Tabi basa & greetings everyone. In this post, I’d like to share about another career / motivation talk session at Curtin University at Senadin, Miri.
Note: Tukang Rantek means “photographer” in Bidayuh.
Prologue
My first talk at Curtin at Miri was on 27th April 2017 as invited by Mr Jameson, a math lecturer with a strong passion in bowling and running as well as a good singer/choirmaster for St Joseph’s Cathedral.
It was a Career Talk, where I shared my professional working experiences to the bright minds at Curtin university.
Every year since then, I have been giving at least one talk per year at Curtin since one of my passions is public speaking. The other passions are singing and photography, but primarily singing.
My talk session came to a halt during COVID days, and thanks to Mr Ng Chi Loon, Country Manager of Leica Camera Malaysia, I also gave another Leica M system talk to fellow Leica aficionado during MCO.
When I started working too, I was invited by Cikgu Julia of SMK Tebakang, Serian to give a career talk to the SMKT students.
First Talk in 2025
For this session, I was given the opportunity by Miss Cynthia, a chemistry lecturer of Curtin, where I will be giving a talk to the engineering Foundation students.
During our initial discussion, I was given the option to talk about few topics, Designing Your Life, Fuel Your Fire and the Power of Mindset. I proposed Designing Your Career instead, and the focus of my talk was starting their tertiary education with the right mindset.
Why?
Throughout my experience, and me personally, if the students do not know what they want to achieve in life, they tend to drift in the vast ocean of opportunities, unsure who they want to become in 5 years’s time, let alone their life.
The hazard of having too much options is that one can be overwhelmed and chose not to choose anything instead.
That’s why I took the challenge and prepare the talk instead, which hopefully can help to enlighten them.
Talk Poster
Here’s the poster of my talk as prepared by Curtin team. The picture was captured from one of my emcee duty. Emcee is one of my side-gigs. The other is photographer (portrait) and singer.
Arrival At SK3
Upon my arrival, I noticed that there was a lot of students outside of the lecture hall. That reminded me to my time back in university. My alma mater was UTM Skudai, where our faculty was on top of a hill, far away from my residence college.
The distance gave me a lot of opportunities to exercise as I need to walk, and eventually I bought a bicycle since it is much cost-effective to ride a bicycle than to use a motorcycle.
Money was hard to find and scholarship money has to be spent wisely. That time, no money was spent on sunblock, I look darker due to sunburn.
Miss Cynthia greeted me outside and before I entered the hall, she gave me markers to be used and a clean eraser. A clean eraser and a good marker is every lecturer’s favourite thing.
In this digital era & AI-based tech, I love to conduct my talk using a conventional oratory skills, and emphasise my points using marker, eraser and white board. There is something euphoric about being able to give a speech in a lecture hall, to write and draw at will on a clean whiteboard.
Let The Lecture Begins
After a brief introduction by Miss Cynthia, I gave the talk to the students.
My talk was quite straightforward, it was about Career and Purpose.
I started off by telling the story about Coffee, Egg and Carrot.
It is a parable that uses the experience of being boiled in hot water to illustrate how people reacted to adversity.
Carrot, though initially hard, was weakened by hardship.
Egg, initially soft, was hardened / becoming cynical by hardship.
Coffee, however, releases its flavour and transforms the water, representing those who thrive in the face of hardship and become a role model.
Then, I did few elaboration about it and related it to the reality of life of university students and those working in oil and gas. The choice is always theirs to make.
There was a student that came late to the lecture. So, I grabbed him and asked him to introduce himself and shares about the topic. His name was Christian.
The Story of Five Volunteers
I also talk about hopes and dreams of these students. Before they started their university life, do they know where they want to go in the future or who they want to become?
If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favourable.
Just listening to me alone would be boring after a while. So, I did a fun activity with the students whilst asking them about their hopes and dreams, and what differentiates the from rest of the bunch.
I initially gave three spots, but since those three spots were quickly filled by Ricky, Christian and Stephen, I opened up another two more spot. Nathan and Grace rushed to the stage.
I gave them a few minutes to think and then I gave the microphone to them.
