Time to pick up some database skills

I've been dabbling on and off about some data mining work for sometime now. The one thing I am kind of surprised about myself is that I haven't picked up any decent database skills. Some IT related work came by my way, the guys are looking for someone with C++ skills and and database related stuff.

I haven't touched a low level language like that in ages, the last time I did something with C++ was try to write my own poker bot. I actually had a clever system setup as I made a hack into the RAM to find out where the card data was stored and figured how the card data was stored.

I haven't done any sort of enterprise kind of programming before; most of the work I do with programming is scripting and numerical analysis kind of work; I run pretty much everything through the command line to get at data. But IT work for banks and getting into analysis kind of work seems kind of interesting. The problem is that the firms are Japanese and I sort of have doubts on the amount of money they would be paying. I've worked in one Japanese corporation already and I believe that I should be fetching a higher salary, oddly not being paid enough seems to be strong negative incentive to me-- there were times I worked harder as a student than I work in the company.

There are a lot of skills I need/want to pick up right now. I just have to hunker down and pursue a few things with great intensity. I intend to make programming one of my fortes.

JLPT Level 1

The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, basically a bench mark for the language ability of foreign people to comprehend the Japanese language. I don't have any qualifications as I have just picked up everything I needed along the way, but I have since come to the realization that it may come in handy for future employment opportunities. I am debating on picking up a few other qualifications on my own depending on the availability of my time.

I have decided to prepare myself for a move for a new career to better leverage my skills and improve income compared to the work I am doing now; even if it involves me picking up some new skills. The job market in Japan is interesting for people with international skills and I intend on breaking into that market career wise. There are probably other interesting opportunities in other Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong for international talent. One of those requirements to break into this field is a necessity for good multi-lingual skills in addition to either business or technical skills.

The need for international recognition as a baseline for certain skills may play an important role here. I will be looking into at least getting my JLPT level 1 certificate within the next year. I've lived here for 5 years now and I should at least get that certification.

Career planning is tricky

I am now in the process of looking for a new job. People might call me crazy to consider looking for new work with the economic down turn and all, but some how I am confident that I can find something better, that also pays more than what I am getting right now.

The job that I do isn't all that bad, and the working environment compared to other Japanese companies is pretty good, but I believe that I can do better and that I can pick up the skills needed to advance faster.

I finished reading a nook earlier this month called "kitchen confidential" written by Anthony Bourdain, a first hand biographical look into the nitty gritty of the culinary world. One interesting note that he made was that he could have been a better chef if he hadn't spent so much time chasing money, where as another talented chef went from Italian to pastries and through other fields of cooking, starting from close to nothing to learn everything he could. The fusion of knowledge would eventually make him a renowned cook.

Right know, I can admit that I am chasing the money, wanting to pick up the skills to advance into better paid positions. Raising one's income isn't a necessarily a bad thing, but what is it that one unwittingly gives up in this conquest?

Modeled numbers are easy to predict, this is the realm of accountants and mathematicians, but there is also a hidden lie beneath it all, we assume that the model doesn't change.

Accountants cannot account for the power of a technological or cultural vision becoming a reality. Like poker, predicting or creating the future isn't just about a numbers game, though knowing how to crunch the number does help. Are there intangible things that I am neglecting?

And so, I will probably come to a crossroad, there will be jobs that I can pick up skills for that may take me away from my world of research and development that I believe that I want to remain in or do I go into the world of finance or other uncharted territory that may pay better.

There will be more job offers coming my way in the coming months and more skills I will need to pick up to position my self for better opportunities. The question is, to which direction do I walk and why? Assuming that this is the right question to ask in the right place, sometimes it is just nice to just walk in the first place.

If there is a time to do it, it is now; I hear from other people it does get a little harder to find new work the older you get.

The Search for a New Apartment Begins

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been living in the company
dorm for the past 3 years and it's time for me to go. In Japan the
moving season is in March-April because the university year starts and
new hires start work at this period of time.

I've been looking on and off for places to for the past month through
the internet and after living in the dorms for a while, I am ready for
a nicer place to live. Somewhere with at least 2 rooms and a kitchen,
and relatively closer to the city in a nice building. It is going to
be much more expensive to the dorms that I've been living in, but I
will be able to invite friends over and host events, which should cut
down on my entertainment costs significantly.

The added benefit is that I'll be able to dedicate a room to a
study/work out area, meaning that I'll be able to do more activities
at home. I would like to see if the partition between having a study
versus having a bedroom + study will have an impact on my working
habits. Either way, having a new environment will be mentally
stimulating and I am quite certain that the change in environment will
have a positive impact.

At the same time, having increased associated living costs will force
me to keep myself to sharpen my skills, advance and look for new
opportunities. I believe that it's easy to stagnate if one gets too
comfortable-- because if things are pretty secure already, why try
harder? This is a habit that I am going to work on breaking, but I
believe that it requires some external "stress" to be applied to
myself.

Fortunately, I've still been tracking my personal expenses so I have a
general idea of what I can afford. In Japan, compared to North
America, there is a wider selection of places and prices of places to
live in. Where as in Vancouver, the cheapest place that you will be
lucky to find will be in the $800 range, going upwards. Living about 1
hour out of the city by train, you can probably get away with
something in the $500-$600 range if you wanted to save money. I'll be
aiming for something nicer and closer to the city. It'll be more
expensive, but I will be aiming to shoot for a career upgrade within
1.5 years for a respectable increase in salary. I have a general idea
of what other companies might be looking for in an international
candidate now so I will be pushing to get certified in the level 1
Japanese Language Proficiency Test and one other certification.

