anything now. I think I better sleep. Seriously lacking sleep. =_=

Last but not least, thanks for all those who visited and commented on this blog while I was away.

I still remember the first time I started using email was about 13-15 years ago. At that time, most people didn’t know what is an email. A lot of things have changed and email has since become a very important medium of communication. And yet, there are still a lot of people who do not know how to use an email properly.

This explains why it's important to check and read your emails

I’m not talking about people from the older generation who are relatively new to such technology (well, my father who is in his 60s knows how to use an email properly). I’m talking about the professionals (even IT professionals) and executives in large corporations. You will be surprised that there are still some of them who do not know how to use their email properly. Here are some of the things I’ve observed.

• You’ve sent out an email containing information about the company’s annual dinner including time, location (with a map), etc. You even highlighted the important things with bold, red color and underlined them. And yet, there are still a lot of people who are asking you for details – details on the time, location, and other things which have been mentioned.
• You sent out an email to a group of employees to inform them of about an event. You’ve put a “voting” option at the top of the email in order to allow them to reply a “Yes, I’m attending”  or “No, I’m not attending”. However, 80% of the responses are coming in the form of email reply. And the replies are being sent to everyone in the list. So the whole list of employees (can be more than 10, or more than 100), will be receiving tonnes of emails saying “Yes, count me in” or “No, I have a dinner appointment with my fiance’s family”.
• People forwarding chain mails to you because of 2 things – your email is in his address book, and he is afraid to get cursed if he doesn’t forward the chain/curse mail.
• Your friends/colleagues sending invitations to some unknown competitions without your permission, just so that they stand a better chance of winning the competition themselves.
• Team members or colleagues sending HIGH PRIORITY emails to you even though the contents are not really that important. Their HIGH PRIORITY might not be your HIGH PRIORITY.
• People sending emails to you in difficult to read font (too small, too big, too fancy font type, etc) because they want to be artistic or creative.
• Your team member uses your name in an email to the client just to cover his own ass. “According to Alvin, this is something which should not be done.”
• You figure that it’s good to go straight to the point in an email. In fact, it IS good. But the next thing you know, your colleagues from another country started to complain to your bosses that you are very rude in the email. Different culture, different mindset and different way to communicate. An email way of communication should not be associated to a normal form of communication.
• And the worst one of them all. You sent out an email to inform some of your colleagues about the new changes made by the income tax department. Some idiots started to give their personal opinions and chat happily in the email….sending those nonsense emails to everyone in the list.

I can really go on and on and on about such incidents. It’s funny how such common mistakes can be made by people who have been using emails for many many years – and some of the people who I’ve met are from IT industry. Remember that having my email address does not give you the permission to spam me or to send nonsense stuff to me.

Do it more often, and your emails will end up in my junk folder.

P/S….. Maybe someone should really come out with some online guides to teach people (especially professionals and executives), on how to use email properly, though I doubt any of them will be willing to put down their ego and read such guides.