The Hope of Dayak
Stephen started first and he shared that he, an Iban gentleman, wants to be a Civil Engineer at Sarawak Energy. He aims to go beyond the stereotype of Iban people, where they think that SPM is enough, and prove to the rest of the world that a local Dayak Iban notive boy also can be a successful too in the career of his/her choice. What a noble goal. Being a fellow Dayak, I support that.
The Future OIM
Christian, a Lun Bawang guy shared his goal too. He wants to be a successful oil and gas engineer and he aims to be an OIM, Operations Installation Manager. He jokingly called himself a Sigma Boy. Joke aside, I can see the fire in his eyes, and I pray that he will fly higher than his current dream.
Note: “sigma” here carries the same meaning as “lone wolf”: highly-independent and self-reliant individual. It’s a Gen-Z / Alpha slang.
Future Shell Engineer
Ricky was the third one. Although it was obvious, he politely told me that he is a Chinese boy and shared that he wants to be a Shell engineer, an Mechanical (Robotic) engineer in the future. He also shared about his father’s advise; if opportunity didn’t show up, he should create that opportunity.
Good Personality Matters
The fourth person is the first lady in the group, none other than Grace – the amazing lady. She is also share to the whole class the she wants to be part of the oil and gas, specifically in electrical engineering. For some reason, she emphasised that she is a pure Chinese. As for the differentiator, she believes that good personality matters. I agree with this. If you have a good personality, you can survive in any organisation. But caution has to be exercised lest people take advantage of your kindness.
The House-Husband
The last person is the funniest one. His name is Nathan and he boldly declare that he wants to be a house-husband. The whole lecture hall erupts in laughter. Joke aside, he want to be an energy engineer. Someone actually knows what the direction the world is heading. His sharing was “in order to lead, one must follow”. This means that one must be able to listen and collaborate, demonstrate humilty and willingness to learn from one another.
At the end of this sharing, we took photo together.
What Is Your Purpose?
This seemingly easy question is actually delicate to answer. In Japanese, the term that I was looking for was “Ikigai”. The closest word to it in English is “Purpose”.
To do what others want of us is easy. To do what we really want to do is easy too. But to do what we want whilst balancing what others want of us versus what the world actually needs and what will bring food to the table is actually thought-provoking.
This is the reason why many actually follows whatever that gave them good money and hopefully, they will find their purpose along the way.
This is where I helped these students to find their purpose, like a beacon in the dark.
Helping them to clarify their top priority in university, I shared with them why they need to graduate on-time. Or earlier, if it is possible.
But I sincerely wish that they took their time to learn and mature through their time at university because university is a safe space for them to test out their responsibilities in working life.
Working is a whole different journey altogether, but we can save that topic for another talk.
Living In the Present
I also shared with them about social media, and about living in the moment and not to become a passenger in the flow of time.
What I meant was some of us actually live in a autopilot, especially those who is actually not doing what they want. That includes those who is working, who drags their feet to the office every morning; or students who didn’t want to go to university but their parents want him / her to be a doctor to make their family proud.
I advised them to, as much as they can, be in harmony. What they are doing should be matching with what they want. Otherwise, try to find a middle ground. The so-called win-win situation until they are able to do exactly what they want.
Since they are in university already, and their parents hoped that they will graduate, just finish the mission at hand first. Then they can do what they want after they graduate.
Throughout that process, they might have a paradigm shift and actually love what they are doing. That is a good outcome. Otherwise, they might actually hit that sweet spot in life where they find equilibrium in life: a balance between their life, study, love and passion.
Do You Know What You Want?
This is a question that I throw into the crowd, where Abdullah, the Sudanese lad shouted enthusiastically and came to the front. But when he arrives to the front, he had a stage fright and didn’t actually know what he wants to answer.
But that is understandable. It happened to me also too.
I shifted the topic to debate and I shared that debating is a fun thing to do with various mental benefits, including improves critical thinking, problem-solving skill, articulation and communication skills, emotional intelligence, just to name a few.
I asked around whether they are debaters in the crowd. Only one lady raised her hand: Urwah Imran from Lahore, Pakistan.
She shared her point-of-view about debate and she also shared that she knows precisely what she wants to be: a Planetary Geologist.
When she said that, the first thing that came across my mind is the icy-fold surface of Europa, one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, with the other three being Ganymede, Io and Callisto. All for were named after Zeus’s lovers (Jupiter is Zeus’ Roman name). As a child, I spent countless hours reading about those celestial objects. Fascinating indeed.
