8 lessons while juggling between shift work, IT services business and part time studies in my early 20s

Note: The target audience for this article is for those students trying to find their way and young workers who feel that their work lacks meaning or lacks upward momentum. Everyone is welcome to read. There are opportunities to learn in every scenario. You will need to develop a system and build your talent stack.?

After finishing my National Service obligations, I started studying for my bachelor’s degree in business from Singapore Institute of Management. The school offered degrees from University of London and I was excited to begin my journey as an undergraduate.

But it was not easy to handle the costs of being a full time student. It was time to go back to work to earn money for school fees and living expenses.?

Lesson 1: Physical work might be the first option you have to earn money. It is fine to start from there, but not to stay there all the time.?

Some of the jobs that I did in my teens before going to National Service included being a banquet waiter, a cook at a restaurant chain and a bartender.?A banquet waiter is someone who serves the guests during functions such as weddings and corporate events.?

The work can be very tiring. We had to move tables, chairs and heavy items either very early in the morning for corporate events, or every late at night after a wedding. The good part was that I could always sleep very well after work because I was so tired after that.?

I got the chance to see many different type of corporate events from different industries and served many prominent people as a waiter. It was an eye-opener. The ability to anticipate customer’s needs, get along with co-workers and to “read the room” are skills that I picked and still use today.?

I had been doing Food and Beverage industry work for about 5 years before National Service and thought that it was time to try something new.?

Lesson 2: Be open to different opportunities and learn from them?

Telesales was a job recommended by a friend. I would call corporate clients and remind customers to renew their corporate subscription to an information service. Those were the days before SaaS (Software as a service) was popular. I would fax the renewal form and they would fax back the orders. Happy times then when I did a sale. I did well in that job.?

Another friend recommended doing corporate events. I carried a lot of items also. But also learned how to blow balloons on the the go and help to build a stage quickly. It was exciting times as there were many events. But it was time for me to do other things.?

It was toward the end of the dot-com bubble then. But there was still much interest in the IT sector. I thought that it would be a good idea to try working in that sector and pick up some skills. One option was to try to leverage those skills and try to get a job in a dot-com.?

I got a job working part time doing shift work in a call centre helping customers troubleshoot their internet connection. The company was an Internet Service Provider and I was so excited to try something new.??

Lesson 3: Your willingness to learn matters more than your background in a field.?

It was not easy as I did not have a technical background. I would get scolding from customers. They wanted to get connected to the Internet fast and read their email. I could not solve their problems fast enough.?

These customers were already very patient. They were connecting to the internet using 33.6k modems and 56k modems. Those internet speeds were nothing compared to what we get today on our mobile phones. But I was too slow then.?

Clients were calling in non-stop. Supervisors wanted us to reduce?our average handle time, which was the time spend on a customer. My average handle time was high. Supervisors were unhappy and customers were unhappy.?

I knew I had to get better. My hourly wage doing that work was 30% higher than F&B. I got the chance to sit in an air-conditioned environment and learn new things. I had never worked in an office job before.?

It was time to focus and get get better.?

Lesson 4: Learn on the job even it is unpaid. Be a blank canvas.?

Even though I was paid hourly based on the time attending customer calls, I started going to office 1 hour earlier to learn how to use different systems.?

Back then, Apple was running Mac OS 9 and OS X concurrently. There were also different versions of Microsoft Windows to learn. Customers were connecting to the internet using systems as varied from Windows 95, Windows 98. Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista.?

Every interface was different. Customers were frustrated while waiting for me. I had to try out different systems in the office so that I could know what the customers were looking at. You had to queue up if other people were using the same system. I was very slow then.?I learned to write down and draw the steps step by step to help the customer. Over time, I could close my eyes and visualise the screen and guide the customer on the phone. Repetition helped me.?

Guiding clients to connect to the Internet became second nature to me. It became easier and I learned different systems. DSL and wireless started to become more and more popular.?

Those 1 “unpaid hour” per shift allowed me to learn how to open up a computer, change parts, know different operating systems, connect on dial-up and DSL. I also learned how to connect to wireless networks using a USB modem to a laptop. It was not as simple as now. But I had a great time learning and it would come in useful.?

Learning how to use the computers and systems was unpaid time, but the benefits I got was multiplies of whatever income I gave up for those hours.?

