So my contract at Cisco Systems has ended. I was let go for financial reasons and not because I didn't perform well enough. The contract was supposed to expire mid-November, but my boss Bing managed to extend it to the end of the year. I'm truly grateful for her actions.
The good news is that I left with no hard feelings. For starters, my supervisor Min organized a farewell lunch for me two days ago. She says it's an honor rarely given to people who leave the team. Everything she and Bing ordered was delicious. Click here for pictures from the lunch.
I even got Christmas presents: Bing bought me an iPod Shuffle while my co-worker Vicky gave me a pocket watch. That was so sweet of them. I also received a gift bag from Christine, my relationship manager at The Armada Group. There are no words to express my gratitude. I'm blessed to have had the chance to work with such wonderful people.
Looking back
The downside about being a contractor is the limited benefits package. The pay is also lower as a cut goes to Armada. Although salary isn't a big deal to me, one of my grievances is that some events were restricted to full-time employees. I was really bummed that I couldn't attend TechZone, an event for engineers to demo their projects. The fact that the executives were constantly talking about it didn't help. People had to sign an NDA and couldn't even share pictures with me. :-(
On the other hand, I got to attend Armada's events in addition to those at Cisco. For instance, the family picnic in October was really fun. That was my first company picnic in over 11 years and a highlight of the year. The lunches with Armada's HR team were pretty nice too.
Every job is a learning experience. There is always an opportunity to improve even after you're out of school. I learned a lot during my time on the TelePresence team and hope to put that knowledge to good use.
Although my departure from Cisco was graceful, losing your job always sucks, especially right before Christmas. It was definitely a bittersweet day for me. One thing for sure is that I'll miss everyone at both companies. On the bright side, at least I get a nice break before I continue my job search. :-)
Currently listening to: "Hey Santa!" by Carnie & Wendy Wilson
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
work anniversary at Cicso + holiday party report
"Looks like this party is for you." -- Lakshmi
Today is my one-year anniversary at Cisco Systems. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I joined the team. It still feels like I just started my job. Time certainly flies.
So our business unit had its annual holiday party at Sheraton San Jose Hotel. The event was pretty awesome - there was music, food, prize drawings and even a photo booth. I've posted some pictures online for those curious. Some people knew it was my work anniversary and joked that the party was for me. :-)
I wish I could say all is well, but that is unfortunately not the case. From what I've been told, my boss couldn't renew my contract and is letting me go at the end of the year. Although my staffing agency is treating this as a layoff so I could get unemployment benefits, losing my job just before Christmas still sucks.
As for the next steps, I haven't decided whether to continue my job search or try to go back to school. Decisions, decisions.
Currently listening to: "Beat It" by Michael Jackson
Thursday, December 1, 2011
finally jumping on the iPad bandwagon...
Our new iPad 2 just arrived. Dad had ordered the 3G version with 64 GB of storage. He also bought a cover for the tablet as mobile screens are easily scratched. One thing for sure is that the 3G will be useful on long road trips.
The iPad needs to be charged first - this will likely take a few hours and really test my patience. In the meantime, I'm going to check the App Store to see what apps are available. :-)
The iPad needs to be charged first - this will likely take a few hours and really test my patience. In the meantime, I'm going to check the App Store to see what apps are available. :-)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thanksgiving break report
It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is over. These breaks are never long enough if you ask me. That said, the long weekend was enjoyable.
Thursday
Thanksgiving was a little rough. The plan was to have dinner with the Shieh family before they moved to Southern California. However, they were so busy preparing for the move that they completely forgot about us. Oh dear!
Mom wanted to confirm with the Shiehs but couldn't reach them. The call didn't get through until past dinner time. Because it was too late to do anything else, our plans were effectively ruined. I suggested looking for restaurants with Thanksgiving specials, but my mother was no longer in the mood to go anywhere. :-(
Dad still took me to visit the Shiehs afterwards, albeit for a different reason: he had a laptop with a dead hard drive that my uncle Dong had offered to help replace. Though we didn't lose anything important as the last backup was from two weeks ago, having to install everything again was a pain in the ass. It was nice to hang out with my cousins and meet Connie's friend Luc in the meantime, but things were a little awkward given what happened.
Mom wanted to make Thanksgiving more exciting and proposed checking out some early Black Friday sales. The three of us went to Macy's and Kohl's but ultimately didn't buy anything due to the insanely long lines. It was almost 2 a.m. when we got home!
This year, I'm thankful for the gift cards to Sino and Straits that my boss Bing gave me. They were worth $100 each and definitely very useful. I wouldn't have been able to treat my parents to lunch at Santana Row multiple times otherwise. There are no words to express my gratitude.
Friday
Our family friend Fennah recently got my parents to join her book club. This month's meeting was held at her home in Saratoga. Fennah's place was quite nice and reminded me of an Italian villa. I had planned to finish some assignments for an online class during this time but ended up playing games instead because my laptop couldn't connect to the Wi-Fi.