To accomplish these goals, I will be looking to reduce the number of
hours to focus on personal development. The idea is to invest in
myself and reap compounding rewards the more skilled I get. I think
this is a far better solution compared to working longer hours-- as I
loathe to think of myself as a monkey. Other commitments I'll need to
make is to cut down on the number of hours that I spend unproductively
and I am in the process of setting up a timer system where I focus on
a task for a specific amount of time before giving myself a break to
do whatever. I'll also be looking to find a way to tabulate what I
learned or accomplished during these times to determine if I was
working effectively.

Time to move out of the company dorm

Living in a dorm of international students was great, living in a dorm with co-workers is pretty damn boring. I exist in a different world, even when in Japan with international expats, Japanese people that have lived abroad and came back, I even really like the country folk here as well. The thing is that I just can't connect with the ordinary traditional salary-people here. The just don't jive with me, not that I don't like them; I am just bored around them. I generally do my best to fit in and I am usually pretty good at fitting in, but there are times when you simply just need to put your foot down and get out.

Yeah the rent for the company dorm is really cheap, they charge about $250/month in fees with utilities included. Dirt cheap and thanks to that price, I've saved up a good chunk of money that would have otherwise gone to the landlord. But at the same time, you also pay a price, that you can't invite outside friends and the other thing is that I live away from Tokyo, from where all the cool stuff is happening. I've just started to meet many interesting people and decided that I need to get closer to Tokyo and make more free time to do interesting work and meet interesting people-- the surrounding environment plays a very important influencing factor. You can tell that things are different when you listen to people with interesting ideas and trying to startup a new business, whether it is in silicon valley or in Singapore; you think depending on your environment.

So I've decided that I need to get out and get myself into a more happening place. I'll probably have to deal with a commute to get to work, but it is one of those things I'll probably have to live with. In ideal circumstances, I'll find a new venue of work where it is close to where I live, somewhere happening. I've been living too "defensively" for the last few years by making decisions based on how much it I can "financially save." I want to from "saving" to "making".

A weekend of relaxation

After a wild Halloween and more weekend events (one of which included me dancing in a museum and the curators getting mad at me), I've decided to spend this weekend at home for a change. Most of my friends would have a hard time imagining me spending time at home instead of going out, but yes there are times when it is really nice to just not go out; in this case I had a lot of errands that needed catching up on and I figured that it would be now or never to get them done.

Stuff like cleaning the room a little, changing the battery on my scooter, hitting the hardware store to look for a can of rust remover and finding spray can of grease (interestingly) for my bicycle and such, I remind my self that there are probably a lot of small little maintenance things that I ought to be doing but just haven't really been finding the time to do recently. So sometimes, it is necessary to put time aside to get things done and time to just chill out as well too.

The last week has been marked by a string of food indulgence, as not many people might know, I live without a kitchen so I've created my own little kitchen with a table and a hot plate that lets me fry meats and make all sorts of other dishes. Having good food waiting for me at home is a great incentive to come home early; I often have a hard time staying late at work when given the choice of eating at the company cafeteria (which isn't bad, by the way) versus something home cooked.

It's been a while since I've done any real picture posting-- I still remember that I have more photos of Hakodate that I should have posted and other things that I should have done but haven't gotten around to doing yet. Slacking isn't a really good habit, but there are only so many productive hours in a day that a person has (or so I believe).

So first off, since February of this year, I bought a new cross bike and have been riding it from time to time to the beach on the weekends. Round trip of 30 km makes for great riding. The entire distance can be covered in about 1.5 hours but I like to take a breather at the beach, where I like to buy a can of orange juice and watch the beach goers play volleyball and surf over there. With autumn dawning upon us, the sun sets much earlier and the sky much clearer compared to the hazy humid sky that one would typically see.

The setting sun

The beach center

The other nice thing about autumn in Japan is that it is still relatively warm-- I can still venture out in a t-shirt on a sunny day, which makes doing exercising in warm but cool weather perfect.

I've also been doing a lot of youtube watching recently. My favorite videos to watch on youtube are of the cooking variety. I've already posted recently about one of my favorite youtube chef at foodwishes but in addition I also really enjoy watching Anthony Bourdain's series called No Reservations; a show that I highly recommend for anyone that enjoys both travel and good food. One of his shows aired way back was a "Techniques Special" from which I used as a base to replicate a beef stew.

The recipe is rather simple:

Take a hunk of shoulder cut beef, chop it up, season with salt and pepper.

Fry until brown

Add onions and cook until semi-translucent

Add some red wine.

Simmer for about 1.5 hours

Add carrots and cook until tender

Serve with a side of rice, bread or whatever you have lying around.

I did all this while cleaning the room and gave up on cleaning after the stew was ready. An incredibly easy but tasty dish. Would probably be nice to add some potatoes as well. I've got enough food in the fridge to last several days. Eating leftovers for 1 might get a little repetitious sometimes, but with enough variety it beats eating expensive take out any day.