A Word For The Single
I also noticed that there is a large group of single people there in the crowd. But I assured them, since they are still young and yet to have a partner, it is perfectly fine because each person’s blessing is different.
We are living a different timeline, from a different starting point and it is an insult towards our potential if we start to compare ourselves with other peoples highlight reel.
Comparison is a thief of joy.
Don’t fall victim to the social media trap. Soc-med is perfectly engineered to make us feel bad, making us feel like we are inadequate where in fact, we are enough.
By knowing this, we can actually focus on what really matters: family, our wellbeing and don’t forget our spiritual life.
No matter how far or high we fly, don’t forget to pray.
By practicing gratitude, we actually opening up more opportunities to receive more blessings. We normally don’t get what we want, but we usually have what we need.
Don’t forget the plight that we are facing today is actually preparing us for a bigger role in the future.
Don’t Chase, Attract
I also shared with them that don’t worry if we don’t get what we want. Don’t chase what we want, but do the opposite – attract what we want.
Chasing is tiring, and it comes from sense of desperation. You don’t want that.
Instead, just focus on your life (in this case, your study), your passion and the things that you enjoyed the most.
Spend time with family too, especially the young ones and the elderly. The young won’t stay young forever and the elderlies will not be here forever too.
Eventually, we will be attracting the person that shares the same value with us.
You will know when you meet that person.
(Always) Start With Why
At the end of the talk, I shared with them that whatever they do, always start with “Why?”, Simon Sinek’s famous word. If they do not know why they are doing what they are doing, it is important to stop and reflect until they are sure about why they are doing that.
Once they are clear with their “Why”, their “How” would be much easier to execute.
Post-Talk Sharing Session
After the talk, I received a token of appreciation from the Head of Department, Ms. Hii Kiew Ling, followed by a group photo.
With excitement in their faces, Stephen (left) and Christian (right) proudly showcase a sketch of me, entitled “Miri Fine Shyt”, and asked for my autograph. For me, it is a badge of honour, no cap. He wrote something about my quote there too, in his own words.
Miri Fine Shyt
Indi, Duwǔh, Taruh… Smile!
“Indi, duwǔh, taruh” means One, Two, Three in Bidayuh.
Miss Cynthia shared that didn’t know what “Fine Shyt” means until I explained to her. My colleague was surprised that I knew what that means. She was lowkey impressed that a Millenial knows Gen-Z terms.
Back to the lecture hall, I did an encore sharing session with the crowd. Seems like 2 hours talk session is not enough to cover the topics that they are asking.
After the encore session, Abdullah, Kuang and Aaron also stayed on to ask more about career, life and passion related topics. Whilst Abdullah shared about his previous stage fright, where his mind went blank on stage, I shared to him, that he is basically Sudan’s ambassador at Curtin, whether he like it or not. So, he should do his best so that others have a good impression about Sudanese.
Kuang’s question revolves around balancing one’s own circle. After all, we are average of 5 peoples that we spent our most time with. It is alright if you don’t have a lot of close friends. Quality over quantity.
Aaron is good in drawing, and his art is impressive, but I advised him to stick to his actual priority now, which is to grad on-time. After that, he can do what he wants with his life. Perhaps pursue his passion in drawing.
Funny thing about guy is that we can talk about serious topic for a long period of time. By the end of it, we forgot to ask each other’s name. There were a few that asked me serious questions, but since I was mentally-occupied and focused more on answering their question, I didn’t ask for their names. Oops, my bad.
I took a photo with Miss Cynthia right before I left the building.
Epilogue
For me, this kind of opportunity to share and inspire others is what I really looking forward to, especially the young ones. Just like how my seniors inspired me in the past, it is my time to inspire these juniors.
For many, this would be the only time we cross path, and I do hope that my sharing helps you. If they can remember one or two things from my talk, I am more than happy. I do sincerely hope that they will be able to achieve greatness in the future and make their dreams a reality.
Thank you Miss Cynthia, Ms Hii and Curtin University for giving me the opportunity. Until next time.
Your Tukang Rantek / Rockstar Emcee,
Claudius (Del)