The discussion was followed by a potluck dinner. Everyone brought so much food that we were absolutely full when it was time to leave. The gathering was the best part of the long weekend even though I was the only young person there. You can see the pictures on Flickr.
Right after getting home, my father ordered an iPad 2 for $100 off using the Black Friday discount on the Apple website. I can't wait until it arrives!
Saturday
All of us wanted to relax after a busy two days. Saturday was mostly uneventful aside from a hike in Rancho San Antonio County Park in the afternoon. Because we started out later than usual - and the sun sets early at this time of the year - the sky was completely dark when we got back to the car. This was a surreal experience.
Sunday
Dad wanted to set up an external hard drive for backing up all of our computers. This took up the entire morning and meant we couldn't do much else besides going for a stroll in the neighborhood after dinner. On the bright side, our new backup system is now much more reliable.
The break was overall amazing despite the misunderstanding with the Shiehs. I'm looking forward to Christmas for sure.
Currently playing: Kirby Super Star
Thursday
Thanksgiving was a little rough. The plan was to have dinner with the Shieh family before they moved to Southern California. However, they were so busy preparing for the move that they completely forgot about us. Oh dear!
Mom wanted to confirm with the Shiehs but couldn't reach them. The call didn't get through until past dinner time. Because it was too late to do anything else, our plans were effectively ruined. I suggested looking for restaurants with Thanksgiving specials, but my mother was no longer in the mood to go anywhere. :-(
Dad still took me to visit the Shiehs afterwards, albeit for a different reason: he had a laptop with a dead hard drive that my uncle Dong had offered to help replace. Though we didn't lose anything important as the last backup was from two weeks ago, having to install everything again was a pain in the ass. It was nice to hang out with my cousins and meet Connie's friend Luc in the meantime, but things were a little awkward given what happened.
Mom wanted to make Thanksgiving more exciting and proposed checking out some early Black Friday sales. The three of us went to Macy's and Kohl's but ultimately didn't buy anything due to the insanely long lines. It was almost 2 a.m. when we got home!
This year, I'm thankful for the gift cards to Sino and Straits that my boss Bing gave me. They were worth $100 each and definitely very useful. I wouldn't have been able to treat my parents to lunch at Santana Row multiple times otherwise. There are no words to express my gratitude.
Friday
Our family friend Fennah recently got my parents to join her book club. This month's meeting was held at her home in Saratoga. Fennah's place was quite nice and reminded me of an Italian villa. I had planned to finish some assignments for an online class during this time but ended up playing games instead because my laptop couldn't connect to the Wi-Fi.
The discussion was followed by a potluck dinner. Everyone brought so much food that we were absolutely full when it was time to leave. The gathering was the best part of the long weekend even though I was the only young person there. You can see the pictures on Flickr.
Right after getting home, my father ordered an iPad 2 for $100 off using the Black Friday discount on the Apple website. I can't wait until it arrives!
Saturday
All of us wanted to relax after a busy two days. Saturday was mostly uneventful aside from a hike in Rancho San Antonio County Park in the afternoon. Because we started out later than usual - and the sun sets early at this time of the year - the sky was completely dark when we got back to the car. This was a surreal experience.
Sunday
Dad wanted to set up an external hard drive for backing up all of our computers. This took up the entire morning and meant we couldn't do much else besides going for a stroll in the neighborhood after dinner. On the bright side, our new backup system is now much more reliable.
The break was overall amazing despite the misunderstanding with the Shiehs. I'm looking forward to Christmas for sure.
Currently playing: Kirby Super Star
Monday, October 31, 2011
not a bad Halloween...
Halloween was pretty nice.
The festivities started on Friday with "Diwaloween" at Cisco. Because Diwali and Halloween are so close together this year, the TelePresence team had a joint celebration. There was food and music, and some people even got up to dance. I've posted pictures and videos from the event online.
Cisco hosted a costume contest this afternoon as today is Halloween. From what I've heard, the company has never done anything like this before. It was definitely nice for change. I didn't dress up but enjoyed seeing other people's costumes.
Dad later had two business associates over for dinner. Mom made good food as usual - click here to see what we ate. This wasn't a Halloween party per se as the timing was purely coincidental, but everyone still had a great time. I later passed out candy to the kids, something I hadn't done in 11 years. Here are the stats for those curious:
Total trick-or-treaters: 45
First arrival: 6:45 p.m.
Last arrival: 8:57 p.m.
Candy given out: 46 pieces
So yeah, Halloween was pretty fun. It just might become one of my favorite holidays again. :-)
In other news...
Dad took us to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and Nevada City two Saturdays ago. The fall foliage in Nevada City was beautiful. The best part was having coffee and dessert at a café before hiking some local trails. It was an amazing day trip. You can go here for the pictures.
