McOrange Student Blog

A couple of weeks ago, we hosted 51 students from INTI University College. They are in their final year of study, covering disciplines such as Marketing, Finance & Accounting, Business Information Technology, Computer Science and Business Administration. They heard some and wanted to know more about DiGi.

Group shot – lots of young, happy & excited faces.

So what did we do with them? Have a look at the program:-
In the usual spirit, we did our best to ‘wow’ them. They sampled food from our very own Mr Ho’s cafeteria, went on a tour around our office and saw how our people worked in a wireless environment.

“Where are the cubicles and offices?”, some of them asked. Our answer to them was that we had none. Our people sit anywhere they want to, log on and work away. No fixed lines either as we are after all, a mobile company. “Even for the Bosses?” Yep, that’s right!

Later, we also got the students to get active and interactive with us. Every one of them walked away with lap-top bags, t-shirts and other cool DiGi merchandise for their effort. Two students even won a hand-phone with DiGi-line each.

Looks like a blind date going on! In fact, it’s one of the students interviewing our 3 Digizens and trying to guess their roles within DiGi.

So what do we get out of this? Well, it’s branding DiGi as a great place to work and showing off our office and our people. The students got a taste of our work culture and the various positions available here.

And the result? Let’s hear it from two of them:-
Chaveli Ulitzsch, American University Program
“Because I only have been in Malaysia for 2.5 months, I was not familiar with DiGi. I only knew that DiGi is one of Malaysia's telecommunication providers with the Yellow Man as its mascot. After the company visit, I've become very enthusiastic. I love the openness of the building and the open office culture. I agree with the basic principle that everyone generally should be treated equally and should have the possibility to express their opinion. The workers at DiGi were very friendly, young and open-minded.”

Jason Leong, Degree in Marketing
Personally, I find the whole trip very fun and enjoyable..
It is a real eye-opener what a real company looks like.
I think that DIGi has provided us with a very good idea of the working world.
Besides that, i find the program that is arranged by DIGI very fun and relaxing.
It is just nice, because prior to the visit, I though the program is going to be like, boring and heavy. But it turns out the other way where it involved a lot of laughter and fun.
Besides that, the whole trip also gave me some perspective about working in a modern environment as opposed to the traditional ways. This is something you can't really learn from text books. To sum it up, this trip is really fantastic and I learnt a lot..
Wish DIGI all the best in everything that they do.
-Study Guardian

Mobile Computing

The advent of mobile phone technologies (such as 3G), the explosion of wireless networking (W-LANs) and the use of Bluetooth devices has brought about the arrival of an entirely new business model (mCommerce). Mobile phones are the ‘hot’ item for the young and the on-the-go executives, so let us talk about Mobile Computing for this month.

So,What Is The Job?
Normally, this job requires personnel to work in software houses and in the public, private or industrial sectors. A computing project generally requires the personnel to develop a software solution supported by appropriate research in the computing theories and technologies. Mobile computing technicians must bring along knowledge, skills and abilities which they have obtained through their studies and develop programmes using innovative industry-strength software solution.

Employment and Places of Work
Mobile communications technicians and mobile business application developers will work in user-support management networked organisations or perform information analysis in decentralised business. Graduates can also look for a career in research and development or scientific areas of computing.

A Mobile Computing Project involves developing software in the mobile computer communications and multimedia systems. Graduates are expected to investigate, test and solve wireless and mobility problems as well as recommend mechanisms to improve throughout wireless links.

Areas Covered By Programmes Courses
Courses are designed to cover a wide range of technology topics besides the normal business topics. Students will be trained to develop their skills to confidently take on a wide variety of job roles such as programming, analysing, research and software development. They must be able to put together various elements of technology into a seamlessly integrated solution.

Students will also have the opportunity to develop skills in the growth area of mobile commerce and computing, ranging from application development and middleware support for mobile applications to fixed and mobile networking technologies and standards as well as mobile devices such as PDAs and smart mobile phones. Students will also learn a broad knowledge of all aspects of Mobile Computing architecture.

This programme offers students the opportunity to develop skills in the growth area of mobile commerce and computing, ranging from application development and middleware support for mobile applications to fixed and mobile networking technologies and standards and mobile devices such as PDAs and smart mobile phones. Students will be equipped with a broad knowledge of all aspects of Mobile Computing architecture.

Students can also further their studies to a specialised course which will be designed to equip them with the knowledge and skills to enter the newly emerging and exciting area of mobile computing and communications. The course will provide students with a deeper understanding of how such key technologies work, their relative strengths and weaknesses and an appreciation as to how they can best be utilised and integrated to meet specific business needs.

