Job insecurity!

Nothing can be more annoying than not knowing your job status. This is usually experienced when working in projects that do not have definite end dates. In other words you will be employed as far as the project is still on and once the project is over or suspended you are out.
I have been in such a job for the last five years. Working with a big American company with projects worldwide. The first project I was in finished in October 2005 and luckily at the same time there was another project with the same company in the same country so ii got transferred to this project and my job was not affected doing the same stuff and earning the same money. The company is contracted by the U.S government and it is usually renewable every three months. We got used to the fact that the contract is almost automatically renewed so no worries. To everyone’s shock after three years the contract was not renewed and was awarded to a competitor company.
We all started to scramble and panic thinking now what? Are we out of jobs? Should we start job hunting or chill out? Luckily enough the manager of the new contract in the competitor company worked with most of us in the past and he was very much willing to hire all of us. Splendid! We could not ask for more specially that he is willing to pay us the same salaries if not better. Ye ha.. way to go.
As we started to wind up and prepare to make a move we get the news that our current employer won a new contract starting in three months and this is a promising project with a lot of funds so we have good prospects. This is great news but very much confusing. What’s gonna happen now? Will we retain our jobs? Or shall we be released and rehired after three months? Should we be patient or move to the new company?
The current employer is dragging their feet in telling us officially what’s going to happen to us end of month and at the same time the new company is willing to hire NOW but their contract is only for three months nothing is confirmed after December 2007.

Keep in mind that these two companies compete just like Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola do, so you can imagine the game they are playing and poor us lost in the middle. Believe me you do not wann be the grass where two elephants are fighting.
Believe me this is a total mess! Talk about confusion and uncertainty!

We continue to scratch our heads. What do you think? This is a dilemma

Wake up Alarm!

Last week was a shocker!
A colleague and close friend whom I worked with for the last four years or so sharing the same office passed away suddenly. This was very shocking and shaking to all of us in the office. He was neither sick nor complaining from any illness. He was ok till the last moment I left the office. Two hours later after I left him in the office he passed away of an apparent heart attack or God knows what.
This guy was great! He was the hardest working among us. Working long hours everyday under tremendous pressure yet keeping a sincere smile and sense of humor. We lost him as a brother who cares, as a friend who is always there to help, as a colleague who drove us all towards success and achievement.
You all saw car accidents where one car breaks suddenly and then a series of following cars hit from behind because the drivers were neither alert nor ready to act swiftly so you end up with three or five cars hitting each other. This exactly what happened to us we all crashed and now we are trying to accept the incident and recover from damage. We may fix the physical damage but can we fix emotional damage?
Our empathy is that he passed away in the holly month of Ramadhan while he was fasting and buried during the late night prayer time. We ask Allah the almighty to accept him with His mercy and grant him paradise with the prophets and righteous. We pray that Allah almighty grants his family and friends patience in accepting His will.
This is a waking alarm to all of us that life is short. We need to plant the good seeds to harvest tomorrow.

We will remember MO for his smile, for his can-do attitude, for his willingness to help others always no matter what it takes, for his broad ambitions and looking at the bright side.

This is a call for us to change. Change our attitude. Change the way we look at life. Change and think good of others.

Where is the safety pin???

We all heard and know of drills! You know like fire drills in a college hostels or high rising buildings where a false alarm is raised just to see how people will react in emergency and then train them to do it right. These drills are viewed by some folks as irritating but actually when you think of it you will realise it is essential and has positive impact on reactions in real emergency situations. I remember a story that was told on TV about a barge or ship that was sailing from Egypt to Saudi Arabia and tragedy occurred when that ship dived deep in the red sea. Many people lost their loved ones in that accident and a few survived. A young man who survived described the accident and how he and others made it to safety. He was actually a professional swimmer so he used all his swimming skills and he said while they were struggling to hold on the scape safety boats; one of the safety boats was floating folded. Apparently those boats are usually wrapped and when needed you are suppose to pull a robe and it will inflate. So desperate people were calling desperatley on the guy who was hugging the boat to pull the robe but he kept on asking where is the robe. I can't see the bloody robe ! it is not here! I can not find it! How can such a crucial part of the safety boat be so hard to find. Actually the guy was holding the robe and trying to locate it in the boat. You know like when you have your glasses on but you are still trying to look for it in your room.
Something similar is happening with us here in the office. I work for a big corporation with projects worldwide and currently we are undergoing an urgent very crucial expansion so everybody is expected to pull their socks. A colleague of mine is directly involved in this and he is doing his best. I mean he works till mid night to finish up and he knows his job well. His work involves dealing with government agencies and other external parties. The funny part is that he is getting challenges from within the company and not from these agencies. External parties are cooperating well but our own people and dragging their feet and at the same time asking this guy to push and expedite. For example, he has to clear some big items and process them for delivery. This involves about three agencies and everybody from top management is nagging on this guy to push it and get it done. OK! so where is the paper work stuck? we need to know to get it out. The paper work is stuck in one of the managers office waiting for his sacred signature. I mean our own managers and not a manager in the external agencies. This is ridiculous! how can I ask a government office to push your work while you did not even present your papers yet. Oh I remember they are supposed to foresee the future and know that you will be presenting this request! Hey dude, I really can't help you if you can't help yourself...

