New Year, Good News
It’s the end of week 2 since I formally gave my notice. Only 4 more weeks to go. Ay-yay-yay. That’s if they don’t need me in March, as I’ve agreed to help on an as needed basis.
In the meantime, I promised myself I’d relax during the Lunar New Year holiday and enjoy my time spent home. I’ll kick off the research and job hunt on Feb. 1, my first day back in Vietnam.
But some goods, news: 1) The client took the news very well (my team will live on, phew!) and is recruiting me for a position within his company and 2) this little ray of hope that was posted on CNET. Tech companies that are currently hiring:
So, here’s hoping that 2009 will be a happy and prosperous year, as they like to say in Vietnam!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
It’s almost official. Barack Obama is the incoming president tomorrow. And, I’m the outgoing (cranky) project manager as of today!
For many of you this isn’t coming as a surprise. You’ve read about my 12-16 hour work days and Saturday schedule. You’ve heard me complain about the lack of creativity required on the job. You’ve experienced my constant state of crankiness over the past 6 months.
For those of you who just started reading this blog, you may be surprised. Just a post or two ago, I wrote about scaling up our project!
No go, obviously. What happened? Well, I thought long and hard about this commitment and I knew that I couldn’t sign off on a 6 month plan knowing how dissatisfied I’ve been with work over the past several months. I knew that it wouldn’t be fair to myself, to my team, to my management, and to the client. I thought of trying to stick it through and muddling through the 3-4 more months of growing pains. But I realized that I did this the last time we were asked to expand – I stayed to see the team grow from 3 to 20 – and felt miserable. In the end, I told myself that 1) there is never a good time to quit and 2) I can’t stay in this job for other people.
So what’s next? Good question! It’s a risky move. Or is it more foolish? Dumb? Arrogant? Totally freakin’ scary?! Probably the riskiest thing I’ve ever done. (Perhaps, tied with that time I dived into a rain swelled river in Indonesia and had to be pulled out by a fast-thinking Spaniard!)
Well, here’s the plan. Start polishing up the resume tonight. Tell my mom about it on Sunday when I’m back in the States for a visit. Refresh and draw out a 6 week plan to land a contract job in social media/ social marketing for upstart internet-focused company in HCMC.
I’ve got the month of February to finish up my tasks and train a new Project Manager. During this time, I’ll be networking like a mad women. As work keeps me busy most of the day and early evening, I’ll aim for 3 informational interviews a week. Attend a weekly happy hour to get my mingle on. Pick the brains of some really smart and trusted friends/contacts. Begin identifying a minimum of 5 companies I’d really like to work with and learn from. Research the need. Refine my pitch. Get in touch with the decision makers. Rinse and repeat, until I land myself a short-term gig.
And some time between all of the above and the next move, there’ll be some time for a visit back to Indonesia 
Wish me luck!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cranky, Job Search, Project Manager, The Client
Shopping Madness
There seems to be no weekend activity more popular for well-to-do Saigonese than to visit their neighborhood electronics store. Today, I went on the hunt for a new webcam (used to have a built-in on my Mac, but alas…).
I found myself among throngs of Vietnamese consumers jammed up against glass displays, hopping from floor to floor, bobbing their heads in unison to Viet-techno beats pumping on the sound system. Nguyen Kim, a four story Vietnamese Best Buy, sells all kinds of low cost Chinese knock-offs and ridiculously marked-up American imports. A Canon Powershot being sold for a whopping $350 USD! (It’s only $200 USD in the US).
Lenovo is the most popular laptop here, but I was pleased to see lower-cost netbooks have found their way into the hearts of Vietnamese. There were several MSI Winds on display (though I have yet to see one actually being used by anyone). They’re so adorable and come in cute colors like the iPod Nano! But while I love the idea of an uber-portable laptop that can fit in my purse or be carried under my arms like a book, my lust for Mac products is unshakeable. Besides, while netbooks are extremely small, they’re extremely small. Meaning even more carpal tunnel problems than I already have.
On a tangent: For those who can’t stomach the fight for a spot in line to park the motorbike, there’s always Vietnam’s version of Craigslist-eBay-Amazon: chodientu.com. (Cho means store and dien tu means electronics.)
The company partnered with eBay last year, which gained it a bit of press coverage including in Businessweek. My friend works there but I have yet to fully understand how they make any money without a local online payment system (coming soon, from a host of competing start-ups). Apparently they don’t make much money yet. VC cha-ching!
If my understanding is correct, one way to make a purchase on this site: The seller posts their mobile number and the buyer calls to arrange an in-person meeting.
