Doctor - a zigzag journey

Part 19 - Drift

Background: 1994 - 1996 (Age 27 - 29 years)

After one year of struggle in my first job in the factory, I decided to resign and move on to a French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer in Singapore. The headquarter was in Geneva, Switzerland. I was in charge of statistical process control (SPC), as an engineer and chairman of the SPC committee. The role provided me many opportunities included applying statistical methodologies to detect and analyse trends and variations in the manufacturing processes, and improving my presentation skills in public speaking and teaching other colleagues and production workers. I managed reasonably well. Three years later, I was promoted to a Section Manager with two junior engineers working in my team. My income improved; I settled my bank loans for my engineering degree. It was a relief financially!

"You will be sponsored a business trip to France to meet other Statistical Process Control (SPC) committees," said Jeffrey, the General Manager.

"Great!" I replied with excitement.

I was tasked to present the achievements and progress of SPC in the organisation.

It was my first ever sponsored overseas business trip. I was 27.

"Hey Calvin, I will make a business trip to France," I told my colleague, Calvin, who worked in the engineering department. Calvin, a friendly tall man, is a Malaysian too. We chatted about work related matters and gave morale support to each other.

"You are good at statistical analysis stuff," Calvin reassured me, "you deserve the opportunity."

I went for the business trip to France, visited the headquarter at Switzerland briefly,  and accomplished the task satisfactorily.

In order to upgrade my skill in statistical analysis, I applied for a "master degree course in applied statistics" conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) on a part-time basis. I was accepted and enrolled into the program. The classes were mostly conducted at night from 7pm to 9pm.

"Welcome to this postgraduate master degree course jointly conducted by NUS academic staff and lecturers from Stanford University," Professor Goh announced with a welcoming voice and gesture. He was the course coordinator.

I scanned the class. Twelve adult students in total. My smile and nod were equivalent to saying hello to each of them.

"You can opt for specialised subjects such as Bio-Statistics, Survival Analysis, Design of Experiments," Professor Goh continued naming numerous subjects and statistical jargons.

The class began with an introduction to the statistical theory and numerous statistical jargons such as "Bonferroni test" and "Tukey test". After being "brain-washed" for two hours, I was exhausted mentally. It was time for a slumber to refresh my neurones for more analytical work on the next day.

During that period of time, my life was revolving around working and studying in the night class and doing assignments on weekends. I had lost contact with Lola and Esther. Most of my friends and colleagues were either married or engaged in relationships, and most of them enjoyed doing other more exciting activities such as shopping in their spare time. They were interested in branded stuff like Giorgio Armani, and they went for an exotic tour to Turkey; while I was obsessed with academic stuff i.e. Bonferroni and Tukey instead. There were big differences between Armani and Bonferroni, and Turkey versus Tukey. Well, I pursued my interest and aspiration.

After working and studying hard for a year, and having scored four distinctions in the first four subjects, I deserved a break before completing the remaining four subjects. I decided to "rest my mind" and saved my brain from being "grilled" by endless analytical assignments during the vacation.

One weekend during the vacation, I came across an advertisement in a local newspaper in Singapore that read "if you have an interest in acting, read this. The Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) would like to invite you to attend a series of night classes in acting. Come for an audition..."

 I attended the audition and was enrolled into the "TCS acting night classes". The diversification into a brief acting endeavour made me realise my strength and weakness and appreciated the importance of teamwork. More importantly, I was determined to be the director of my own life (Part 2 in this memoir). I wondered whether I had drifted farther away from my childhood ambition to become a doctor. Perhaps.