Asyraf Shuisma

I'm writing this while handling a course to teach e-porfolio to 1st year students at the computer lab in CICT. The more I teach them the more i learn myself. Things i haven't even discovered before suddenly came into light. Thank god these colleagues are good enough to pay attention to us plus some of them ask plenty of questions. Its a good sign that the system will receive huge feedback in time. But the most important thing i gain from today is, share knowledge with others because you never know it just might increase your skills. Last of all, i find that my weakness today is during presenting i tend to stumble.

I have to fix this a.s.a.p.

Today is the last day of our work as developers for e-portfolio. Over the process our team had learned many ways of using the platform to our own advantage. One used it as an infoblog comprising of many things including a list of sponsors that we could use, another used it as a marketing space for his business and one person used it solely for the purpose of displaying her resume. Through the 3rd day and yesterday, each of us presented our e-portfolio to the team and had them commenting on what could be improved. We also made suggestions to En. Syed Anwar the programmer for e-portfolio mahara system. Only now do we realize the true advantages of using this system and I urge all other UTM students to join us  NOW!!

As we continue in designing our portfolio and filling up the details I'm forced to think thoroughly about my plans. Turns up this e-portfolio thing has many advantages after all. So I decided to check up what else I can turn up to be later on.. Here is only few of the result..

1. Lecturer or Trainer - Many of the maritime institutes and colleges are regularly on the hunt for lecturers or trainers to      teach the students who want to join this field. If you think you have the skills to be a lecturer there are plenty of options available, which are both full and part time.
2. Fleet Manager - A fleet manager basically is responsible for an effective day-to-day running of the company’s vessels and also has to ensure that the vessels go through smooth and hassle-free surveys, dry dock and repairs. They also are required to manage the team of superintendents and should possess good communicational skills.
3. Superintendent - The job of a superintendent is quite an important one. As a superintendent he is required to act as a spokesperson for the vessels. Hired by the management, they are required to ensure a smooth functioning onboard. Superintendents see to it that the vessel complies with the standard rules and regulations and that it is ready for the inspection and certifications.
4. Pilot - A marine pilot is a boon for the ship’s crew when the ship passes through a tricky area. Marine pilots are people with extensive knowledge of the area they are based in and are well aware of the sea terrain. So whenever a ship passes through waters that are tough to maneuver through, a pilot is called onboard to help with a smooth navigation.
5. Marine Surveyor - A marine surveyor is a person akin to a teacher in a classroom. He is required to inspect the vessels to ensure that they are in good condition and follow the standards and regulations while sailing. He inspects the equipment and machinery on board to ascertain its safety levels and then reports on their condition.
6. Naval Architect - Mariners on engineering side also have many options available to choose from. A naval engineer is the person who designs, constructs and also repairs ships and smaller marine vessels. So if designing is your cup of tea then Naval architecture is definitely the profession for you
7. Manning Office Job - As a marine who has plenty of sailing experience, a sailor would know all about joining and signing-off. So when a sailor decides to give up sailing the best thing for him to do would be to open up a manning office to provide experienced crew to big management companies and also handle the signing-off and joining of the crew.
8. Marine Design Engineer - A marine design engineer creates and designs the vessels and various kinds’ machinery and equipment required onboard. An in depth understanding of sailing and the nuances of ship’s machinery is a must for a marine design engineer.

Out of all these choices I'm most attracted to naval architect because engineering drawing comes naturally to me. I love to create designs in my head then quickly sketch them down on anything. Marine design engineer is also attractive but it will be difficult for me as I'm quite slow on understanding machine operations.

Based On Arcticle : from Marine Insight

We were honoured today with the presence of PM Ir. Hayati Binti Abdullah to present to us a talk on how to pursue our career path and writing a captivating resume. The two hours felt like 10 minutes as it was filled to the brim with usefull and proven information. The best thing about the talk was she actually obtained the material directly from real employers such as CEOs and Human Resource managers of massive companies around the region.

I felt the urge to rise up to the challenge and excel through the roadblocks of establishing a succesfull career to be just like the person talking at the front. One big change to my mindset today is the fact that employers actually takes generic skills as priority compared to grades. Good thing then I've been through all the process of learning soft skills during my stint at MRSM Alor Gajah :P for those of you who don't know MRSM Alor Gajah was the first school in southeast Asia to incorporate softskills as core subjects in its curriculum. I consider myself very lucky as i lack self confidence before attending those classes.

Throughout the whole talk PM Ir. Hayati kept repeating one important aspect and that is

"Be an asset to the company!!" 

She explained how important it is to make our superiors feel that our absence would be a great loss to the wellbeing of the company. To make this happen is of course by simply involving ourselves into any projects available and show that we are hardworking yet smart workers.

Other than that she also told us that to capture the attention of future employers graduates will need three basic things which is:

• Qualifications
• Generic skills
• Attributes

But even these three wont be enough if our resumes are not written in fluent english firsthand. Thus mastering the language is also a must. Either way we must forever and always remember that we should "Be an asset to the company!!"

In complience with our tasks as developers of the Mahara e-portfolio system for UTM, this is my first blogpost ever. To tell you the truth I've never posted a blog before, neither had any intentions to do so. However I do have a view on what kind of blog that pleases me. Thus I figured out I'll have no problem in performing this job. I will continuously explore this system and provide feedback on how it could be improved. Today has been tiring as it is a first time for us to work a full day. The morning started with speeches and presentations for us to learn about the system. Eventhough I was getting sleepy but I held my spirits high and focus on the whole lecture because i knew that I'll be coming out with added values. Sure enough I had learned a lot today and that the system is user-friendly enough but in my opinion it still wont be convincing and interesting enough to capture the attention of students in the masses. PM Wardah Zainal Abidin who was giving us the lecture kept her enthusiasm high which made the lesson somewhat less boring. She even managed to create a name for us and from now on we will be called e-Pchamps!!!

p.s. keep your spirits high for the rest of the week guys!!!