Hey, I’d choose this in-person exchange over techno beats anyday! Good news: I picked up a Logitech webcam for under $20 USD. Bad news: It crashed my Skype. Doh!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: E-Commerce, Saigon Life
Scaling Up: Step 1
Well, here we go. I pinged my Managing Director this morning on MSN to set up a time to meet about our Project Supervisor candidates. I also said that we should meet about my late night call with the client on Saturday. A brief chat conversation followed and here’s a direct quote from my MD: “You’re getting me too excited.”
I’m sure our client knew this would be my MD’s reaction, and that’s one of the reasons he approached me first with the request to scale up. As a Project Manager I’m a little more grounded/realistic (aka um, freaked out).
Within two minutes, my Operations Manager pings me and writes: Congratulations! My, word travels fast. He calls me out for a break and I tell him I’m a little worried. He says not to fret and that he’ll join my line staff if that’s what it takes. Um, well, it’s the thought that counts.
I finish up my last two Project Supervisor interviews (one to Canada and one to Boston) and meet with my MD and OM after lunch to discuss the details, which involve:
- Can you do it?
- When will you be ready?
- What do you need?
- Who are the PS candidates who can support this growth?
- Who are the team members who should be promoted to Team Leader?
- Where will we seat everyone!? (We have 3 buildings, which are nearly at full capacity)
To relax tonight, I drew up a little organization chart for our team structure. Will be pitching this structure and the road map to the client by Friday.
Oh, man. The marathon continues. Time to go for a walk and get some nuoc mia (sugarcane juice)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Project Manager, Scaling Up
E-Commerce, Baby!
Have I told you all that I’m really hoping to land a gig at an e-commerce company when I return Stateside? Social media would be cool too, but seems like the state of the economy has killed that buzz.
Anyway, that’s why working with my client is such a great opportunity. I’m getting some real good training and crossing my fingers that they’ll have a position for me when I’m done here (though what that would be, I’m not sure yet).
How this former non-profit, travel-addicted gal got hooked on the idea of working in e-commerce isn’t so hard to fathom. It involves being enamored by all things tech and figuring out that the people who work in the tech industry / start-up environment are not so different from those in non-profit (e.g. we’re not a-holes and we like what we do!).
Of course, this isn’t a great time now for e-commerce. November was a bad month for the industry, December not so good either. It’s really a bad time for everyone, and I keep reading and hearing that: It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Sure, that’s all true, but smart businesspeople say that you’ve got to keep thinking about long-term growth even, perhaps especially, during hard times.
And that’s exactly what my client is doing. They want to increase their outsourcing team by more than double, but that’s a topic for another post.
For e-commerce, especially, there’s only room to grow. While the economy is contracting and consumers are holding off on purchases now, 2010 and beyond still look promising to companies who continue to invest in online sales channels.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent comScore report:
E-commerce trends outperformed overall consumer spending in several product categories, which is to say that e-commerce continued to capture an increasing share of consumers’ wallet.
So, I’m still holding out hope, even during this bleak job market.
P.S. And if you have some contacts in the industry, let me know now!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: E-Commerce, Outsourcing, Social Media, The Client
What’s In It for Me?
I once read that you couldn’t really catch up on sleep. Not true in my experience! I do plenty of sleep-catching up on Sundays! This morning, I woke up for the usual Sunday routine: Get breakfast with the roommate. Today, we had banh cuon (rice paper with fish sauce and pork patties) and banh canh cua (crab noodle soup) … mmmlicious!
Then as usual, my rooomate, who is here doing his dissertation research on rubber plantations in Vietnam during the colonial era, will ride off to some far-flung Saigon destination for interviews and information gathering. Today, he and a fellow researcher were in search of a chicken coop for a project on bird flu!
I, on the other hand, barely leave my house on Sundays. That’s because I like to sleep. It’s a guilt-free activity and I’m able to rationalize it by telling myself I need to make up for the 5-6 hours a night I get Monday through Saturday.
So, after making a couple of Skype calls home and watching episodes of Arrested Development, I climbed back into bed and snoozed for a really long time. It’s almost embarrassing how long, so I’m not going to tell you when I woke up, but it wasn’t until I heard my roommate return from the chicken hunt!