Students will also be equipped with a solid foundation of generic software development skills, networking, computing fundamentals and information systems. Specific skills for designing, developing and deploying mobile applications will also be taught at the basic level. The course is structured for students to obtain a balanced knowledge between the development of highly specialised technical skills and development of the business and analytical skills required for the appropriate application of mobile technologies to specific business contexts.

Yeap guys. My full story is complete. Yes, I hate to answer again and again. Yes I cycled all the way from Butterworth to Dungun. Please read it out at http://thamesironworks.blogspot.com . See the pics as well. It tells you thousand of words.

DiGi Telecommunications Engineer Steven Heah whose job it is to ensure that almost every nook and corner of Malaysia, be it an oil palm estate or a newlyopened highway, is connected.

Heah did not initially think of majoring in Communications when completing his engineering degree in the United Kingdom.

"I became interested during my undergrad studies as I wanted something different and more interesting than the mainstream Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Working at DiGi has been a rewarding experience for Heah.

So, I decided to switch to Communications,'' he says in an interview at DiGi Telecommunications new corporate headquarters in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Heah started his career as a data communications engineer before switching to radio network planning.

He finds working in DiGi to be fulfilling and challenging, especially his brief of expanding network coverage and optimising network efficiency.

Heah is now head of the Radio Access Strategy in the Technology Division at DiGi.

"Mobile call rates are constantly being lowered to give better value to end-users, and it is becoming more challenging to design a network that runs more efficiently," he says.

Last year, DiGi spent as much as RM850mil to expand its network coverage from 80% to 90% of the country.

Network engineers like Heah occasionally travel to meet other affiliate network operators on Euorpe and Asia under DiGi's parent company Telenor.

"I find that sharing and exchanging ideas with other engineers is an excellent way of learning and challenging each other's thinking.

Mobile telecommunications is a relatively small field but one that is evolving rapidly, what with 3G (third generation spectrum), WiMAX and broadband technology, just to name a few.

Malaysia's information, communications and telecommunications industry is currently worth about RM25bil, and the government wants to increase it to at least RM80bil by 2010.

My job involves…

… leading teams to plan and design the expansion of DiGi's radio network.

We have teams that are responsible for certain regions of the country who will survey an area's suitability for coverage expansion.

Going to areas with no coverage can be quite satisfying as you have bragging rights, having been to some of the most remote corners of Malaysia.

It involves a lot of travelling especially to places off the beaten track.

This provides us with a firsthand view of the demography of the region.

Back in the office, the engineers will be producing coverage prediction plots, analysing drive-tests, network statistics and making plans for improvements.

We also have to work closely with our marketing team to ensure the network is able to support new service launches.

Telecommunications engineers in other sections such as core switching, transmission network and service operations would have a different set of tasks.

My morning starts off with…

…coffee, of course, while checking emails and glancing through some news headlines. I then look at statistics and reports of network performance during the previous day.

Next, I would probably head off to a meeting or touch base with my team on some projects.

I rarely do fieldwork now.

Most of my time is spent making sure my team is able to get their job done.

Discussions with senior management and meetings with network equipment vendors, other industry players and the regulatory authority are all part of the job.

To qualify, you need… …preferably a degree in Engineering, either Electrical and Electronics or Communications. I graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Communications) from the University of Hertfordshire in England.

The best person for the job is… … someone with an engineering mindset to begin with, and a bit of curiosity in tech stuff.

This is quite a broad field and can accommodate people with different types of personalities – those who like travelling and meeting people and those who prefer working in the office.

Prospects for the future… … are amazing and growing by the day.

Graduates should really consider this field as the scope is very broad.

There are more options now compared to 10 years ago. I love my job because… … I get to see the results of all the hard work when someone gets better coverage or network quality.

What I dislike most… …is red tape.

It's a conscious effort to identify areas where we can simplify the way we work.

Will I be a millionaire by 30? Not when I last checked! Generally, the industry standard starting pay for fresh graduates is RM2,200. -Mobile88

Its true.....McOrange Student Forum(group) is now at Frienster....It is created for all student!!! Everyone can join!!!Discuss anything you want that is related to you or the college.....Tell your McOrange friends about it..... Don't forget to register for it using your current frienster account....!!! CLICK HERE TO THE FRIENDSTER GROUP(McOrange Student Forum)

ENJOY!!!

scamboy,
moderator,
Mobile Club