A Process Engineer's Story

“What is your ambition”, my form teacher asked me in front of my schoolmates during the first day of school when I was in Form 5. I firmly responded, “Teacher, I want to become an engineer”. It was a definite goal for me to achieve during that time. Back then, I was very interested in physics, mathematics, and living skill subjects which stirred my interest in electronic projects during my secondary school days. I used to buy electronic packages such as running LED which bundled with electronic circuit boards and components. During free time at home, I soldered the components onto the circuit boards and checked if the electronic items worked. The interest had become my hobby and eventually inspired me to become an electronic engineer.

After SPM, I was offered a degree in electrical and electronic engineering course at University Tun Hussein Onn. It was my happiest moment of life. Engineering study in university indeed was very tough. On the first day of the class, lecturer handed out the subject outline and started his lecturing topics. Initially, things went through negatively. Many students had to resit the paper or opt for diploma courses. Some of them even switched to other fields. The impact from the engineering study in university was the scariest part to be observed. As the period of study went on, the subjects were getting tougher. Fortunately, I managed to sail through thanks to my deep interest in the field. On the last day of my engineering study in the university, it was individual thesis presentation. The oral examination was strict and required a concrete demonstration from myself in the electronics application. The crucial moment in the defense of thesis after four years of hard works enhanced my confidence and successfully passed the test.

Today, the engineering jobs vacancies are increasing highly demand in the market. It was my fate to land my first job as a process engineer with Japanese manufacturing company. Neither was I expected for an electronic engineer job. Yet today, I am still a process engineer with different company. Many things which I encountered were not taught in school or university. Prior to the process engineer, I love the analytical aspect of the job nature. To further expand my knowledge in engineering. I decided to pursue part-time study in Master to realize my idea based on my experiences. I developed intelligent process models for optimizing in a manufacturing system as a replacement of current e-manufacturing ideology in engineering and manufacturing society. As the direction to become professional engineer draws nearer in the future, it is my great adventure to acquire such combination to realize in the dream in next thirty years and set a new platform for the engineering field to flourish using this curriculum.

Engr. Ho Kok Hoe
Electrical & Electronic Engineer