The festivities started on Friday with "Diwaloween" at Cisco. Because Diwali and Halloween are so close together this year, the TelePresence team had a joint celebration. There was food and music, and some people even got up to dance. I've posted pictures and videos from the event online.
Cisco hosted a costume contest this afternoon as today is Halloween. From what I've heard, the company has never done anything like this before. It was definitely nice for change. I didn't dress up but enjoyed seeing other people's costumes.
Dad later had two business associates over for dinner. Mom made good food as usual - click here to see what we ate. This wasn't a Halloween party per se as the timing was purely coincidental, but everyone still had a great time. I later passed out candy to the kids, something I hadn't done in 11 years. Here are the stats for those curious:
Total trick-or-treaters: 45
First arrival: 6:45 p.m.
Last arrival: 8:57 p.m.
Candy given out: 46 pieces
So yeah, Halloween was pretty fun. It just might become one of my favorite holidays again. :-)
In other news...
Dad took us to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and Nevada City two Saturdays ago. The fall foliage in Nevada City was beautiful. The best part was having coffee and dessert at a café before hiking some local trails. It was an amazing day trip. You can go here for the pictures.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
first company picnic in 11 years!
Today was exciting as my staffing agency had its annual family picnic. The Armada Group always puts on awesome events, this one being no exception. I hadn't been to a company picnic in over 11 years and was quite looking forward to this.
The event was held at John D. Morgan Park in Campbell. It scheduled to start an hour before noon, but we figured few people would show up at 11 a.m. sharp. Although the crowd was smaller than we expected, most of the people from the spring party came. I enjoyed reconnecting with them and meeting their families.
All of the food was delicious. There was a balloon artist and an inflatable castle as the event was geared towards families with children. This brought back many childhood memories. Though my parents felt out of place due to everyone else bringing their kids instead, the three of us overall had fun.
The weather was pretty hot for this time of the year. However, relief came in the form of an ice cream man who saw the business potential. I couldn't resist the temptation and bought an ice cream cup - another thing I hadn't done in ages.
Also worth mentioning is that our recruiting manager Crystal later invited me to join her in the bouncy house. I initially balked at the idea due to my age but acquiesced after Crystal revealed she was a year older than me. Oh, to be young again!
On the whole, the picnic rocked. It was like a throwback to my childhood. I can't wait to see what other things the Armada Group has planned. In the meantime, feel free to check out my pictures on Flickr. Another guest named Douglass has made a slide show of the event - you can view that on YouTube.
Currently listening to: William Tell Overture
The event was held at John D. Morgan Park in Campbell. It scheduled to start an hour before noon, but we figured few people would show up at 11 a.m. sharp. Although the crowd was smaller than we expected, most of the people from the spring party came. I enjoyed reconnecting with them and meeting their families.
All of the food was delicious. There was a balloon artist and an inflatable castle as the event was geared towards families with children. This brought back many childhood memories. Though my parents felt out of place due to everyone else bringing their kids instead, the three of us overall had fun.
The weather was pretty hot for this time of the year. However, relief came in the form of an ice cream man who saw the business potential. I couldn't resist the temptation and bought an ice cream cup - another thing I hadn't done in ages.
Also worth mentioning is that our recruiting manager Crystal later invited me to join her in the bouncy house. I initially balked at the idea due to my age but acquiesced after Crystal revealed she was a year older than me. Oh, to be young again!
On the whole, the picnic rocked. It was like a throwback to my childhood. I can't wait to see what other things the Armada Group has planned. In the meantime, feel free to check out my pictures on Flickr. Another guest named Douglass has made a slide show of the event - you can view that on YouTube.
Currently listening to: William Tell Overture
Monday, October 10, 2011
happy 26th birthday to me!
I'm now 26 years old. Gosh, time flies.
So my mother made a green tea cake to share with my co-workers at Cisco. It's no surprise that everyone loved the cake because everything Mom makes is absolutely delicious. I didn't actually tell anyone it was my birthday in order to keep a low profile, but some people figured it out anyway - which I didn't deny.
The best part was when my parents took me to Fiesta Del Mar in Mountain View for dinner. The food was pretty good when we went there for my 17th birthday and didn't disappoint this time either. The cool thing is that we even sat at the same table!
Considering that we don't go out on Mondays too often, I can't help but feel like it's the weekend. One thing for sure is that it's going to be a long four days. :\
So my mother made a green tea cake to share with my co-workers at Cisco. It's no surprise that everyone loved the cake because everything Mom makes is absolutely delicious. I didn't actually tell anyone it was my birthday in order to keep a low profile, but some people figured it out anyway - which I didn't deny.
The best part was when my parents took me to Fiesta Del Mar in Mountain View for dinner. The food was pretty good when we went there for my 17th birthday and didn't disappoint this time either. The cool thing is that we even sat at the same table!
Considering that we don't go out on Mondays too often, I can't help but feel like it's the weekend. One thing for sure is that it's going to be a long four days. :\
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