Since waking up, I’ve spent the past few hours tinkering with a road map for said Scale Up (see last post). My favorite part of this 3-page document is:
Yes, very important question. Why on earth would this Project Manager voluntarily take on loads more work and stress than she already has? Well, I’ve got 4 ideas:
- Professional learning opportunity
- Add to resume as achievement and gain stronger reference from company and client
- Negotiate higher salary
- Possible job offer with client when I return Stateside
Numbers #3 and #4 are what would really keep me motivated if we’re talking about scaling up. So, now that I’m rested from my X-hour nap and excited by the potential upside of this opportunity, it’s time to think about how best to approach my boss and the client.
Though first, it’s time for drinks in downtown Saigon!
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: Project Manager, Saigon Life, Scaling Up
How to Scale Up
What’s the best way to get my original team of 3, to my current team of 20, to a projected team of 50 as soon as possible?
That’s the question that this project manager has to answer over the weekend.
It’s 9 pm. I just parked the moto and ordered some sushi delivery. After a really long day/night from work and a surprise call from the client about an hour ago, my mind is spinning.
What new training and processes should be introduced so staff have the resources needed to excel in their work? How to get new staff producing at levels the old staff accomplished, but faster? What supervisory position to recruit for and which candidate to hire to support projected growth? How to reorganize our teams to more rapidly and effectively scale up? What do I need from my team leaders, a new project supervisor, management, and the client to help make all this happen?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Project Manager, Scaling Up, The Client
Scribd vs. Issuu
Check out this pretty thing:
That’s a brochure I created a couple years ago at my previous job. Neat ain’t it? This morning, after heading out for pho brekkie with the roommate, relaxing with a cafe sua dua, skyping the family, and then napping (yes, a great start to the new year!), I found myself occuppied with my favorite default activity of late aside from sleeping: surfing some tech blogs.
Which led me to a post about Scribd being one of the most popular social media sites of the year. Hadn’t heard of it so I dug around and learned that Scribd and Issuu are two very similar document sharing platforms. I’ve seen a lot of Slideshare blog posts, and really love that site, so thought immediately I’d like these two sites.
After posting a few pubs I created on both sites, the preliminary verdict is in: Scribd is slightly easier to use and offers basic functionality for those who want to get in and get out, i.e. share their docs online quickly. Meanwhile, Issuu offers gooooorgeous presentation and an innovative virtual library for individuals and businesses to organize, share, and promote their work. Check out my Issuu library so far:
I would embed the actual brochure on Issuu here for easy comparison but unfortunately Issuu doesn’t provide a plug-in yet for WordPress (though it seems to syncs easily with Facebook, Blogger, Typepad, Friendster, etc). Thank you Scribd for being on top of this, hence the embedded brochure at the beginning of this post. But, in case you’re curious and want to see the same brochure on Issuu, and in beautiful full screen mode, click here and be wowed!
I figure this is a great way to share all the brochures and newsletters I’ve created and hopefully another way to promote myself during my next (gasp!) job search, whenever that may be.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cloud Computing, Social Media
Internet or Sex?
I found this over at Brian Pelz’ Tumbler blog (He’s the founder of Vinagame here in Vietnam). Had to share:
Which would you rather give up for two weeks: internet or sex? Here’s a link to the NY Times BITS blog story: Survey Asks: Internet Access or Sex? Before you click on the link, guess: What % of men/women said they’d rather go 2 weeks without internet over sex.
I know my answer but im not telling!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Random Stuff Read Online
A Netbook Would Be Neat
For those of you who dont know, well, that would be all of you because I havent told you. Some bunch of punks broke into my house a couple weeks ago and stole everything valuable I own except my passport and cash: i.e., laptop, camera, and phone. Gah. My own fault for sleeping with the balcony door open, but geez, while I’m sleeping in the room?! On the third floor??!! I guess I was completely knocked out, which is quite common these days after a long day of work or school, because my room is only 10×10 and there’s a wind chime on the door. Snore is me.
Anyhoo, I’m totally over it (at least I think I am so please don’t remind me). and the only reason im writing about it now is to tell you that I want a netbook!
I just came back from a trip to Cambodia, and no way in hell was I going to bring the very last valuable thing I dont own, which is my work laptop. So I went old school and didn’t bring any web-, dvd-, or word processing-enabled device on that 7 hour bus ride and 2 night stay.
But alas, if only I owned a cheapo netbook, tablet, or an ultra-mobile pc. Something that would allow me write up a few blog posts or journal entries, check my Gmail quickly, draw up some business ideas, or poke my special friend on Facebook. Something I could squish into my purse. something I wouldn’t cry over if stolen cuz it only cost $100 usd.
I need a $100 netbook. The world needs a $100 netbook. Someone, make us a $100 netbook! Or maybe I should just get an iPhone?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cloud Computing
Tweets- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