Lesson 5: When tough times come, adapt and pivot?

The dot com bubble bust. Working hours were cut. I was a temp staff and my hours were the first to be reduced. I struggled to make ends meet. With my experience in the Internet Service Provider, I was able to get a job working in a multinational IT company and helped to create database to check inventory.?

That department was the outsourcing department. I learned that some companies will outsource their entire IT departments to that IT services company. They would then take in staff from the company.?

I started learning how to teach people in that company Internet related solutions and thought of a way to solve some of my money problems. It was to teach people how to use computers and help them fix their computers. It was a long process and I even lost some money on some transactions but I learned to be better from it.

Lesson 6: Be aware of supply and demand and make use of it.?

One of my first years modules in university was Introduction to Economics. We spend all day in class drawing graphs and understanding the underlying economic models. But one key lesson was that when demand went up, for a given level of supply, prices will go up.?

I started to get phone calls from the Internet Service Provider asking me to go back work more often. A lot of permanent staff had left the company. My work quality had progressed to the point where I could guide clients and coach my colleagues. I used that opportunity to ask for a pay raise and got it.?

There were many friends who referred customers to me. Many people wanted to learn how to use internet applications and productivity software. I was able to raise my rates.

Lesson 7: Selling only your time has limited leverage.?

I learned to be very sensitive to time. Every hour I worked in the call centre provided income for me to pay school and other fees. I tried to get extra hours but could not get those all the time.?

With some referrals, I was teaching older workers how to use Microsoft Office and other applications. My teaching rate was about 5 times of my average hourly wage in the call centre, but the jobs were lumpy and not consistent.

I also learned how to teach younger and older people. They would refer their friends and family to me. But time was a constraint.?

Other IT jobs included fixing up small companies’s WIFI network. Those jobs were better as they were determined by end results and not the time spend on them. Much effort was needed to find and bid on those projects and then get the manpower and equipment for those jobs.?

I became very conscious of my "hourly rate".?

Lesson 8: Discipline and structure is what gives you freedom?

School work was in the back burner. The irony was that I was working in several jobs trying to afford school but I ended up struggling in school.?Attendance at school was bad. Even if I was in class, I was taking naps or taking client calls for my IT services business. Studying was difficult for me. I had difficulty concentrating. I was also missing work days as I was overextending myself.?

Being young, I would also go out with my colleagues after my shift work. Drinks with my classmates? Sure. There were many social events.?

I knew that it was not sustainable and had to extent my undergraduate degree by another two years. It was a bitter pill as it also meant I could not start work with my friends who went to university at the same time.?

It was not an easy decision. But I felt that I made the best decision based on the available information I had. Things worked out.?

I converted to a full time employee at the Internet Service Provider and learned some supervisory skills. That gave me more certainty of income but I had to give up some of my IT services income. I needed to do that to graduate.?

So I focused on school, played less and worked hard. I planned my day from a diary and had a fixed schedule that I adhered to. I became disciplined. There were many courses I took and books that I read during that time to grow my talent stack.?

What I would have done differently

• I would have tried more things?
• Travelled widely and more often. It does not take a lot of money to travel especially when you are younger.?
• Would have been more disciplined in time and task allocation when I was younger. But I still learned a lot.?

What happened prior to and after graduation??

Banking and wealth management was an area that I had a great deal of interest in. I had been reading about the industry and wanted to learn more. I had spend 5 years in IT services and it was time for a new challenge.?

The lessons from my work in call centre, IT services and studying part time for my university degree has taught many things that are I still apply today.?

I learned skills such as customer service, basic IT support and key IT trends during my time in the call centre. Running the IT services company taught me how to negotiate with vendors, find customers and the importance of referrals.

School time became very practical. I was applying what I learned in school immediately. Lessons such as Economics, Introduction to Commercial Law and Marketing were not just things you would read in class. I would attend classes, read the notes and apply those lessons when at work.?

My talent stack has grown much from those experiences.?

The journey is ongoing.?

Hope you have enjoyed this article. Please do leave me your comments in the section below.?

Note: I have been in the banking and the wealth management industry for the past 16 years.?Topics that I write on are doing business in Singapore/Asia, wealth management and building one's talent stack. (views my own). Do follow me on Linkedin for more updates. Link below.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/kennethgohonline/