Some of these idiots sitting on the top of the management pyramid need to CHANGE but they are not capable to change so I suggest that they get pushed from the top of the pyramid and have them experience free fall hopefully they will not survive after falling from such a height. How did they get there anyway. By mistake? All they know is to shout "we need it done NOW". Shhhut up!!!!!!!!!!

Sick and Tired of my job

'I've been watching this herd of cattle for seven years, and to be frank, I haven't seen them do anything yet!'

**************

CHANGE your career...Did you say you have been in the same company, same position, doing the same job for the last five years or so? you must be nuts!!! its high time you thought to seek a career change buddy. I know what you are thinking.. you probably say that I know my job in and out and I get paid a good sum of money I cannot afford to let go this job. Well you might be right to some extent but hey did you think about what it will be like in five years time. Any guarantee that this job will still be there for you? Probably not so you must develop yourself by seeking a different job environment that allows you to develop your skills and qualification and most important allows for career advancement. You certainly don't want to say I have been IT Assistant for seven or ten years because that's not a good sign geek. Seven or ten years should easily put you at least in a senior post if not managerial. You should also ask yourself how much did I learn in this job because working is not a one way traffic; as much as you give your employer you should be able to take. Take new skills through sponsored training or further studies. Personally I wont like to be in the slow lane watching others speed past me. I like to be the fastest lane and leading. Getting to the finish line is the beginning of a new race.
C H A N G E dude..

Things are actually changing!

Over the past few weeks or perhaps months some events taking place here in big Sudan indicated that positive change is taking place in a few fields. Decades ago Sudan was a pioneer in shaping football (Soccer) in Africa but unfortunately we lost our place among the big shots in the game and struggled for years to put our name in the regional tournaments leave alone international tournaments. However, this year seems to be promising and joyous for Sudanese footballers. The two main clubs Alhilal and Almereekh are shinning in the African competitions. They both last month qualified to advanced stages in African clubs competitions. They not only qualified but also trashed big renowned teams. Alhilal finished the qualifications topping their group after trashing Egyptian Alahli. Alhilal shocked many observers when they displayed some modern football tactics and won the game 3 -0. Almereekh on the other hand was generous against the Nigerian club and gave them a 4 -1. Both teams performed well and won in most games.
This week Sudan had to play its last game in their group qualification stage to the African Nations Cup finals in Ghana. Sudan was playing Tunisia and both had already qualified so they were just playing to decide the group winners. Regardless of the fact that they both qualified, Sudan and Tunisia played for a win and the game was everything but easy. Two penalties, a red card, and 5 goals are the headlines. Sudan won 3-2. Congratulations!!!
The other indication is the telecommunications industry in Sudan. Sudan is now among the leaders in this industry in the region when it comes to services offered in terms of Mobile phone services, wireless broadband Internet, wireless land line telephony, etc. There are now four companies competing, three of which are affiliated with international companies such as MTN, MTC, and Etisalat. Last week the pioneer company in mobile phone services had a launching ceremony announcing the change of their name and brand after it was bought out by MTC. The ceremony was simultaneous with other ceremonies in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan where MTC launched their new Zain brand.
Globalisation .. Telecommunications
Hope all this will move us to the next level...
Lets be part of the Change!!!

