The government sets the rules, my friends, and we play the game. When the rules suck, the game becomes boring. The national initiative on life science is a good example - I am pretty sure bright decision makers see the importance of staying nimble and planning ahead, unfortunately that only means more stress for some people since they have to change their focus in life to catch this “new trend”. My mechanical engineering professor will tell me that he cannot focus on manufacturing projects (which he has passion in) since funds are available only if projects have a life science focus.

We all must change in response to a changing world, but sadly in Singapore we need to change too quickly, often finding ourselves constantly reinventing yet never consolidating. Consequently, we respond with short-cuts like focusing on grades, job-hopping to higher pay and don’t take the time to bulid our fundamentals. Very importantly, we become more pragmatic as well, which I strongly feel is a respond to even more pragmatic government policies.

I have been wondering if we can ever over come social pressures to pursue our own goals instead of being constantly swept by changes in our environment. Can we stand as entrepreneurs in a country where state entrepreneurship dominates? I guess we can but its going to extremely tough and take extrememly long. Maybe that’s why Singaporeans always seem to be worker harder?

Like what my HR tutor and Sharon (NCBV) once told me - never underestimate the influence of the environment. Environment, in my context, is planned and not random. The question then becomes if this the game you want to play.

I graduated from ITE Clementi & to say the truth, I felt inferior to talk abt it. But then my friends gave me word of encouragement that there’s no need to feel inferior at all, as long as I like what i’m doing in my job now. I believe that is true, it doesn’t matter where I graduate from, is the drive & enthusiassium (ithinkigotthespelling wrong :p) that i put in the job that counts.

Of course, I don’t want to restrict myself & stop upgrading. I would love to be able to interact with different ppl & to further improve myself.

Well, keep up with the good articles, Bjorn. They really set me thinking aloud. Thanks for that! =D

When we were about to graduate, many of my peers wanted to get into either i-banking or consultancy. I gathered that it basically boiled down to 2 main factors: the relatively high pay, and the prestige that is associated with the industry (due to the high pay, of course). The thing that fascinated my most was that most of my peers had hardly any idea what i-banking was all about. All they knew was that they wanted to get in.

I think there’s a general sentiment amongst undergraduate these days that the most coveted job to land after graduation is that in an i-bank. The recent news of Barclays Capital paying record salaries for IIM (the prestigious Indian business school) grads only makes things worse.

You posed a good question: “Can a lucrative career exist outside of banking?” The way I see it, if we’re talking about money alone (which, sadly, is the only consideration for many people in S’pore), then I would say “not really”. I-banks and many other financial institutions seem to be paying one of the best salaries around these days, at least from what I know…which is not that much really.

I think in S’pore there’s a certain social status being attached to a person which is directly proportional to the salary he/she is drawing every month. And industries like media, advertising, retail, etc which do not pay as much as the i-banks would thus seem like a much less attractive career path, irregardless of what you really would like to pursue as a career. I think we still have a way to go before we cultivate the kind of mindset where people actually go out and pursue their dreams and do things they truly love. The social stigma associated with such things at the moment in S’pore is too large to ignore.

Great blog you have here. Just discovered it recently actually. I like the kind of stuff that you write about, espcially on the Internet and Web 2.0 and stuff.

Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts. Cheers.

An outsider view of Stanford’s life is different from an insider perspective but the culture in Stanford definitely breeds the entrepreneurial spirit. Perhaps that’s what we want to instil in Singaporeans. To believe that there is not one model answer, one standard path or route to success and when your mind opens up to all the possibilities out there, you might just find one that truly drives you.

i guess the US system, values and everything are so different from those of yours in Singaopre, and that makes all the difference…it sounds bullshit, but what i meant is that the US and Singapore are intrinsically different and it may not be good to simply compare and make a generalized conclusion… i’ve many friends in the US/UK too, from big name colleges, you name it… from what i know, a good number of the native americans or europeans don’t give a shit to the education system… they’re encouraged to do what they like ever since they were young… but that is not happening here… in addition, in the states, you are not paid based on your academic qualifications, for example, it does not make a difference to your boss that whether you are a f***ing first class honors student or a third class or one that is without honors… what matters is that you can deliver… however sadly speaking, the local government does believe in the paper qualifications… yeah there are people who can perform but also good at doing exams; but not everyone is… and these who do not look so good on their paper qualifications, will be greatly disadvantaged while applying for the majority of jobs locally… hence, people in nus are generally more hard working because they are “fighting” for those few hundred dollars difference in their starting pay…and those few fucking hundred bucks do make a big difference in the eyes of a typical fresh graduate… it is not their fault, but money is the basis means to survival… and you’ve to understand, many of them are in DEBTS…

perhaps you are right that most of your countrymen strive to find a job related to banking or consultancy, for whatsoever reasons they may have… but it really sucks to me that you find a job, which you don’t really like… for example, many of your future doctors in nus medicine school, are not sure what they want to do in the future; thus taking up medicine to be their profession… i hate those people because they are not only irresponsble to themselves but also their patients… but you can’t blame them as well, because you can’t expect everyone in singaopre or in the world to be like you… yes you may be highly motivated; but many others are more contented to live a simple quiet life… they’ve their right to do so and to live the life they want to have… my friend was right when he told me that hey suhao, not everyone is like you and we’re all different… the world DOES NEED a mix of all different kinds of people to do different things; otherwise, the order of the nature will be disturbed…

hey sorry dude, i don’t think that i’ve any logic in my comments but hope that you get some of the points that i want to raise here…(by the way, the term “you” does not literally refer to you”)

like reading your blogs and cheers man

read my post in full *before* you hit the reply button.

PS: post any other comments your have abt me related to this issue on the lvl3 blog. i would hate to see this thread be abt me, me and only me.mwahahahaa.