Car accident or time waster

Yesterday was just another typical day where I work. I get a couple of emails and calls asking me to drop off all my taskings for the day and focus on accomplishing one task of getting a programming software for our VHF radios used in the field. Now this is really urgent because we depend a lot on VHF due to poor cellphone coverage and also put in mind the non predictable situation in the region our project is located. Luckily that task was already under process and followed up by the supply folks. By the end of day the software is delivered, great. But guess what it is a pirated copy and one cable was damaged but hey at least it will do the job or so I hope. Today however, was different. A colleague had a vehicle accident and yes he was at fault. So we rush to the accident spot and luckily it was a minor one but we had to go through the traffic police procedures. Thought this was easy but the poor driver as soon as he gets to the traffic police station gets locked in!! what? why? he has a driver's license and comprehensive valid insurance!!!We rush to the place to get him out on bale (another should be simple task) but no more was still hidden for us. We get there and we are told just wait while we get the paper work done with the Attorney General. After about 45 mins we enquire and we are told the docs are not yet back. Not yet back? from where? well they were sent to the main office down town. You got to be kidding me man; sshh****t! We chill out for sometime and then we are told wait another one hour or so. While leaning on the wall, a traffic cop approaches me and tells me that it is not civil of me to be chilling like that I should sit down on the hard bench and wait. Ya right! I almost asked him is there anything civil there. The system is a joke, the place is dusty and dirty, its just all screwed up. But off course i didn't dare to say that. We went away for a bite and were roaming around then our poor guy calls up and says we can come now and bale him out. It was already night and we get there, I present my ID and then the cop says well you can't bale this guy because you live in a different area of jurisdiction (I live like 10 Km away). So we call up another colleague to come and assist. At last we get this "criminal" out. Basically it took about 5 hours to finish this mission impossible. I wonder if that is civil Mr. traffic cop!!!!! By the way just before we finished I saw Mr. Civil cop sitting on the same spot and same way I was sitting that he criticised me for earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will probably have a better system in a few decades that is if we stop going backward or else....?

Fast approaching Fasting!

The second half of the month of Sha'aban in the Islamic calendar is rolling. In other words the holy month of Ramadhan (fasting) is approaching. People prepare for this month differently. Some start to panic and think about fasting and how its gonna be hard as if its the first time they fast. So they start to give more attention to food and drinks; I am not sure if this helps but I doubt it. Others feel good about Ramadhan and look forward to it hoping to gather its blessings and mercy. Some folks actually fast a few days in Sha'aban as it is the month that Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him fasted the most other than Ramadhan. Fasting a few days prior to Ramadhan is actually good preparation. I find it useful psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Ramadhan is very unique! apart from fasting we are expected to maximise in our prayers, reciting the holy Qur'an, be more generous to the needy, even the type of food prepared in this month is different. In order to get the most out of it we got to plan well and charge ourselves. Plan how much of the Qura'an I am gonna recite and how am gonna do it. How will I change my behaviour. Will I attend night prayers at the mosque. In addition, one needs to charge spiritually to gain momentum and fasting a few days in advance actually helps. Cut down on the sins; we are not perfect and we commit sins that we know we shouldn't. So we need to offload some bad deeds before setting to the fasting journey. And so on and so forth!!!!Well the bottom line is that am fasting today and its not that bad, may because i minimised activity for today hahah. I just made one quick run to the airport and that's it. After all I am fasting :) This is the excuse most of us will soon be using in Ramadhan when actually we should work hard and perform well to feel the hunger and thirst of the needy!! Unfortunately this year I didn't fast enough days of Sha'aban so I don't know if I will pass the test or not in Ramdhan. Lets pray for the best.
So guys you better start charging and get ready we are on final approach, fasten your seat belts and put your seats to normal positions. Hope you all know the safety procedures to survive any bumps while cruising through Ramadhan.
Have a blessed one.

Fresher!

Hey! this is my first post and am newbie to this; so lets see how its gonna go. Hope it works out well and becomes of some benefit to you and me. I will try to have frequent posts as much as possible. They will probably be different kind of postings; general, thoughts, personal, work, etc. Some of the postings might be weired and hard to grasp, these will actually reflect the real me that's complicated, unrevealing and cagey .

Thanks for stopping by and check in regularly. let me know what u think.

Cheers.

The Cracker.